“Emotions are one of the killers of academic achievement.”

Horacio Sanchez, president and chief executive officer of Resiliency Inc., is an expert in applying brain science to improving schools. Peter Lee, CEO of John Hope Settlement House, invited him to speak to local leaders about a different, more humane perspective on how to close the seemingly intractable achievement gaps between middle-class and poor, often minority children. What might brain science tell us?

Sanchez says, “If the amygdala is in control, the neocortex shuts down.” Brain Science for Dummies would translate: If the kid is having big feelings, he’s not thinking clearly, if he’s thinking at all.

Teachers can give superb lessons, but if the kid’s not listening, he’s not learning. If he’s sad, angry, depressed, or worried about his parents’ fighting, about the bully, about the death of Grandma, the dog, or even a beloved TV character, he’s full of feeling. And feelings come first.

But, Sanchez points out, “We teach the cortex. Do you know right from wrong? Well, if the kid’s in crisis, he doesn’t KNOW much at all.”

Sanchez and the resiliency researchers have a list of things they call “protective factors” that help children, and adults, for that matter, overcome crisis and regain their clear thinking. The modest list includes such things as having predictable routines and a steady household income.

“But the one universal protective factor, for all kids, the one that will improve brain function most, is a long-term nurturing relationship with at least one adult.” Thirty-plus years of research has supported this idea. Even if the parents are doing a great job, and so many aren’t, the most healing factor in a child’s life is a close relationship with at least one adult outside the family. So terrific interactions with many school adults will boost kids’ ability to think at their best and perform to their potential on the holy-grail state and national tests.

It just makes sense.

The amygdala is an almond-shaped part of your brain, which is the primary processor of information that triggers your emotions. Sanchez explains that the amygdala has particular needs and values. Especially with kids, only when satisfied will its emotional alarm bells quiet down and allow higher-order thinking to flourish.

As Sanchez emphasized repeatedly, the amygdala’s values are simple. It wants to feel safe, wanted and successful. And these needs are satisfied by relationships with adults who behave in warm, predictable ways that reassure the child.

Sanchez says, “We tell teachers and providers that if they establish practices that are caring and consistent, the kids’ brains will perceive relationship.”

In one chaotic high school, Sanchez worked with the faculty on three simple messages to calm kids while passing between classes. Passing invites chaos, as any secondary teacher will tell you. So, they established a traffic pattern of walking on the right, to eliminate kids banging into each other, as they tend to do. Teachers stood at their doors enforcing the rule with a hand signal and mouthing the words “Move over.” Sanchez explains, “The amygdala monitors nonverbal gestures. Language increases stress.” Ritualized actions and physical gestures speak directly to the amygdala.

Sanchez also taught the teachers a gesture for “Quit running” and another gesture for “Get off of her.” (Yes, he was a fun speaker.)

“Quickly kids understood the ritual. Anxiety dropped, as did discipline incidents. We find that educational environments that are highly ritualistic lower anxiety. Good schools ritualize major transitions [like passing, lunch and dismissal], and the adults have high visibility. The best teachers have a starting ritual. They help the kids come down from the high of the streets [or hallways] and transition to a calm, productive class. Ritual calm increases the kids’ capacity to adhere to the rules. A stabilized environment is a predecessor to a stable relationship.”

The brain reads the ritual gesture as “relationship” even if the adult doesn’t adore the kid. Many character-education programs emphasize greeting every child by name, looking her in the eye and shaking hands or whatever we do in an era of swine flu. The point is to give the brain a little hit of “I see you and I’m glad you’re here.”

Sanchez knows that actually we’re full-on sorry to see certain disruptive jerks. But he is emphatic that children coming from chaotic homes can still “enter a calming place, which is highly predictive… Research has proved that people who come from tragic environments can have great results [happy, productive lives] after steady time in a calm environment.”

But, he notes with a sad shake of the head, “Programs have to emphasize the adults’ behavior. The amygdala watches the adults. Models will be duplicated.”

Monkey see, monkey do. Monkey wants to feel better, as do we all.

The Web site for Resiliency Inc. is www.resiliencyinc.com .

Julia Steiny, a former member of the Providence School Board, consults for government agencies and schools; she is co-director of Information Works!, Rhode Island’s school-accountability project. She can be reached at juliasteiny@gmail.com, or c/o EdWatch, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.