Dealing with the Urgent Educational Challenge: Promoting Social-Emotional Well-Being among Teachers, Students, and Families provides readers with key research-based and pragmatically tested approaches and processes to deal with the unprecedented mental health issues prevalent in today's schools, families, and communities. Practicing educators and researchers representing various backgrounds, leadership roles, and learning contexts provide insights about appropriate and effective personal, professional, and organizational programs, projects, and activities that may be implemented to address the social-emotional learning needs of people within school communities.
Walter S. Polka is professor of leadership and coordinator of the PhD program at Niagara University with over fifty-five years in education, including thirteen years as superintendent of schools. John E. McKenna is an award-winning educator and adjunct professor with over thirty-five years of public education experience as a teacher, building principal, and district-level administrator. Monica J. VanHusen has been an educator for the past eighteen years and currently is the educational technology coordinator for Stafford County Virginia Public Schools.
"Dealing with the Urgent Educational Challenge: Promoting Social-Emotional Well-Being among Teachers, Students, and Families provides readers examples of lessons learned and a path forward post-COVID to offer educators strategies to deliver socio-emotional wellness for students, parents, faculty, and staff. This book is full of key illustrations from educational research and life experiences that offer valuable insights to anyone wanting to take the next steps to ensure socio-emotional well-being for members of their educational community. I commend the editors on assembling this valuable resource for leaders." --Leslie B. Trimmer, EdD, assistant professor of practice "During a crisis, leadership is everything. It shapes the everyday, tomorrow, and the future. Although the everyday trials of the pandemic are behind us, the future outcomes are now upon us. Student mental health and school staffing shortages are today's crisis issues. Now is the time for this book - a book that explains what is at the core of students' and teachers' social-emotional well-being and happiness and offers leadership strategies for creating healthy educational communities for years to come." --Michelle B. Hebert, director of communications, School Administrators Association of New York State, Latham, NY
