Episode 2: Is the School helping my child Learn?

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Hi and welcome to another episode of K12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr. Kim Fields, education advocate and researcher, and I'm the host of this podcast. In today's episode, I'll be highlighting some of the key points about another hot topic that's been discussed quite a bit over the last couple of years and that is Social Emotional Learning. One of the greatest fears of being a parent is that your child is not learning according to their ability. In addition, you desire that your child is getting a well rounded education, one in which they are nurtured socially, emotionally and academically, and that this is supported by his or her teachers and school administrators. Hence the rise of social emotional learning. I'll summarize what social emotional Learning, or sel, is all about and why it's important to be aware of what's being currently discussed and implemented. I'll then translate that into practical applications, what it means for you as far as its effects on how and what your children learn in school. So let's dig into the background. What actually is social emotional learning? Casel, which is an acronym for the Collaborative for Academic, Social and emotional learning in 2021, defined social emotional learning as establishing positive relationships and making responsible decisions. It involves five competencies that basically focus on being socially aware, developing relationship skills, being responsible in decision making, and being self aware and managing oneself. In other words, it is designed to support students in developing critical life skills like self control, personal perseverance, mindfulness, and self motivation. After perusing multiple journal articles in the research, by the way, one of my favorite pastimes, I discovered that there are multiple definitions of social emotional learning in the literature. For example, in addition to the CASEL work, another model or report as Presented by Clark McAll in the the Spring 2017 issue of the Future of Children journal indicated that the non cognitive factors of social emotional learning that included academic behaviors, academic perseverance, academic mindsets, learning strategies, and social skills should also be incorporated in social emotional learning. In that same journal, another report by the National Academy of sciences argues that 21st century skills include both interpersonal and people skills. So interpersonal skills are intrapersonal skills. Other researchers emphasize cognitive emotional and social interpersonal skills as well as the school context that has influence on how the social emotional learning skills are developed and the outcomes that they produce with such variants in the definition for sel. No wonder it's difficult for policymakers and practitioners to determine the appropriate assessments and the outcome data that are produced from those assessments. In addition, not only is it confusing for the administrators and for the policymakers, but it's confusing for the public at large. The Edweek Research center survey, which was conducted online between November 17 and December 1, 2021, indicated that parental support for social life and emotional learning programs in K12 schools appears to be gaining support in face of significant pushback in several communities. Now the pushback is basically by parents who have children in larger school districts which are defined as having more than 10,000 students, as compared to pushback from parents whose children are in smaller school districts, which are defined as fewer than 2,500 students. This survey included district leaders, principals, and teachers. It also indicated that some of this pushback had the same fervacy as incorporating critical race theory in the school curriculum had. Worth noting is that Most educators, roughly 62%, report that their support for social emotional learning has increased over the past year. So with this background in mind, how does this apply to K12 education? School administrators, principals and teachers indicate that they want SEL programs to be delivered in under an hour per day due to other academic priorities. These SEL programs should meet a broad range of needs, not just focus on one specific task. So my question is how can social emotional learning be culturally responsive, especially given the short time frame allocated per day. Let's focus on what culturally responsive teaching addresses. First, culturally responsive teaching focuses on the idea of the cultural connection that teachers can make between their content, their classroom, and their students experiences and culture. Second, in order to connect a culture with the content, whether it's in a literature class or a biology class, reflection or journaling exercises seem to be the most relevant to connect the content with the culture as long as they are aligned to the objectives of the lesson. This in fact seems to be one of the better ways to connect the climate content to the students experiences. One of the challenges of instituting SEL is actually defining what it is. There are several layers to social emotional learning that include the community, the school district, the administrators, the educators, and the students who are at varying developmental stages. Another challenge with implementing social emotional learning it is knowing whether it has been successful or even knowing what success looks like. Most SEL measurements depend on students self reported surveys which by their very nature are quite subjective. It's been established through the research that teaching and modeling SEL skills are important and fundamental to student success. But if we look a little deeper, how does this apply to the systems of oppression that many students encounter on a daily basis? It's hard to tell a student to practice empathy and perspective taking when they come to school hungry every day. And it may be confusing for students to understand how an educator is nurturing a relationship centered classroom when that very student is sent out of the classroom for non compliance for slight infractions such as not having a pencil. There are certain pragmatic questions that need to be addressed when we discuss the issue of SEL applications in the classroom. These questions entail how is the high disproportionality of suspension rates for students of color being addressed? What about the widening achievement gap for poor students and students of color? Additionally, how do we begin to have difficult conversations that may be uncomfortable when we start addressing biases, both implicit and explicit bias of the educators and the administrators who may not even be aware of their biases? Several researchers suggest that SEL competencies be extended to focus on social justice, global citizenship, and positive self image or positive self identity. The key aspects of social emotional learning attempt to address equity in the classroom as well as in the overall school environment. Equity in public school system, as defined by the center for Public Education is achieved when all students receive the resources they need so they graduate prepared for success after high school. To address the previous questions and issues about students, students of color, and teachers biases, educators need to first be aware of their role in the system and how their role either perpetuates or interrupts an educational system that may be set up to the advantage of some students while being disadvantageous for others. This requires that the teachers be more aware of their own cultural stance, their own beliefs, their own values and attitudes, and how these things influence the way they design the learning culture in their classroom. Social emotional learning, if it is well done, can help to navigate these challenges with compassion and openness. I truly hope that this awareness will provide opportunities for many teachers to self reflect on their role and how they show up for their students. Now, as far as the application to you, like most parents, you want to support your children on their educational journey, here are some ways to practically incorporate the Principles of SEL 1. Push your kids to challenge themselves academically and intellectually. 2. Encourage your kids to engage in classroom communities in order to build their social skills. 3. Put some responsibility on your kids kids to be productive participants in their own education by seeking out their quote unquote why why education is important for them. 4. Monitor what's going on in the classroom to ensure that the teacher is supporting your child and making a true effort to get to know your child. 5. Ask your child's teacher what instructional practices they're incorporating in the classroom that emphasize collaboration and communication so that your child feels more connected to the larger classroom culture. 6. Communicate with your child's teacher about how SEL practices are woven throughout the day in their curriculum. 7. Be active participants in your child's daily educational experience by promptly responding to emails sent out by the teachers. Optimally, if at all possible, volunteer periodically in the classroom 8. Exchange contact information with other people in order to stay connected to what's going on in the classroom as well as what's going on in the school at large and 9 talk to your kids every day. Create the time and space for your children to talk to you about what felt good during the day at school and what may have been more challenging. I leave you with these takeaways. This is a topic on which the dialogue continues and research extends. It seems to be on everybody's educational agenda these days. SEL is important. Research shows that students who are both socially and emotionally competent, as well as culturally competent, perform better academically. Children who master SEL skills tend to get along better with others, do better in school, and have more successful careers. But the evidence from some of the most rigorous studies of elementary school SEL programs is conflicting. Some studies find few or no effects, whereas other studies find important and meaningful effects. This makes it very hard to interpret the outcomes of SEL programs in schools once they've been implemented. Social emotional learning is intended to create the space where both students and teachers become contributing and valued collaborators in the educational classroom. Experience Research, as cited by Ann Gregory and Edward ferguson in Spring 2017 issue of the Future of Children Journal, indicates that most SEL models are centered on students, but not so much on the adults who interact with them. Yet other research shows that educators own social and emotional competences have a strong influence on the student's motivation to learn and the overall school climate in general. I know this to be true even when I was in school and when my children were in school. Teachers have a profound effect on the learning of their students, not only the content that they presented on a daily basis, but also their cultural awareness and emotional connections that they bring to their jobs every day. Teachers need to be the first to recognize the cultural capital that students of color bring into their classrooms. Educators have the chance and challenge every day to inquire, take to listen more deeply, to be more open to the possibilities of the cultural exchanges that are happening. Let's face it, we don't know everything there is to know about cultural competencies, let alone all of the individual cultures represented in the students and families to which educators and practitioners interact in the classroom setting. But it is important to seek to understand the cultural differences. Just showing genuine, sincere intention in the vulnerability to learn about others is a big step forward. I'm all about teaching kids in the classroom as well as at home about the importance of critical life skills like self motivation, perseverance, and self control because they'll need these in order to be successful citizens in the world. I think that social emotional learning is a tool that can be utilized in the school settings to help reinforce these critical life skills. In case you weren't able to write down some of the ways that you can practically incorporate the practices of social emotional learning, I have a free handout that summarizes six key points about the practical applications of SEL for parents, and it's available at www.liberation. again, that's www.liberationthrougheducation.com so you can get a free handout summarizing the six key points about how to implement practical applications of SEL for parents. If this is a type of subject matter and discussion that resonates with you, please subscribe to my podcast on whatever service you're listening to this also, I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment or a review and feel free to share this episode with anyone that you think would find it valuable. Be sure to tell your friends, family, and community about my podcast. Thanks for listening today. I hope you'll come back for more than K12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. 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