Supporting District Learning and Facilitating Change: Collaborative Initiative to Promote Systemic Social and Emotional Learning’s (CASEL) Role in the Collaborating District Initiative

• In Event: Multiple Perspectives on a Collaborative Initiative to Promote Systemic Social and Emotional Learning in School Districts

Abstract

Recent evidence, including a meta-analysis of over 200 empirical studies, demonstrates that universal social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools can effect significant improvements in students' attitudes, behaviors, social and emotional skills, and academic performance. Efficacy studies are complemented by substantial literature on factors that promote successful implementation of evidence-based SEL programs in schools and classrooms. However, many of the factors that influence implementation at the classroom and school level are controlled by school districts. Although changes at the district level have the potential to impact students on a scale that might not otherwise be possible, districtwide change is certainly no easy task. Research on district-led instructional reform suggests a number of factors that might contribute to districtwide improvement, and external support is chief among these. Most districts simply do not have the resources and expertise to navigate large-scale change on their own. Because social and emotional learning has not historically been part of the formal curriculum of schools, this may be particularly true for change efforts that focus on social and emotional learning.

With all of this in mind, and based on a vision that SEL should be an essential part of education for all students, our organization has launched an initiative to support several large school districts in implementing systemic, evidence-based SEL programming. The initiative, now in its second year, has supported three districts in making significant progress toward planning, implementing, and institutionalizing SEL programming for all student.
Equally important, however, are the many lessons learned about how we as an external service provider can support districts undertaking systemic change. The role of external organizations, in district-led instructional reform has been explored by many authors but the extent to which the findings of this work generalize to SEL-focused reform is unclear. Previous findings on external organizations’ work with school districts to promote SEL has focused specifically on supporting implementation of specific evidence-based SEL programs. The proposed presentation will build from this work and from the experiences of consultants and senior leadership who have planned, implemented, and monitored our initiative. We will present insights on the role of external service providers in promoting systemic, evidence-based SEL programming in school districts. We will outline our model for developing district-level capacity to support SEL, which includes:
• Consulting with senior district leaders
• Training leaders and staff
• Brokering with other service providers
• Facilitating collaboration with other districts, and
• Building districts’ internal training capacity.
The presentation will also highlight kinds of activities in which our consultants engage; tools we have developed to guide districts; dilemmas that have arisen in the course of the initiative; and adaptations we have made to our approach. We hope that the information provided will aid others in providing guidance for school systems as they strive to promote social, emotional, and academic success for all their students.

Authors

• Amy Kathryn Mart, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Deidre R. Farmbry, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning

• Christine Hiroshima, Consultant

• Patricia D. Horsch, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning

• Linda Lantieri, The Inner Resilience Program

• Eric Schaps, Developmental Studies Center

• Libia Socorro Gil, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning

• Roger P. Weissberg, University of Illinois at Chicago