26 • PART i: A ModEl foR SElf-REgulATion And EngAgEMEnT
Accordingly, educators have been working to address these challenges as well as to develop
preventive strategies to develop resilience and health (Greenberg & Harris, 2012; Liew,
2012). Acknowledging that the process is about more than cognitive academic achieve-
ment, the CDC’s latest definition of academic achievement includes academic performance
(i.e., grades, test scores, and graduation rates), educational behavior (i.e., attendance, rates
of dropout, and school behavioral problems), and cognitive skills and attitudes (i.e., mood,
concentration, and memory; ASCD, 2014).
Together, the ASCD and the CDC created the Whole School, Whole Community, and
Whole Child (WSCC) model, calling for a greater alignment, integration, and collaboration
between education and health, “to improve each child’s cognitive, physical, social and emo-
tional development” (ASCD, 2014, p. 6). The WSCC model is an ecological approach directed
at the whole school, acknowledging that the school draws its resources from the community
in efforts to service the whole child. Consistent with the Mindful and Yogic Self as Effective
Learner (MY-SEL) model (see Chapter 1, Figure 1.3), the ecological context and the health
and well-being of the child are viewed as critical components of facilitating academic per-
formance. When things are going well, the student’s inner experiences (i.e., physiological,
emotional, and cognitive) are integrated and attuned through a process of self-regulation
and care. When a student is resilient and shows what people call grit, he or she is able to
effectively negotiate external challenges and demands in order to experience everyday and
long-term success (Duckworth & Gross, 2014).
A philosophy firmly grounded in the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) movement holds
that a key challenge to 21st-century schools involves educating diverse students with varied
abilities, neurological and behavioral readiness, and motivation for learning (e.g., Durlak,
Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Some believe the challenges students
bring into school, accompanied by deficits in social–emotional competencies, create risk
for a lack of connection with individual learning and school in general (Durlak et al., 2011).
The MY-SEL model suggests that there is more to academic, school, and life success than
intelligence and natural ability. There is a growing body of work suggesting that, through
practices such as mindfulness and yoga, individuals can develop self- regulation, self-control,
interpersonal effectiveness, and grit (e.g., Cook-Cottone, 2015; Duckworth & Gross, 2014;
Duckworth, Peterson, Mathews, & Kelly, 2007; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Perkins-Gough,
2013). The MY-SEL model holds that these skills can be, and should be, taught and practiced
in schools. As such, it also holds that, when these skills are not taught and practiced, students
may languish or, worse, descend into school failure and disorder.
THE dYSREgulATEd And diSEngAgEd STudEnT
The MY-SEL model illustrates the connection between self-regulation and care (see the internal
system, Figure 1.3) and intentional, reflective engagement with school (see the external
system, Figure 1.3). I remember when I was a graduate student in school psychology, and
my mom, an English teacher, would try so hard to understand the one thing that was get-
ting in the way of a particular student’s learning. She would wonder if it is were trouble at
home, anxiety, drug use, or fatigue from working late. You see, she thought that if it were
just one thing, she could target it. I know for sure that my mom would have done anything
she could have to fix anything that was holding her students back. I agree that, every so
often, it is one thing. And every so often, we can identify that thing and support the student.