Dear School Leaders, Educators, and Stakeholders,

Integral to every child’s education is their social-emotional well-being. At the end of 2019, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) accepted Arizona into their Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) to support the creation of social-emotional learning competencies and resources for our schools and communities.

Led by the Arizona Department of Education’s (ADE) Social Wellness Committee, internal and external stakeholders including educators, school leaders, and ADE specialists, Arizona’s social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies and resources were developed for natural and intentional integration within K-12 content areas.

The resources include:

While the Arizona team initially intended to spread this work out over nearly a year, the onset of COVID19 underscored the urgency of delivering these resources to schools as soon as possible. Starting at the beginning of June, internal and external stakeholders, with the generous support of CASEL, developed and finalized these resources within a few months. These stakeholders prioritized using the 5 CASEL Competencies as the base for ADE’s work, to streamline the delivery of competencies and resources. With intentional effort, CASEL’s 5 competencies can integrate naturally with the learning that is already taking place in our classrooms.

As our schools continue to utilize distance learning to keep students and staff safe, the social and emotional wellbeing of students and adults in our school communities is critical. The SEL resources begin with CASEL’s “Where to Start” School-Wide Guide to SEL tool to help school leaders, educators, and community members identify where their school community falls in the implementation of SEL. The tool was included to acknowledge that each community may be at different places in the implementation of SEL – and ADE’s intent in providing SEL competencies and resources is to meet schools where they are at with SEL.

Regardless of your school community’s level of SEL implementation, I encourage you to sign the Arizona Department of Education’s SEL Pledge. You can access the pledge upon completion of this Survey Monkey form. School districts, charters, education, and youth-serving organizations are welcome to complete the pledge to acknowledge that each of us plays a role in supporting healthy social and emotional development in our school communities.

If you have any questions about the SEL competencies, resources, funding guide, pledge, or future PD opportunities for SEL, please email [email protected]

Thank you again for supporting the academic, social, and emotional well-being of Arizona’s students and teachers.

Sincerely,

Kathy Hoffman

Superintendent of Public Instruction