Social Emotional Learning

According to CASEL, Research has shown that social and emotional competence can be enhanced using a variety of classroom- based approaches such as: (a) explicit instruction through which social and emotional skills and attitudes are taught and practiced in developmentally, contextually, and culturally responsive ways; (b) teaching practices such as cooperative learning and project-based learning; and (c) integration of SEL and academic curriculum such as language arts, math, science, social studies, health, and performing arts.
 
SEL instruction is carried out most effectively in nurturing, safe environments characterized by positive, caring relationships among students and teachers. To facilitate age-appropriate and culturally responsive instruction, adults must understand and appreciate the unique strengths and needs of each student and support students’ identities. When adults incorporate students’ personal experiences and cultural backgrounds and seek their input, they create an inclusive classroom environment where students are partners in the educational process, elevating their own agency. Strong relationships between adults and students can facilitate co-learning, foster student and adult growth, and generate collaborative solutions to shared concerns. 
 
The CASEL 5 addresses five broad, interrelated areas of competence and examples for each: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. The CASEL 5 can be taught and applied at various developmental stages from childhood to adulthood and across diverse cultural contexts to articulate what students should know and be able to do for academic success, school and civic engagement, health and wellness, and fulfilling careers

SELF-AWARENESS: The abilities to understand one’s own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts. This includes capacities to recognize one’s strengths and limitations with a well- grounded sense of confidence and purpose. Such as:
•      Integrating personal and social identities
•      Identifying personal, cultural, and linguistic asset
Identifying one’s emotions
•      Demonstrating honesty and integrity
•      Linking feelings, values, and thoughts
•      Examining prejudices and biases
•      Experiencing self-efficacy
•      Having a growth mindset
•      Developing interests and a sense of purpose

SOCIAL AWARENESS: The abilities to understand the perspectives of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds, cultures, & contexts. This includes the capacities to feel compassion for others, understand broader historical and social norms for behav- ior in different settings, and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports. Such as:
•      Taking others’ perspectives
•      Recognizing strengths in others
•      Demonstrating empathy and compassion
•      Showing concern for the feelings of others
•      Understanding and expressing gratitude
•      Identifying diverse social norms, including unjust ones
•      Recognizing situational demands and opportunities
•      Understanding the influences of organizations/systems on behavior

SELF-MANAGEMENT: The abilities to manage one’s emo- tions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situ- ations and to achieve goals and aspirations. This includes the capacities to delay gratification, manage stress, and feel motivation & agency to accomplish personal/collective goals. Such as:
•      Managing one’s emotions
•      Identifying and using stress-management strategies
•      Exhibiting self-discipline and self-motivation
•      Setting personal and collective goals
•      Using planning and organizational skills
•      Showing the courage to take initiative
•      Demonstrating personal and collective agency

RELATIONSHIP SKILLS: The abilities to establish and main- tain healthy and supportive relationships and to effectively navigate settings with diverse individuals and groups.This includes the capacities to communicate clearly, listen ac- tively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with dif- fering social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed. Such as:
•      Communicating effectively
•      Developing positive relationships
•      Demonstrating cultural competency
•      Practicing teamwork and collaborative problem-solving
•      Resolving conflicts constructively
•      Resisting negative social pressure
•      Showing leadership in groups
•      Seeking or offering support and help when needed
•      Standing up for the rights of others

RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING: The abilities to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations. This includes the capacities to consider ethical standards and safety con- cerns, and to evaluate the benefits and consequences of various actions for personal, social, and collective well-being.
Such as:
•      Demonstrating curiosity and open-mindedness
•      Identifying solutions for personal and social problems
•      Learning to make a reasoned judgment after analyzing information, data, facts
•      Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one’s actions
•      Recognizing how critical thinking skills are useful both inside & outside of school
•      Reflecting on one’s role to promote personal, family, and community well-being
•      Evaluating personal, interpersonal, community, and institutional impacts

How does the District incorporate SEL into the school day?
District 31 builds on these five elements by teaching SEL utilizing Second Step Curriculum at both Winkelman and at Field. Winkelman has designated SEL periods and at Field SEL is taught during advisory. The SEL curriculum is aligned to the social emotional learning standards. In addition, to designated SEL times, SEL is incorporated throughout the day in the curriculum.  Our District also utilizes social emotional screeners and student screeners to identify students who may need extra support through the MTSS process. 

Social Emotional Learning	Intervention	Data	Purpose
SSBD  Screener	Tier 1-All Students Winkelman	Reviewed 1 time a year	The SSBD, the gold standard of universal screening, provides an evi- dence-based system for identifying students at risk of internalizing and externalizing social and emotional concerns.
BESS	Tier 1-All students Field	Reviewed 1 time per year	The Bess is an evidenced based tool to  obtain student information on each dimension of the measure, a total score is typically used to identify those students with and at-risk for developing behavioral, emotional, and academic problems.
Second Step Winkelman	Tier 1-All Students	Ongoing	Second Step® programs. A holistic approach to building supportive communities for every child through social-emotional learning. ...
Second Step Field	Tier 1-All students Field	Ongoing	Web-based, teacher-facilitated lessons and advisory activities, along with program training and resources to help middle schoolers build social-emotional skills for life.
Signs of Suicide Screener/ Elyssa’s Mission	Tier 1-All Students Field	1 Time per year	The goal of in-school screening is for students to identify symptoms consistent with depression and/or suicide risk and for school staff to advise a complete professional evaluation.
Check-in with student survey every other week building wide	Tier 1-4th and 5th grade students Winkelman Tier 1 All students Field	Bi-Weekly	To ensure students feel supported and determine if a student needs 1:1 assistance or counseling support.
Erin’s law	Tier 1-All Students Winkelman and Field	1 x per year	Erin's Law (in Illinois, Public Act 96-1524) mandates that Illinois public schools provide training to certified staff on prevention of child sexual abuse. It also mandates that public school children pre-kindergarten through 12th grade be educated on how to protect themselves from sexual abuse.
Advisory	Tier 1-All Field Student	Ongoing	Provide support to all Field students. SEL lessons are done during this time.
Responsive Classroom	Tier 1-Some of Winkelman Classrooms are implementing	Ongoing	The Responsive Classroom approach to teaching is comprised of a set of well-designed practices intended to create safe, joyful, and engaging classrooms and school communities. The emphasis is on helping students develop their academic, social, and emotional skills in a learning environment that is developmentally responsive to their strengths and needs.
Social Stories	Tier 2 or 3 -Some or few	Ongoing	social stories use words or images to explain specific occurrences, behaviors, social interactions, concepts, or skills.
Social Thinking	Tier 3-few	Ongoing	The Social Thinking Methodology teaches students to be more aware of their emotions and better predict and relate to the emotions of others.
BASC (Behavior Assessment System for Children)	Tier 3-Individual assessments as needed		The Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) is used to monitor changes in children's behavior or emotional status.
Connors	Tier 3-Individual assessments as needed		The Conners Comprehensive Behavior Rating Scale is used to better understand certain behavioral, social, and academic issues in children between 6 and 18 years
BRIEF/CEFI	Tier 3 -Individual assessments as needed		the BRIEF is useful when working with children who have learning disabilities and attention disorders, traumatic brain injuries, lead exposure, pervasive developmental disorders, depression, and other developmental, neurological, psychiatric ...
ADOS	Tier 3-Individual assessments as needed		The goal of the ADOS is to provide standardized information concerning the diagnosis of autism in the areas of social behavior, use of vocalizations/speech and gesture in social situations, and play and interests.
Autism rating scales	Tier 3-Individual assessments as needed		This multi-informant measure helps identify symptoms, behaviors, and associated features of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) in children and adolescents.

 

As part District 31’s Vision, the district recognizes the need for high expectations for the social, emotional growth of all students. In collaboration with parents, teachers, and administrators, social work services are provided to assist students in solving problems that may be affecting their school performance.

School social workers are specialized social workers certified to work in the educational setting. They have masters degrees and advanced training in clinical and therapeutic skills. School social workers provide support to students, families, and teachers in order to help all children achieve success within the school environment. This support can take many forms, including individual support as it is related to educational progress, special education support, teacher consultation, and teaching classroom lessons.

School Psychologists are highly trained in both psychology and education, completing a minimum of a specialist-level degree program (at least 60 graduate semester hours) that includes a year-long supervised internship. This emphasizes preparation in mental health and education interventions, child development, learning, behavior, motivation, curriculum and instruction, assessment, consultation, collaboration, school law, and systems. District 31 School Psychologists are certified in the state of Illinois and are nationally certified by the National School Psychology Certification Board (NSPCB).

School Psychologists collaborate with educators, parents, and other professionals to help students succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally. School Psychologists are also essential leaders in their school buildings. In District 31, School Psychologists have a crucial role in the implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) and the implementation of Safe and Civil Schools.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
9-8-8
Modeled after 911, the new three-digit 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is designed to be a memorable and quick number that connects people who are suicidal or in any other mental health crisis to a trained mental health professional. The 988 Lifeline will connect people to the existing network of more than 200 local crisis call centers around the country. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's 10-digit number — 1-800-273-8255 — will remain active, but calls will be routed to 988. People who call or text the number will be connected to a trained counselor at a crisis center closest to them. If a local crisis center is too busy to respond right away, the call will get routed to one of 16 backup centers around the country. 

Trevor Helpline (crisis prevention of LGBTQ+ Youth)
1-866-488-7388

Crisis Text Line 
Text "HOME" to 741741

Contact Safe2Help Illinois
Dial 844-4-SAFEIL, Text SAFE2 (72332), email HELP@Safe2HelpIL.com

 

“Erin’s Law” requires that all public schools in each state implement a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program which teaches: Students in grades preK -12th grade, age-appropriate techniques to recognize child sexual abuse and tell a trusted adult; school personnel all about child sexual abuse; parents and guardians the warning signs of child sexual abuse, plus needed assistance, referral or resouce information to support sexually abused children and their families. Learn more at www.erinslaw.org.

Erin's Law Resources are located here.
Username: yourcvitools@gmail.com
Password: Downloads2021

Second Step® programs give teachers an easy-to-implement, engaging way to teach social-emotional skills and concepts. Second Step programs are designed to help children thrive and be more successful in school—ultimately setting them up to be thoughtful and productive adults. Learn more at https://www.secondstep.org/social-emotional-learning.

[325 ILCS 6/5] Page 12 12 Mandated reporters are required to report suspected child abuse or neglect immediately when they have “reasonable cause to believe” that a child known to them in their professional or official capacity may be an abused or neglected child”.

Mandated Reporting and Managing Complex Parental Relationships

Online Report

DCFS Brochure

Checklist

District 31  utilizes the Salem Keizer-Cascade Threat Assessment Model. This model is a researched based model to prevent school violence and promote school safety. 

The Goals of the Threat Assessment System Are: 

• Prevent students who are at risk from committing violent acts in school.
• Help protect students and staff members from potential violence.
• Provide a student-specific safety plan utilizing community resources to mitigate the threat of violence.
• Involve parents in the threat assessment process.
• Document the program’s effectiveness in dealing with students who make threats of violence, including student academic and behavioral success.
• Work in collaboration with community partners to coordinate resources for the safety and well being of youth, families and communities.

Objectives

1. Assess threats of potentially harmful or lethal behavior and determine the level of concern and action required.
2. Organize resources and strategies to manage threatening situations that pose a risk of harm to others.
3. Maintain a sense of psychological safety among our schools and community.
4. Reduce the number of expulsions for students who can be maintained safely in the school environment.

Level 1 Assessment

School staff are trained to complete the Level 1 Threat Assessment. Components of the Level 1 Threat Assessment include the Level 1 Protocol, Parent Interview, Staff questionnaire, Student Interview and Student Witness form. Upon completion of the Level 1 Threat Assessment, a safety support plan is developed. In addition, a referral may be made for a Level 2 Threat Assessment.

Level 2 Assessment

When a Level 2 Threat Assessment is deemed necessary, the team expands to include community partners who have been trained in Threat Assessment and Threat Management. These partners may include members from law enforcement, mental health, juvenile justice and children’s services. They provide recommendations for resources and additional support in developing a plan for the student with the goal of increasing safety for the student, school and community.

Experienced Staff

Our staff has a unique skill set of experience in threat assessment, mental health, prevention and intervention, and special education. We are knowledgeable about community and district resources, and participate in community teams and initiatives focused on improving youth access to services and supports.

Staff members’ expertise deepen the scope of the Threat Assessment Program:

• Provides informative Level I consultations and training for school administrators.
• Shifts the threat assessment focus to more school support at Level I which empowers school staff to handle difficult situations.
• Further equips building staff with more evaluative tools to assess sexual incident and self-harm and suicide.
• Integrates regional mental health case management (Child Protective Team and Managed Care Organizations) which leverages additional resources for students.
• Facilitates information sharing among districts by tracking and notifying district safety officers of high risk students moving between districts.