With the second half of the 2020-21 academic year upon us, prioritizing student and adult social-emotional learning remains as important as ever.
In a new brief released by CASEL in January 2021—called "Refocus on the SEL Roadmap: Actions for a Successful Second Semester"—district and school leadership teams can explore three social-emotional learning strategies to prepare for a successful second semester.
The acts of violence this week reinforce the need to refocus on #SEL & the overall well-being of our school communities. Our new brief on refocusing on the #SELRoadmap + other resources can support students & educators as we face new challenges: https://t.co/qjPdpu8By3 pic.twitter.com/5u772oJj6h
— CASEL (@caselorg) January 7, 2021
This resource builds on the SEL Critical Practices outlined in CASEL's July 2020 "Roadmap for Reopening Schools", which listed Panorama Education as a tool for elevating stakeholder voices, gathering SEL data for continuous improvement, and assessing the impact of SEL this year.
Below, we summarize CASEL's recommendations and share how Panorama's platform, resources, and professional development align with CASEL's three strategies for navigating the second semester:
- Partner with staff, students, families, and communities to examine data from the first semester.
- Refocus on adults.
- Maintain supportive learning environments and promote students' SEL.
SEL Strategy #1
Partner with staff, students, families, and communities to examine data from the first semester on students' and adults' experiences and social, emotional, and academic outcomes.
Key Takeaways:
- It remains important to collect data that elevates the perspectives, experiences, and outcomes of students, families, and staff members, especially with many districts still operating in fully remote and/or hybrid learning models.
- Examine (and reflect on) disparities in this data, including potential barriers that may be inequitably impacting student outcomes.
- Ensure that you are inviting stakeholders to review data and participate in collaborative problem-solving processes.
| CASEL Recommendation | Panorama Alignment |
| "Collect data that elevates students' perspectives, experiences, and outcomes... use assessments or surveys to capture data on students' levels of engagement, perspectives on learning, school/classroom environments, and their strengths (including their social and emotional competencies) and needs." |
Use Panorama for Social-Emotional Learning, a research-backed SEL assessment and analytics platform, to measure SEL and school climate and identify opportunities for additional support. Panorama’s platform allows teams of administrators and educators to engage in data-based decision-making around SEL supports, with the ability to disaggregate data and group students for differentiated interventions. |
| "Invite students, staff, families, and partners to provide input on plans to improve student experiences and outcomes." |
Use the Panorama Family-School Relationships Survey—developed with Dr. Karen Mapp at the Harvard Graduate School of Education—to elevate family perspectives and establish a continuous feedback loop with your parents and caregivers. Learn how Saddleback Valley Unified (CA) used Panorama's family surveys to have a conversation with families and act on their needs during distance learning. |
| "Examine root causes of patterns and disparities in data, including potential barriers that may inequitably impact student outcomes and experiences." |
Use Panorama Student Success to support your multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) and provide equity of support for every student. Panorama pulls together the most important information on your students—across academics, behavior, and social-emotional learning. We make it easy to filter data by different indicators and demographics, build intervention plans, and progress monitor in one place. |
SEL Strategy #2
Refocus on adult connections, self-care, competencies, and capacity.
Key Takeaways:
- Adults can’t pour from an empty cup. Invest in building adult capacity, and deliberately carve out space, time, and agreements for staff to come together to strengthen relationships and process their emotions.
- In addition to understanding and supporting the social-emotional well-being of adults, districts must consider how working conditions and existing school structures are supporting educator well-being.
- Establish new professional learning opportunities (based on educator, student, and family feedback) to promote adult SEL, introduce trauma-informed practices, help create equitable learning environments, and foster culturally responsive practices.
| CASEL Recommendation | Panorama Alignment |
| "Review how well work conditions and school structures support educator well-being." |
Panorama for Social-Emotional Learning includes survey measures for adults. Listen to teacher and staff perceptions of well-being, capacity for SEL, and job satisfaction. Our platform makes it easy to surface key insights and identify where to provide support for adults. |
| "Establish or re-establish dedicated space, time, and agreements for staff to come together to strengthen their relationships, process, and problem solve together." |
Panorama’s Adult SEL Toolkit includes templates, materials, and PLC activities to help you design professional development on SEL. |
| "Establish professional learning communities and opportunities that engage staff in learning about and building skills for SEL." |
Panorama’s Teaching and Learning team designs and delivers professional development for thousands of schools and districts on topics including: SEL data inquiry and action planning, strategies for adult SEL and well-being, and mindfulness-based practices for educators and students. |
SEL Strategy #3
Maintain safe, supportive, and equitable learning environments and continuously promote all students' social and emotional development.
Key Takeaways:
- Continue to invest in fostering student belonging and cultivating safe, supportive, and equitable learning environments—both online and in-person. Prioritize relationship-building rituals, such as intentional welcome activities and SEL check-ins, when students return from vacation or transition from remote learning to in-person classes.
- The second semester provides an opportunity to reflect on how school-wide and classroom SEL programs and practices were implemented in the first half of 2021. With your team, discuss what you could adjust to make for a successful second semester.
| CASEL Recommendation | Panorama Alignment |
| "Continue to prioritize adult-student as well as peer relationship-building in daily schedules." |
Panorama's toolkit – 9 Virtual Learning Resources to Build Connectedness with Students, Families, and Staff – includes a set of resources and customizable templates to cultivate virtual belonging in your school or district. Sample activities include: Virtual Interactive Bitmoji Classrooms, a Virtual Check-in Tool for Staff, and Virtual Class Journaling. |
| "Update and renew student support plans based on data from screeners, formal and informal check-ins, and families to determine if adequate and effective student supports are provided." |
Panorama's new student check-ins tool can help you collect rapid perception data from students on a weekly or monthly basis (as a companion to annual SEL and school climate measurement). For example, educators can administer a "student well-being check-in" or gather quick feedback on how class went. Our open-source Student Check-ins Question Bank includes 80+ free response and multiple choice questions for grades 3-12 across well-being, SEL skills and competencies, relationships, and classroom feedback. |
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"Review how schoolwide and classroom SEL programs and practices were implemented and their impact in the first semester, and determine what needs to be adjusted or new practices to adopt for second semester."
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Panorama’s online professional learning library, Playbook, contains hundreds of low-lift SEL interventions, activities, lesson plans, and strategies for the classroom. These resources come from Panorama's expert partners, including: Second Step, CREATE, CharacterStrong, Move This World,Transforming Education, CharacterLab, Open Circle, Better Kids, and Peekapak. |
