Develop a Team

The goal of this creating the team is to gather together in a deliberate, systematic and accountable way, a dedicated and representative group of individuals who who can build awareness, commitment, and ownership of SEL within your school. As SEL leaders this team will:

• Develop and model SEL expertise to support the SEL growth of all stakeholders
• Communicates SEL information to all stakeholders
• Engage and partner with all stakeholders to implement SEL
• Encourages shared ownership of school-wide SEL
• Insure integration of SEL practices and language into the other related areas of work and also into school communications, events, initiatives and day to day experiences for all stakeholders.

Once your Instructional Leadership Team has determined that your site will begin the SEL Implementation Toolkit exploration process you will need to identify the team responsible for leading the work. Beginning in School Year 18-19, schools may establish a combined Equity & Engagement Team. This team will serve as the primary leadership group for all school culture & climate efforts including Equity, Positive School-wide Engagement (PSWE), Restorative Practices and SEL. Your site may already have a version of this team in place and ready to go. You may also be consider expanding or combining current teams or developing a new team.

Selection Process Considerations:

• Review current committees and teams at your site including those using QComp funds. Compare current structure with all district required and recommended activities. Identify potential gaps and redundancies. See August 2018 School Improvement Launch slide deck for additional guidance on this process.
• Determine which current or new team is best positioned to take on the SEL Leadership responsibility. Consider if additional stakeholders need to be invited or recruited to join.
• Identify team lead (if using QComp funding this would be your Equity or PSWE lead). Your site may already have a TOSA or IS already serving this in this role.
• Once the team is identified and reviews the exploration activities outlined in this portion of the toolkit, they will begin to develop a plan and timeline for completion of the activities both as a team and across your school.

Reminder: If your site is considering applying for the SEL Cohort 2 group, you should consider expediting the exploration process so you will have the information needed to apply.

The MPS Implementation Toolkit development team has gathered shared resources for your use as you identify team membership, responsibilities, meeting format and accountability tools. These general resources can be found in the Equity Implementation Toolkit and in the Continuous School Improvement Guidebook.

Additionally, CASEL has provided a range of tools that provide specific considerations for gathering and focusing the work of the team on SEL and will be useful as you move through the Exploration phase of this Toolkit:

Assembling an SEL Team

Defining Team Member Roles and Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities of an SEL Team Lead

Key Responsibilities of an SEL Team Member

Sample Meeting Checklist

Sample SEL Team Agenda

SEL Team Checklist