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Kelly Smith, assistant professor and chair of Professional Education programs at Russell Sage College’s Esteves School of Education, was intrigued when she first learned about Positive Education from Sage alumna Sandy Brower, a Certified Positive Educator and trainer.
As a veteran educator, Smith was concerned about both the rising mental health needs of K-12 students, and the number of talented teachers leaving the field due to burnout.
“I didn’t know how to fill that gap until I started to learn about Positive Ed,” she said of the model for teaching and learning that emphasizes principles of Positive Psychology, including strengths, resilience, and emotional and social well-being for students and teachers.
Smith became a Certified Positive Educator and then led the effort that made Sage the first college in the United States to partner with the Center for Positive Education, which takes the science of positive psychology and makes it applicable specifically to students and teachers.
Since the October 2024 partnership announcement, Russell Sage has begun weaving Positive Education principles into coursework for bachelor’s and master’s students in the Esteves School of Education, and more opportunities, including some for current teachers, are forthcoming.
In the following Q&A, Smith reflects on the first year of the partnership and shares what she’s most looking forward to in 2025-2026.
It sounds like Positive Education resonated with you almost right away. How did you know it would be such a good fit for Russell Sage?
Really, it’s because Positive Education aligns so closely with what we already value at Sage. It’s about teaching perseverance, increasing engagement, and building strong, quality relationships — all the things that enhance a person’s well-being and, ultimately, help them perform better academically. These are ideas Sage has believed in for a long time. What Positive Education adds is the science behind it. Now we can prove how these practices support wellness, how new neural pathways form, and how we can retrain the brain to think more optimistically instead of defaulting to the negative.
Positive Education isn’t meant to replace intensive therapy for students with significant mental health needs. It’s a proactive, tier-one approach that benefits all students and, really, all human beings. It’s all about strategies to help us become better, more resilient humans.
How have Russell Sage students responded to the integration of Positive Education in their coursework so far?
Really positively! I did an exercise in my graduate Teaching Methods class that I learned at a positive education conference, and it went over extremely well. Students practiced listening without having to “win,” finding common ground during difficult conversations, and then applied those skills to their work as educators.
In my 200-level Education and Society class, we had students complete the VIA Character Strengths assessment and reflect on how their strengths and lesser strengths show up in their lives. That sparked a really good conversation. Students began to see that even their “lesser” strengths are still strengths — they can continue to grow and develop them. We discussed how to approach tasks that challenge their lesser strengths.
Our future teachers are responding to the broader philosophy of Positive Education, that our role isn’t just addressing problems, but helping students build the skills and mindset to thrive. Developing positive emotions alongside managing challenges lays an important foundation for learning and growth.
We also emphasize self-care for educators: the importance of taking care of yourself and modeling the same skills you want your students to develop.
The partnership with the Center for Positive Education just reached its first anniversary, and Positive Education concepts are part of Sage’s teacher preparation courses. What’s next for Positive Ed at Russell Sage?
We’re working on giving Russell Sage students the opportunity to earn an optional microbadge from the Center for Positive Education. The microbadge will help Sage graduates stand out even more in the job market.
I’m also hoping to take a group of education students to observe at a high school in Ontario where Positive Education is truly school-wide. I’d love for our students to see a school that has fully embraced these practices.
All the places you hear about with strong academic performance — Finland, the U.K., Canada — they’re doing this kind of work.
And we’d also like to offer a teacher training here at Sage, possibly in the spring.
You’ve also been promoting Positive Education beyond the Russell Sage campus. Tell us about that.
I was recently a guest on New American Colleges and Universities’s Degrees of Impact podcast. They interviewed me on Positive Education and how it benefits teachers and school districts.
I also completed the Certificate of Applied Positive Psychology and the first of three levels to become a Positive Education trainer. This is in addition to the Positive Education Certificate for teachers that I already had.
And in August, I attended the Flourish Conference at Ridley College in Ontario, with a team from The Flourishing Center, which is the organization behind the Center for Positive Education.
The conference featured the top researchers and practitioners in the field. Irshad Manji was one of the featured speakers, and she focused on moral courage. Another speaker, a neuroscientist, talked about vitality and how things like exercise and nutrition affect our overall well-being. He explained the neuroscience behind different practices that increase happiness, health, and vitality.
Honestly, there wasn’t a single speaker I didn’t learn a tremendous amount from.
When you have foundational skills in a certain area, you just want to keep building, you want more tools in your toolbox. I understand what best practice looks like, but I also wanted to see how others are bringing these ideas to life for their students and for themselves. The conference really helped make those techniques come alive.
Is there anything you would like to add?
We’re just at the beginning, but we’re training a new kind of teacher, who’s equipped to meet the needs of 21st-century K-12 students, especially as those needs continue to grow in areas like social-emotional learning and emotional regulation. With Positive Education, Russell Sage education graduates will be able to meet those needs in a different way, with a toolbox that many new teachers don’t yet have.
My greatest hope is that not only do teachers start learning these skills, but that schools and districts begin adopting these practices. A district-level initiative is where the big changes happen.