Process

All schools have practices in place that guide how they communicate and interact with students’ families. To improve the quality and impact of these practices and ensure that families are engaged as genuine partners, districts must analyze family engagement data and identify the mechanisms that strengthen or form a barrier to that engagement.

For example, a district team could review data to determine which schools have the strongest school climate ratings from families and caregivers and interview school leaders and families to learn what engagement practices are in place. Data can also reveal where and which families and caregivers are less satisfied with their school. From there, districts can organize outreach, potentially with the support of a well-connected community partner, to learn more about why families are less satisfied and what they see as key areas for improvement.

CASEL’s Caregiver SEL Implementation Survey collects data on family perceptions of SEL implementation in alignment with 10 indicators of schoolwide SEL. Data from this survey is helpful in planning, setting goals, and monitoring progress. Family representatives can provide important insight when reflecting on, interpreting, and using this data for continuous improvement (see Focus Area 4: Reflect on Progress Toward Annual SEL Goals for tools to support data reflection).

Districts may begin a family communication strategy by providing regular, consistent messaging around SEL that keeps families and caregivers informed about SEL plans and programming and promotes awareness of the connections between parenting and SEL. But two-way communication means going beyond sending information out to families. It also means actively listening and responding to the ideas and needs of families.

Families are the primary source for information about their children and what makes a school feel welcoming and supportive. While they may or may not feel knowledgeable about SEL right away, they hold important insight about what kind of SEL practices will best meet their children’s needs. Engage diverse family focus groups and recruit diverse family representatives for committees when making districtwide decisions about SEL curricula or approaches, developing policy about SEL standards or guidelines, recruiting and hiring staff, choosing assessments methods, or preparing training or materials for family partnership. Hold events at a variety of times and in a variety of community spaces, and collaborate with community partners to reach more families.

Strong two-way communication is more likely if the district creates dedicated family engagement positions and funds family outreach and engagement. Ideally, a district will designate a high-level leadership position to focus on family and community engagement with a team of full-time staff with the capacity to provide technical assistance to all schools. This team can ensure that a high-quality, user-friendly website and two-way communication structures are in place and well-known to families. Another option is to fund the creation of school-level positions devoted to outreach and engagement and provide professional learning, technical support, and accountability structures centrally.

• Some districts have allocated personnel and funds to convene family advisory committees to support SEL implementation, including members from each district school.
• In Minneapolis Public Schools, district leaders collaborate with families to identify pressing district challenges and innovative solutions through Parent Participatory Evaluation (PPE). In this program, parent leaders are trained in research and evaluation, then conduct research within their peer communities in collaboration with district research staff. They then present their findings in a community-wide meeting, where the board members and Superintendent are present to listen and learn. Themes emerging from these studies have led to powerful changes.
• El Paso Independent School District’s SEL team has a coordinator dedicated to family outreach. They involved families when designing criteria for an evidence-based SEL program to adopt as a district.  Family representatives participated in the committee that reviewed potential programs and ultimately selected one that was a strong match for their culture and priorities. You can read more about the district’s experience in Practices of Promise: Selecting Evidence-Based Programs Through Meaningful Partnerships, and download a tool to involve stakeholders in developing your own criteria.

With family input, set high standards for what a welcoming school environment and authentic school-family partnerships should look like. It is not enough to simply share standards with schools—districts must allocate funds and protect time for school staff to connect with families and build staff capacity to improve engagement.

Use this reflection tool to launch discussion about how to create a more welcoming and participatory school environment. More guidance and family engagement resources for schools are available on the CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL.

District-level staff can support schools to progress through the following stages of family partnership:

• Assess family satisfaction and engagement data and examine inequity based on race, class, language, or culture. Build an aligned action plan for stronger outreach and inclusive practices to bridge gaps.
• Build relationships and trust with all families by modeling strong social and emotional competencies in interactions, honoring family contributions, visiting homes and important places in the community, and welcoming families to visit and observe or simply interact with staff in informal settings.
• Use multiple modes of communication for outreach, enlist support of parent organizers, hold community forums in a variety of locations and times.
• Revisit family communication structures to ensure that they are simple and accessible for all families. Schools and districts that view families as partners demonstrate openness with well-known feedback channels and timely processes for responding to questions and concerns.
• Examine whether family engagement events and strategies position families as partners or as receivers. Schools and districts that position families as partners invite them to discuss challenges and problem-solve alongside school staff and ask for their views and suggestions when key decisions need to be made.
• Recruit parents and caregivers as members in school leadership teams. Include family representatives in committees for SEL, hiring, school climate, and other teams dedicated to school improvement.

School-based SEL teams benefit from the inclusion of family representatives. Beyond lending their personal perspective, they can also assist in seeking out broader family input for SEL planning, such as co-constructing an SEL vision statement, setting priorities and goals, developing criteria for selecting an evidence-based SEL program, and reviewing and reflecting on SEL-related data for continuous improvement.

To engage families in collaboratively guiding SEL work in schools, a cluster of schools in Chicago implemented the SEL Discussion Series for Parents and Caregivers, a 10-week series of discussions on strategies to promote SEL in the home, led by parents, for parents. Several of those who participated became members of their school’s SEL team. Austin Independent School District created the Families as Partners initiative to build trusting relationships and equal partnerships between school staff and families. In this work families collaborate with staff and administrators on school priorities and strategies, including SEL and equity.

Design structures that allow schools and the district to gather input from families about their preferences and needs, and regularly collect feedback about families’ experiences with their schools and the district (for example, using CASEL’s Family/Caregiver Survey on Schoolwide SEL Implementation, also available in Spanish). Use these findings to inform family partnership strategies, learn more from schools that are experiencing success, and spread successful practices.

Consider both major district partners working with many schools as well as smaller community institutions that are contributing to the success of one or two schools.  This process could include completing a scan of district contracts, surveying principals or counselors at schools with strong school climate data, or creating asset maps that include locations other than home and school where students and their families gather.  Some community partners may already include SEL as a core part of their mission. Others may have different primary objectives, but have incredible influence and value to students and will likely see intersections between SEL and their work.

You may to look for community partners that:

• Provide SEL-related programming in schools, such as mentoring groups or student leadership activities.
• Provide SEL-related professional development, coaching, or consultation to staff.
• Provide SEL-related direct services to students and families either in the school or at a community-based setting.

Here are a few examples of key SEL focused partnerships in Austin ISD.

Sacramento City USD’s flyer shows common SEL goals between schools and Expanded Learning Programs.

This article and video features Oakland USD’s SEL partnership with police.

Begin by engaging leaders of identified community organizations to learn how they are already supporting SEL and discuss ways to align and contribute to the district’s approach to SEL.  Schools and their partners may have similar social and emotional learning goals for the youth they work with, but may be using different terms or practices to achieve those goals.  By comparing SEL frameworks, practices, and language, your district can learn what’s working well from partners who often are better attuned to local needs and community culture, and partners can learn how to better reinforce and build on the social and emotional learning that takes place during the school day.

For key SEL community partners, set up regular meetings (such as quarterly) to intentionally align language and practices; check in on how they’re working with schools, students and families; and strategize on how you can work together to ensure SEL is a priority during the school day and out-of-school time.

If you have many partners, you may want to set up a SEL community partner committee that meets regularly as a group to discuss strategies for aligning language and practices across organizations and the district. This is also a good way to ensure coordination and minimize duplicating efforts so that resources are efficiently allocated to ensure students and families have access to a broad range of SEL-related services.

You can learn about the process and common challenges of partnership through the experiences of school districts and out-of-school-time partners in Boston, Dallas, Denver, Palm Beach County, Tulsa, and Tacoma as part of the CASEL-supported Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative (PSELI).  The report shares lessons learned about launching and coordinating work, developing partnerships, supporting adult capacity building to promote SEL, and improving climate and the delivery of SEL instruction.

SEL Dallas, a collective that includes Dallas Independent School District, Big Thought, Dallas Afterschool, and City of Dallas Parks & Recreation, has published an online Guidebook that describes their approach to strengthening partnerships between schools and partners and provides tools and best practices they have developed through their ongoing collaborative work.

AIR’s Beyond the Bell project provides resources for assessing and integrating SEL in OST programs.

The Partnership for Children & Youth shares Finding Common Ground: Connecting Social-Emotional Learning During and Beyond the School Day to support stronger alignment between in-school and expanded learning.

The Wallace Foundation’s Social and Emotional Learning in Out-of-School Time Settings provides guidelines for adapting leading SEL programs for OST settings.

Identify partnerships are the strongest levers for SEL, and support the work of those partners so that more students are impacted.

Districts can leverage community partnerships in many creative ways.  Here are some examples:

• Include key partners in district-level advisory committees.
• Offer districtwide or targeted training led or co-led by a community partner.
• Organize resource fairs for school leaders to learn about available partners and how their work has been successful with similar schools.
• Contract with strong partners to support SEL within districtwide programming such as summer school, re-engagement centers, or alternative schools.
• Develop a robust menu of SEL-related community services that can be shared with schools, students, and families.
• Collaborate on print resources or a website to share successful SEL practices
• Make videos featuring successful partnerships between community organizations and individual schools.
• Organize resource fairs for students’ families at well-attended district events.
• Have community partners do outreach and help facilitate SEL-related parent leadership groups (e.g., organize a family discussion series,  train parent volunteers to use restorative practices during recess).

A good place to start is with CASEL’s Guide to Schoolwide SEL or AIR’s In-School and Afterschool Social Emotional Learning Connection: A Planning Tool, which can be adapted for various types of partners.

Increase the probability that schools will engage with training and resources by including it as part of a series of sessions on school climate, highlighting existing partnerships, and planning tools in a recurring feature in a districtwide newsletter, or holding an opening session at a resource fair before school staff begin engaging with exhibitors.

Individuals schools should be encouraged to collaborate with staff from their closest partner organizations to better support students and their families; for example:

• Collaborate to put on events to strengthen school connectedness and create a welcoming climate for families.
• Allow the community organization to use school space to offer services and programs that support students and families.
• Invite partners to be a member of a student support team or SEL leadership team.
• Ask community partners to support with parent outreach, such as leading tours of the school, helping with translation, or designing a culturally responsive process for parents to advocate for their child.
• Develop an ethical system for sharing helpful information about students, monitoring progress toward SEL goals, and gathering outcome data.

Additional resources for supporting schools in developing community partnerships for SEL can be found in the CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL.

Use data to determine which partnerships should be expanded and which should be phased out, or to pursue additional funding streams to support a deeper partnership.