(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Schools that implement social and emotional learning schoolwide understand that achieving enduring success requires a system for continuous improvement.

By establishing a structured ongoing process to collect, reflect on, and use data to inform decisions, schools are able to advance their overall SEL implementation, as well as adjust their strategies in a timely and responsive manner.

(writing on board) - When thinking about continuous improvement, what we're really talking about here is setting goals for what we wanna accomplish and then putting a plan in place to achieve those goals.

We want to reflect along the way to see if we're making progress towards those goals and if we're experiencing challenges, how might we adjust our plans, so that we stay focused on our outcomes.

For continuous improvement to truly be systemic within a school, we first need to make sure that we're honoring the fact that there is not a one size fits all SEL implementation model or strategy.

There are a variety of continuous improvement models.

We think of continuous improvement really using three basic phases.

Organizing, implementing, and then improving.

And this is cyclical.

So we do this over and over again.

- [Narrator] These stages of the improvement cycle are practiced in many school districts across the country, including in the West Carrollton School District, south of Dayton, Ohio.

One of West Carrollton's core beliefs is continuous improvement is an institutionalized habit.

- At the building level, when we're looking at SEL data, every teacher needs to be involved in the process.

It's very similar to, parallel to academics.

If you want teachers to be invested in teaching phonics across the building, we're gonna look together as a team at phonics data.

Same with SEL.

It's no different.

If we want our teachers to be on board with teaching SEL standards and skills, they need to be invested in everyone looking at the data, dig deep, so they can tailor the lessons to support their individual student needs.

- [Narrator] For West Carrollton, a team of SEL early adopters helped build momentum and prepared the district to take the next steps towards a systematic SEL program.

These SEL champions play a key role in the ongoing continuous improvement cycle.

- I had principals, I had counselors, I had teachers, K to 12, join this voluntarily.

One big role that that cohort played was to set forth a vision to set goals that we have set through 2025.

- [Narrator] Identifying those goals and establishing a vision for your SEL program is part of the first step in the continuous improvement cycle, organizing.

- So when an SEL team is thinking about their schoolwide SEL goals, it's particularly important that they are ambitious, but feasible goals that the SEL team feels empowered to attain.

It's also important that there is a metric or a measurable aspect to the goal statement that they create.

And lastly, they really need to make sure that the goal is inclusive and equitable, taking into account the experiences of all students in their school.

- We did a vision board.

What do we want our students to be able to do?

What do we want to produce at the end when they're 12th-graders or if they're leaving in the eighth grade, whatever.

But the goals that we set forth were specific in four areas.

One, making sure that all of the adults in the district were trained on what SEL is and the importance of it.

The other three really read about the same way.

We wanted to, by the measures of the survey, be able to say that we're at 90% in these three areas: Growth mindset, self-efficacy and teacher-student relationship.

- [Narrator] After setting goals and establishing a vision, the second phase of the continuous improvement cycle is implementing.

- And so, in that phase, what you're asking yourself is how do we get from where we are now to where we want to be?

And so you're really focusing on data tracking and monitoring progress along the way.

So you're able to, while implementing any sort of SEL practice or approach, you are making sure that you are looking at that data, to then be able to quickly course correct or make any sort of adjustments needed.

- [Narrator] For West Carrollton, its SEL cohort, along with three dedicated SEL coaches, have led the way to providing building-level training for other teachers and staff, furthering their progress in each school and establishing districtwide norms.

- Now, since we have more of a systematic approach to how we are implementing our SEL lessons, we are able to track all of our teachers in ways of the lessons and the topics that they're delivering to their students.

We are then able to get that anecdotal information more along the lines of, how is it being perceived?

What is the attitude towards the lesson or the topic?

How effective is the lesson being delivered?

Almost like an observer would go in a regular classroom academically and just kind of analyze the delivery of the lessons and how engaged the students are.

So we are doing that same type of work with our SEL coaches and myself and as well as all the principals, so we can get both sides of those things, and then of course, the survey.

In the survey, we have been tracking areas with our students for the last two years.

Out of a list of over 25 competencies, we narrowed it down to seven, and so those are focus areas that we're going to stay with really indefinitely, because our goals revolve around some of those areas of focus, so we wanna make sure that we're measuring those consistently two to three times a year.

- It's important to note that throughout the year at least quarterly, you are taking the time in that implement phase of the continuous improvement model to have data stepbacks, to have moments of data reflection, and then that informs any sort of adjustments and implantation plans.

- [Narrator] In West Carrollton, the district-wide SEL cohort plans data meetings on a quarterly basis, and then building-level teams meet monthly or every other week.

How these meetings and the data are managed can have an impact on engagement across the district and progress towards SEL goals.

- Initially, I wanted to make sure that the administrative team knows the numbers behind the numbers, like how much data is here, what questions were being asked of the students and of the teachers?

It is important that the data itself that there is confidence in that data.

Without that confidence, there's really not much that anybody can do.

- [Narrator] Part of building confidence is ensuring the privacy of all data collected, which is every district's responsibility.

Once there is confidence in the data, reflection can take place, but perspective matters.

- I zoom out and I model it at the district level.

That way, they can then take those steps that I have just modeled back with them and do the same thing at the building level.

- We dedicate time during the staff professional development to look at the data, dig deep into it as a teacher and using your grade level teams and looking at trends across the grade level teams.

- [Narrator] And while data can help your staff and you SEL practices, it's important not to forget the students and families as part of your improvement process.

- Families and students in the community need to be invested in continuous improvement plan with you and alongside you.

They need to know what our school's goals are.

They need to know what their own individual student schools are in order to make progress.

Because if we want to tailor the instruction to meet students' needs, everyone needs to know, this is currently where students are at, this is currently where our school is at, and then here's how we're gonna move forward.

- [Narrator] Creating a system for continuous improvement is one of the most important moves any school can take as it develops its own plan for schoolwide social, emotional learning.

A school that is engaged in the cycle of data collection and reflection is strategically supporting and strengthening all of the other layers of its own SEL efforts by allowing the impact to speak for itself and creating space to hear from its stakeholders.

- Our biggest successes with the improvement process has really been being able to align all of our purposes.

That communication between all of our services.

That's been a big success so far.

So while we are still a few years away from really analyzing in terms of meeting those goals, we are moving in that direction by pooling our services together, so that they're all working for one goal and one purpose.

(upbeat music)