Community Partnerships (Aligned Community Partnerships): Schools and community partners aligning on common language, strategies, and communication around all SEL-related efforts and initiatives, including out-of-school time. CASEL - Indicators of Schoolwide SEL
Before launching an SEL action plan, it’s important to take stock of what is going on across your school and previous SEL-related efforts. Build on your strengths and learn from members of your school community who have seen many initiatives come and go by honoring and reflecting on the work that has come before.
Once you have developed a shared vision for SEL with your school community and taken stock of what is already in place and what has been tried in the past, it’s time to set SEL goals and make a plan to measure progress toward them.
As the school year comes to a close, it is time to determine whether SEL implementation and outcome goals were met, share and reflect on successes and challenges with the school community, compile all lessons learned and use this new knowledge to set new goals or adjust previous goals and plans to reach them.
Monitoring and reflecting on your progress toward Schoolwide SEL is an important part of quality implementation. Here are three tools that can help.
Define Team Member Roles and Responsibilities
To ensure meetings are productive, it’s a good idea to define team roles and responsibilities, and strive to share work equitably.
Belonging and Emotional Safety
When teachers build the structures that support belonging and emotional safety, they lay the groundwork for students to focus on learning (Sergiovanni, 1994 in Darling-Hammond et al., 2017).
Assess needs and resources to develop an SEL implementation plan with clear goals, action steps, and assigned ownership.
In partnership with schools and districts, CASEL has documented, field-tested, and refind a strategic, collaborative process for schoolwide SEL
Focus Area 2: Continuous Improvement Connections
A safe and supportive school climate is an important factor for improving academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes for students (Thapa, 2013).
Model SEL with Students and Families
When staff model social and emotional competencies in their interactions with students and families, they intentionally embody SEL and set the stage for trusting relationships that catalyze learning and partnership.