1. School Improvement Plan
Jami Curtis
Grand Canyon University

2. Guiding Question
“What else can be done so that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) contributes to positive school culture and increased academic achievement?”

3. Method
-Examine the AdvancED Accreditation Report for Damonte Ranch High School -Focus on 2 SEL components -Reflect on current implementation
The AdvancED Accreditation Report outlines the current analysis of school strengths and weaknesses according to stakeholder feedback data and self-report. The culmination is 2 goals for the year for the campus to work on.

4. Aligning with Vision Overview
-Social and emotional learning is an integral part of WCSD’s strategic plan, Envision WCSD 2015 – Investing In Our Future -Campus Principal Denise Hausauer* is a firm believer in the positive impact that SEL implementation can have across the campus -DRHS is a district pilot SEL school
Campus Principal Denise Hausauer is a firm believer in the positive impact that SEL instruction can have across the campus. As DRHS is a pilot school in the district for SEL, much needs to be done to ensure the positive effects of SEL are documented across content, curriculum and campus.
*Echoing the words of Isenhagen: Many educators pointed out the positive difference a good leader could make for a school in Title I "Needs Improvement" status. A female rural secondary principal explained, "It's trickle-down. It's important to [our superintendent] so it's important to me, and then it's important to the teachers, and then it's important to the kids.” (Isenhagen 2012)

5. 1. Support Campus Self-Assessment Standard 1.2
Desired Outcomes
1. Support Campus Self-Assessment Standard 1.2
Standard 1.2 indicates that the leadership and staff have a shared commitment to culture and school beliefs that educational programs should be challenging and equitable and lead to achievement of learning, thinking and life skills.
According to DRHS Reflective Analysis from stakeholder feedback:
*DRHS is implementing SEL at a high level and for this reason, has been chosen as a beacon school for the visiting national CASEL team. DRHS is the only high school in WCSD to receive this honor.
**According to the stakeholder the equitably treatment of all students is trending downward. Minority students have expressed the lowest sense of satisfaction when dealing with their peers and staff at Damonte Ranch.

6. Desired Outcomes
2. Support Climate and Engagement Measurable Objective 1: Focus on Climate and Engagement among staff and students
*As a school we need to better prepare teachers for adapting lessons plans to meet individualized needs of students. We need to focus on our approach to family engagement through different creative means. As a school we will also look to improve respect for all individuals at our school. We have adopted the SEL/School Connect curriculum and will be analyzing and distributing data with relation to student/student interactions as well as student/teacher interactions
**Campus Goal: 100% of teachers will be trained in social emotional learning to support a decrease of 5% in major behavior referrals per year from to

7. Administration modeling of SEL with staff and students
Strategies
Administration modeling of SEL with staff and students
SEL Teacher Teams
The first strategy is to promote administration modeling the components of SEL with staff and students. The thinking is that the influence of SEL starts with every interaction on campus, it is crucial that staff has positive experiences with administration and obtains examples of how strategies work with across school groups. SEL teacher teams would help to give teachers a collaborative time to plan, discuss strategies and ideas for SEL implementation in their classes.

8. Admin SEL Modeling .
The administrative should be the first on campus to model and articulate the strategies of SEL. Beyond the setting of “normal, daily interactions”, intentional, positive demonstrations of these components should be made visible to staff and students on a regular basis. In essence, the administration should be actively modeling what is being sought in the classroom through SEL.

9. Admin SEL Modeling What we want to do:
Send a message to teachers that we are willing to walk the extra mile with them for SEL, a message that we are willing to do what we are asking them to do.
Teachers can often feel like tasks designated by admin are “just another thing to do”. The goal with SEL modeling is to use the principles of SEL to implement SEL amongst the admin team while actively modeling what we want teachers to do in their classrooms. In other words, lead by example!

10. Admin SEL Modeling
1. Self-awareness: express interactions with optimism and confidence, accurately assess strengths and limitations.
Administration team should engage teachers and students in optimistic and positive conversations about instruction, school culture and vision. Admin team should be willing to model these interactions with teachers and students. The admin team should promote self-reflection and knowledge to assess strengths and limitations. Accurately voice and articulate strengths and limitations. An example of this is adding an optimistic and visionary quote or tagline in their signature, displaying weekly words of encouragement through announcements or have a centrally located idea board showcasing what professional growth concepts they are working on.

11. Admin SEL Modeling
2. Self-management: regulating thoughts, managing stress, motivating self, setting and working toward personal and academic goals
Education is a stressful field, the pressures can amount to individual stress that can take a toll of the physical health of teachers and administrators. Admin team should actively seek to utilize, model and suggest means to self-management. Some examples of this could resemble: bringing in a chair massage to help with stress relief, showcasing goals and achievements on a “Personal and Academic Goals” bulletin board in the office and generally taking time to reflect and regulate thoughts

12. Admin SEL Modeling
3. Social awareness: adopt the perspective of others and empathize with others. Understand social and ethical norms for behavior and recognize family, school and community resources and support.
Administrators should be the first to offer insight into the needs of unique and diverse social groups on campus. The admin team should actively seek insight from teachers, counselors, staff and students. Engage with teachers to give insight on family/group dynamics for specific students/student groups.
According to Muthcler: ”A shift in leadership perspective to interact with the members of the broader community, and not just act for them, may enable administrators to facilitate genuine, public interactions toward understanding and resolving education problems in their local communities. (Mutchler 2012).”

13. Admin SEL Modeling
4. Relationship skills: communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, negotiate conflict constructively and seek and offer help when needed.
Work actively to build relationships with teachers. Seek to understand teacher needs and conflicts, offer help when needed.

14. Admin SEL Modeling
5. Responsible decision-making: consider ethical standards, safety concerns and social norms before making decision, realistically evaluate consequences considering everyone’s well-being.
Administrators should live by a set of ethical standards that they seek to be held accountable to. The team should articulate a personal vision for decision-making that they can showcase to teachers/students about how they see others, make decisions and desire to impact the school.

15. Measuring Completion/Progress
Continued evaluation of teacher perceptions
Admin implementation of at least 3 out of 5 SEL suggested strategies
Creation of teacher SEL teams with strategy rollout

16. SEL Teacher Teams Interdepartmental teacher teams
Give opportunities for teachers from different departments to share ideas & work together
Team leaders with affinity for SEL
Designated meeting time to plan, brainstorm, share, etc.
Rotating time to share ideas at faculty meetings
Teachers at DRHS work in department silos. Teachers rarely have the opportunity to work in interdepartmental groups. The benefits of teaming up teachers from different departments is to bring different mindsets, experiences, personalities and current practices together for the benefit ofsuccessful SEL programming. Additionally, this creates an avenue for increase relationship development amongst faculty, teacher leadership positions (SEL team leaders), and collaboration to achieve more exciting and higher goals with SEL. According to Weingarten: Because this reform alternative focuses on the key role teachers play in their students’ academic success, policy development is formulated on the understanding that teachers’ knowledge and expertise, along with improving the conditions for teaching and learning, must be the basis for how we improve education. (Weingarten 2012)

17. References
Isernhagen, J. C. (2012). A Portrait of Administrator, Teacher, and Parent Perceptions of Title I School Improvement Plans. Journal Of At-Risk Issues, 17(1), 1-7. Mutchler, S. (2011). Deliberative Democracy: A Promise and a Challenge for Preparing Educational Administrators. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation. Retrived from Social Emotional Learning WCSD Social and Emotional Learning Snaphot. Retrieved from ng/SEL%20Snapshot/2013_SEL_Snapshot_v4.pdf Using Student Climate and Safety Survey Data WCSD School Climate Project. Retrieved from Weingarten, R. (2012). The Role of Teachers in School Improvement: Lessons From the Field. Harvard Law & Policy Review, 6(1), 9-38.