“Open Circle provides children and adults with a common language and expectations that are essential to learning.”

“Open Circle has changed my life.“

“Since we implemented Open Circle many years ago, I have seen a huge difference in children’s ability to resolve their own conflicts and monitor their own behavior.”

“Open Circle gives kids skills to work through their own issues. We’ve used other SEL programs that don’t work as well because kids are not taught the skills.”

“All of the training facilitators were wonderful, warm and excellent role models.”

Coach
PROGRAMS

Programs Overview
Open Circle is a whole-school, preventative approach for your school's K-5 social and emotional learning needs. Research has shown that Open Circle increases students' pro-social skills, decreases violence and other problem behaviors, and supports an easier transition to middle school.

Since its inception in 1987, Open Circle has reached over half a million children and trained over 12,500 educators. Open Circle has been implemented in over 275 schools in 100 urban and suburban communities across the Northeast.

The Open Circle approach addresses both of the key requirements for social and emotional development: building social and emotional skills and establishing safe, caring and highly-engaging learning environments. Social skills like self-management, social awareness, relationship-building, teamwork and problem solving are taught through lessons outlined in the K-5, grade-differentiated Open Circle Curriculum. Safe and caring learning environments are fostered through community-building activities, frameworks to understand and address central needs of students and staff, and a common vocabulary and approach.

Open Circle provides a unique, whole-school approach to helping students develop social and emotional skills and fostering safe, caring, and cooperative school climates. Every member of your school community is an integral piece of the social and emotional learning puzzle!

To best address the unique needs of various school staff members, training programs are tailored to specific staff roles. More extensive programs involve year-long participation that provide opportunities to practice and reinforce learning throughout the school year.

Some training programs also include in-school coaching to support and guide participants in their own school environments. This extra support accelerates learning, facilitates deeper understanding and adoption of the Open Circle approach, and leads to more successful implementation.

Open Circle Implementation Model
Open Circle's programs work best when schools apply the following implementation model. Schools implement Open Circle on different timelines depending on their needs and resources. The discounts listed on page 5 or funding resources on page 3 may help you implement more quickly. We can help you customize an implementation plan and a budget for your school. Contact us at info@open-circle.org or 781-283-3277.

View our Implementation Model (PDF)

The Importance of Implementation Fidelity
The success of initiatives in schools relies on the quality and consistency of implementation. Open Circle works best when it is fully implemented throughout your school, with training for all members of your school community. School climate change is a process, not a single event. As with any new initiative, it might take a few years of consistent, widespread implementation to realize Open Circle's full benefits. However, once realized, these results are long-lasting and worth the investment.

Benefits of Open Circle

• Provides a common vocabulary, strategies and approaches, and develops shared expectations for all members of the school community
• Supplies a teacher toolbox of preventative classroom management skills and ready-to-use resources
• Teaches children processes for quickly settling down and ways to resolve their own problems
• Fosters a caring, respectful climate in the classroom, among classmates and throughout the school
• Helps create a cooperative learning environment and a happier and safer school community
• Saves time and money in the long run by addressing discipline and safety problems as they arise

Evidence-Based and Nationally-Recognized
Schools can fund Open Circle through state and federal grants because it is a research-based program with clear evidence of effectiveness. Open Circle is listed in the U.S. Department of Education's Expert Panel Guidebook of Exemplary and Promising Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools Programs and has been designated as a "select" program by CASEL.

View our Catalog of Programs (PDF)

To learn more about Open Circle programs, please contact us at info@open-circle.org or 781-283-3277.