Supportive Climate and Discipline Strategies: Spotlight on Generation Schools Network

Key Points

• The latest report in CASEL’s SEL Innovations series explores three case studies showcasing how supportive school climate and supportive discipline work together to create asset-based, engaging learning environments and to help eliminate discipline disparities.
• This case study describes how Generation Schools Network (GSN) helped to support a school that had implemented restorative practices but lacked consistent implementation.
• Through assessments, collaboration with the school team to identify key needs, professional development, community engagement, and a Train the Trainer model, GSN helped the school build capacity for sustained restorative practices and support educators in fostering inclusive, trauma-responsive environments.

CASEL’s series of Innovations reports share innovative conceptions, methods, and practices that embody the principles of social and emotional learning (SEL), along with aligned strategies that maximize learning and well-being for students in each setting of CASEL’s systemic SEL framework. In this blog, we share one of the case studies highlighted in the latest report from the series, By Choice, Not Chance: Engaging Social and Emotional Learning to Create a Supportive Climate and Discipline Strategies. This case study showcases the Generation Schools Network (GSN), which uses a whole-school approach that fosters belonging over exclusion to build environments where students thrive. Images courtesy of Generation Schools Network.

Principal Jeremy Brent of Morrison* High School in Colorado was stressed. He was just finishing his first year as the school’s new leader, and student-student and teacher-student conflict felt like an intractable challenge. Fights were breaking out, students were being sent out of class, and the learning community he envisioned felt far from a reality. When he took on the role, he was told that the school had been doing restorative practices for a few years and that the entire staff had received professional development from an outside trainer.

However, his informal assessment told him that the school was not implementing restorative practices with fidelity. But how to do a reset? Already, he was hearing from staff members that they had “tried that and it didn’t work.” While Principal Brent knew the trainers who had come in previously had a great deal of knowledge about restorative practices, he wondered if maybe the school needed something more systemic. He reached out to Generation Schools Network (GSN).

Creating a Place Where Students Thrive

Launched in 2005, GSN works alongside K-12 schools and districts to create equitable learning experiences that ensure all students have the opportunity to thrive. Their Health, Wellness, and Prevention team supports schools nationwide with the implementation of restorative practices.

After meeting with the principal, GSN engaged the staff and asked them to complete a formal survey to assess the school’s readiness and capacity for restorative practices. This included questions around the staff’s perception of overall leadership, the degree of SEL implementation at the school, their understanding of trauma-responsive practices, and their own well-being.

GSN also conducted a leadership team assessment through in-person interviews, asking questions like, “What are your other school/district priorities? What does the larger community prioritize? What else do you have going on that you’d like to address?” Upon completion of the survey, GSN staff created a report that outlined the school’s readiness and capacity.

Discussing the Data

Next, GSN and a school team (including administration, teacher leaders, and mental health staff) met to discuss the data using a protocol that guided them through wonderings, observations, and common themes. They worked collaboratively to identify four priority needs: (1) Educator wellness; (2) Building staff competence/confidence; (3) Aligning to other initiatives; and (4) Tiered supports for behavior and discipline.

In a conference room with chart paper and sticky notes, the team came together for some collaborative problem-solving, taking half a day to create action plans for each of the needs. GSN facilitated a logic-model protocol to help the team identify measurable short, mid-term, and long-term outcomes. The team then identified the action steps, activities, resources, and team members responsible for each step of the plan.

Taking It to the Community

The next step was to build awareness of restorative practices, which was part of a bi-directional conversation. GSN encouraged Principal Brent to start talking with the broader community to learn about their values and concerns. This included community meetings with families, teachers, and board members.

To build awareness for school staff, GSN provided professional development, starting with the foundations. For Morrison High School, this meant starting with SEL 101 to provide grounding in asset-based prevention based around the five SEL core competencies.

In addition, the GSN staff hoped to normalize the stress responses most educators experience and provide strategies for building resilience. As the year went on, educators were introduced to restorative practices with a focus on proactive strategies for building inclusive communities.

Equipped with this knowledge, educators began implementing circles, knowing that they were embarking on a two- to four-year process that would require them to try out and assess new strategies and ways of being. Congruently, GSN worked with the leadership team to help them use a systems approach to increasing staff wellness and supportive implementation.

While GSN provides technical assistance during the life of the grant, their goal is to partner in a way that increases a school’s capacity to sustain the work beyond their involvement. To this end, Principal Brent and his team engaged in a Train the Trainer model, preparing staff to take on the work when the grant period with GSN was complete.

A Success Story

GSN has seen the success of our focus on SEL and restorative practices in moments large and small. Here’s an example:

In one high school, three girls were caught vaping THC in the restroom. This school has had two  years of training in restorative practices, SEL, and ways to support students struggling with mental health and substance use. They decided to handle this situation differently than the typical suspension. 

The three girls all agreed to do a restorative conference that included family members and trusted adults at school. All three girls remained in school, problem-solved, and took accountability. They are getting counseling services to help them make better decisions and not cope using substances–all thanks to the social and emotional supports the school was equipped to provide.

The Power of Root Causes

GSN’s goal is to prepare teams to go beyond the outcomes to explore and address the root causes of behavior through approaches like SEL and restorative practices. When schools choose to address the root causes of behavior, mental health challenges, and substance use, they significantly shift youth outcomes—moving away from shame and stigma, and toward dignity, skill development, and meaningful connection. Every student deserves dignity, opportunities to grow, and a sense of belonging. That means every school has the power to make a positive difference in the lives of all their students.

Read more in CASEL’s SEL Innovations report: By Choice, Not Chance: Engaging Social and Emotional Learning to Create a Supportive Climate and Discipline Strategies.

*Pseudonyms have been used in this case study.

Zac Hess has led school and district teams in implementing Restorative Practices, MTSS, Trauma Responsive Practices, and Social Emotional Learning. He approaches this work with a prevention-based mindset and uses Implementation Science to strategically implement programming. In 2017, he became involved with the Douglas County Healthy Youth Coalition. He attended numerous conferences and trainings to become educated in coalition building. Zac’s mission is to work with youth serving organizations and other organizations dedicated to educating our youth. His work with Generation Schools Network focuses on Restorative Practices and its strategic implementation within a school system and community.

Donna Trujillo

Donna M. Trujillo has over 16 years of experience as both a teacher and administrator in Special and Gifted Education, which includes working in and with multiple districts across the state of Colorado. She has been the Director of Personalized Learning for Special Education with Douglas County School District, the third largest school district in Colorado, to provide special education services for over 7,000 students and oversee 1,700 plus special education staff. In addition, she serves as a representative with the State Legislative Consortium that guides legislation with regard to students with disabilities at the local, state, and federal levels. Additional education and training include Linguistically and Culturally Diverse (ELL), Literacy, School Leadership, and Elementary Education.

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