Targeted SEL Groups is an intervention aimed at supporting students in gaining key social and emotional strategies and skills connected to one of five social and emotional competencies: Relationship Skills, Self-Awareness, Social-Awareness, Self-Management and Responsible Decision-Making.
Targeted SEL Groups is a group-based intervention that typically occurs in brief weekly sessions composed of students working on similar strategies and skills.
Students benefitting from Targeted SEL groups range across academics, discipline and social and emotional learning so it is important that school teams look at data as well as anecdotal evidence to place kids appropriately into targeted SEL groups.
While the targeted SEL group typically happens outside the classroom, teachers and all personnel play a key role in re-enforcing newly developed skills within the classroom and during unstructured times such as lunch and recess.
Key components of Targeted SEL Groups:
·
Targeted group instruction in SEL category
·
Communication with teacher and support staff
·
Re-enforcements in classroom/common areas
·
Data Collection
Targeted group instruction in SEL category: Counselor and support staff use data to determine group intervention needs and select students accordingly for a brief group learning session. Once selected, team uses Second Step resources to determine curriculum best suited for intervention as materials can be modified to go deeper into skill areas).
Communication with teacher and support staff: Systems for communication with teachers and support staff are needed to convey targeted re-enforcement on a weekly basis. This communication should provide teacher and support staff information about the skill/strategy student should be utilizing as well as data on student attempts or successful use.
Re-Enforcement: Feedback, re-enforcement, celebration (whatever you want to call it) goes a long way to building student self-efficacy! Devise a system that works best for the adults (the person leading the group as well as the teachers/support staff). Re-enforcements can either be provided immediately (teacher to student) or can be provided weekly during the weekly SEL session based on whatever system developed at the site level.
Data Collection: Data collection should be connected to student usage of specific strategies as they are taught and should be flexible enough to provide both formative feedback and information to help guide next steps. Data collection can be simple and should be uploaded weekly into Student Success Platform