West Campus hosts state educators at emotional intelligence symposium

More than 200 school administrators and school board members from around Connecticut attended a symposium at West Campus on Nov. 22 to learn how the principles of emotional intelligence can reduce bullying while improving educational environments and academic performance of students.

The morning symposium, sponsored by The Governor’s Prevention Partnership, was chaired by Marc Brackett, director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Brackett led a discussion about how learning to teach social and emotional skills can create a safe learning environment and foster school-based curriculum initiatives.

School administrators and Brackett also discussed how to prevent bullying through implementation of RULER, an approach developed at Yale that helps school officials, teachers, students, and their families develop emotional skills so they can foster healthy relationships, make sound decisions, improve overall mental health, and achieve desired academic outcomes.