Team Retreats: Centering SEL as You Plan, Facilitate, and Debrief

Use this tool as you plan a half-day to multi-day retreat for your team, to integrate SEL into the way you design the agenda, share opportunities for leadership among team members, facilitate activities, and set up discussions for the team to make meaning of what they have learned and accomplished.

TAGS professional learning district SEL expertise SEL leadership

Systems-Wide Reflection: Indicators of Schoolwide and Districtwide SEL

This chart sets CASEL’s Indicators of Districtwide SEL and Indicators of Schoolwide SEL side by side, with links to further information, suggested implementation processes, and examples. District leaders can use this tool to guide reflection, conversation, and planning about how social and emotional learning (SEL) is integrated throughout systems at the school level and at the district level.

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

Three Signature Practices: Creating the Conditions for Adult Learning

Highly engaging, effective and purposeful meetings and professional learning experiences are created using three key social and emotional learning practices = welcoming rituals, engaging practices, and optimistic closures. This short document provides the purpose / example of each.

TAGS PLC mindfulness three signature practices self awareness SEL coaching for staff building community professional learning district SEL expertise

Equity & Social and Emotional Learning: A Cultural Analysis

Brief outlining how CASEL's core SEL competencies reflect issues of equity, programs and practices that promote educational equity, and implications for SEL assessment.

TAGS cultural competence anti-bias social awareness self awareness self management relationship skills responsible decision making equity culturally responsive building community

In Oakland, Reinventing School Policing

Article and video about Oakland schools' partnership with police and special SEL training for school-based officers.

TAGS community partnerships alternatives to suspension anti-bias SEL partnerships relationship skills restorative practices building community student discipline

Teacher Self-Assessment: Creating a Supportive Classroom Environment

This tool from the CASEL's Guide to Schoolwide SEL is great for launching a staff discussion about ways SEL can be implicitly integrated into basic classroom structures such as the seating arrangement, morning routines, and responses to misbehavior.

TAGS classroom management teacher tool toolkit classroom level culture and climate building community student discipline

Social and Emotional Learning in Practice: Toolkit of Practical Strategies and Resources

Ideal for OST programs, includes tools for equipping staff to teach SEL, creating the learning environment, designing impactful learning experiences, and using data for improvement. Special attention is paid to culturally responsive design.

TAGS paraprofessionals security staff staff onboarding teacher tool toolkit reading lists - staff culturally responsive teacher training advisory/homeroom middle school grades PK-12 instructional practices classroom level culture and climate building community out of school professional learning

3 Signature Practices in the Classroom

One-pager handout summarizing the 3 Signature SEL Practices, examples of each, and alignment with SEL competencies and school priorities.

TAGS mindfulness three signature practices teacher tool social awareness self awareness instructional practices building community

Playbook to Leverage the Power of Communities of Practice

Developed with state policy teams, this resource is designed to support anyone who is working to build a community of practice across multiple schools or districts. Describes 6 steps for building a high quality CoP with tools and examples for each step.

TAGS implementation support district SEL expertise SEL leadership