Developing a Shared Vision

The first of the tools, Steps for Developing a Shared Vision, helps you structure the discussion around your school’s vision for SEL. Based on CASEL’s work with SEL teams, the tool is based on three core elements:

• Gathering together the thoughts of a wide range of stakeholders, from students and their families to staff and community partners – this should be done on an individual level (“the personal why”) and in small groups (“the shared why”)

• Distilling this input into a vision statement that represents the thoughts of your whole school community

• Working on this vision statement by making it available to all, gathering feedback and refining it further

Once you have completed this exercise, you should have a clear idea of how your school views SEL, and you will have a document that can be referred to when applying SEL practices to any context within your school community.