Site Visit

On this site, you will find how tips & tricks on how to prepare your school for the Supportive Schools Certification Site Visit review. This step is required for schools that meet the criteria on all 8 Indicators and that are working towards Exemplary status. Schools working on Emerging and Established just submit their required evidence to be reviewed and wait for an update on their new status.

Supportive Schools Certification Levels

SITE VISITS ARE ONLY FOR SCHOOLS SEEKING EXEMPLARY STATUS

We encourage you to look at the Rubric that our team uses during a site visit.

Site visits will consist of:

  • A presentation from the school's SEL Leadership Team

  • Focus groups with students, staff, and families

  • Classroom and common area observations


Site Visit Goal

During the Site Visit, our goal is to look at how your school has created a safe and supportive environment for students and to help them develop essential social and emotional skills. We will determine this by looking at how your schools have integrated the School Climate Standards and 8 indicators please look at our rubric for more information.

Overview/Timeline

Here is a general timeline of how each site visit runs:

NOTE: Please do not forget to include any other important information that is necessary for raters to access your building and also where to potentially park.

  • Meet & Greet Time for site visitors and school team to meet and to review agenda and updated continuous improvement plan. ∼15 mins

  • Presentation School administrator and SEL/School Climate leaders (principal must be present). ∼25 mins

  • (Optional) Presentation of pre-recorded video ∼10 min.

  • Focus group interview with teachers and staff who are not part of the SEL leadership team. ∼30 mins

  • Focus group interview with students ∼30 min.

  • Focus group interview with family members/caregivers ∼30 min.

  • Observations of classrooms ∼45 min.

  • Breaks Two 10 minute breaks for site visitors. ∼20 min

  • Debrief Time for site visitors to debrief (no school staff present). ∼25 min

  • Final Discussion with admin and the SEL Team, preliminary feedback from site visitors ∼20 min


~Total: 3.5 hours

Presentation ~25 mins

The goal of this Presentation is to help us better understand how you, your colleagues, students, and families support social and emotional learning (SEL) throughout the school. We would love to know your SEL journey! This presentation will be presented by your school administrator, SEL/School Climate leaders, and Principal.

  • Presenters, this is the time to show and express your school's SEL implementation and school climate. Please feel free to speak to both the work you were doing prior to the transition to remote learning or what you have done since. Please use our rubric under Presentation follow-up Questions to help you prepare for the questions the reviewers might ask.


  • Reviewers use the list of questions on the rubric follow-up during and after the presentation as necessary. Our team will likely not have time to ask every question. Our team will also be taking notes on highlights and concerns to discuss with your team to make a final determination for each of the key areas of your school's climate.

Some of these questions are:

    1. How is SEL part of your school's mission/vision/Continuous Improvement Plan?

    2. What are some teaming structures that support your SEL/School Climate work?

    3. Tell us about a timeline that tells the story of your school's "SEL journey"


Note: please check out our rubric for a complete list of questions. Also, when we use the term SEL, we are referring to anything your school does to create a safe, supportive environment for students and help them develop essential social and emotional skills.



Focus Group~90 mins

The goal of these focus group interviews is to help us better understand how you, your colleagues, students, and families support social and emotional learning (SEL) throughout the school.


There are 3 types of focus groups that your school does during the site visit.

  1. Staff Focus Group ~30 mins

  2. Student Focus Group ~30 mins

  3. Family Members/Caregiver Focus Group ~30 mins


Staff Focus Group

  • A total of 5-8 selected teachers and staff who represent a range of grades and experiences. At least one staff is not a teacher. Administrators and SEL Leads should not be present.


  • Staff, please feel free to speak to both the SEL work you were doing prior to the transition to remote learning or what you have done since. Please use our rubric under Interview Questions for Staff and Teachers to help you prepare for the questions the reviewers might ask.


  • Reviewers use the list of questions on the rubric follow-up during and after the presentation as necessary. Our team will likely not have time to ask every question. Our team will also be taking notes on highlights and concerns to discuss with your team to make a final determination for each of the key areas of your school's climate.

Some of these questions are:

    1. How often do you hear about SEL in staff meetings, communications, etc. from administrators and the SEL Team?

    2. What are this school’s basic behavioral expectations that all adults consistently reinforce?

    3. What kinds of opportunities do you have as a staff to build relationships with each other and collaborate?

    4. When you hear the term social & emotional learning, what specific skills or standards come to mind?


Note: please check out our rubric for a complete list of questions. Also, when we use the term SEL, we are referring to anything your school does to create a safe, supportive environment for students and help them develop essential social and emotional skills.



Make a copy of our:

  • LETTER/EMAIL to use to request Teacher/Staff Site Visit Support

  • GOOGLE FORM Sign-up for Focus Group participation for Teacher/staff

Student Focus Group

  • A total of 5-8 selected students who represent a range of grades and experiences. We advise selecting students who are vocal and are able to express themselves courageously. Administrators and SEL Leads should not be present.


  • Students should feel free to speak about the school environment, culture, and relationships within the school. Please use our rubric under Interview Questions for Students to help them prepare for the questions the reviewers might ask.


  • Reviewers use the list of questions on the rubric follow-up during and after the presentation as necessary. Our team will likely not have time to ask every question. Our team will also be taking notes on highlights and concerns to discuss with your team to make a final determination for each of the key areas of your school's climate.

Some of these questions are:

    1. What makes this school a good place to come to every day?

    2. How do adults want students to behave at school? How do adults tell you that?

    3. Do the adults at this school care about the students? How do you know?

    4. If we visited your classroom on a normal day, what would we see? What would students be doing? What would the teacher be doing?


Note: please check out our rubric for a complete list of questions. Also, when we use the term SEL, we are referring to anything your school does to create a safe, supportive environment for students and help them develop essential social and emotional skills.



Make a copy of our:

  • LETTER TO PARENTS for student consent to participate in the focus group

  • GOOGLE FORM to request parent consent to student participation in student focus group

Family Members/Caregivers Focus Group

A total of 5-8 selected school family members or caregivers who represent a diverse range of grades and backgrounds. Administrators and SEL Leads should not be present.


Family members/caregivers, please feel free to speak to both the SEL work you have seen at the school, the transition to remote learning, and/or anything your school does to create a safe, supportive environment for students and help them develop essential social and emotional skills. Please use our rubric under Interview Questions for Families to help you prepare for the questions the reviewers might ask.


Reviewers use the list of questions on the rubric follow-up during and after the presentation as necessary. Our team will likely not have time to ask every question. Our team will also be taking notes on highlights and concerns to discuss with your team to make a final determination for each of the key areas of your school's climate.

Some of these questions are:

    1. Do you feel like social and emotional learning is a priority at this school? How do you know?

    2. Do you feel safe, comfortable and welcome in and around the school?

    3. How do school staff communicate back to you if you express a problem or concern?

    4. Do you recommend this school to other families? If so, what do you say about it?


Note: please check out our rubric for a complete list of questions. Also, when we use the term SEL, we are referring to anything your school does to create a safe, supportive environment for students and help them develop essential social and emotional skills.



Make a copy of our:

  • GOOGLE FORM Sign-up for Focus Group participation for Adult/Caregiver

  • LETTER to use to request Adult/caregiver Focus Group participation

Observation~20 mins

A total of 1-3 selected classrooms that represent a diverse range of grades and backgrounds will be observed by OSEL staff. Administrators and SEL Leads should not be present.


Please use our rubric under Observation Notes to help you prepare for the questions the reviewers might ask.



These are some items our OSEL team will be looking for are:

    1. Evidence of shared agreements/expectations for behavior

    2. Adults pay attention to individual students in positive ways

    3. Visual evidence of SEL as a priority in classrooms (e.g. present in slides, in teachers’ background, in chat, or on google classroom)


Note: please check out our rubric for a complete list of items. Also, when we use the term SEL, we are referring to anything your school does to create a safe, supportive environment for students and help them develop essential social and emotional skills.



Make a copy of our:

  • LETTER/EMAIL to use to request Teacher/Staff Site Visit Support

  • GOOGLE FORM Sign-up for Focus Group participation for Teacher/staff

(Optional) Presentation of Pre-recorded Video~10 mins

We know that sometimes it is a bit hard to capture all of the SEL activities going on within your school. With that said, the pre-recorded 10 min video gives your school an opportunity to showcase your school's SEL/Climate through a video. This could consist of virtual SEL-related activities, a virtual tour of google classroom sites, or something else. This is different from the presentation. Please make sure to have your school has permission to record students.