Update on Two Exciting DCRC Projects!

Joan Sherman Program for Resilient Children Kicks off Year 2

The collaboration between SCAN Inc. in Fort Wayne, IN and the Devereux Center for Resilient Children continues to go strong! The project, The Joan Sherman Program for Resilient Children (JSPRC), has jump-started its second year by training 3 sites to support and evaluate the program’s effort to build the resilience of children and families in child welfare services. The project welcomes the addition of Children & Families First of Delaware as its third project site.

Year 1 of the JSPRC was a great learning experience for the project leadership team, as well as the staff implementing the program. The leadership team has learned much about the support needed for staff and families to better engage within The Joan Sherman Program and feel successful, and about how to better collect the data for Year 2.

DCRC Supports Allentown’s District-Wide Social-Emotional Learning Initiative

The Devereux Center for Resilient Children is more than halfway through its second year supporting the Allentown Schools with their district-wide Social-Emotional Learning Initiative. DCRC kicked off Year 2 of the initiative in August by facilitating training of 151 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade teachers in the district on the PATHS program and all 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade teachers in the district on the Second Step program in their schools.

These trainings were well-received by teachers, with over 70% of elementary and middle school teachers reporting their training was “Very good” or “Excellent.” DCRC has added two new coaches to our staff, Becky Guzie, and Elissa Sewell, who support the schools with teaching social-emotional learning. The coaches have been providing wonderful support and encouragement to teachers, while reporting great things about the classrooms!

In October, Allentown teachers provided their valuable support to the initiative by completing the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) on over 11,000 students. This pretest data collection effort will provide us with the opportunity to evaluate the success of the initiative and, ultimately, the impact of SEL programming on the students.