Educators need a gameplan when it comes to building equitable learning environments. Systemic transformation of anything is a difficult process, let alone of something as foundational as education. To create transformative and equitable learning, schools and districts need to prioritize the voices, experiences, and leadership of the people who are poorly served by the current system and design schools to meet their needs.

The BELE Essential Actions describe the processes (“how”) to make changes necessary (“what”) to realize the systemic transformation needed to create resilient school systems that foster the academic, social, and emotional growth of all young people and their communities. This gameplan can help ensure that ALL students meet universal goals of whole child well-being and academic excellence.

Building equitable learning environments in this period of crisis – COVID-19 and systemic racism – to restore our collective future. Our public education system is at a crossroads. With all of the structural inequities laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic and worsened still by recent acts of anti-black violence we’re witnessing across the country – there is a critical decision to be made. Will we choose to deliver the educational experiences black, brown, low-income and white children need and deserve – or will we choose to go back to normal, resurrecting learning structures and processes that are undeniably inequitable?

Educators nationwide are preparing to welcome students and adults back to school to reunite, renew, and thrive. To aid in this transition, CASEL collaborated with more than 40 partners to illuminate a way forward, centered on relationships and built on the existing strengths of a school community.