The fourth BELE learning brief explores how an elementary school in one of CASEL’s BELE districts worked to build authentic caregiver and community partnerships throughout a year-long project to transform an existing mural. The brief explores three key conditions to sustain authentic partnerships among caregivers, community members, educators, and school leaders.

This brief highlights key learnings from CASEL’s pilot SEL Dialogue Series for Caregiver-School Partnerships, which took place at a high school in Chicago, Ill., during Spring, 2022. It hones in on 4 insights towards creating authentic school-family partnerships, each with a corresponding set of recommendations for school leaders.

There is no better source for learning about a student than the child’s parent(s) or guardians. Yet teachers can go months or even the whole year without any significant interaction with the families of their students. Intentional family engagement, therefore, is a critical aspect of creating a sense of classroom belonging. It allows for a…

Peer tutoring accomplishes two critical tasks that contribute to feelings of classroom belonging. First, it empowers students by formalizing their roles as knowledge creators. Second, it builds stronger connections between students as they tackle difficult concepts together. Establishing a peer mentor/tutor system explicitly demonstrates trust in students’ mastery of material and their ability to explain…

A guide with specific ways for education advocates to talk about what brings Americans together even through so much division over education policy.