SEL Vision

A vision can be used as both an inspiration and a prediction. That is, a vision can inspire individuals to reach a collective goal and also be used as a prediction for changes to come if commitments are upheld. The purpose of the SEL Visioning process is to create a vision that serves as an inspirational call to action and provides a foundation for SEL planning and implementation. Ultimately, your SEL vision will reflect and proclaim your school community’s hopes for what students will experience at school and provide clarity to all stakeholders regarding how the school supports students academically, socially, and emotionally .

When everyone can collectively envision these hopes, staff are more likely to make the changes that are necessary for your school to reach that goal. Therefore, your school's vision will serve as anchor for staff and provides a sense of collective responsibility and unity.

Review District Theory of Change &Vision

Before taking the time to develop your school's SEL vision, review the district vision and theory of change. Ultimately your team should develop a vision that aligns to the district vision. While it is possible to simply adopt the District's mission, involving key or a broad range of stakeholders in the process of creating a school specific vision will help support buy-in and collective responsibility.

Decide level of stakeholder involvement

Completing the SEL vision will require your team to make decisions. Before you start, make sure you have a clear process for decision making, and that the decision making process is understood by team members and aligns to your team norms. The first decision your team needs to make is how involved you want different stakeholders from your school community to be in developing the SEL vision. The table below provides ideas for how you can approach involvement for students, staff and families.

In order to plan appropriately, think about the status of the relationship you have with each stakeholder group, and what level of involvement might be best suited for each relationship. for example, if you are completing this activity at the beginning of the year, when you are just starting to get to know your stakeholders, the “consultant” level might be the best, realistic choice. Whereas, later in the school year, you are likely better suited to engage with stakeholders at the “partner” level.

Utilize CASEL facilitation guide

CASEL's facilitation guide will walk your team through a step-by step- process to develop a SEL Vision. The process contains five distinct steps; 1) gathering stakeholders, 2) identify personal "why", 3) identify shared"why", 4) incorporate feedback into a shared vision, and 5) make vision visible and actionable . Each of these steps can be implemented within the stages of involvement described above.

Developing a shared vision (CASEL)

Considerations

Reflect on the questions below to ensure you are making this process accessible to all stakeholders:

• Does your vision honor and reflect the diversity of your school population?
• Are you using accessible language to communicate your vision? Is it feasible to translate the vision and maintain accuracy?
• Did you involve individuals from marginalized groups in your creation or feedback process?
• Have you distributed your vision to the entire school community?