Plan SEL Foundational Learning for your School District

This tool can help SEL leaders prepare a broad plan to provide learning experiences for all stakeholders in the school district community, and access resources to support foundational learning about SEL.

TAGS teacher training professional learning family and community engagement

Building Trusting Relationships for School Improvement – Implications for Principals and Teachers

This booklet looks at the importance of trust in school improvement, particularly regarding relationships between teachers and between teachers and administrators. It includes case studies in middle and high schools, a review of relevant research, common obstacles to trust, and actionable strategies for strengthening trust.

TAGS Adult SEL building community

School-Based SEL Implementation Commitments

Washoe County School District clearly defined the commitments required for principals, SEL teams, and teachers to participate in district-supported professional learning and coaching for schoolwide SEL.

TAGS implementation support model SEL schools implementation plan professional learning

Thompson School District Strategic Plan

Thompson School District in Loveland, Colorado, deeply imbeds SEL throughout their strategic plan, Strive 2025. The plan includes a Portrait of a Graduate, which guides their SEL vision and the development of SEL standards describing what a student should know and be able to do.

TAGS implementation plan planning SEL leadership

Guiding Questions for Educators: Promoting Equity Using SEL in your School

When social and emotional learning (SEL) is implemented with a culturally responsive lens, educators can use SEL to cultivate equitable learning opportunities, responsive relationships, and inclusive practices. This resources features reflection questions for school-level educators to explore the CASEL core competencies through an equity lens.

See also: Guiding Questions for Educators: Promote Equity Using SEL in your District

TAGS cultural competence Adult SEL equity culturally responsive

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

Practices of Promise: Youth Voice in Washoe County School District, Nevada

This case example offers a glimpse into WCSD’s process of creating structures to elevate and listen to students, before and through the pandemic.

TAGS student leadership conducting local SEL research continuous improvement youth voice

Case Study: Oakland Unified School District Process for Developing SEL Standards

Oakland's SEL standards and classroom indicator examples, contextual information on how they were developed and how they are assessed.

TAGS SEL standards board policies implementation support implementation plan PK-12 classroom level

Introduction to SEL for School Staff – Nashville

Nashville's presentation on integrating SEL into daily classroom practices begins by modeling a class meeting and includes many interactive, learner-centered activities, with presenter notes.

TAGS SEL standards lesson planning teacher training SEL overview instructional practices classroom level building community professional learning

Social-Emotional Competence: An Essential Factor for Promoting Positive Adjustment and Reducing Risk in School Children

Medium length scientific journal article (Domitrovich, Staley, Durlak, and Weissberg, 2017) reviews research behind SEL and what is known about effective intervention approaches, and proposes an intervention model to promote resilience.

TAGS journal article reading lists - staff SEL competence evidence-based programs district SEL expertise building buy-in for SEL