Building SEL Teams to Support Whole-Child Development: It Takes a Village

Presented by Dr. Gina Hudson, Coordinator of Support Services, Richmond County School System (GA); Matthew Johann, Assistant Director of Student Services, Richmond County School System (GA); and Jennifer Cooper-Wells, Social & Emotional Learning Coordinator, Round Lake School District (IL)
Moderated by Nicole DellaRocco, Senior Account Director, Panorama Education

Sponsored by Panorama Education

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While all learning is social and emotional, the pandemic has brought an even more increased focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) and student and staff well-being. Because of this, many districts are tasked with building SEL teams, in addition to providing supports for staff already in place. According to CASEL, the SEL team is a dedicated, representative group of individuals whose task is to lead a coordinated approach and continuous improvement of schoolwide SEL implementation. For the district, building this team includes implementing new programs, training current staff for new practices, monitoring program progress, and measuring success.

Watch district leadership for a discussion around trials, lessons learned, best practices, and how to identify and grab the low-hanging fruit to ensure you have the structure to support the successful development of student and staff social-emotional learning.

This recorded edLeader Panel is of interest to K-12 school and district leaders.

About the Presenters

Dr. Gina Hudson is the Coordinator of Support Services in the Department of Student Services for the Richmond County School System. She first served as the school psychologist before transitioning to her current role. Dr. Hudson obtained her Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Alabama in 2010 and completed her undergraduate studies at Penn State.

Matthew Johann started his career in education as a high school ELA teacher but decided to go back to school to become a school counselor. He spent 15 years at Richmond County School System in Georgia in that role before moving to the central office to serve as the district testing coordinator for four years and then into the role of assistant director of student services. Matt holds a B.A. in English, an M.Ed. in counselor education, and an Ed.S. in leadership from Augusta University.

Jennifer Cooper-Wells serves as the social-emotional learning and student development coordinator at Round Lake Area School District in Illinois. In her role, she supports the district’s mission to cultivate resourceful, resilient citizens by teaching social and emotional learning skills in a nurturing academic environment.

About the Moderator

Nicole DellaRocco is based out of Greater Boston and works at Panorama Education as Senior Account Director. Prior to joining Panorama, Nicole worked with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as an Education Preparation Specialist and Data Coordinator.

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Panorama Education partners with K-12 schools and districts across the country to collect and analyze data about social-emotional learning, school climate, family engagement, and more. With research-backed surveys and a leading technology platform, Panorama helps educators act on data and improve student outcomes. Panorama supports 15 million students in 21,000 schools and 1,500 districts across 50 states.