{"id":71663,"date":"2022-05-19T16:04:59","date_gmt":"2022-05-19T21:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.dev\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=71663"},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:48:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T17:48:18","slug":"sel-action-planning-with-your-community","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/sel-action-planning-with-your-community\/","title":{"rendered":"SEL Action Planning With Your Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-points\"><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CASEL helps educators design personalized, actionable SEL plans that align with their school\u2019s needs and goals, offering a flexible, community-driven approach. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Our Leading Schoolwide SEL series empowers educators to create their own SEL vision and action plan by reflecting on personal experiences and using practical tools without needing external funding. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>CASEL focuses on demystifying the complex process of systemic SEL, offering frameworks, templates, and resources to guide schools in creating sustainable, context-specific strategies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>As a teacher who went to grad school after some years in the classroom, I often felt frustrated reading scientific journals\u2014not because I couldn\u2019t understand the studies (although I admit to skipping over the tables)\u2014but because it was so clearly not written for me, someone who wanted to continue to work in schools. Give me something I can absorb quickly and apply to my work tomorrow! And pretty please, make it something that I can do without applying for a grant first.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s when I first got to know CASEL. They partnered with our school district through the <a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/about-us\/our-mission-work\/collaborating-districts-initiative\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Collaborating Districts Initiative<\/a> (CDI) and helped us design an SEL implementation plan that worked for us, that played well with the other moving pieces in our district. Our plan relied on and strengthened the district\u2019s big push to develop better multi-tiered systems of support. We measured progress using a climate survey that schools were already using. And we supported our school communities in a way that gave them autonomy to design their own SEL goals and strategies in a way that aligned with their needs and vision. Systemic SEL isn\u2019t simple enough to read about on Friday and implement on Monday, but CASEL had broken down a large body of research into a process that was working, at our pace and within our constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-casel-helps\"><strong>How CASEL Helps<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, I began working for CASEL to continue to make research-based SEL implementation support more accessible to more educators. Now anyone can sign up for our <a href=\"https:\/\/schoolguide.casel.org\/sel-workshops\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Leading Schoolwide SEL series<\/a>, where two of CASEL\u2019s school district advisors walk participants through that same process of defining a unique SEL vision, goals, and action plan for the coming year. The facilitators\u2019 years of experience sitting alongside busy educators\u2014talking through their challenges and helping them adjust and improve\u2014has shaped and fine-tuned this course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We learn best when we can take an active role and when we can relate what we are learning to our own experiences. So even though CASEL\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/fundamentals-of-sel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">definition of SEL<\/a> is one the most frequently cited in the world, our most effective way of introducing our five-competency framework is centered around <a href=\"https:\/\/schoolguide.casel.org\/resource\/adult-sel-self-assessment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">personal reflection<\/a>: We support workshop participants to think about ways they are using and modeling social and emotional skills at work and at home, and they come to their own understanding of why it is important and how they can be more intentional.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we move into the action-planning part of the course, we stop short of telling participants what to do. Instead, we focus on the <em>why<\/em> and the <em>how. <\/em>We offer templates, tools, and examples, then leave space for each school team to collaborate with their broader community to plug in their variables. Every school and school district has a context and a different set of assets and challenges. A strong SEL action plan should be customized to build on strengths and reflect the community\u2019s hopes and dreams for their young people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"guidance-to-make-your-own-match\"><strong>Guidance to Make Your Own Match<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Our facilitators won\u2019t give advice about what SEL program you should use, but they will help you use <a href=\"https:\/\/pg.casel.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CASEL\u2019s Guide to SEL Programs<\/a> to find one that is a good match for your criteria. They won\u2019t reveal one secret solution for generating buy-in, but they will offer tools to help you facilitate discussion and gather input from your community, and they\u2019ll share strategies for keeping SEL at the forefront, celebrating success, and checking in throughout the school year so that you can improve support over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a busy educator\/grad student, I might have wished for a simple, tidy, one-size-fits-all SEL to-do list. <a href=\"https:\/\/schoolguide.casel.org\/what-is-sel\/indicators-of-schoolwide-sel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Systemic SEL<\/a> is not that. It\u2019s a long-term process, and it can be complicated. At CASEL, our goal is to demystify that process and the research behind it, to offer the right starting point and framework for educators to strengthen an action plan that fits their community.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/still-i-rise-innovative-work-at-da-vinci-rise-high-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Still I RISE: Innovative Work at Da Vinci RISE High School<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/your-sel-questions-answered\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Your SEL Questions \u2026 Answered!<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/from-vision-to-reality-schoolwide-sel-at-a-california-elementary-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">From Vision to Reality: Schoolwide SEL at a California Elementary School<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog,&nbsp;<em>Constellations<\/em>?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a>&nbsp;about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Back to top As a teacher who went to grad school after some years in the classroom, I often felt frustrated reading scientific journals\u2014not because I couldn\u2019t understand the studies (although I admit to skipping over the tables)\u2014but because it was so clearly not written for me, someone who wanted to continue to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26603,"featured_media":71664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[203],"class_list":["post-71663","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-water-cooler"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/71663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=71663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}