Читать книгу Essentials of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) - Donna Lord Black - Страница 30

Given the myriad of challenges in understanding what SEL is and how intervention approaches should be aligned with scientifically supported practices, the implementation process can be challenging. As with any new initiative, there must be a plan, but the plans used by many schools have not always been well prepared, nor have they been as comprehensive as they should be. This may be due to the nebulous nature of SEL, but it is more likely due to schools’ perceptions of SEL as an add‐on program or service. Developing an implementation plan for SEL involves so much more. It is effort‐intensive and must be viewed through a lens that extends beyond programming.

As a precursor to developing a school‐ or district‐wide implementation plan, schools should begin by engaging a group of key stakeholders. The primary goal for this group is to focus on sustainable implementation of SEL. Accomplishing this goal would involve an in‐depth process whereby the school’s or district’s infrastructure is thoroughly examined to ensure it can sustain SEL efforts (this will be discussed in more detail in Section III). Given that most schools struggle with an imprecise understanding of SEL, the group’s first responsibility would need to focus on eliminating some of the common misperceptions and misunderstandings that obscure the real meaning of SEL and its potential benefits. A recommended approach for this involves three critical steps that can help lay a foundation for the group’s future successes. For a complete description of the three‐step process, read Rapid Reference 1.4.