Devils Lake Public Schools started looking for a K-12 SEL curriculum in Spring of 2022. As the curriculum director for the district, I was leading the DLPS counselors in attempting to find such a program. There were many programs that were either for grades K-5 or for grades 6-12. It was not easy to find a K-12 program until we came upon 7 Mindsets! We looked at it as a team and we knew this was the program for our district. It was decided in the fall of 2022 that we would purchase 7 Mindsets.
We took the process slowly. I knew that if we wanted this to be successful district-wide and get buy-in from all staff, we would need to go slow to go fast and that’s exactly what we did. I initially met with a few members of the 7 Mindsets staff to talk about the process. We had our first district meeting with our coach in February 2023 via zoom. The next month, our coach came to Devils Lake, ND, and our district leadership team had an amazing day with our coach. The leadership team was on board. We continued to meet once a month via zoom from April to June. We planned for our District Kickoff in August. The energy that our two presenters had at our August Inservice was incredible. It was just what our district needed.
Our leadership team consists of school counselors, instructional coaches, and administrators. This has really helped with the implementation of the program. We continue to meet with our 7 Mindsets coach monthly via zoom. This keeps the district leaders responsible for the implementation. The curriculum pacing guides that were given to us at the beginning have had a huge impact on our implementation as well. Our coach gives us lesson plans and ideas for the 7 Mindset that we will be focusing on as a district. “We are one” has been our district motto for several years. Now we are not only talking the talk, but we are also walking the walk. It has been nothing short of amazing.
There are so many tools and resources in the 7 Mindsets platform for both students and adults in the building. This will help to keep the momentum going. Another aspect of 7 Mindsets that we are looking forward to is that as the students grow and progress in their years at DLPS, the 7 Mindsets will always be there. Our students will continue to learn and grow these skills from kindergarten. It has truly been a blessing for our staff and students in our district.
Kim Krogfoss
DLPS Curriculum Director
Minnie H Kindergarten Center Principal, ND
