Funding: Mind and Life Institute; Varela Award

Despite decades of school reform, racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disproportionality in student academic opportunity and discipline continues to be a significant concern throughout the education system. Mindfulness training may help K-5 teachers engage in behaviors that foster an academic and emotional climate which promotes equitable learning opportunities for all students.

The proposed study is a longitudinal, nonrandomized controlled trial of a mindfulness-based professional development program with 150 elementary school teachers/staff. The intent is to cultivate personal mindfulness practices and integrate mindfulness practices into their classrooms. We hypothesize that this intervention will allow teachers/staff to internalize mindfulness concepts and integrate mindfulness practices into their classrooms. Consequently, we expect participants to act and speak in ways that create a positive classroom climate and encourages equitable learning opportunities for all students. Feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness data will be examined. Mindfulness, compassion, perceived stress, classroom climate, and program satisfaction data will be collected at baseline, post-professional development training, post-implementation, and six months following implementation. Deidentified classroom level grade and office referral data will be analyzed for four consecutive years (before, during, and after the intervention). Cultivating mindful schools can potentially remove barriers to learning and improve the educational climate for millions of students nationwide.