Schools across the country are being held to increased accountability for student learning. As U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said in his back-to-school address to the nation, "Our children deserve to learn, promptly and well, and anything that distracts from their learning is a distraction from schools' mission." What's the connection between what schools are doing to prevent violence and high-quality learning? Recently, three education experts got together to address that question.

Susan Neuman, the U.S. Department of Education's assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, says the answer is clear. "We must address social, emotional, and cognitive development at the same time because children are social, emotional, and cognitive beings." According to Neuman, a literacy expert and former elementary school teacher, addressing children's social, emotional, and cognitive development is not just something for teachers to do, but requires parents, teachers, medical professionals, and the entire community all working together on these equally important areas.

"When children succeed at school, they are socially and emotionally happy, and in this way the academic and social aspects of a child's life are interwoven," she said. "Children who are attached, who feel well-connected to adults, learn better. They need clear, systematic instruction, but they also need to know that adults care about them."

Sheppard Kellam, senior research scientist at the American Institutes for Research, agreed. "We are moving into a new generation in which prevention and education will be seen as one great whole. We need to understand the complex tasks and activities involved with teaching in order to integrate what we've learned to do in prevention into a seamless model of one thing called teaching."

Why do prevention and curriculum belong together? Kellam believes the failure to succeed at academics can lead to negative social and emotional consequences for children, such as depression and aggressive behavior, which in turn can further impact their ability to learn. When we give students positive social skills, we don't just help them feel better, we help them learn better too."

According to Theodore Sizer, founder and chair emeritus of the Coalition of Essential Schools, academic success will be achieved only when educators build caring, personal relationships with children. "Schools will become safe and academically powerful to the extent that every child is known so well that when we look at them, we know them," Sizer said. "A child who is afraid will not learn well. Students need to know that teachers know each of them well and care enough about them to move in and push them, help them, and encourage them to succeed.