SEL Trends: Empowering Youth Voice

From CASEL's SEL Trends series, this issue describes ways that Chicago, Cleveland and Washoe County school districts have recognized students as experts of the school experience and built structures for students to better influence school and district decisions and practices.

TAGS social studies SEL partnerships student leadership youth voice

Austin’s MAPS Course for Freshmen (video)

MAPS (Methods for Academic and Personal Success) is a credit-bearing course for freshmen at Austin High School and other district high schools to support the transition into high school by teaching students how to organize for success, manage their emotions, resolve conflicts, build and maintain positive relationships, and other critical social and emotional learning and student success skills.

TAGS advisory/homeroom high school grades college and career readiness

Convening a Cross-Functional Advisory Council for SEL: Resources, Best Practices, and Suggestions

Key considerations for districts as they build a council consisting of members from different organizations and departments to align social and emotional learning between in-school and out-of-school time settings.

TAGS community partnerships community relations out of school

SEL Dallas Implementation Guidebook

A collaboration between Dallas Independent School District and out-of-school-time partners, this site provides a model for partnership building, laying out a clear process, key roles, and best practices for strengthening partnerships between school districts and youth-serving organizations to promote and align SEL practices.

TAGS community partnerships implementation support

Enacting Social-Emotional Learning: Lessons from “Outlier Schools” in California’s CORE Districts

This research brief looks at the commonalities among California middle schools that reported stronger-than-typical social emotional learning outcomes. These 6 characteristics are elaborated into recommendations for school districts supporting SEL at scale.

TAGS model SEL schools implementation plan restorative practices advisory/homeroom community relations instructional practices culture and climate building community out of school student discipline

Washoe County SEL Competencies Posters for Secondary Schools

This poster set from Washoe illustrates the 5 SEL competencies (includes I Can statements with advanced language and photos of teens) and includes a summary handout useful for a range of audiences.

TAGS teacher tool social awareness self awareness self management relationship skills responsible decision making SEL competence SEL overview middle school grades high school grades communications classroom level

The Positive Impact of Social Emotional Learning for Kindergarten to Eighth-Grade Students: Executive Summary of Three Scientific Reviews

Findings in this summary of 3 large-scale research reviews of K-8 SEL programs show that SEL is among the most impactful youth development support for school-age youth, and it can be incoprorated into routine educational practice.

TAGS journal article reading lists - staff define SEL metrics evidence-based programs out of school district SEL expertise building buy-in for SEL

SEL Implementation and Sustainability Process: Anchorage’s Secondary & Elementary Support Class

1 page summary of Anchorage's 3 hour course for school teams which included content on adult SEL, using the CASEL School Guide, and team planning time.

TAGS implementation support PLC professional learning SEL leadership

DuPage County K-8 SEL Standards

DuPage County's SEL standards, differentiated for each grade level K-8 and categorized within the 5 core SEL competencies.

TAGS SEL standards SEL competence middle school grades elementary school grades

CASEL Program Guide: Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs

To support educators in selecting a high-quality SEL program, our Program Guide serves as a Consumer report-style product that showcases well-designed, evidence-based SEL programs (pre-kindergarten through high school) and the impact they have on student and/or teacher outcomes.

TAGS evidence-based programs elementary school grades classroom level SEL leadership