Wraparound Replication Cookbook: Recipes for Creating Strong School Culture and Addressing Social Emotional Barriers to Learning

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This cookbook is the result of the Massachusetts Wraparound Zone Initiative - an initiative aimed at helping schools tackle both academic and non-academic barriers to student learning.  A rigorous evaluation of the Massachusetts Wraparound Zone Initiative (5 districts, 30 schools) conducted by the American Institutes of Research found that wraparound strategies made a significant contribution to improved student outcomes, particularly those related to student behavior, student support, and family engagement. This handbook represents the best thinking and strategy "recipes" on how to support the social emotional aspects of learning:

  • Addressing school culture and the social emotional aspects of learning

  • Rethinking systems for holistically identifying and addressing student academic and social emotional needs

  • Creating focused partnerships and coalitions

  • Treating parents as full partners

  • Big district and state takeaways

  • How to get started and how to manage priorities coherently

  • Profiles of six districts and the strategies they used

  • Links to resources, tools, templates and more

Resource Links

Wraparound Zone Cookbook

Individual Recipes

  1. Doing a Welcoming School Walkthrough

  2. Creating a School Culture Team

  3. Rethinking Recess

  4. Students as Culture Builders

  5. Assessing Student Strengths & Needs

  6. Student Success Teams (Student Support Teams, Child Study Teams, Whole Child Support Teams)

  7. Mobilizing around a Tiered System of Supports Framework

  8. Tracking Student Support

  9. Mapping Your Resources

  10. Creating Deep Wraparound Partnerships

  11. Managing Partnership Development at Your School

  12. Organizing as a Coalition of Partners

  13. Academic Parent Teacher Teams

  14. Parent House Parties | Academic Support Parties

  15. Rethinking Parent Academies and Cafes: Pooling Community Resources

Wraparound Video Series - hear Mass educators, students, staff, parents and partners highlight their strategies and the impact

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and School & Main Institute

Safe and Supportive Schools Self-Reflection Tool

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Multi-Tiered System of Support Leadership Institute Poster.

Welcome to the revised Safe and Supportive Schools Implementation Guide & Self-Reflection Tool. The goal of the self-reflection Tool is to catalyze a reflective and creative inquiry-based, year-long or multi-year process to create and enhance a school`s work to become more safe and supportive for the entire school community (including but not limited to: students, staff, families, and community partners). This tool is intended to assist with documenting current practices that support students` behavioral health ranging from the whole school community to individual students that require more intensive supports. It also examines the role of various school professionals and staff in providing these supports. This process enables schools to identify their most pressing local priorities and create action plans that can be incorporated into School Improvement Plans to address these priorities. It may be helpful to revisit your school`s responses to this tool on a regular (e.g., quarterly, annual) basis to review progress and continually work towards full implementation on a range of practices that address and remove the barriers to learning.

Resources

Safe and Supportive Schools Self-Reflection Tool

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Creating Positive Learning Environments: Recommendations and Resources to Support the Social Emotional Well-being of Students, Staff, and Families

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Multi-Tiered System of Support Leadership Institute Poster.

Even in the midst of a pandemic, educators can create a safe and healthy learning environment that is joyful, engaging, and equitable for every child. On August 3, 2020 DESE released Creating Positive Learning Environments: Recommendations to Support the Social Emotional Well-being of Students, Staff and Families. This document includes a series of recommendations and sample resources and is designed to help districts and schools prioritize and support the social emotional well-being of students, staff, and families as they prepare for the new school year. DESE supported this guidance with a webinar to unpack the document and provide additional supports.

Resources

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

The School & Main Institute

Building Systems to Support the Whole Child Amid COVID-19

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Multi-Tiered System of Support Leadership Institute Poster.

DESE offered a webinar, hosted by the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy and the Center for Optimized Student Support at Boston College, focused on systems to remotely identify and organize a response to students’ strengths and needs in this moment of crisis. In particular, the webinar focused on successfully closing out the academic year while simultaneously beginning to plan for supporting students through the summer and into the fall. District and school presenters included Somerville Public Schools and the Parker Elementary School in New Bedford.

Resources

Presentation Slides

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, Center for Optimized Student Support at Boston College

Supporting the SEL and Mental Health Needs of Students and Educators in the COVID-19 Era

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Multi-Tiered System of Support Leadership Institute Poster.

DESE partnered with Education Development Center (EDC), Transforming Education, and Walker Cares to offer an optional 90-minute webinar about how districts can address the mental health needs of students and support their social and emotional learning (SEL) needs during the COVID-19 school closures. The partners followed up with a webinar focused on district-systems to support student and educator mental health during COVID-19. In addition to the webinars, the partners organized a set of resources, ideas, and supports for schools and districts.

Access All Resources

Webinars:

Supporting Students’ SEL and Mental Health Needs During COVID-19: Webinar Slides

Establishing District-Wide Systems to Support the Mental Health Needs of Students and Educators during COVID-19

Massachusetts Resources:

National COVID-19 School Resources:

Crisis Support Resources:

Telehealth Resources:

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Education Development Center (EDC), Transforming Education, and Walker Cares

 

Conditions for Learning Surveys→

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Sample question from Conditions for Learning Survey.

The Conditions for Learning surveys (CFL) were developed collaboratively and field-tested by districts and Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education staff involved in the Urban Leaders Network for School Climate & Student Support. The CFL metric and survey tools focus on the holistic “conditions” (including social emotional learning) students need in order to learn in a school setting. The CFL contains surveys around the following domains: school climate, academic engagement, social emotional learning, parent & family engagement, and systems of student support, with surveys for students, staff, and families. Schools and districts are welcome to utilize these survey tools.

Resource Links

Conditions for Learning Surveys

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with School & Main Institute

 

MTSS Introduction Videos and Facilitation Guide

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Table of contents from MTSS Video Facilitation Guide.

This resource contains seven videos that introduce the viewer to the key drivers, foundational frameworks, and focus of the MTSS Blueprint. The videos are embedded in the MTSS Mobilization Guide (see pages 10-17 for Video Facilitation Guide) to support learning and team collaboration.

Resource Links

MTSS Videos

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency

 

MTSS Tiered Resource Map

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Picture of resource map template.

This resource mapping template will help you inventory the Curriculum & Instruction/ Interventions, Assessments, and Data-Based Decision practices you are currently using (or have the goal of using) at each tier. Please note that this template should not be used in place of the MTSS Self-Assessment, which helps teams unpack where they have strengths and needs relative to the systems needed to effectively implement MTSS. Map away!

Resource Link

MTSS Tiered Resource Map (word document)

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency

 

MTSS Diagnostic

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First page of MTSS DIAGNOSTIC Assessment.

The MTSS Diagnostic assessment is intended to be used to determine current understanding of the research and theory behind the design and delivery of effective multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). This assessment can be used by individuals or teams to determine prior knowledge, uncover variability, and introduce learners to the MTSS Blueprint.

Resource Link

MTSS Diagnostic

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency

 

MTSS Self-Assessment

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Cover page of MTSS Self-Assessment.

The MTSS Self-Assessment is designed to help district teams assess the systems and structures that they have (or do not have) in place to foster an effective multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). The results of the self-assessment will help illuminate current gaps and strengths and can be used for prioritization and planning purposes. This tool was designed to give a district-level perspective and should be used by a team consisting of a range of stakeholders (i.e., representation from different departments, roles, etc.). The self-assessment is aligned to the 2018 MTSS Blueprint redesign.

Resource Link

MTSS Self-Assessment

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency.

 

MTSS Mobilization Guide

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Cover page for MTSS Mobilization Guide.

All students are capable of success. A Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is a framework for how school districts can build the necessary systems to ensure that each and every student receives a high quality educational experience. In order to support implementation of the MTSS Blueprint, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education welcomes educators and leaders to use MTSS Mobilization Guide to help understand the most current research on MTSS and how to get started building a system that will address the needs of all students.

Resource Links

MTSS Mobilization Guide

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency

 

MTSS Blueprint

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MTSS Blueprint Imagine.

All students are capable of success. A Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) is a framework for how school districts can build the necessary systems to ensure that each and every student receives a high quality educational experience. It is designed to support schools with proactively identifying and addressing the strengths and needs of all students by optimizing data-driven decision-making, progress monitoring, and the use of evidence-based supports and strategies with increasing intensity to sustain student growth. In 2018, Massachusetts updated its MTSS Blueprint to reflect the most current research and enhance the user experience. The current blueprint more explicitly focuses on equitable access and universal design for learning (UDL) and fully integrates social emotional, behavioral, and academic learning.

Resource Links

MTSS Blueprint

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency

 

Principles of Effective Practice for Integrated Student Support→

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Center for Optimized Student Support Logo.

For over half a century, it has been recognized that contexts beyond school – like health, social-emotional well-being, family, and neighborhood – can account for up to two-thirds of the variance in student achievement. Developmental systems theories and neurobiological disciplines have more recently begun to explain the link between these outside factors and educational outcomes. This research provides insight into why experiences like poverty and trauma can inhibit learning, and what can be done to counteract their effects.

Resource Links

Principles of Effective Practice for Integrated Student Support

Source

Boston College Center for Optimized Student Support

 

SEL Integration Approach for Classroom Educators

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SEL Integration Image.

Transforming Education has developed an adaptive approach for educators eager for ways to integrate SEL into their academic curricula and other classroom activities. It provides guidance around six key components that are critical to supporting the whole learner: conducive environments, strong relationships, explicit instruction, thoughtful modeling, practice opportunities, and teachable moments. Using the SEL Integration Approach, educators can integrate SEL in a way that is flexible, equitable, responsive to their students’ needs, and can be easily aligned with ongoing academic instruction in the classroom.

Resource Links

SEL Integration Approach Quick Reference Guide

SEL Integration Approach: Teacher Self-Check Toolkit

Source

Transforming Education

 

Social and Emotional Learning in Math →

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Carton image of student looking frustrated.

Resources describing connections between the Massachusetts Mathematics Curriculum Frameworks and development of students' social and emotional skills.

Resource Links

Social and Emotional Learning in Math

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum & Instruction

 

Training: Understanding Trauma and the Impact on Learning

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This free online training for educators is part of the Clough Foundation Training and Access Project (TAP) Online series, which offers free courses on social-emotional learning and behavioral health in schools. TAP is a part of the Boston Children’s Hospital Neighborhood Partnerships Program (BCHNP). 

Resource Links

TAP Online Training: Understanding Trauma and the Impact on Learning Part 1: Definitions and Effects on the Brain

Source

Open Pediatrics

How Learning Happens: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development→

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As the nation is becoming increasingly interested in how children learn, efforts like the landmark consensus report issued by the National Commission’s Council of Distinguished Scientists are providing new insights. This report, “The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Development,” unites scholars from multiple fields to affirm the interconnectedness of the social, emotional, and academic components of learning. Take a look starting at page 9 to see "What We've Learned."

Resource Links

How Learning Happens:  Supporting Students' Social, Emotional, and Academic Development

Source

National Commissions on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development

Nashville Case Study: Implementing Social Emotional Learning Across the District

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Excellent Edutopia series on how Metro Nashville Public Schools is bringing coherence and alignment to social emotional learning implementation. The series hits key messages about how to position and integrate SEL so that it is part and parcel of the school culture for adults and students, not another "flavor of the month" program. The series also highlights concrete practices for elementary, middle and high schools and explains how the district uses a common SEL Walkthrough Rubric to guide implementation. Nashville is part of a network of the Collaborating Districts Initiative working with CASEL on district-wide SEL implementation.

Each article is accompanied by a video related to the article theme. (Note: There is reuse of some footage across the videos but each also includes new footage related to the specific theme of the article.)

Resource Links

Source

Edutopia in collaboration with the National Commission for Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Key Implementation Insights from the Collaborating Districts Initiative for SEL

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CASEL's 2017 report on the Collaborating Districts Initiative (CDI), a six-plus year effort to study and scale high-quality, evidence-based academic, social and emotional learning in 10 of the largest, most complex school systems in the country:  Anchorage, Austin, Chicago, Cleveland, Nashville, Oakland, Sacramento, Washoe County (NV), Atlanta and El Paso.

Resource Link

Key Insights from the Collaborating Districts Initiative

Source

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Navigating Social and Emotional Learning from the Inside Out - Guide to 25 Evidence-Based SEL Programs for Elementary

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There are many social emotional learning programs out there. This report provides a comprehensive report on 25 evidence-based social emotional learning programs for elementary school. Developed for the Wallace Foundation and released in March 2017, the report profiles both lesson-based/curriculum and non-curricular approaches.

Resource Link

Navigating SEL from the Inside Out:  Looking Inside & Across 25 Leading SEL Programs

SEL Programs Evaluated

In-School, Lesson-Based Curricula: The 4Rs Program, Caring School Community, Character First, Competent Kids, Caring Communities, I Can Problem Solve, Lions Quest, The Mutt-i-grees Curriculum, Open Circle, The PATHS Program, Positive Action , RULER, Second Step, SECURe, Social Decision Making/Problem Solving Program, Too Good for Violence, We Have Skills, Wise Skills

In-School, Non-curricular Approaches:  Conscious Discipline, Good Behavior Game, Playworks, Responsive Classroom, Program Profiles

Out-of-School Time Programs:  Before the Bullying, A.F.T.E.R School Program, Girls on the Run, WINGS for Kids

Source

The Wallace Foundation, Harvard Graduate School of Education