Creating schools where students and staff feel safe, supported, connected, and ready to learn takes intentional effort and Illinois schools have a free resource available to help guide that work.
Resilience-Supportive Schools Illinois (RSSI) is a free, voluntary initiative that provides schools with data and tools to identify opportunities for improvement. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, RSSI helps schools examine their own policies, procedures, practices, and needs and use that information to determine priorities for strengthening student resilience and well-being.
As the ROE26 SEL Hub Coach, Kate Mallory can support area schools in moving from RSSI data to action. This might include helping school teams review and make sense of their results, identify existing strengths and areas for growth, connect priorities to current MTSS and school improvement efforts, and locate evidence-informed resources and strategies that address their specific needs.
RSSI can also serve as a valuable starting point for professional learning. School-specific data can help identify the topics that would be most meaningful for staff development which includes trauma-responsive and resilience-supportive practices to relationship building, regulation, school climate, student mental health, and other areas connected to student well-being. Professional learning can then be intentionally designed around what the school's own data indicates its students and staff need most.
The goal isn't to create one more initiative. It is to use RSSI as a tool to strengthen and align the good work schools are already doing while identifying practical next steps for continued growth.
Area schools interested in exploring RSSI or using their results to guide school improvement planning, professional learning, or SEL/mental health supports are encouraged to connect with Kate Mallory, ROE26 SEL Hub Coach at [email protected] or 309-306-1661.