Brief Summary of Morningside Center
Since our founding in 1982, Morningside Center has partnered with educators in hundreds of schools to help young people and adults develop the skills and awareness they need to build just, caring and productive communities – from the classroom to the world.
Morningside Center is a national leader in the field of social and emotional learning. Morningside Center developed two of the nation’s leading research-based SEL programs: The 4Rs (Reading, Writing, Respect & Resolution) and Resolving Conflict Creatively. These programs enable young people and adults throughout the school to develop their capacity to understand and manage feelings, relate well to others, make good decisions, effectively handle conflict, recognize and stand up to bias in themselves and others, and take responsibility for improving the community.
Since 2011, Morningside Center has been the NYC Department of Education’s lead partner in introducing restorative practices into public schools. We have provided extensive training and/or coaching for educators from hundreds of schools to prepare them to facilitate weekly classroom circles using our research-based curricula, and to integrate restorative approaches as an alternative to punitive discipline. Schools that received our training and coaching for three or more years saw a 72% drop in suspensions and reported major improvements in school and classroom climate. In 2017-18, we provided our 5-day training for educators from over 500 schools and on-site coaching in over 135 schools, with sustained programs reaching some 25,000 preK-12 students.
In 2016, Morningside Center received a 4-year federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grant to implement and scientifically evaluate a program aimed at ending the disproportionate use of punitive discipline on students of color through a combination of SEL, restorative practices, and courageous conversations on race. Our goal is to increase racial awareness and racial equity in schools and close the school-to-prison pipeline.
Morningside Center also provides resources to engage young people in current issues and build their social and emotional skills through TeachableMoment, our online collection of free, engaging classroom activities. The site includes nearly 900 lessons and is used by over half a million people each year.