Session Description:
COMPASS requires programs to deliver SEL outcomes consistently across every site they operate, which means multi-site organizations need a single curriculum decision that holds up across communities with different youth needs and staff capacities. Making this choice before launch, rather than letting sites drift toward different models in the first months, is what allows leaders to supervise, evaluate, and improve SEL implementation as one organization instead of several.
In this working session, organizational leaders will work through a structured decision framework: naming their system-wide SEL goals, surfacing where sites differ in youth needs and staff readiness, applying shared criteria to candidate curricula, and locating decision authority when consensus isn't reached. The session moves between guided discussion and individual work time on the leader's own organization.
By the end of the session, participants will leave with a Curriculum Decision Brief specific to their organization: system-wide SEL goals named, evaluation criteria weighted, and the decision authority and timeline identified. The brief gives the leader what they need to move from deliberation to a defensible curriculum choice before launch.
Intended Audience:
Organizational Leaders who will be instrumental in selecting the curriculum. Executive Directors, Multi-Site Leaders.
Dr. Nnenna Franciamore
Dr. Franciamore is mother of 3 children who attend public school, and a proud alumnus of the New York City Teaching Fellows Program. She worked as an elementary educator in a high-needs Bronx school for several years where she strived to raise academic achievement, created the first inclusion classroom setting within the school, participated in literacy curriculum planning at the school wide and at the district level, as well as turn-keyed a host of professional development. Nnenna left the classroom, and opened a licensed group family daycare. She designed and implemented curricula for the care and education of children from birth – 12 years while engaging their families in supporting each child’s growth and development. She strived to provide a safe and nurturing environment where children thrive emotionally, socially, physically, creatively, and academically. Her passions for education and desire to impact social change in New York City’s education system led to a PhD in Education with a specialization in early childhood education and started her non-profit organization Solid Foundations for Healthy Families.
Nnenna’s published doctoral dissertation is entitled Parent Perceptions of Character Education in Universal Pre-k, consequently, she is well-versed in the areas of early childhood education and development, family engagement, parent education, and character education. She currently teaches in the education department as Adjunct Faculty at Indiana Wesleyan University and Grand Canyon University, supporting future and present educators in grasping both theory and best practice in helping young children to thrive in the classroom setting. She believes that social change in this field begins with effectively training the families and the professionals who engage with children and equipping them to provide research-based high-quality education for all. She loves to connect deeply with individuals, share her story, give, and show love in all interactions.
Meghan Ryan, MSW
Meghan is a transformational leader, coach, and facilitator with over 20 years of experience supporting adolescents, young adults, and the programs and people that serve them. For 15 years, she lived and worked in Red Hook, Brooklyn (home to the largest housing projects in the borough) where she built deep, lasting relationships with over 100 adolescents and young adults: celebrating their magic, showing up through every kind of joy and crisis, and learning what it takes to be a safe, loving adult in a young person’s life.
Today, Megh works with community-based organizations and schools across New York City and Philadelphia — designing programs, coaching leaders, and developing curricula. She supports peer leaders and credible messengers, people whose lived experience gives them deep understanding, less judgment, and a knowing that it’s systems, not individuals, that are broken. Megh’s offerings in mindfulness, self-love, and transformational leadership help folks heal, discover their power, and transform lived experience into wisdom that the world needs. She holds a BSW from Temple University and an MSW from Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work.
A devoted friend and auntie to multitudes (and usually singing,) Megh follows the lead of radical love to design, equip, and deepen systems of care. She believes that when we transform ourselves, we transform the world.
Organization: Ramapo for Children
Website: https://ramapoforchildren.org/
Org Description: Ramapo for Children partners with schools, youth-serving organizations, and communities to create environments where all young people can succeed. Through training, coaching, and evidence-informed practices, Ramapo helps educators and youth professionals build inclusive, supportive spaces that promote social-emotional growth and engagement.