1. The 90by30 5th Annual Conference
Presented by Mary Gordon, Founder/President, Roots of Empathy
October 14, 2017
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Roots of Empathy Presentation
August Page 1

2. Johnny has 3 apples. If Amélie takes 2 apples, How will Johnny feel?
CLICK ON THE MOUSE FOR THE BULLET POINTS TO APPEAR
(this point below follows the first sentence in the slide)
Here is a familiar mathematical question asked in schools.
(this point below follows the second sentence in the slide…wait ten seconds for the audience to read the sentence)
The Roots of Empathy question is…
(this point below follows the third sentence in the slide)
How Johnny feels is the real question. How Johnny feels determines how Johnny will learn. Roots of Empathy addresses the affective, or emotional, side of learning.
Roots of Empathy is a social and emotional competence-building program
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3. What is Roots of Empathy?
Roots of Empathy is an evidence-based classroom program that has shown significant effect in reducing levels of aggression including bullying among school children by raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. 
The Roots of Empathy program takes a universal approach. It engages the whole classroom including onlookers and bystanders rather than targeting and isolating the bullies, aggressive children or victims of bullying.
The Research shows that Roots of Empathy reduces aggression and increases pro-social behaviour (i.e., sharing, helping and including). I will talk more about research later on.
Breaking the intergenerational cycle of poor parenting and violence.
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4. Our Mission
Roots of Empathy explains empathy to children by saying that it means “understanding how people feel”.
The cognitive aspect of empathy is perspective-taking and the affective aspect of empathy is emotions.
Roots of Empathy educates both the mind and the heart.
Our mission is to build caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults.
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5. “Empathy can’t be taught
but can be caught”Mary Gordon

6. Our “teachers” are babies.
We offer empathy-based programming to children in primary schools in 11 countries.
These little footprints belong to Mary Gordon’s little granddaughter – who was a Roots of Empathy baby in her first year…and just started kindergarten.
Our “teachers” are babies.

7. It’s cute. But it’s far more than that

8. We have reached more than 800,000 children
around the world.

9. Our accredited curriculum is offered at four age levels for a full school year.
A certified Instructor delivers the program as a gift to the classroom teacher.
Our Roots of Empathy parent and “tiny teacher” volunteer.
Volunteer Instructors receive training, mentoring, and professional development with recertification requirements each year.

11. Feedback Results: Host Teachers
90% of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that as a result of ROE, students are more able to understand other people’s points of view.
86% of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that as a result of ROE, students are more empathic to one another.

12. Feedback Results: Students
91% of students reported that if they saw a friend being bullied or treated meanly, they would help them.
84% of students reported that if they saw a student in the playground being bullied or treated meanly, they would help them.
“They are chasing me
I told them to stop”

13. Research Results: Across Three Continents
Compared to control groups, Roots of Empathy children consistently demonstrated:
Decreased aggression with peers
Increased social and emotional knowledge and understanding
Increased prosocial behavior with peers
In contrast, children in the control classrooms evidenced significant increases in aggression across the school year.
Roots of Empathy children, relative to comparison children, demonstrated significant improvements from pretest to posttest in the
Over 14 years of research across 3 continents shows consistent results.
Roots of Empathy children, relative to comparison children, demonstrated significant improvements from pretest to posttest in the following areas:
Decreased aggression with peers
Increased knowledge of emotions
Increased social understanding
Increased prosocial behaviors with peers – children are kinder – more sharing and inclusive
behaviors
Not only did children in Roots of Empathy show significant decreases in aggression but children in comparison classrooms evidenced significant increases in aggression across the school year.
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14. Research Results (cont’d)
Increased sense of classroom belonging and peer acceptance
Lasting results:
Follow-up study showed
decrease in aggression and
increase in prosocial behaviors
maintained and improved
after 3 years
Results were consistent across grade levels, settings, informants, and measures utilized.
Some studies asked children about their peers. These studies found increased positive behaviours like sharing, helping, and including, along with a greater since of belonging and peer acceptance in the classroom.
A recent study in Manitoba found that these results last for at least three years. That study looked at children in kindergarten, grade 4, and grade 8.
Outcomes have been studied in children from kindergarten to grade 8. In all studies, results were consistent across age groups. Results were also consistent among girls and boys.
Roots of Empathy Presentation
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15. School Mental Health (2012)
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16. School Mental Health (2012)
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17. School Mental Health (2012)
585 students in grades 4-7 (28 classrooms)
Pretest-posttest design
Outcome Measures
Infant Distress (emotion understanding & emotion-regulation strategies)
Prosocial behavior
Aggression
Proactive & Relational
18 schools in Vancouver and 10 in Toronto – SES & Racial/ethnicity representation
In the larger body of literature, increased prosocial behaviour is correlated with empathy, academic performance, mental health, peer acceptance, & positive social relationships
No baseline differences between groups
Teacher-rated – Proactive and relational aggression
Peer-rated prosocial behaviour
Implementation as well
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18. Peer-Rated Aggressive/Antisocial Behaviors Prosocial Behaviors Shares
Starts fights
Breaks rules
Prosocial Behaviors
Shares
Cooperates
Helps other kids when they have a problem
Kind
Understands other kids’ point of view
Fair
Students - total nominations received/total # of kids in classroom
Teachers – Child Behaviour Scale (children’s behaviour with peers at school)
ROE children in comparison to controls were more likely to share, cooperate
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19. Implementation Fidelity
Implementation level = 96%
Average number of ROE lessons = (SD = 1.25)
Lesson plan content = 95%
93% - Pre-family visit
95% - Family visit
91% - Post-family visit
Implementation fidelity is high!
Measure of adherence to program delivery (accuracy)
Important because it ensures that the established outcomes are being met
Researchers wanted to ensure type of lesson did not have an impact on delivery – found no sig. difference between type of lesson
Level of student engagement M = 4.93 (baby) and M = 4.42 (no baby) – no significant difference in engagement across lessons
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20. Healthcare Quarterly (2011)
Year 1: ROE (445); Control (315)
37 School divisions invited
8 school divisions participated
Stratified by Kindergarten, grade 4, grade 8
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21. Healthcare Quarterly (2011)
Immediate Effects (pre- to posttest)
physical aggression (approximately 50% reduction in physical fighting) and indirect aggression decreased
Prosocial behaviour increased
Long-term Effects (Longitudinal)
beneficial effects of the program mostly maintained or continued to improve throughout the follow-up years
ROE groups ( groups and groups)
Immediate Effects: Teacher rating
Positive effects carry over to high school --  Applied to all of the approximately 16,725 students in Manitoba that have participated in Roots of Empathy since 2001, on average, the program would have reduced the number of students fighting from 2,509 (15%) by 1171 (7%) to 1,338 (8%), an impact of considerable practical significance for students, teachers, schools, and communities.
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22. Annual Program Evaluation (APE)
Post-hoc analysis summary of program data collected from students and teachers in grade three to eight using quantitative and qualitative items
Roots of Empathy invites metacognition - teachers are asked to provide their perceptions of any changes in behaviour in students who participated in the program, while students gain experience reflecting on what they learned in connection to the main goals of the program.
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23. APE (2016): New Mexico
83% of students reported understanding how other people feel
100% of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that as a result of ROE, students are more able to understand other people’s points of view
100% of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that as a result of ROE, students are more empathic to one another
New Mexico
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24. ROE Annual Program Evaluation (2016): New Mexico
93% of students reported that if they saw a friend being bullied or treated meanly, they would help them
85% of students reported that if they saw a student in the playground being bullied or treated meanly, they would help them
83% of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that as a result of ROE, students showed more prosocial behavior (e.g. sharing, helping, cooperating) by the end of the school year
100% of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that as a result of ROE, students are more supportive in resolving conflicts involving classmates
New Mexico
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25. Copyright 2016 Roots of Empathy

26. What can Roots of Empathy teach the world? “How to keep babies safe.”
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27. What can Roots of Empathy teach the world
What can Roots of Empathy teach the world? “Never shake a baby because it could die because its brain will stop working.”
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28. “Never shake a baby. Shaking a baby is another way to hurt the baby or kill the baby. If you’re stressed put the baby down.”
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29. “The baby is crying because someone yelled at him.”
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30. Please No!
“Stop abuse!”
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31. Facebook.com/rootsofempathy
For more information:
Follow us:
@rootsofempathy
Facebook.com/rootsofempathy
I now welcome any questions you may have.
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