Resources

This report from the Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety (CISELSS) provides insights drawn from over 5 years of universal, targeted, and direct technical assistance for state and local agencies. It shares recommendations from the experiences of participants in three long-term peer collaboratives. The teams focused on different themes, but all worked together toward equitable and sustainable systems change at the nexus of social and emotional well-being, excellent outcomes for young people, and equity.

The report describes the state collaboratives and the framework for convening state education agency leaders and highlights six themes that emerged from the CISELSS state collaboratives, including community engagement, balancing reflection with action, considering power dynamics, and working collaboratively.

Key Insights

Teams reported that they saw more sustainable and equitable improvement in their systems when they

• centered those closest to the impact of the system they want to improve;
• worked across silos in teams; and
• took an ecological, contextual approach that focused on the conditions of success.