SEL in DeKalb County Schools
DCSD Vision of SEL
All DCSD students and staff will have the SEL skills and support needed to come to school feeling welcomed, supported, ready to learn, and capable of achieving educational excellence. DCSD’s Strategic Plan integrates academic and social-emotional growth to prepare students for the demands of the 21st century. Our theory of action includes DCSD’s commitment to the 3Es: Equity, Excellence and Empowerment. Our 3E focus on SEL highlights the district’s commitment to supporting students’ holistic success throughout their education and preferred future.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/sel/files/2022/06/theory-of-action.pdf”]
Our indicators of success:
To enhance the culture and climate of our learning community, we commit to focus our SEL programming on:
Working in conjunction with the SEL framework to proactively address behaviors and set students up for success, the district also uses a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). MTSS is a coherent continuum of evidence/research based, system-wide practices to support a rapid response to academic & behavioral needs, with frequent data-based monitoring for instructional decision-making to empower each student to achieve.
SEL Curriculum for Elementary and Middle School Students
SEL Curriculum for High School Students
In addition to academic rigor and skill development, schools have a responsibility to address many contextual factors, including culture, health, safety, physical and mental health, socioeconomics, and social emotional learning. SEL is essential to creating schools that effectively prepare all students to succeed in school and in life. Therefore, DCSD is excited to expand its school wide SEL implementation through collaboration, problem-solving and continuous improvement.
DCSD Crisis teams are deployed to provide care response and recovery whenever schools experience the death of a staff member, student, or other significant crisis. The members of the crisis team include social workers, psychologists, and counselors. The focus is on recovery, grief support, and sharing and validation of emotions. Students who need more intensive grief or mental health support are referred to the appropriate services.