School Policy and Standards Committee

Co-Chairs: Annette Johnson and Mary Tavegia

Staff: Caryn Curry

History:

The School Policies and Standards (SPS) Committee is comprised of key stakeholders committed to providing leadership, guidance, and support to Illinois school districts implementing social and emotional learning  (SEL) and Illinois’ SEL Standards by: 1. establishing initiatives to promote greater awareness and understanding among all members of Illinois school communities of the purpose and use of State SEL standards in the Illinois public schools; 2. Promoting the development, delivery, and availability of quality professional development, pre-service training and community education opportunities on SEL concepts, philosophies, and policies and the selection, implemen-tation, and assessment of evidence-based SEL programming; and 3. Supporting the development of local and regional collaborative partnerships among school districts and other child-serving organizations to build a constituency for SEL as an essential part of the education of every child.  Members currently include representatives from: the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL); the Illinois Department of Human Services/ Division of Mental Health (DMH) the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership (ICMHP); other educators and mental health professionals.

Accomplishments:

• Created the template used by school districts throughout Illinois to develop policy statements addressing the need for schools to attend to the social and emotional                    development of students

• Established the Illinois Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Standards. Illinois is the first         state to develop state SEL Standards and legislate the implementation of those Standards in all public schools
  

• Oversaw the original design of a three-year statewide professional development plan to implement SEL and the state SEL Standards
  

• Developed the initial plan to assess the effectiveness SEL implementation through the statewide professional development project

• Developed a communications plan to raise awareness about SEL among educators, families and the communities at-large in Illinois

• Created several tools to help implement the communications plan, including a power point SEL Awareness Presentation, a brochure targeting school leaders, and a brochure targeting parents/caregivers
  

• Surveyed college and university personnel about their knowledge of SEL and the inclusion of SEL in their current teaching
  

Current Activities:

• Managing the implementation of the communications plan to raise awareness of SEL throughout the state; evaluating the first year of implementing the plan

• Working with colleges of education, social work, school counseling, school psychology and educational administration to teach SEL to students planning careers in elementary and secondary education