Staff Shared Agreements

Shared staff agreements can help facilitate a supportive work environment that promotes schoolwide SEL.

“If people can collaboratively articulate and define their expectations for themselves and for others and commit to a set of working agreements, then so many of the barriers that inhibit successful progress can be eliminated.”

— Stephanie Hirsch, executive director of Learning Forward

These agreements set the context for a safe, supportive work environment in which all staff agree how they will interact with each other, their students, and students’ families and community. Shared agreements can also support positive work and social interactions.

Shared agreements center around these questions:

How do staff, including leadership, agree to interact with each other?
How do staff agree to interact with students?
How do staff agree to interact with students’ families and community partners?
How will staff model self awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making through all of their interactions?
How will staff hold each other accountable for living up to these agreements?

It’s recommended that your staff’s shared agreements be developed collaboratively with input from the entire staff. Some schools in CASEL’s Collaborating Districts Initiative (CDI) have accomplished this during a one- to three-hour activity outlined in the tool Creating Shared Agreements.

Revisit shared agreements regularly during meetings and staff gatherings to ensure their ongoing impact. A similar process can also guide students in creating shared classroom agreements.

Creating Shared Agreements

This tool provides guidance for creating staff shared agreements through a collaborative process, to articulate core mindsets and values that will guide staff members’ interactions with colleagues, students, and families.