SEL in Illinois » CASEL Work » Collaborating Sites

• Catlin School District #5
• Cossitt Elementary School, District #102
• Consolidated School District #181
• Mill Street Elementary School, District #203
• Spry Community School, District #299
• Williams Elementary and Williams Preparatory Academy, District #299

Cossitt Elementary School, District #102
La Grange, IL

School web site: http://www.dist102.k12.il.us/facilities/cossitt/mission.htm
SEL web page: http://www.dist102.k12.il.us/ParentPage/brochures/SEL/SEL.htm

Cossitt Elementary School Mission Statement
The mission of Cossitt School, a caring community of learners, rich in diversity and traditions, is to ensure that each student is prepared for lifelong learning with an outstanding academic foundation and a strong sense of self-worth and responsibility by:

• providing a challenging, visionary curriculum;
• creating a safe environment where each individual is valued; and
• building cooperative partnerships among children, home, school, and community.

District 102 SEL Policy
In response to the 2003 Illinois Children's Mental Health Act, District 102 adopted the following policy regarding student social and emotional development:

Initiatives to foster social and emotional learning shall be incorporated into the District's educational program, in accordance with the Illinois Learning Standards regarding students' social and emotional development.

Such initiatives shall include:

• Classroom and school-wide programming which implement scientifically based, age and culturally appropriate strategies that teach social and emotional skills, promote optimal mental health, and prevent risk behaviors for all students;
• Staff development and training for school personnel regarding age- appropriate social, emotional and academic learning;
• Programs and learning opportunities for parents related to the importance of children's optimal social and emotional development;
• Community partnerships with mental health agencies and organizations to provide a coordinated approach to addressing the social and emotional needs of students;
• A system of early identification and intervention for students at risk for social, emotional or mental health problems that impact learning;
• A system for referral and follow-up to provide effective clinical services for students who require them utilizing student and family support service programs, school-based behavioral health services, and school-community linked services and supports; and
• A system to assess and report baseline information regarding students' social- emotional development and its impact on their learning ability.

The Superintendent or designee shall develop procedures to implement this policy as needed.

Cossitt Elementary School is a Pre-Kindergarten to Sixth grade school serving the LaGrange, LaGrange Park, and Brookfield communities. The school has been implementing the Caring School Community program, formerly known as the Child Development Project (CDP), for nine years, and has fully integrated SEL programming into its everyday practices. In 1995 CASEL's current Executive Director worked with Cossitt and District 102 to obtain funds for the original implementation of CDP, and to conduct a three-year evaluation of the program's impacts. Based on the positive evaluation findings, District 102 mandated district-wide implementation of CDP. In 2002 CASEL and Cossitt began a more formal collaboration, when District 102 was highlighted in CASEL's national model sites project. Since that time, Cossitt has become one of CASEL's nine Collaborating Sites.

Social and emotional learning has become a key component of the school community at Cossitt. Students feel safe and supported, and teachers approach daily classroom activities with an SEL lens. The combination of a focus on SEL at the administrative level and a supportive environment among staff members has helped to sustain a high quality level of implementation for several years. Cossitt's focus now is on maintaining their current level of practice through continued staff development, and finding ways to assess the social and emotional skills of their students.

As a CASEL Collaborating Site, Cossitt Elementary has established the following short-term objectives for the maintenance and advancement of their SEL practice. Specifically, Cossitt staff members are working to:

• Pilot an evaluation instrument premised on the competencies articulated in the Illinois SEL Learning Standards.
• Develop a strategy to share evaluation results with the Superintendent and other important stakeholdres at the district level to maintain SEL work as a district priority.
• Continue to work to keep the SEL practice at Cossitt fresh and engaging by looking for new elements to integrate into the current practices, and maintaining the energy among staff members with professional development opportunities.