Techosta Where Tech Starts From
Never before has the need for social and emotional learning been so great in our students’ classrooms. The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event that had a profound impact on all aspects of our society, particularly on the social and emotional wellbeing of both students and adults. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 70% of public schools have reported an increase in the number of students seeking mental health services. Fifty percent of interviewed teachers attributed their desire to leave their job to factors related to the pandemic. Recent findings from the State of the American teacher and the State of the American Principal surveys found that about 33 percent of teachers and principals reported that they were likely to leave their current position by the end of the 2021–22 school year. The majority of these principals and teachers were unlikely to quit before the pandemic. And 31 percent of white teachers versus 41 percent of teachers of color, a statistically significant difference, reported that they intended to leave their position before the 2021-2022 school year ended.
Moreover, the pandemic has highlighted the longstanding inequities in our education system, stemming from systemic racism and inequality. Additionally, districts and states are looking for financial and programmatic assistance to meet these requirements. According to a 2021 market analysis by Tyton Partners, spending on SEL in schools and districts grew by approximately 45 percent from $530M to $765M between November 2019 and April 2021. Furthermore, a 2022 analysis of state ESSER spending plans found that nearly a third of local agencies plan to spend on social and emotional learning curriculum, materials or training. Additionally, more than a third of local agencies plan to hire psychologists or mental health professionals.
The growing awareness of the science of learning and development (SoLD) has led to the realization that all learning, including SEL, takes place within a specific environment, despite the fact that districts typically address these requirements with SEL-focused curriculum and professional development. Experts are beginning to distill SoLD research into frameworks and tools to help K12 systems leaders assess and improve learning environments toward new ways of thinking and working in the SEL space, with a greater focus on shifting adult mindset and practice to promote asset-based learning conditions in the classroom. Education First conducted a year-long research project in 2022 to explore these trends in the SEL field in partnership with 15 national organizations.
The following are some key findings from this study: Curriculum should be culturally dynamic and flexible enough to include local content and context and build on students’ strengths and interests. It should also support students to share their experiences, engage in their progress monitoring, and reflect on their learning to provide them with ownership and agency over their learning.
Adults play a critical role in creating inclusive and equitable learning environments. It is imperative to invest in developing equitable, racial justice-oriented mindsets through content and pedagogical knowledge-building and critical self-reflection. Adults must view youth as experts and teaching and learning partners who play an equally important role in their learning and development in order to create inclusive and equitable learning environments. Adults in schools need sustained professional learning and coaching that pushes them to interrogate their practice. Professional learning should develop adults’ capacity to talk about identity, build empathy, and provide opportunities for staff to model SEL with each other in an embedded and ongoing way.
Technical solutions alone are unlikely to have the greatest impact. There are a variety of options available in the field to assess and enhance the quality of classroom and school learning environments, in addition to curriculums, frameworks, assessments, and other products and teaching tools that can assist educators in meeting their goals and objectives.
However, creating the practice shifts needed to create inclusive learning environments requires deep reflection and dialogue among educators and with students. Adult mindset shifts can be profoundly influenced by programs and practices that emphasize racial justice and related components like healing and liberation. Intention, disruption, and action are required to promote equitable learning environments based on racial justice. Strong relationships amongst and between adults and youth are at the core of inclusive environments. Organizations anchored in racial justice have developed unique approaches to relationship-building that have the potential to lead the field in new directions. Organizations that approach their work from a racial justice lens attend to developing equitable, racial justice-oriented mindsets and practices in their staff.
Organizations with proximate leadership and staff bring a unique—and personal—passion and lens to creating authentic and meaningful relationships and promoting inclusive learning environments. Communities are able to envision and make plans for a more equitable future by creating safe spaces where adults and youth can have genuine, trusting, and vulnerable relationships with one another. Thank you to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for supporting this research.
Do you want to know more? Join our upcoming webinar to learn more about this work!