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SEL is the intentional, districtwide process of embedding social and emotional learning into systems, practices, and daily experiences to move beyond a collection of resources toward cohesive, sustainable impact. The purpose of SEL implementation is to intentionally develop self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making for students and adults. The goals of implementation include creating safe, equitable, and supportive learning environments; strengthening educator capacity and well-being; improving academic and behavioral outcomes; and ensuring consistent, developmentally appropriate SEL practices across schools. The intended audience includes district and school leaders, educators, support staff, and partner organizations responsible for planning, supporting, and sustaining SEL across the system.

Leadership Practices

Leadership practices are essential for effective SEL implementation and sustainability. Strong SEL leadership involves setting a clear vision for social and emotional learning, modeling SEL competencies, and prioritizing equity, well-being, and inclusive school culture. District and school leaders play a critical role in aligning SEL with existing initiatives, allocating resources, fostering collaboration, and establishing systems that support consistent implementation. By engaging staff, families, and community partners, monitoring progress, and using data for reflection and continuous improvement, leaders create the conditions for SEL to be embedded into daily practice and experienced consistently by students and adults across the system.

• A City at Hope: SEL & Education in New York City (2021)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Webinar Recording (60 minutes) - In celebration of social emotional learning (SEL), Aspen Education & Society Program facilitates a conversation with A City at Hope—a working group of leaders from NYC’s youth and education organizations—to share promising practices to advance SEL in NYC. Moderated by Ross Wiener, Executive Director, Aspen Education, the conversation shares examples of how a focus on the social, emotional, and academic well-being of New York City Youth is reshaping learning and changing lives.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Integrating Social and Emotional Learning into the Curriculum: Lessons for Education Leaders (2017)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • A blog post written by the Superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, Dr. Meria Carstarphen. She reflects on the report This Time, With Feeling and shares lessons learned for deeply embedding social and emotional development in the overall student experience and explicitly connecting it to academic instruction.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• This Time, With Feeling: Integrating Social and Emotional Development and College- and Career-Readiness Standards (2017)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • A report from the Education and Society Program at The Aspen Institute. The authors’ goal is to help education leaders understand the mutually reinforcing relationship between social and emotional development and ambitious academic goals. Instruction that promotes students’ social and emotional development (SED) facilitates better student outcomes on college- and career-ready (CCR) standards.
    
  • Grade bands: Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)

Systemic Processes

SEL systemic practices focus on establishing interconnected, coherent structures that support consistent and sustainable social and emotional learning across a district or school system. The goals of systemic practices are to align SEL with existing initiatives, policies, and frameworks; ensure equitable access to high-quality SEL supports; and create conditions for continuous improvement through shared ownership and reflective use of data. The intended audience includes district leaders, school administrators, SEL teams, and staff responsible for planning, coordinating, and monitoring SEL efforts. Important terms associated with SEL systemic practices include interconnected systems, alignment, infrastructure, shared vision, continuous improvement, data-informed decision-making, and sustainability, all of which emphasize that effective SEL implementation is embedded within the broader functioning of the educational system rather than implemented in isolation.

• CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Comprehensive guidance for schoolwide SEL implementation. Contains guidance on areas of building foundational support, creating a plan, promoting adult and student SEL practices, and continuous improvement. Create an account for FREE and use all templates and track progress of implementation goals.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• CASEL School-based Staff Survey on Schoolwide Implementation (2021)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Downloadable tool which includes sample letter and survey items to learn from school staff about their perceptions and experiences of social and emotional learning and implementation support so far.
    
  • Grade bands: This survey would be completed by school personnel only.
• SEL MTSS Toolkit for State and District Leaders: Integrating social and emotional learning within multi-tiered systems of support to advance equity (2021)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and the American Institutes for Research® (AIR®) developed this toolkit with the support of the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) and in collaboration with leaders from nine state education agencies (SEAs) across the country that are actively working to integrate SEL and MTSS. In tandem, MTSS and SEL can promote the teaching and learning conditions that help children and youth build the skills and competencies that can be applied across educational trajectories.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)

Data-Driven Assessment

Data-driven assessment plays a critical role in effective SEL implementation by helping districts and schools understand how SEL practices are being implemented and experienced, and how they impact student and adult outcomes. The purpose of using data is to monitor progress, identify strengths and gaps, and inform continuous improvement decisions that keep SEL efforts responsive, equitable, and aligned with district priorities. Examples of data-driven assessment in SEL include implementation checklists, staff and family surveys, student climate surveys, reflection tools, observation data, and outcome measures related to attendance, behavior, engagement, and well-being. When used thoughtfully, SEL data supports informed decision-making, shared accountability, and sustainable improvement across the system.

• CASEL District Resource – Reflect on Data (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • High-quality SEL implementation is ongoing work that calls on districts to continuously refine and systematically monitor their processes and practices in districts and school communities. Key tools provided on this page include a reflection tool for current SEL implementation goals and targeted steps for improving the SEL implementation action plan​.

Continuous Improvement

The Continuous Improvement Cycle focuses on using data, reflection, and ongoing feedback to strengthen and sustain high quality social and emotional learning practices over time. The goals of continuous improvement are to regularly examine SEL implementation and outcomes, identify strengths and areas for growth, and make informed adjustments to practices, supports, and systems. Through intentional planning, monitoring, reflection, and refinement, districts and schools ensure that SEL efforts remain responsive to student and adult needs, aligned with district priorities, and grounded in equity and evidence-based practice.

• CASEL District Resource Center (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Comprehensive guidance for district SEL implementation. Contains guidance on areas of building foundational support, creating a plan, promoting adult and student SEL practices, and continuous improvement. Create an account for FREE and use all templates and track progress of implementation goals.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• CASEL Personal SEL Reflection (2023)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Principals, administrators, SEL team members, staff members, and other adults can use this tool to assess personal strengths, think about how to model those strengths when interacting with others, and plan strategies to promote growth across areas of social competence.
    ​
    
• CASEL Schoolwide SEL-Continuous Improvement (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Using the Plan-Do-Study-Act framework, establish a structured, ongoing process to collect, reflect on, and use implementation and outcome data to inform school-level decisions and drive improvements to SEL implementation.
    

SEL practices and instruction focus on reliable and evidence-based strategies that foster supportive, inclusive, and equitable learning environments while enhancing academic performance and student well-being. These practices intentionally build students’ social and emotional competencies. SEL instruction is the intentional teaching of social and emotional competencies as core skills. Through developmentally appropriate SEL instruction, students develop key competencies in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making, building depth and complexity from early childhood through high school. Effective SEL instruction honors students’ diversity while ensuring that every student has access to high-quality instruction in the competencies that support their well-being. When schools commit to SEL instruction as a shared, schoolwide endeavor, students experience consistency across grades, classrooms, and roles that deepens their skill development over time. SEL instruction operates within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, ensuring that all students receive a strong foundation in SEL, while those with greater needs receive progressively targeted and intensive supports.

Explicit and Integrated Instructional Practices

The Illinois SEL Standards articulate what students should know and be able to do at each developmental stage. SEL instruction brings those standards to life. SEL instructional practices include both explicit and integrated approaches that intentionally build students’ social and emotional competencies. Explicit SEL instruction is the cornerstone for equipping students with the skills needed to navigate personal and social challenges during school and throughout life, providing intentional, scheduled opportunities for direct instruction and guided practice in specific competencies, along with integrated and organic opportunities to apply skills in context. By explicitly teaching the “how-to” of classroom life and inviting students to connect their lived experiences to their learning, educators bridge the gap between scripted lessons and real-world application, fostering deeply affirming learning environments. Integrated SEL further strengthens this work by embedding social and emotional skill building into academic content, instructional routines, and daily classroom interactions; SEL is not the subject, but it is always present. Through intentional lesson design and purposeful interactions, educators ensure students have continuous, contextualized opportunities to identify, develop, reflect on, and practice social and emotional competencies alongside their academic learning, recognizing that learning itself is inherently social and emotional.

• Calming Strategies Toolbox (2020)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Families
  • Website created by St. Croix River Education District in MN; Choose a strategy for response to stress based on energy level and pleasantness level. Based on the Mood Meter framework that was developed by The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
    
    • Printable Resources from Calming Strategies
    • Calming Strategies Breathing Posters – all ages
      
    • Calming Strategies Breathing Cards – all ages
      
    • Calming Strategies Mood Mover Posters – various age levels
      
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• CASEL Explicit SEL Instruction (2015)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Explicit SEL instruction refers to consistent opportunities for students to cultivate, practice, and reflect on social and emotional competencies in ways that are developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive. This resource provides detailed guidance from CASEL for implementation in a classroom.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• CASEL Program Comparison Tool (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • 99 SEL programs to preview and compare. The program list includes all CASEL-designated SEL programs that you can view and filter to best align with your goals.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• CASEL Program Guide (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Designed to help educators and school administrators select an evidence-based SEL program that best meets the needs of their community.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• CASEL SEL Integrated Lesson Planning checklist (2024)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Educator tool for applying SEL practices to any content area lesson and grade level. As you review a lesson plan, identify instances where these practices are already present or where they could be included.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Center for Intensive Behavioral Supports Relationship Skills (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Developed by the Center for Intensive Behavioral Supports, this resource is a list of journal or conversation prompts organized by grade band and can be used in a variety of settings.
    
    • 50 Relationship-Building questions ages 3-5​
    • 50 Relationship-Building questions ages 6-11
    • 50 Relationship-Building questions ages 12+​
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Center for Intensive Behavioral Supports (CIBS) (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Families
  • CIBS Resources Page - contains a variety of printable resources for SEL practices and de-escalation, and filtered by disability, grade level, and category.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• EASEL Lab - SEL Kernels (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Developed by Harvard University’s Ecological Approaches to Social Emotional Learning (EASEL) Laboratory, kernels are specific activities or strategies that are commonly used by research-based programs to support the growth and development of social and emotional skills and competencies.
    
    • SEL Kernels – all practices​
    • SEL Kernels Brain Games Packet
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8)
• Greater Good in Education (2025)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Database of SEL practices for students and adults developed by UC Berkeley.
    
    • Filter by age and duration of activity.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• How We Feel (2020)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Free mobile application that allows users to track feelings and mood and analyze over time. Based on the Mood Meter framework that was developed by The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8)
• Mood Meter: “Name it to tame it” (2020)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Families
  • Based on the Mood Meter framework that was developed by The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
    
    • Contains free digital and printable resources.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• My Year in Pixels (2019)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Based on the Mood Meter framework that was developed by The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.
    
    • Printable tracker for school or calendar year.
    • Users can chart daily feelings.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Restorative Practices and SEL Alignment (2020)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • A collaboration between the International Institute of Restorative Practices and CASEL. This tool is intended to assist educators in understanding the connection between social and emotional learning (SEL) and restorative practices (RP). The tool also focuses on understanding how RP provides opportunities to develop, practice, and reinforce SEL competencies.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook (2024)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Developed by CASEL, the signature practices of inclusive welcome, engaging strategies, and intentional close can be integrated throughout every day, as a regular part of planning and facilitating lessons, meetings, and professional learning. These research-based practices help us build and practice social and emotional skills and create a climate of belonging for everyone, building strong, equitable, effective learning and working environments.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12), Adults
• SEL and Academic Integration (2020)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • This resource is organized by grade level and content area and provides specific examples of activities for SEL integration with academic content from St. Croix River Education District Life Skills in Minnesota. This resource is aligned with Minnesota State SEL standards.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• A Social-Emotional Learning Toolkit for Counselors (2021)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • This framework consists of a school counseling curriculum for all students (Tier 1), small group counseling for some students (Tier 2), and individual advisement and referrals (Tier 3) directed at improving students’ social emotional well-being. The toolkits are designed to provide school counselors with resources to specifically support social emotional learning. This document contains links to both free and paid resources.
    
    • Elementary School Counselor Toolkit
    • Middle School Counselor Toolkit
    • High School Counselor Toolkit
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Teaching the Whole Child: Instructional Practices That Integrate Equity-Centered Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning (2021)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Brief from the American Institutes for Research (AIR), explains how social, emotional, and academic learning (SEAL) can be intentionally integrated into everyday classroom instruction through an equity-centered lens. The report emphasizes that SEL should not be treated as a separate program, but as a core part of teaching that affirms students’ identities, cultures, and lived experiences. It outlines 10 evidence-based instructional practices. The brief also highlights culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and inclusive approaches that help create learning environments where all students, especially those from historically marginalized groups, can thrive.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)​
    

Ongoing adult learning in SEL is essential to building the knowledge, skills, and confidence educators need to foster positive, safe, and inclusive school climates. The purpose of SEL professional development is to equip educators with strategies that support strong relationships, improve student academic and behavioral outcomes, and enhance well-being. Effective adult learning builds capacity for SEL across roles, addresses burnout, and promotes shared understanding and consistent implementation schoolwide. Through continuous, intentional professional learning, educators are better prepared to implement sustainable, high-quality SEL practices that benefit the entire school community.

Building Adult Capacity

Building adult capacity in SEL is essential to successful and sustainable schoolwide implementation. Educators who understand SEL competencies and practices are better equipped to model skills, build strong relationships, and create safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environments. Developing adult capacity strengthens confidence and consistency across classrooms and roles, supports well‑being, and helps address stress and burnout. When adults are intentionally supported through ongoing learning and reflection, SEL becomes embedded into daily practice, leading to improved outcomes for both students and staff and a more positive, aligned school culture.

• Introduction to Social and Emotional Learning (2025)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • 1-hour, self-paced online course for staff, parents/caregivers, community partners, or anyone who wants the SEL basics from CASEL.
    
    • An Introduction to Social and Emotional Learning​ in English
    • An Introduction to Social and Emotional Learning​ in Spanish
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Personal SEL Reflection - CASEL (2023)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Principals, administrators, SEL team members, staff members, and other adults can use this tool to assess personal strengths, think about how to model those strengths when interacting with others, and plan strategies to promote growth across areas of social competence.
  • Grade bands: Late High School with guidance.
• Learning and Resource Hub (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Online, asynchronous professional learning modules from the Center for Childhood Resilience. Professional Credits issued upon completion of each module for educators and clinical professionals. Free account creation required.
  • Grade bands: Materials are relevant for multiple grade levels. Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12).
• SEL and Mental Health (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Through the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Learning Collaborative, CASEL worked alongside the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH). As part of this collaborative, educational leaders explored how social emotional learning and comprehensive school mental health contributes to overall emotional well-being, focusing in on four key areas of work that unite these two efforts: relationships, intentional learning experiences, skills development, and equitable and emotionally safe environments.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12).

Well-being and SEL

Supporting adult well-being and mental health is a critical component of effective SEL instruction. Educators who feel supported, regulated, and valued are better able to build strong relationships, model SEL competencies, and create safe, inclusive learning environments for students. Tending to adult mental health through SEL practices helps reduce stress and burnout, strengthens emotional awareness and coping skills, and promotes a positive school culture. When schools prioritize adult well-being alongside student SEL, they foster resilience, consistency, and sustainability across the entire school community.

• Greater Good in Education (2025)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Adult well-being practices for cultivating the social, emotional, and ethical well-being of school staff members from UC Berkeley.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty and Stress (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, this free course will provide participants with the knowledge, skills, and strategies to understand and manage their emotions and those of their students.
    The 10-hour online course is designed for school staff, including teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, principals, and non-teaching staff in preK-12 schools.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.

Booklist

• Aguilar, E. (2018a). Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators. Jossey-Bass.
• Aguilar, E. (2018b). The Onward Workbook. John Wiley & Sons.
• Aguilar, E. (2024). The Art of Coaching 2.0. Jossey-Bass.
• Bailey, J. A., & Weiner, R. (2021). The Daily SEL Leader A Guided Journal. SAGE Publications.
• Boyes-Watson, C., & Pranis, K. (2015). Circle Forward: Building a Restorative School Community. Living Justice Press.
• Brackett, M. (2020). Permission To Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive. Celadon Books.
• Brackett, M. (2025). Dealing with Feeling. Macmillan Publishers.
• Brené Brown. (2021). Atlas of the Heart. New York Random House.
• Cassetta, G., & Sawyer, B. (2015). Classroom Management Matters: The Social-emotional Learning Approach Children Deserve. Heinemann.
• Dailey, S. (2023). Teach Happier This School Year. ASCD.
• Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Smith, D. (2022). The Social-emotional Learning Playbook: A Guide to Student and Teacher Well-being. Corwin / Fisher & Frey.
• Mayfield, V. (2020). Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege. ASCD.
• Perry, Dr. B., & Winfrey, O. (2021). What Happened to You? Pan Macmillan.
• Portell, M., Cockhren, I. L., Noise, T. J., Kurtz, J., & Nicholson, J. (2025). Reducing Stress in Schools.
• Reinking, A. K., & Thigpen, L. (2023). Coaching for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging in Early Childhood: A Step-By-Step Guide for Programs and Schools. Brookes Publishing Company.
• Siegel, D. J., & Bryson, T. P. (2011). The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind. Bantam Books.
• Siegel, D. J., & Bryson, T. P. (2015). The Whole-Brain Child Workbook: Practical Exercises, Worksheets and Activities to Nurture Developing Minds. Pesi Publishing & Media LLC.
• Smith, D., Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2022). The Restorative Practices Playbook. Corwin Press.
• Souers, K., & Hall, P. A. (2016). Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-sensitive Classroom. ASCD.
• Souers, K., & Hall, P. (2018). Relationship, Responsibility, and Regulation. ASCD.
• Tantillo Philibert, C. (2021a). Everyday SEL in High School: Integrating Social-emotional Learning and Mindfulness into Your Classroom. Routledge.
• Tantillo Philibert, C. (2021b). Everyday SEL in Middle School: Integrating Social Emotional Learning and Mindfulness into Your Classroom. Taylor & Francis Group.
• Tantillo Philibert, C. (2021c). Everyday SEL in Elementary School. Routledge.
• Tantillo Philibert, C., Soto, C., & Veon, L. (2019). Everyday Self-Care for Educators. CRC Press.
• Tate, M. L. (2022). Healthy Teachers, Happy Classrooms. Solution Tree Press.
• Westman, L. (2021). Teaching with Empathy. ASCD.
  

SEL and equity are foundational to creating learning environments where all students feel valued, supported, and empowered to succeed. An SEL approach grounded in equity and healing-centered practices recognizes the impact of trauma, systemic inequities, and lived experiences on student and adult well-being. Rather than focusing on deficits, healing-centered SEL emphasizes strengths, connection, identity, voice, and collective care. By intentionally integrating culturally responsive practices, restorative approaches, and opportunities for reflection and belonging, this toolkit supports schools in fostering safe, inclusive spaces that promote resilience, affirm diverse identities, and advance educational equity for students, families, and educators alike.

Marginalized Groups

SEL supports marginalized students by intentionally addressing the social, emotional, and systemic barriers that impact their sense of belonging, identity, and opportunity to succeed. Through culturally responsive and relationship-centered practices, SEL affirms students’ lived experiences, honors their identities, and amplifies their voices. SEL helps build protective factors such as resilience, self-advocacy, emotional regulation, and strong relationships with peers and adults, which are especially critical for students who have experienced exclusion, bias, or trauma. When implemented through an equity and healing-centered lens, SEL fosters inclusive school climates, reduces disciplinary disparities, strengthens trust, and ensures marginalized students receive the support, safety, and affirmation they need to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

• Implicit Bias Defined (2021)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community​
  • YouTube video from the National Education Association (2 min 44 sec).
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
    
• Learning and Resource Hub (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • This free platform provides a variety of courses related to equity including Institutional Racism: Awareness and Strategies, Internalized Racism: Awareness and Strategies, Personally Mediated Racism: Awareness and Strategies, Racism as Trauma. Requires a free account with the Learning and Resource Hub.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Pic Diversity (2019)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Pic Diversity, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting educators by providing free, diverse digital content for classroom use.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Pursuing Social and Emotional Development Through a Racial Equity Lens: A Call to Action (2018)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • This report from the Education and Society Program at The Aspen Institute highlights the strengths and addresses gaps in the complimentary priorities of equity and social, emotional, and academic development. The authors outline and identify ways in which equity and social, emotional, and academic development can be mutually reinforcing.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Pursuing Social and Emotional Development Through a Racial Equity Lens: 5 Strategies for System Leaders to Take Action (2018)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • This resource proposed five potential strategies system leaders can use to implement the ideas proposed in the Call to Action to pursue social, emotional, and academic development through a racial equity lens. The strategies outlined use the Call-to-Action framework to guide the process.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Refugee and Immigrant Children Committee (2016)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Webpage developed by the Illinois Childhood Trauma Coalition to build upon general resources and communications regarding childhood trauma to encompass the unique experiences and needs of immigrant and refugee children and families. The aim of this group is to raise public awareness of the impact of trauma on immigrant and refugee children, develop a workforce to meet the needs of these children, and assist other agencies in building capacity for supporting these communities.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Research Brief from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2022)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Social and emotional learning (SEL) of newcomer and refugee students.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• The Safe Zone Project (2013)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • This is a free online resource providing curricula, activities, and other resources for educators facilitating Safe Zone trainings (sexuality, gender, and LGBTQ+ education sessions), and learners who are hoping to explore these concepts on their own.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Social Emotional Learning and Equity – Pitfalls and Recommendations (2025)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Resource developed by the National Equity Project - Social Emotional Learning and Equity​ to provide guidance for educators seeking to implement SEL to make progress on equity and inclusion.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Social and Emotional Supports for Newcomers (n.d.)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Guidance document from the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Newcomer Toolkit (2023)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Toolkit from the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition. The Newcomer Toolkit is designed to help U.S. educators; elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and other school staff who work directly with immigrant students—including asylees and refugees—and their families. The Newcomer Toolkit has 5 chapters, and contains an overview, sample tools, and resources.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Use Person-First Language to Reduce Stigma (2022)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • Article from The National Council for Mental Wellness, 2022 (Mental Health First Aid)
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.

Transformative Social and Emotional Learning

• Advancing SEL as a Lever for Equity and Excellence (2020)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • This document describes how social and emotional learning (SEL) can be implemented systemically as a strategy to advance educational equity and excellence. It shares research-based insights and district examples showing how SEL can address inequities by strengthening adult practices, elevating student voice, partnering with families, and using data thoughtfully. The report outlines five key insights to guide districts in aligning SEL with equity goals and creating more inclusive, supportive learning environments.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• CASEL SEL + Equity (2024)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • SEL can be a powerful lever for creating caring, just, inclusive, and healthy communities that support all individuals in reaching their fullest potential. Systemic implementation of SEL both fosters and depends upon an equitable learning environment, where all students and adults feel respected, valued, and affirmed in their individual interests, talents, social identities, cultural values and backgrounds. This section of the CASEL Schoolwide Guide to SEL provides additional resources on SEL and equity.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Transformative SEL (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Transformative SEL focuses on skills for individual success, interpersonal relations, and community-building, as well as skills needed to ensure democratic, fair, and inclusive communities. “Transformative SEL” is a form of SEL implementation where young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships to engage in co-learning. It facilitates critical examination of individual and contextual factors that contribute to inequities and collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being. This includes a focus on: identity, agency, belonging, collaborative problem-solving, and curiosity
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.
• Oregon Department of Ed: Transformative SEL (n.d.)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
    
  • Oregon’s Transformative SEL Framework describes the conditions that transform learning environments to support whole child approaches in meeting the full scope of students’ social, emotional, and academic needs. These conditions include partnerships, policies, and practices that support both Adult and Student SEL. The framework and standards utilize and expand on CASEL’s definition of Transformative SEL to help build capacity for strengthening school cultures that center equity, and support student and adult well-being through a systemic approach.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.

ISBE’s Equity Journey Continuum

Equity means having high expectations for every learner and providing supports and resources so each learner can meet those expectations. In practice, this may look like “a parity among student groups in terms of educational outcomes or access to a resource; a fit between resources and student needs; and adequate effort to lessen the effects of structural disadvantages that disproportionately affect different student groups.”

The Equity Journey Continuum is an informational tool for districts to track their progress toward closing gaps in student achievement, opportunities, and supports. Through the lens of equity, the tool analyzes a continuum of district-level data points to make that data more useful for improving outcomes for all students. All of the data used in the Equity Journey Continuum is already collected and reported by school districts; the tool does not collect or report any new data.

ISBE developed the tool using national research and examples from other states and refined the tool through a pilot with districts across Illinois. The equity elements included in the continuum are consistent statewide, measurable, and within each district’s control. These data points illustrate a district’s current progress in its equity journey — from Step 1 (large gaps) to Step 4 (minimal gaps) — in the three areas of ISBE’s Strategic Plan: student learning, learning conditions, and elevating educators. The steps along the continuum represent the measurement of equity in students’ access to opportunities, practices, policies, and programming, as represented by the district-level data.

The Equity Journey Continuum uses data from the previous school year (example: SY 2024-25 Equity Journey Continuum data uses SY 2023-24 Report Card data), with the exception of the 2022 Equity Journey Continuum that used data from the SY 2018-19 Report Card and SY 2020-21 data for site-based expenditures, as there were disruptions in data due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. This data is used to place districts along the steps of the continuum.

The Equity Journey Continuum assists districts and their communities to make informed decisions about their district’s equity strengths, opportunities for growth, access and supports, and to speak effectively about where to invest their equity efforts and resources to ensure students from all backgrounds can achieve high standards as districts move forward in their unique equity journey. There are no mandates or requirements associated with the Equity Journey Continuum; it is informational only.

Resource:How to Use the Equity Journey Continuum​​​​​​

SEL outreach centers on building strong, authentic partnerships with families, caregivers and community members to support student well-being and success. The purpose of SEL outreach is to foster trust, cultural understanding, and shared responsibility for student growth, especially within multilingual and culturally diverse communities. Through clear communication, intentional outreach, and culturally and linguistically responsive practices, schools ensure that all families can understand, connect with, and actively participate in SEL efforts. By aligning SEL with family engagement and community partnerships and honoring home languages and cultural identities, schools create consistency between home and school and cultivate a positive, inclusive climate where every student is supported to grow and thrive.

Community

Community outreach and engagement are essential to ensuring that SEL is meaningful, equitable, and responsive to the needs of students and families. Engaging community partners, organizations, and local leaders strengthens shared understanding of SEL, reinforces consistent messages across learning environments, and expands access to culturally relevant supports and resources. When schools collaborate with the community, SEL becomes a shared responsibility that reflects local values, builds trust, and leverages collective strengths. Strong community engagement enhances student well‑being, promotes belonging, and helps create sustainable systems of support that foster positive outcomes for students, families, and the broader community.

• Family and Community Engagement Guidance (2017)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
    
  • This document from the School Health Assessment and Performance Evaluation System (SHAPE)​ website provides guidance to help schools become more trauma responsive. This guide includes background information, action steps and resources to support your school or district’s quality improvement in family and school engagement​.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Positive Family and Community Relationships (2020)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • A collection of evidence-based practices to develop and sustain family and community relationships. Brought to you by Greater Good in Education from University of California at Berkeley.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)

Caregivers

Outreach to caregivers and the broader community is a vital component of effective SEL, as it strengthens partnerships that support students’ growth and well‑being beyond the classroom. Meaningful caregiver engagement helps ensure that SEL practices are understood, reinforced, and valued at home, creating consistency between school and home environments. By intentionally involving families and community members through clear communication and culturally responsive approaches, schools build trust, honor diverse perspectives, and promote shared responsibility for student success. Engaging caregivers and the community in SEL efforts fosters belonging, strengthens relationships, and creates a more supportive, inclusive environment in which all students can thrive.

• Family/Caregiver Survey on Schoolwide SEL Implementation - CASEL (2022)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • Includes sample letter and survey items to learn from families and caregivers about their perceptions and experiences of social and emotional learning at their child's school. Also available in Spanish.​
    
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• National Parent Teacher Association (2023)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers/Family, Community
  • National organization devoted to the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Parent and Caregiver Resources (2026)
  
  • Audience: Caregivers and Families
  • A variety of interactive tools for supporting caregivers​.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)
• Strategies for Establishing School-Family Partnerships in Support of SEL (2019)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • CASEL’s printable 2-page resource which suggests ways that the SEL team can further engage families in learning about, supporting, and promoting SEL.
  • Grade bands: Early Elementary (K-2), Late Elementary (3-5), Middle School (6-8), Early High School (9-10), and Late High School (11-12)

ISBE’s Resources and Support Services

• Social and Emotional Learning Hubs (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • The SEL Hubs assist school-community leadership teams to implement data-driven strategies to address student trauma and mental health needs and build resilient communities, implement universal mental health screening by providing coaching, professional development, and access to existing resources.
• Resilience Supportive Schools Illinois (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel
  • RSSI is a free and voluntary support that uses school-specific data to connect educators with evidence-informed tools and resources to improve the mental health and well-being of their school communities. Built off the Center for Childhood Resilience's REACH Initiative, RSSI understands that schools have unique needs so their improvement tools should be equally unique.
    
• Newcomer Resources (2026)
  
  • Audience: School Personnel, Caregivers and Family, Community
  • "Newcomers" refers to foreign-born students and their families who have recently arrived in the United States. They play a vital role in shaping our nation's social and economic fabric, with U.S. schools serving as key facilitators in helping newcomers adapt and contribute to American society. Hyperlinks to resources that address the needs of newcomers, refugees, and immigrants. Districts are encouraged to contact the ISBE Multilingual/Language Development Department at multilingual@isbe.net if they have questions related to providing services for newcomer students.
  • Grade bands: Applicable for adults who interact with students across all grade bands.​​​