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What’s the connection between Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC) and the Responsive Classroom approach?

What’s distinctive about the Responsive Classroom approach?

What theory is the Responsive Classroom approach based on?

How widely is the Responsive Classroom approach used?

How many people work for Northeast Foundation for Children?

Is there research on the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom approach?

Can the Responsive Classroom approach be used to implement Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports?

I teach preschool, middle school, or high school. Can I use the Responsive Classroom approach?

I’d like an introduction to the Responsive Classroom approach. Where should I start?

How can I begin learning to use the Responsive Classroom approach?

Where can I find answers to questions about ordering materials from you?

How can I learn about arranging onsite professional development services for a school or school district?

How do you decide where to hold Responsive Classroom summer institutes?

I have an idea for an article or book that NEFC might want to publish. How should I tell you about it?

Who is your media contact?

What’s the connection between Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC) and the Responsive Classroom approach?
Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create safe, challenging, and joyful elementary schools. NEFC does this by developing the Responsive Classroom approach, a way of  teaching that emphasizes social, emotional, and academic growth in a strong and safe school community. NEFC offers workshops, onsite consulting, books, videos, and other resources for educators who want to learn to use the Responsive Classroom approach.

NEFC was founded in 1981 by a group of public school educators who wanted to share the practical strategies they’d developed for teaching social and academic skills together. They opened a laboratory school in Greenfield, Massachusetts, called Greenfield Center School. Soon after, NEFC began publishing books and offering workshops about the practices that were being used at the school. In the early 1990s, NEFC secured its first major contract to work with public school teachers in Washington, DC. The term Responsive Classroom was coined in conjunction with that work.

What’s distinctive about the Responsive Classroom approach?
The Responsive Classroom is a general approach to teaching, rather than a program designed to address a specific school issue. It is based on the premise that children learn best when they have both academic and social-emotional skills. The Responsive Classroom approach consists of a set of practices that build academic and social-emotional competencies and that can be used along with many other programs. These classroom practices are the heart of the Responsive Classroom approach:

Morning Meeting—gathering as a whole class each morning to greet one another, share news, and warm up for the day ahead

Rule Creation—helping students create classroom rules to ensure an environment that allows all class members to meet their learning goals

Interactive Modeling—teaching children to notice and internalize expected behaviors through a unique modeling technique

Positive Teacher Language—using words and tone as a tool to promote children’s active learning, sense of community, and self-discipline

Logical Consequences—responding to misbehavior in a way that allows children to fix and learn from their mistakes while preserving their dignity

Guided Discovery—introducing classroom materials using a format that encourages independence, creativity, and responsibility

Academic Choice—increasing student learning by allowing students teacher-structured choices in their work

Classroom Organization—setting up the physical room in ways that encourage students’ independence, cooperation, and productivity

Working with Families—creating avenues for hearing parents’ insights and helping them understand the school’s teaching approaches

Collaborative Problem Solving—using conferencing, role playing, and other strategies to resolve problems with students

What theory is Responsive Classroom based on?
The Responsive Classroom approach is not based on the work of one particular theorist. It draws on the work of many great teachers and educators, articulating a collection of sound and tested classroom practices in a way that is accessible and practical for today’s teachers. It also incorporates research and thinking from child development and constructivist educators (such as Piaget, Gesell, Montessori, Dewey, Erikson, and Vygotsky).

How widely is the Responsive Classroom approach used?
Since 1981, thousands of classroom teachers and hundreds of schools and school districts have begun using the Responsive Classroom approach. These schools are in urban, suburban, and rural settings nationwide. Some facts and figures:

• Each year, approximately 6000 teachers attend Responsive Classroom workshops and institutes given by NEFC and its Midwest regional affiliate, Origins.
• Responsive Classroom consultants work with educators in about half of the U.S. states. Origins handles most of the work in the upper Midwest and Oklahoma, while much of NEFC’s work is focused on New England and the Mid-Atlantic region. However, NEFC regularly sends consultants to schools as far west as California and Alaska, and as far south as Florida.
• The Responsive Classroom Newsletter is mailed to about 70,000 addresses quarterly. Most of these subscribers are classroom teachers, elementary school administrators, and college professors.
• NEFC publishes more than 25 books, as well as videos, DVDs, and a series of pamphlets on child development. Our core books include The Morning Meeting Book, The First Six Weeks of School, Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14, Teaching Children to Care, The Power of Our Words, Classroom Spaces That Work, Rules in School, Learning Through Academic Choice, and Parents and Teachers Working Together. Several of these titles have sold over 100,000 copies.

How many people work for Northeast Foundation for Children?
About 30 people make up our in-house staff, plus over 100 consulting teachers who give workshops and provide coaching at schools.

Is there research on the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom approach?
Several research studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom approach. Most recently, researchers at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education released results from a quasi-experimental longitudinal study funded by the DuBarry Foundation. The study compared children at three schools using the Responsive Classroom approach with those at three control schools. This research yielded six key findings about children and teachers at schools using the Responsive Classroom approach:

Finding 1: Children showed greater increases in reading and math test scores. Children taught using the Responsive Classroom approach for two or three years scored higher in reading and math on the Connecticut Mastery Test. The gains were greater over three-year periods than over two-year periods, and greater in math than in reading.

Finding 2: Teachers felt more effective and more positive about teaching. Teachers who used the Responsive Classroom approach felt more effective in teaching discipline, more able to create a positive school climate, and more able to influence decision-making at their schools.

Finding 3: Children had better social skills. After just one year of the Responsive Classroom approach, children showed greater growth in prosocial skills and assertiveness. They were more comfortable trying new things in school, and their teachers reported feeling closer to them.

Finding 4: Teachers offered more high-quality instruction. Teachers using the Responsive Classroom approach appeared to offer more emotional and instructional support for learning. Examples include creating a positive classroom climate and offering better feedback and more instruction involving concept development.

Finding 5: Children felt more positive about school. Children whose teachers used more Responsive Classroom practices had improved attitudes about school. They liked school more and enjoyed their peers and their teachers more.

Finding 6: Teachers collaborated with each other more. Teachers using the Responsive Classroom approach reported more frequent formal collaboration with each other. They placed greater value on collaboration and felt more involved in decision making at their schools.

On the strength of these findings, in 2007, the U. S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences and the National Science Foundation awarded $2.9 million to Dr. Rimm-Kaufman and her team for an expanded three-year follow-up study. Read more about this and other research on the Responsive Classroom approach.

Can the Responsive Classroom approach be used to implement Positive Behavior Interventions and Support?
Schools can use the Responsive Classroom approach to implement high-quality PBIS. We've developed a fact sheet and a white paper to explain how Responsive Classroom practices fit within PBIS's three-tiered framework, and how using the Responsive Classroom approach can help you implement PBIS successfully. Download the two-page fact sheet or the nine-page white paper.

I teach preschool, middle school, or high school. Can I use the Responsive Classroom approach?
The core Responsive Classroom practices and our trainings are intended for elementary educators. Some of our publications are useful to K-8 teachers.

For preschool, we recommend the organization High/Scope in Ypsilanti, Michigan. High/Scope’s mission and philosophy are similar to those of the Responsive Classroom approach.

For middle school, we recommend Origins, our regional affiliate in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Origins’ Developmental Designs for Middle School program is based on many of the same principles and practices as the Responsive Classroom approach.

For high school, we recommend looking at the resources available through Educators for Social Responsibility, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I’d like an introduction to the Responsive Classroom approach. Where should I start?
Come to a one-day overview, which we offer in various locations throughout the year, or have one of our consultants present the one-day overview at your school.

You can also learn about how Responsive Classroom practices are being used in a wide variety of elementary classrooms and schools by reading the Responsive Classroom newsletter. This quarterly publication features articles by and for educators interested in the approach. The current issue and articles from the past ten years are available at no cost on this website.

How can I begin learning to use the Responsive Classroom approach?
Responsive Classroom I (RCI) is our entry-level offering. Participants in RCI learn about five of the fundamental practices and how to implement them in their own classrooms. We offer RCI as a week-long institute each summer in many locations, and as an onsite professional development opportunity that can be held during the school year or over the summer.
More about summer institutes
More about onsite institutes

Books focused on core practices of the Responsive Classroom approach include The Morning Meeting Book, The First Six Weeks of School, The Power of Our Words, Classroom Spaces That Work, Rules in School, Learning Through Academic Choice, and Parents and Teachers Working Together. Some of these books have companion DVDs that show the practices in action in real classrooms. Teaching Children to Care and Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14 are also excellent resources.

Where can I find answers to questions about ordering materials from you?
Your questions may be answered on our shipping and ordering info page. If not, call 800-360-6332 ext. 125 or email info@responsiveclassroom.org.

How can I learn about arranging onsite professional development services for a school or school district?
Begin by checking out the information about onsite services on this website. For more information, contact Allison Evans at allison@responsiveclassroom.org or 800-360-6332 ext. 143.  

How do you decide where to hold Responsive Classroom summer institutes?
Our advertised week-long summer institutes are held at "host site" schools we select according to location, space, and equipment needs, as well as other factors. Each fall we finalize agreements with the schools that will be host sites for the following summer.

At minimum, host sites must be air conditioned and must include a space large enough for 150 adult participants to gather, plus the use of twelve classrooms. Host schools receive tuition credits for five participants, who, in addition to attending the institute, serve as on-site helpers during the week. The host site also has the option of providing catering for the week.

To learn more about hosting a week-long institute, download and review our Host Site Packet [7 pages, Word doc] or contact Danielle Letourneau-Therrien, Manager of Customer Service and Operations, by emailing danielle@responsiveclassroom.org or calling her at 800-360-6332 x 127.

I have an idea for an article or book that NEFC might want to publish. How should I tell you about it?
If you have an article idea, see our article submission guidelines (PDF). If you have a book idea, see our book proposal guidelines (PDF).

Who is your media contact?
Jen Audley, managing editor of the Responsive Classroom newsletter and website, is the contact person for media representatives. She can be reached at jen@responsiveclassroom.org or 800-360-6332 ext. 142.