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READY FOR THE WORLD
The 2022-26 Strategic Plan introduced by the Los Angeles Unified School District – the largest public school system in California – focuses on a singular goal: Ensure that ALL students graduate READY FOR THE WORLD.
Being ready for the world means that students thrive in college, career, and life, are advocates for themselves and others and are open-minded, adaptable, and effective communicators.
To achieve this, students must develop the social and emotional intelligence and skills critical to succeeding in this complex and constantly changing world. Skills and concepts can be taught in the classroom in much the same way math or reading is taught. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is widely considered to be one of the most fundamental elements of effective education.
IMAGO and Los Angeles Unified School District
Through its partnership with IMAGO, L.A. Unified is providing K-12 students with a social-emotional curriculum and lessons that add an extra, critical dimension to their education, focusing on improving cooperation, communication, and decision-making. It is the framework where students can develop and successfully apply the skills and knowledge to understand and control emotions, show empathy to others, develop healthy relationships, set positive, realistic goals, and make informed decisions. SEL is the foundation to help students thrive in school and in life.
With IMAGO’s video-based curriculum, we not only educate K-12 students on SEL, but we captivate them with our engaging lessons and thoughtful questions. Because having SEL curriculum is one thing, but to create a lasting impact for students is another – and it’s our mission to help every student unlock their full potential.
The Pillars
The District has proposed five high-level Pillars that represent critical areas of focus. Each Pillar contains several Priorities required to successfully support the pillar, as well as Measures of Success and associated targets as a means of gauging progress and meeting goals.
Although early in the process, IMAGO has helped LA Unified advance its success in every single one of its Pillars. Students, teachers, and the Los Angeles community have raved about how IMAGO’s Social – Emotional Learning lessons have changed the LA Unified School District for the better.
Social Emotional Intelligence Makes Us Better Humans.
We’ll Help Your Students Be Their Best.
Pillar 1: Academic Excellence – Rigorous and Responsive Academic Programs to Achieve Excellence for All
Educators understand that excellence in the classroom can’t come from the memorization of lessons alone. There needs to be a holistic approach to learning. IMAGO applies Social and Emotional Learning lessons in a way that prepares students for their future. To improve student outcomes and create robust educational opportunities to meet the needs of every student.
Dr. Alejandra Vargas Warner is an American Literature, AP Literature, and Composition teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in L.A. She started using IMAGO’s lessons more during the pandemic and, in an interview, pointed out how it has helped meet one of L.A. Unified’s main priorities: eliminating achievement and opportunity gaps and championing pathways for college and career readiness.
“There’s a restorative justice component to IMAGO,” said Dr. Vargas Warner. “We have students who have never dealt with difficult things in their life – they just bury it and don’t talk about it. This program teaches them some of the skills and to understand how to talk about it while being in a safe place.”
Pillar 2: Joy & Wellness – Safe and Healthy Environment to Promote Joy and Wellness
With a better understanding of the components of SEL, students grow their emotional intelligence, helping them to react better in stressful situations, be more empathic when interacting with someone who may be different from them, be more patient with themselves and others, and be more graceful in their approach to new experiences.
“I decided, you know what, this is so much more relevant to what’s happening in the lives of my students today, because I found topics like resilience, self-awareness, accountability,and introspection. There’s more of a social-emotional component that’s very hard to ever reach if you’re doing just academic work,” said Dr. Vargas Warner.
Pillar 3: Engagement & Collaboration – Authentic Engagement to Leverage the Power of Our Families, Communities, and Educational Partners
The Social Emotional skills that IMAGO helps instill in LA Unified students is invaluable for encouraging students to be more open and engaged. By helping students identify how they’re feeling about a situation, they can better express what they’d like to see happen and then better
execute actions to help them achieve those goals.
Educators with the Kennedy High School Teaching Academy say that IMAGO has helped students clue into some of the life skills they’ll need as adults after high school. That Academy even grouped IMAGO lessons into a package of courses it calls “Adulting.”
Said one teacher in the group, “I think it’s brought awareness to them about certain issues that before, we didn’t necessarily have the time or even the resources to go ahead and deal with. So having this out there gives us the ability to deal with in Home Room and other places that we didn’t get to cover before.”
Pillar 4: Operational Effectiveness
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning distinguishes five components of SEL: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. IMAGO helps with every aspect of SEL, helping to modernize the school’s educational program.
The data on the benefits of nourishing a child’s EQ is clear, with 84% of students reporting they were able to apply the skills they learned with IMAGO immediately and 86% saying they had more motivation to learn after going through Imago’s lessons.
Pillar 5: Investing in Staff
Among the priorities in Pillar 5 are the goals of providing “competency-based, rigorous, and relevant professional learning” and promoting staff wellness. IMAGO does just that by providing curricula that benefit not only the student but also the teacher. And, as Dr. Vargas Warner attested, it can make things easier on the teacher to have pre-made lessons at their fingertips.
“I loved that I didn’t have to get stressed out,” said Vargas Warner. “When it’s all on me to create the lesson, making sure I’m hitting the right notes in terms of making sure it’s understandable by students, there’s pressure because you have to work on it. You have to think about it constructively. But IMAGO’’s done that already.”
IMAGO gives lessons to teach the whole student, encouraging them to be more empathic, thoughtful, and self-reflective humans. Those lesson plans lead to a better classroom – an investment in the teacher, a continuation of the educator’s professional learning, and a new way to catapult the classroom to success.
Online Learning Platform
Providing K-12 students with social emotional learning curriculum; it’s what we do. Why? Our world is complex and constantly changing, and the skills we all need to succeed involve emotional intelligence. It’s the foundation to help our students be their best and ultimately thrive in their careers.
With IMAGO’s video-based curriculum, we not only educate K-12 students on SEL, but we captivate them with our engaging lessons and thoughtful questions. Because having SEL curriculum is one thing, but to create a lasting impact for students is another – and it’s our mission to help every student unlock their full potential.
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Happy Districts, Life-Changing Outcomes
We’ve partnered with over 100 school districts (and counting!) to help students with social
emotional learning. The best part? Our SEL curriculum works.
