Process

Identify all of your key stakeholder groups. Remember to include both those who have influence over your SEL work as well as those who are affected by it.

These may include:

• District administrators
• Students
• Teachers, counselors, and other school staff who work directly with students
• School principals
• Family members
• Early education and out-of-school time program providers
• Community organizations that work with students or schools
• Researchers
• School board members
• Local law enforcement
• Local businesses

Once you’ve identified your stakeholders, prioritize them according to two factors: their influence on the SEL implementation and their interest in SEL implementation.

You need to establish clear goals so that your communication plan will be effective. When developing these goals, be sure to link them with the audiences you already outlined.

Here are some examples of goals that are linked with audiences:

• Austin Independent School District wants to reach out to existing and potential funders to help them understand the research findings underpinning the district’s SEL initiative.
• Metro Nashville Public Schools wants to target families and students in order to build visibility and understanding of SEL work through specific success stories.
• Grand Rapids Public Schools Department of Social and Emotional Learning produces a monthly newsletter for all schools and administrators to spotlight schools and individual educators, share information and best practices, and build interest in and prioritization of SEL across the district.

Once you’ve identified your goal and target audience, you need to develop your message. A method called message mapping can help you build effective and clear messaging.

With message mapping, you develop the following:

• Core statement: This is a single sentence that sums up what you want to communicate. Think of it as your “elevator pitch.”
• Key messages: The key messages support your core statement by answering the question “What does that mean?” With your key messages, you explain how you will translate your vision into action. Typically you’ll try to develop three key messages.
• Support points: For each key message you’ll want to provide three support points. These are your “proof” that your message is true. Support points are often statistics, case studies, or stories from the field.

For more about message mapping as well as a message map worksheet, download Steps for Developing Effective Communication Strategies for Social Emotional Learning or this sample message map.

For an example, read about how Broward County Public Schools began by listening to stakeholders, and with their input created a variety of useful and accessible SEL communications resources.

There are a variety of ways to get your message out about SEL. To be most effective, you’ll likely want to use a variety of media and communication channels.

Here are some examples of ways to reach your audiences:

• Create a presentation or flyer for professional learning, school-based meetings, or town halls to introduce stakeholders. Examples include:
  • CASEL’s Introduction to Social and Emotional Learning online course
  • CASEL’s SEL 101
  • Nashville’s Introduction to SEL for School Staff
  • Snapshot of SEL in Washoe County
• Develop and distribute a brochure or newsletter to parents to educate them about SEL and how it will contribute to students’ success. Here are some examples:
  • Oakland Unified School District’s SEL benefits brochure
  • Austin Independent School District’s parent newsletter
• Find or create a video about SEL that could either be shown at a meeting or professional learning session or posted on the district website. Examples include:
  • CASEL’s SEL for Parents (8:31 runtime); also available in Spanish (8:50 runtime)
  • Edutopia: 5 Keys to Successful Social and Emotional Learning (6:02 runtime)
  • CASEL’s What is SEL? (3:22 runtime)
• Summarize research findings for those in a position to influence budgeting, hiring, or funding for SEL. Examples include:
  • An update on social and emotional learning outcome research (Mahoney, Durlak, & Weissberg, 2018)
  • Academic Learning + Social-Emotional learning = National Priority (Weissberg & Cascarino, 2013)
• Place articles in traditional news media, such as newspapers or on local news broadcasts. You can use existing publications, white papers, issue briefs, and case studies to create a base of resources on a topic area. Use these materials to create press releases to demonstrate to news outlets that your SEL initiative deserves coverage. Here are some examples:
  • Social-Emotional Learning in Schools Is So Much More Than ‘Nicey-Nice.’ It Can Be a Lifeline, Education Post
  • Chicago Public Schools Leads on SEL with a Collaborative Approach to Implementation, Education Dive
  • Austin ISD Superintendent Cruz Discusses Achievement Gaps, Social-Emotional earning, Community Impact Newspaper
  • This Principal Has a Creative Way of Encouraging Positive Student Behavior, Education Week
  • Emotional Intelligence—A Student Success Factor, Univision
• Engage your audience through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and online publishing media such as blogs. These platforms allow for “instant” communication and let you engage back-and-forth with your target audiences.

Your plan should include specific outreach activities and timelines. This sample communication plan can serve as a model. You can also download the Steps for Developing Effective Communication Strategies for Social Emotional Learning guide which contains a communications planning worksheet.