School Climate: The "quality and character of school life" based on how members of the school community experience school and the school's "norms, goals, values, interpersonal relationships, teaching, learning and leadership practices, and organizational structures" (Reference: National School Climate Council). National School Climate Council
Connect and Collaborate With Families
Mentoring programs can help teachers improve their professional relationships while enhancing their SEL and instructional practice.
Develop a coordinated approach for supporting students’ social and emotional learning across the school, classrooms, homes, and communities.
Create a stable budget for SEL resources, professional learning, and staffing to support the sustainability of SEL efforts.
The SEL team serves as a model for positive practices that promote healthy relationships among adults, students, and families. It’s highly beneficial to build a strong team dynamic and positive working relationship by developing group norms and team routines.
Integrate Student Supports with SEL
By integrating SEL into student support services through a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), schools are better equipped to ensure that all students have what they need to succeed.
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).
Integration of SEL and Academics
Social and emotional competencies serve as a foundation for achieving academic goals, while academic instruction also provides a ripe opportunity for teaching and practicing SEL.
Strategies for Establishing School-OST-Family Partnerships in Support of SEL
Professional Learning About SEL
As staff use shared agreements to guide their interactions, it’s essential that they also reflect on their own social and emotional growth.
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).