Josh McDowell, Crete, NE

We are asking how COVID-19 is impacting rural communities. Read below for a perspective from Superintendent Josh McDowell of Crete, NE, about how school counselors are using technology to make sure their students get the emotional support they need. You can share yours here: http://bit.ly/iaartcovid

At the beginning of the school year, Middle School Counselors Mrs. Fye and Ms. Cole, implemented a digital 5-point scale that asks each student to tell us how they are feeling every day. They fill out a Google Form by picking the emoji that best describes their mood. If they mark themselves at a 3, 4, or 5, a text box appears that allows them to tell us why they are feeling that way. That information goes into a program called Data Studio which allows us to view the daily check-in and data over time. When we moved to digital learning we asked all of our students to continue checking in every day. It has allowed us to see when kids are having a rough day and we can reach out to them individually. We have been able to intervene with many kids throughout the year and change the course of their day. Throughout this experience, we have seen that when we take care of their social-emotional needs first, they can focus more on academic learning.