A Powerful Solution

Foreword

By Robert J. Marzano

The School Wellness Wheel: A Framework Addressing Trauma, Culture, and Mastery to Raise Student Achievement by Mike Ruyle, Libby Child, Nancy Dome, and colleagues integrates powerful constructs into K–12 schooling that, to my knowledge, have never before been discussed together in the context of school leadership and instruction. The metaphor the authors use for this endeavor is the Native American medicine wheel, which is historically associated with harmony, connection, symmetry, and the sacred cycles of life—certainly fitting goals for educators. As applied to education, the school wellness wheel articulates the interrelationships between mastery-based learning, trauma-responsive schooling, and culturally responsive teaching. These interrelationships support positive outcomes relative to wellness, learning, and college and career literacy, ultimately resulting in healing- and resilience-centered education for students. Rather than focus independently on specific strategies for each element, the authors focus on developing cultural emphases within a school in the six following ways.

1. A culture of adult ownership, expertise, and professionalism:

The adults in a school must first seek to transform themselves to accomplish this emphasis. These are not just idle words from the authors.

They propose that all educators begin by examining their beliefs and the actions that stem from those beliefs; they should then seek to nourish a personal worldview that maximizes their effectiveness as educators working on a common goal. Additionally, they should examine their level of commitment to the mission of the school such that school leaders can count on all staff members to put their full professional energies into the success of the school’s wellness wheel approach. 2. A culture of mastery: This involves establishing a system that provides clearly articulated learning goals in all subject areas. These goals should