Internal Planning

Attendance Works

July 28, 2025

As a nonprofit initiative, Attendance Works partners with schools, districts, states, communities and organizations to ensure that chronic absence is recognized as a serious issue that can be addressed through proactive, supportive strategies. Their website offers resources for monitoring, understanding, and addressing chronic absence beginning in the early grades through secondary school. These strategies can be implemented at the school, district, and state level. You can find resources to help develop:

Positive Engagement with families and students
Actionable Data to help you identify students with too many absences
Capacity Building to help build a culture of attendance in your classroom, school or district.
Find toolkits under Capacity Building.

All tools can be downloaded and used without express permission from Attendance Works.

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Children’s Adversity Index – Illinois

July 28, 2025

The Children’s Adversity Index measures community-level adversity in order to estimate exposure to potential sources of childhood trauma. The index offers a clearer view of the challenges facing communities across Illinois. Although calculated at the district level to meet the statutory requirements, the index is not about school districts themselves. Rather, the data provides insights into the communities each school district serves. The index provides a useful tool for a wide range of state- and regional-level policymakers, nonprofits, state agencies, and other stakeholders to help them make better informed decisions about resource allocation, policies, and programming, and prioritize communities most in need. (IL Public Act 103-0413)

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Illinois Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative

July 28, 2025

This webpage outlines the Illinois Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative, including the School Screening Readiness Report. This report identifies five key domains of readiness for universal mental health screening derived from the results of a readiness survey. It then articulates three recommended phases for implementation. Finally, it reviews existing mental health resources and services and those in development, along with implementation support, that will be provided by ISBE in areas of governance, oversight, and policy guidance. It concludes with a timeline for implementation of universal mental health screening in all school districts by the end of the 2027-28 school year.

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Communities of Practice: Facilitators’ Guide

July 28, 2025

A Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of peers who share a common concern, a set of problems, or an interest in a topic, who come together regularly to fulfill both individual and group goals. A CoP provides an environment conducive to learning and exchange, emphasizing interactions in a climate of mutual trust and respect. Within the RSSI framework, a CoP can also serve as a strategy within a school or district’s action plan, helping to deepen implementation and foster collaborative, practice-based growth. This guide provides the history of CoPs in Illinois’ trauma responsive schools work and helps facilitators plan for and facilitate a Community of Practice. This is guide is a collaboration among Center for Childhood Resilience, Partnership 4 Resilience, and Stress & Trauma Treatment Center.

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Communities of Practice: Facilitators’ Guide

July 15, 2025

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Trauma-Responsive Schools Implementation Assessment (TRS-IA)

July 15, 2025

The Trauma-Responsive Schools Implementation Assessment (TRS-IA) is a school-wide, evidence-informed quality improvement tool designed to help schools identify strengths and areas for growth in trauma-responsive practices. The TRS-IA generates a detailed feedback report highlighting school strengths and areas for growth across eight domains. This report serves as a catalyst for action planning, programming, and policy development, helping teams build school cultures rooted in safety, equity, and healing. Developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), the Treatment and Services Adaptation Center for Resilience, Hope, and Wellness in Schools, and the National Center for School Mental Health, the TRS-IA supports schools in creating safer, more supportive environments for students impacted by trauma.

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Trauma-Informed Practices: A Whole-School Policy Framework

July 15, 2025

Researchers suggest that students with many ACEs may be at risk for academic or behavioral issues without officially meeting the diagnostic standards for receiving special education services or interventions. This research article explores a trauma-informed whole-school policy framework to address these issues.

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Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH)

July 15, 2025

REACH is a model in Illinois for creating positive change in schools that consists of four steps: school team formation, evidence-based assessment, action planning, and implementation support. Initially focused exclusively on Trauma-Responsiveness and Healing-Centeredness, REACH also includes three additional pillars: Mental Health; Social and Emotional Learning; and CARE (Culturally Awareness, Responsiveness and Equity).

REACH is a partnership led by Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’s Center for Childhood Resilience and Illinois State Board of Education’s Learning Renewal program in partnership with regional SEL Hubs, Partnership for Resilience, and Stress & Trauma Treatment Center.

Schools play a central and critical role in helping students build their capacity to cope with stress and life problems – in other words, resilience. Research shows that the majority of students experiencing mental health challenges receive the help they need from staff in their school. When they feel safe and supported, students have more capacity to be creative, innovative and open to learning.

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School Community Crisis Preparation & Support

July 15, 2025

This playlist contains resources that align with trauma-informed crisis preparedness, response and support. While ideally every school and district should have the internal capacity to respond effectively in a crisis, some traumatic events require outside assistance from professional with specific expertise in school crisis intervention. The guidance here is not a substitute for crisis team training, planning and more in-depth knowledge of the school crisis prevention and intervention process. Click on the links to go to each resource.

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SEL Staff Survey Needs Assessment Facilitator Guide

July 15, 2025

This is a complementary, step-by-step guide to completing CASEL’s SEL Staff Survey Needs Assessment tool, which is used as a starting point in supporting schools and districts in creating a safe, supportive school environment. Indicators guide how schools may demonstrate success in each area within the nine domains of SEL Staff Survey. Overall, the assessment tool provides suggestions for action planning that can be adjusted to meet the needs of the school and/or district using it. Resources to further support action planning can be found through the RSSI system as well as the Action Plan Facilitator Guide found here.

The School-based Staff SEL Implementation Survey is a tool used in the SEL pillar of the Resilient Supportive Schools Illinois (RSSI) initiative, and is designed to be taken by staff members working in one school setting. The data and results will support school-based SEL teams in collecting data on staff SEL implementation practices and perceptions.

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Internal Planning

Start Building Resilience and Healing in Schools