Author Archives: Celeste Janssen

Welcome to the 2026-2027 year!

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Hello SEL Learning Community! This year we introduce a new group of 16 organizations, plus we welcome back the group of 9 youth programs who will begin their third and final year. Here we go!

Here are the key dates for your organization:

  • We’re holding a kickoff webinar on September 15th at 3 pm. The webinar is optional, but usually a helpful place to ask questions.
  • Our October convening is October 22 & 23 in Salem. Please plan on sending two people (we’ll talk about who to send when we meet on Sept 15).
  • Your internal assessment data will be due in Scores Reporter on Thursday, December 17.
  • Our January convening will be January 21 & 21 at Oregon Garden Resort in Silverton.
  • Your three goals are due in Scores Reporter on Friday, February 12, 2027.

Here are some additional things to know. 1) As you know, every program gets observed in the fall. We’re asking folks to consider having their site observed in October or November, so that December is less crazy. 2) We’re going to be hosting three mini-conferences in the spring, so stay tuned for dates. 3) We’re planning to have a Methods trainer come out and train every organization once, so your team should think about what YPQ or SEL Methods workshop would be most useful.

Stay tuned, more info will come! As always, you can reach out to me if you have questions! Best, Celeste

February is coming!

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Ready, set, plan! We’ve had a busy fall. Thank you all for your hard work teaching the YPQ to your teams, collecting data, greeting your external observer, and joining us in January for our winter convening. Now it is time for the improvement cycle to begin.

Just a reminder: your three goals are due in the Scores Reporter database by Friday, February 13th. This means you’ll fill out the P.I.P.s three times (each time you fill it in, you only report on one goal).

Remember:

  1. Each goal focuses on a single item in the SEL Assessment tool. Your goal is have your whole team operating as a “five”.
  2. In order to get to a five as a team, what needs to happen? Most improvement plans have some form of communication, training of one person and then sharing the training with the team, checking in on how progress is going, making adjustments, and then sustaining the work. We need to see this detail when you turn in your goals — you are also turning in the steps your organization plans to take.

Reach out to us with questions. And we’ll let you know when we’ve got online trainings set.

Thanks everyone!

Next steps

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Hi ya’ all – It was great to see some friendly faces in our kickoff webinar today, and meet a few new people, too! If you missed today’s webinar, here is the link. Please watch it – we are making some changes.

  1. Here is the new website where you can find important learning community information, including an annual timeline, the assessment tool, and whatever else you are looking for!
  2. Let us know when an External Observer can come to your organization by filling out this link. The first two organizations to fill out the link will get a prize! (And if you missed our webinar – we’re moving up this year, to encourage everyone to get their external observation done between October 20 – November 21).  
  3. If you are brand new to this whole YPQ-business, join us for a super helpful “jargon” training before you attend the October 16 & 17 event. Take your pick on which day to attend, both dates are the same content. You are welcome to also invite other staff from your organization!
    1. Finally, here is the participant agenda for the event on October 16 & 17. See you there at 10 am on Thursday. I’m going to be adding some parking information next week to the google doc, so stay tuned.

    Please reach out if you have questions.

    Celeste

    Register now for October!

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    Hello SEL Learning Community!

    Welcome to year two of the learning community!  Here are a couple of important announcements:

    1. On Thursday, September 18 at 3 pm, we’re hosting an informal webinar to kick off the new year. Please join us if you can. Here is the Zoom link: https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/98066109978?pwd=QZX9vv4vrFIMzN3FNcpwB2obPAZOvs.1
    1. Also, registration is now open for the October convening. It will be October 16 & 17 in Eugene. We’re doing it a bit differently this year. We’re breaking up Basics, so it won’t be all in one day. OCF will cover the hotel room for staff on the night of October 16. We’re expecting two people per organization – please reach out to me if you’d like to do something different. Here is my advice: if you have never taken Basics, please come. If you have taken Basics more than twice, consider sending someone else on your team, or call me and we’ll make a plan.  Please register no later than September 19, using this form: https://forms.gle/yq6E5CHN339yzu9X7.

    If you have questions, please reach out!

    Thanks!

    Welcome to 2025-26!

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    Hello SEL Learning Community! Your second year is about to begin! The facilitation team is gearing up for a wonderful year!

    Here are the key dates for your organization:

    • We’re holding a kickoff webinar on September 18th at 3 pm. The webinar is optional, but usually a helpful place to ask questions.
    • Our October convening is October 16 & 17 in Eugene.
    • Your internal assessment data will be due in Scores Reporter on Thursday, December 18.
    • Our January convening will be January 22 & 23 at Salishan.
    • Your three SEL PQA goals are due in Scores Reporter on Friday, February 13.

    We’ve made some changes this year. 1) We’re asking folks to consider hosting their External Observation earlier this year (if we can do it in October or November, great). 2) We’re going to be hosting three mini-conferences in the spring, so stay tuned for dates. 3) We’re planning to have a Methods trainer come out and train every organization once, so your team should think about what YPQ or SEL Methods workshop would be most useful. 4) We are no longer using Basecamp, but instead we will use this WordPress site.

    Stay tuned, more info will come! As always, you can reach out to me if you have questions! Best, Celeste