January 12, 2018

Navigating SEL from the Inside Out

From: Pent
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2018 8:44 AM
Subject: Navigating SEL from the Inside Out

Hello PENT Cadre members, SELPA Directors, and supporters,

A team of researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) produced an extensive report in March 2017 called Navigating SEL from the Inside Out, which looks inside and across 25 leading Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs for our elementary age students. This report was designed to provide information about the specific features that define SEL programs and that may be important to stakeholders who are selecting, recommending, evaluating, or reporting about different SEL programs, or to those who are aligning efforts across multiple schools, programs, or regions. This report consists of the following:

  • Section 1: Background Information on SEL, including a framework to help stakeholders consider the broader context and developmental issues that should be part of any SEL-building effort.
  • Section 2: Recommendations for Adapting SEL for OST settings, including common challenges and practical steps for selecting and aligning SEL and OST efforts.
  • Section 3: Summary Tables for Looking Across Programs, illustrating which programs have the greatest or least emphasis on specific skills/skill areas, instructional strategies, and program components.
  • Section 4: Individual Profiles for 25 Programs, describing in more detail the skill focus, instructional strategies, program components, as well as additional findings and cross-program similarities and differences that emerged from our analyses of each program’s curriculum and/or explicit activities.
  • Appendices, including detailed information about the coding system and methodology used to document, compile, and analyze information about each program.
  • Accompanying Tools, including a Quick Reference to help stakeholders identify programs that have the highest emphasis on a particular skill area, instructional strategy, or program component; and worksheets to help stakeholders use information in the Summary Tables and Program Profiles to make informed decisions about program selection, based on their unique settings and needs or objectives.

As intended by the HGSE, I hope that this information can help you all:

  • Select specific programs or strategies that best meet the individual needs of the students you serve.
  • Guide planning and goal-setting conversations with your school, district, and/or SELPA staff and stakeholders.
  • Re-evaluate the fit and effectiveness of SEL programs and structures already in use in your district and/or SELPA.

Happy reading!

Vanessa M. Smith, M.A., BCBA
PENT Director