Transformative Social Emotional Learning

Portland Public Schools

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is providing instruction and opportunities to practice self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making skills.

In PPS, we take a transformative approach to SEL. According to CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, Transformative SEL (TSEL) 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. TSEL includes a focus on five focal constructs: Identity, Agency, Belonging, Curiosity, Collaborative Problem-Solving.

Read more about TSEL here.

PPS Staff Resources

Family & Student Resources

CASEL's 3 Signature Practices

PPS social emotional learning curriculum, We do it for the Culture is in the News!

This week the founder of We Do It For the Culture, Jamila Sams, was featured on KOIN news! She was in town to provide professional learning for the SEL Leads who will facilitate the curriculum professional learning for the staff at their schools.

We are excited to be a part of the We Do It For the Culture team and to be implementing the curriculum in our district for grades 6-8

We are currently field testing We Do It For the Culture in high schools (as well as Wayfinder) to determine if they meet the needs of our 9-12 students/schools and can be used to support high school SEL (PPS Selection Criteria).