2024 CDE Fall Conference: Creating a Landscape of Wellbeing and Belonging

This presentation will inform coaching and program development efforts in PreK–12 education as it pertains to effective and equity-focused trauma-informed practice implementation.

Presenters will share lessons from a trauma-informed implementation model (tested over time; pre-COVID-19) and align it to the current state of mental health crisis in PreK–12 education. Additionally, current considerations for trauma-informed implementation and coaching in PreK–12 education will also be addressed through best practice protocols, evidence-based models, and relevant coaching tools.

Session Objectives:

• Explore educators' personal perceptions of trauma-informed practices
• Explore professional and organizational barriers that impact educators’ implementation of trauma-informed practices
• Engage with practical tools for coaching and centering educators in trauma-informed implementation

What does it mean to be a mental health informed educator? Attendees in this presentation will learn about and engage with a mental health informed educator tool. This tool provides staff the opportunity to dive deeper into their current practices and confidence levels with proficiencies related to Mental Health Informed Classrooms. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to utilize with individual staff members, groups, and/or for building professional learning to reflect, plan, and monitor progress on being a mental health informed educator.

Session Objectives:

• To discuss mental health informed proficiency indicators for educators. 
• To engage with a mental health informed educator action planning tool to assist staff in self-reflection on confidence levels, current practices, and goal setting
• To propose and adapt processes and progress monitoring related to mental health informed educator action planning and implementation

Even though there are best practice guides for well-being and mental health, the gap between best practice and implementation is wide. Join us for a panel of real-life school leaders and mental health professionals from across the state that have successfully implemented best practices for social-emotional well-being. Participants will hear school leaders share their experiences of implementing and sustaining novel interventions such as: ensuring students are not disciplined for mental health experiences, using quarterly data analysis for effective PBIS delivery, supporting special populations, truly welcoming all students and reviewing school-wide individual SEL goals.


Session Objectives:

• Participants will learn how school leaders have implemented real-life best practices.
• Participants will learn how school leaders have navigated barriers to implement best practices for wellbeing.

Schools across Colorado are implementing Restorative Practices to foster a sense of belonging by building relationships and addressing harm caused using a relational approach to behavior. RP implementation should include developing a system of accountability and support for both educators and learners, creating processes for continuous learning/feedback/self-reflection, and understanding both the proactive and responsive practices. During this session we will discuss the importance of whole school implementation of restorative practices in three areas including RP Infrastructure, RP Capacity-building & RP Tiers of Support.

Session Objectives:

1. Learn about the purpose and essential elements of whole school RP implementation
2. Identify indicators of the RP implementation that are already in place in your school/district and opportunities for growth.
3. Access information and resources to support whole school RP implementation

In the face of the ongoing youth mental health crisis, TSD implemented district-run school-based mental health treatment directly in all of our middle and K-8 schools. Follow our journey to develop individual and small group mental health intervention, beginning with data-driven decisions and resulting in seamless programming. Hear how we blend School Health Professional grant funds and district funds to provide sustainable and effective mental health treatment directly to our most at-risk youth at no cost to their families. We will share student stories of how these wrap-around services have increased school connectedness and reduced risk factors for suicidality.

Session Objectives:

1. Participants will walk away with the nuts and bolts of an effective district-run school-based mental health program, including reducing liability, managing referrals and caseloads, and partnering with school counselors and families.
2. Participants will learn strategies to design effective data-driven school-based mental health programming as part of a layered system of supports.
3. Participants will hear how to maximize grant and school district funding to implement sustainable district-run school-based mental health programming.

In this session, participants will explore the importance of wellbeing and belonging to promote student success in school and life. Additionally, participants will learn about the Landscape of Wellbeing and Belonging, a new virtual hub hosted by the Colorado Department of Education, that aims to blend guidance, resources, systems, and best practices to improve outcomes for students, staff, and families across all PK-12 schools in Colorado. We will explore the five features of wellbeing and belonging: safe and welcoming school environments; strong and trusting relationships; support for health and wellbeing; social, emotional, and behavioral competencies; and engaging learning practices.

Session Objectives:

1. Understand how the promotion of wellbeing and belonging helps to ensure that all students achieve high academic standards and gain skills needed to thrive in school and life.
2. Describe the five features of wellbeing and belonging and their alignment with COMTSS, the Colorado Professional Standards, and other frameworks used in school systems throughout Colorado.
3. Identify ways to integrate the five features of wellbeing and belonging into your work so that all students may thrive in school and life.

As educators in the midst of a mental health crisis, heightened chronic absenteeism, and funding constraints we are constantly pulled in a million directions and presented with new initiatives to support student success. What is planned to help often times feels like “one more thing.” How do we transform the system to align current work and create meaningful plans for student success? Join us to learn, reflect, and plan system-wide supports based on data-driven problem solving and decision making.• Identify CDE resources to support data collection and systemic programming.
• Resource map current data practices and supports for student success.
• Action plan next steps to align programming with data priorities.

In a post-Covid setting and a new normal for education, there is a need for training and capacity building that is responsive to staff and provides whole-child support. A critical aspect of this work is to equip staff with an understanding of how the brain and body respond to stress and change, and to create systems that support staff, reduce punitive practices and promote student learning, healing and skill development. In this session, the presenters will share their expertise in training and implementation of The Neurosequential Model in Education© (NME) which provides foundational content and a lens that positively impacts school culture, improves access to education and better prepares educators to meet students with developmentally and biologically appropriate tools and practices.

Participants will:

- leave with an awareness of how stress impacts the health, function, memory, performance and perspective of staff and students - and how we can create and foster environments in which stress is negated and buffered through practices and systems that are biologically and developmentally matched to promote regulation and skill building.

- be exposed to systems and strategies that have been used by educators across the world in implementing the Neurosequential Model in Education© (NME) at the school and classroom level.

- understand outcomes and challenges associated with implementation of the NME© and how the NME© is foundational to uptake of the majority of school initiatives (e.g., SEL, restorative justice, curricula, MTSS, PBIS, lesson planning and coaching).

Dive into the statewide Teaching and Learning Conditions Colorado survey data and spend time collaborating on next steps for your work. Learn about statewide trends, ways to approach survey usage, and how to move from results into action. The survey includes a number of questions on student and staff wellbeing, so there are many opportunities to connect to state, district, and local results.

Session Objectives:

• How to use perception data in continuous improvement. 
• How to use data to drive decisions.
• How to compare and leverage state, district, and local results.

Highlights on WSCC in action within Minnesota will be shared at both the state level as well as a case study example from Faribault Public Schools. This session will explore building capacity of supporting the Whole Child with the use of data, aligning with strategic momentum, and engaging wellness committees in ensuring young people are Healthy, Safe, Supported, Engaged, and Challenged.

Session Objectives:

1. Participants will be advance the utilization of the Whole Child framework within their system.
2. Participants will be able to identify and address systemic inequities to enable all students to learn and achieve at high levels.

Are you frustrated with the lack of buy-in or positive momentum with your teams or initiatives? This session will focus on how building high quality, humanistic, team-driven shared leadership leads to the co-creation of effective systems and increased motivation. We will explore how to engage a diverse team of people, meet them where they are at, and move towards a common goal. In this session, you will learn how to use authentic collaboration and constant reflection to create desired outcomes, develop collective leadership capacity, inspire shared ownership, and increase your ability to address conflicts or challenges as a unified team.

Session Objectives:

• Participants will understand foundational elements of authentic collaboration to increase productive co-creation
• Participants will learn how to build collective efficacy, empowering teams to overcome barriers and challenges
• Participants will explore how emphasizing humanistic relationships increases buy-in, motivation, and productivity

This session caters to administrators, educators, mental health providers, and community-based organizations eager to cultivate collaboration across rural regions. Embracing a regional approach significantly enhances collective impact, fosters responsive systems, and ensures sustained implementation of initiatives like Colorado Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports. Amid ongoing uncertainties and educator turnover, continuous capacity building is pivotal for effective implementation. The panel will spotlight the formation of a Regional Implementation Team, comprising diverse voices from CDE offices, educators, community-based organizations, and Adams State University. Its goal: fortify equity for vulnerable youth, offer high-quality professional development, and enhance staff well-being. Gain firsthand insights from small rural districts on implementing COMTSS alongside community members, fostering impactful outcomes, and boosting equity for historically marginalized communities in rural areas.

Session Objectives:

1. Participants will grasp the importance of collaboration among administrators, educators, mental health providers, and community-based organizations across the region to improve educational outcomes.

2. Participants will learn how to enhance equity for vulnerable youth by establishing a Regional Implementation Team comprising diverse voices from CDE offices, educators, community-based organizations, and Adams State University.

3. Participants will comprehend how a regional implementation team offers professional development opportunities to enhance staff skills and well-being, ensuring the effective implementation of initiatives like COMTSS.