Toolkit Purpose

The purpose of the Adult Transformative Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and the Standards of Effective Practice Toolkit is to support educators’ personal SEL development to cultivate wholeness so they can, in turn, cultivate whole child practices in all aspects of the learning environment. This "wholeness" encompasses all domains of development: physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and emotional.

Colleges and universities can use the toolkit to design coursework that aligns core adult SEL competencies with key components of the Standards of Effective Practice. Tier 1 and Tier 2 teachers can meet the requirements of the Standards of Effective Practice via licensure portfolio to obtain a Tier 3 license by completing the learning target reflection templates. Districts can utilize the learning targets and reflection templates associated with the toolkit for professional learning associated with adult transformative SEL.

Ideally, during their pre-service licensure programs and in-service practices, educators cultivate a mindset that honors the whole student through flexibly engaging with all five of their personal social and emotional learning competencies (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making). Educators then model and rely on those skills with colleagues, students, families, and community members in school and community settings, and utilize parallel grade-banded, benchmarked SEL competencies for students (SEL Framework: Five Competencies) in order to integrate evidence-based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) practices across all subject areas and in all settings.

For each Standard of Effective Practice, we developed SEL goals, measurable benchmarks, learning targets with reflection questions, and identified resources from local and national partners.