The Key to Bringing Social-Emotional Learning to Life
Collaboration between school-day, afterschool, and summer program staff leads to successful SEL implementation.
Partnership for Children & Youth launched the Expanded Learning 360°/365 initiative in 2015 to address an overlooked opportunity: school districts’ interest in social-emotional learning (SEL) was growing just as California’s expanded learning system was simultaneously working to improve social and emotional outcomes. A professional learning community of diverse school districts focused on planning, aligning, and implementing SEL across the school day, afterschool, and summer. American Institutes for Research evaluated the professional learning community from January 2017 to December 2018.
“The work shifted our thinking around what it takes to implement SEL districtwide and realizing that when we talk about [SEL], it’s not just about the school-day [staff], but it’s school-day and afterschool.”
— Professional learning community team lead
STRENGTHS OF THE PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY
Environment, structure, and inclusive practices
Alignment across sectors
Implementation strategies
IMPACT ON SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Increased professional development
Collaboration between school-day and expanded learning staff
Stronger data usage and sharing
“Fundamentally, the Partnership for Children & Youth consultant role is at the pulse of the professional learning community team achievements, needs, and ongoing learning.”
— American Institutes for Research
TWO KEY LESSONS FOR THE FIELD
Collaboration and accountability are powerful forces for change
Districts need more support to deepen and implement their SEL approaches
Interest in SEL among California educators systemwide continues to grow, and demand for proven, effective planning and implementation support far outweighs supply. Partnership for Children & Youth is eager to leverage the tools and strategies from Expanded Learning 360°/365 to deepen and expand SEL support for school districts, county offices of education, and expanded learning programs in more communities across California.
Evaluation Brief:
The Key to Bringing Social-Emotional Learning to Life
Read the two-page brief.
Evaluation Summary
Read the four-page summary of AIR’s findings.
Professional Learning Community Evaluation
Read the full evaluation from AIR.