The AWSP Mentor Implementation Sessions have wrapped up, and a big thank you to all of you who participated in mentoring, training, and walking with new school leaders this year. We were able to mix things up a bit and keep many school leaders in their buildings by hosting our virtual implementation sessions to complete training requirements. We also learned much about facilitating a large statewide network, and with the help of post-session feedback, we adjusted presentation content and learning as the sessions unfolded. This was a big lift! Thank you to my AWSP colleagues, David Morrill and Dameon Brown, for their support on the technology side and problem-solving and learning between sessions to meet the learner's needs.

One resource our facilitator, Dr. Angela Brooks, exposed participants to were the CASEL 5 Competencies. As session feedback came in, we wanted to be sure and let participants know that Washington state has its own K-12 SEL Standards, and they look very familiar to CASEL standards. I understand that several systems across the state have taken a crack at aligning by developing a crosswalk document. Thank you to Dr. Cathy Sork of Dorothy Fox Elementary in the Camas School District for sharing with us and all of you!

SEL standards are not new…but maybe knowing a bit about where they came from and what a crosswalk might look like is helpful to you and your mentee. So many systems do things in isolation, it's amazing to have a room full of mentors and districts represented to share tools, tips, and takeaways! Thank you to all of our partners in the work! Until next time…