FAQs

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the process through which an individual acquires and applies the knowledge and skills to develop and manage emotion and identity, show, and feel empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. The key concepts support education and learning outcomes.

Through collaborative and trusting school, family, and community bonds, EI promotes safe and healthy learning environments and experiences to expand education excellence. EI empowers young people to make quality life decisions to become contributors to their community.

For more information on the benefits of EI in schools, check out our blog!

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) is the term used to describe all types of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences that occur to a person under the age of 18. The impact of ACE is related to toxic stress, which is the repeated activation of the brain’s fight or flight and free stress response system. Chronic activation of this response system can have lasting, negative effects on health, well-being, and opportunity. According to the CDC, teaching skills identified as Emotional Intelligence is a strategy to prevent ACE’s.

According to the University of Oklahoma Hope Research Center, Hope is a psychological strength that enables individuals, families, and community to thrive. The My Best Me curriculum has been identified as a pathway to Hope and drives resilient behaviors. Our program provides tools to both assess and nurture Hope for both school-aged children and educators. Having high levels of Hope improves coping skills, buffers against stress, predicts achievement, enhances positive relationships, and promotes healthy adaptive behaviors and resiliency.

Our unique approach develops the psycho-social skills of students through age and grade appropriate strategies that will help build adaptive and positive behavior. We do this through hope. Having hope — which can be learned — has proven to reduce the negative impact of toxic stress and build resilience against adverse childhood experiences.

Additionally, our Emotional Intelligence curriculum offers:

• Hardcopy and digital texts designed with independent lessons that allow teachers instructional flexibility based upon district goals.
• Deductive education model with parent summaries allowing it to maneuver around ridge boundaries and sensitive issues.
• Student-centric approaches to improve Hope, which is a leading indicator of success in relationships, academics, career, and business.

We’ve written a blog series on each of the 7 Steps to Nurture Hope. Start reading that series here.

The Hope Survey is a six-question Hope Scale where students will rank answers to questions on how they feel from 1 – 6 (1 being none of the time, and 6 being all of the time). This short assessment will give understanding both on an individual student level, as well as a deeper understanding of the mental health of the entire school. Along with the digital survey, Hope Rising EDU provides analytical tools to show comparative rankings among a school, district, and overall averages.

Our easy-to-read analytics provide information that could save a student’s life. When a student commits suicide, everyone asks “How could we have known?”  “What could we have done to save them?” Or “How could we not have seen that they were hurting?” Our Hope Survey tool can be used to provide a more intimate look into the students mental health.

There is also an adult version of the Hope Survey they we recommend the teacher’s take. This can serve as a great tool in determining which teachers will best be suited to teach the materials to students.

You can learn more about our Hope Survey here. 

Hope Rising has partnered with York College to provide an MAE (Master of Arts in Education) or an MOL (Master of Arts in Organizational and Global Leadership) at highly discounted rates. Additional discounts and credit hours are offered for those teaching the My Best Me curriculum.

Dozens of authors, child specialists, Emotional Intelligence experts, editors, and consultants have contributed to the content of My Best Me. Experts in the field of education from all over the world have helped make the My Best Me curriculum a research-based program with undeniable results.

For a list of contributors, please reach out to info@hoperisingedu.com.

My Best Me has used multiple authors and contributors for different grade levels depending on their field of expertise. Students of all ages will benefit from the HOPE that is infused into every lesson. My Best Me offers curriculum for PreK through High School.

Absolutely! At Hope Rising EDU, we believe that parents and legal guardians of students play an integral part in the lives of their children. This is why we created the Parent Summary that goes along with every single lesson in each textbook. The Parent Summary is easily accessible by the teacher and can be printed or emailed. It is written in both English and Spanish.

Yes! The year 2020 brought about many changes to the ways in which our students can learn! Hope Rising EDU stepped up to that challenge by creating effective ways that students can learn from home. The student workbooks are consumable, so they can be sent to the student’s home and used during virtual classes.  However, teachers also have the digital texts and can control what the students are able to view, so they can best control what the student is learning. There is also a student worksheet that can be sent to the student and/or printed. The Parent Summary also allows for the involvement of parents into the subject matter taught each week.

Each workbook, whether digital or hardcopy, contain 30 lessons. Those lessons are age- and grade-appropriate and are typically taught in about 45-60 minutes, one day per week. Each grade, PreK-12th grade, has individual books for both teachers and students (28 books in all).

It generally takes 45-60 minutes per lesson. Each lesson is designed with basically the same format that begins with Goal Setting, Pathways (including videos, stories, activities, etc.), and Willpower.  45-60 minutes is the suggested time; however, each lesson contains questions that can often lead to deeper discussion and other questions. This can cause extended time if the teacher wishes. Life change is the goal, and time should only be capped when necessary.

The curriculum is generally taught by teachers and/or counselors in a classroom setting. It is worth noting that we offer a private Facebook group for those implementing the curriculum, whether teacher or counselor. This is an area for collaboration, additional training, program feedback, and how to use our curriculum in your school.

Hope Rising EDU is based on foundational principles for all walks of life and filled with the belief that Hope is necessary for everyone. We encourage all teachers and leadership to purchase the book Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life. Set your own goals, and ask your students often what some of their goals are. We are all in this process together of making our country a stronger and safer place to live!

With every classroom/student purchase of the curriculum you will receive access to the Hope Survey. We highly recommend using the survey both at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the school year when the curriculum is completed. Learn more about our Hope Survey here. 

WE GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL SEE AN INCREASE IN THE OVERALL HOPE SCORE OF YOUR STUDENTS. IF YOU DO NOT, WE WILL GIVE YOU THE FOLLOWING YEAR’S CURRICULUM FOR FREE!

My Best Me is designed in a way that is geared specifically toward students. We refer to it as being student-centric. That being said, those teaching the Hope Rising EDU curriculum should have an understanding of why Hope is so important to students, and we want to do our best to guide them. So we offer several tools to help teachers.

Hope Training: There is an online training, can provide additional understanding of the components of Hope.

Curriculum Overview Videos: Teachers will also need to understand how My Best Me is laid out, how to manage the digital text, and suggested teaching strategies. Additional videos are provided with the purchase of the curriculum to serve as tools to assist the teacher in these areas.

Private Facebook Group: We also launched a private Facebook group! It’s here that teachers can collaborate with other educators implementing the curriculum. It’s a place to share ideas, get additional training, provide program feedback, and gain knowledge about Hope and how to use our curriculum in your school.

Teachers today are extremely busy, and we want to make it as simple on them as possible! Learn more about our teacher tools here.