Creating An Equitable Learning Environment Using SEL

August 14, 2020

Wendy Ward

...There is a true yearning to respond to

The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew

The African and Native American, the Sioux,

The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek

The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,

The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,

The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.

They hear. They all hear

The speaking of the Tree…

​

Maya Angelou “On the Pulse of the Morning”

Agenda

• Considerations
• CASEL’s Competencies Through the Lens of Equity
• Strategies to Ground SEL Programming in Equity
• Building Blocks of Equity (To Do List)
• Resources

CASEL’s Defintion of SEL

​

“The process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”

​

​

Considerations

​

As Educators, we are in powerful positions to influence children and we may subtly transfer our beliefs to students by the way we select topics, organize and deliver instruction, and by the way we interact with students and manage the class.

​

We must start by examining our own personal values and beliefs and then strategize how to provide more equitable instruction.

​

​

​

Just as we educators have our own values and beliefs, so do our students. They bring their own life experiences to the table which may be impacted by their SES, religion, race, gender, ethnicity, etc.

​

Our task is to start these difficult conversations and close the gap on inequity in education.

​

​

5 Self Competencies

​

• The goal is to develop and apply five core competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.

​

​

​

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is foundational for equity. It involves understanding your emotions, personal identity, goals, and values. This includes accurately assessing your strengths and limitations, having positive mindsets, possessing a well-grounded sense of self-efficacy and optimism.

Developing self-awareness with an equity lens can help students and adults:

• Understand the links between personal and sociocultural identities that are defined by cultural and/or family values, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, gender and other factors.
• Examine what it means to belong to a group or community, including how ethnicity and race impacts one’s sense of self and beliefs. (A healthy sense of ethnic-racial identity is important for psychological, academic, and social well-being.)
• Recognize biases and understanding how thoughts, feelings, and actions are interconnected.
• Ground oneself in and affirm one’s cultural heritage(s) or communities (This can be especially important for students of color, and reduce psychological distress and risky behaviors, protect against the negative health impacts of racial discrimination, and promote a range of positive social and emotional outcomes, including school engagement and prosocial behaviors.)

​

Self-Management

Self-management includes regulating your emotions, stress management, self-control, self-motivation, and setting and achieving goals.

It’s important to examine an individual’s self-management in relationship to a larger context. Schools, like most other U.S. social institutions, can often prioritize middle-class American cultural values, norms, and practices. For students, such as low-income or immigrant youth, who experience a cultural mismatch between school and home life, this can often lead to a type of stress associated with health and behavioral problems. Additionally, experiences of discrimination and microaggressions can also lead to negative social and emotional outcomes and behaviors.

When leveraged to promote equity, self-management can help students and adults:

• Cope with the stress of adapting to school culture.
• Cope with discrimination and prejudice.
• Develop a sense of agency, identify societal challenges and pursue individual and collective solutions.

Social Awareness

Social awareness involves the ability to take the perspective of those with the same and different backgrounds and cultures and to empathize and feel compassion.

Fostering social-awareness through an equity lens can help adults and students to:

• Understand social norms for behavior in diverse settings.
• Recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.
• Recognize and examine potentially competing cultural and race-related messages and expectations.
• Explore the importance of different types of diversity in classrooms, school, and community settings.
• Recognize cultural demands and opportunities across different settings
• Recognize issues of race and class across different settings.
• Assess power dynamics and how these dynamics can disadvantage others.
• Envision ways to co-create safe and constructive learning environments.

​

Relationship Skills

Relationship skills involve building relationships with diverse individuals and groups, communicating clearly, working cooperatively, resolving conflicts, and seeking help.

When cultivated with an equity lens, relationship skills can help students and adults:

• Develop cultural competency skills, which includes building relationships with those from different backgrounds in a way that values their culture and history.
• Learn about and navigate cultural differences (for example, by “code-switching”).
• Collaboratively problem solve across differences in race, culture, gender, and social roles.

​

​

Responsible Decision-Making

Responsible decision-making refers to considering the well-being of self and others; recognizing one’s responsibility to behave ethically; basing decisions on safety, social, and ethical considerations; evaluating realistic consequences of various actions; and making constructive, safe choices for self, relationships, and school.

By fostering equity through SEL, developing responsible decision-making skills can position adults and students to:

• Engage in initiatives and to co-create solutions that are inclusive, equitable, and mutually supportive.
• Develop an understanding of systemic or structural explanations for different treatment and outcomes.
• Assess the impact of personal beliefs and biases.
• Reflect on how actions taken by individuals, group and institutions impact equity.
• Make caring, constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse settings.

​

Strategies to Ground SEL Programming in Equity

​

• Create safe and inclusive schools.
• Embrace students’ assets and abilities.
• Develop cultural competency.
• Engage families and the community.
• Provide trauma-informed care.
• Rethink discipline.
• Build educators’ social and emotional skills.
• Invest in staff training.

​

Create safe and inclusive schools. Providing a positive, safe environment where all students feel welcomed, valued, supported, and celebrated can foster a sense of belonging, build trust and caring relationships, and promote a readiness to learn.

​

​

​

Embrace students’ assets and abilities. An emphasis on student deficits and inequities can promote negative self-perceptions among marginalized groups. Shifting the focus to building on students’ strengths and reducing opportunity gaps can bolster students’ belief in their abilities.

​

​

Develop cultural competency. Implicit biases and prejudices can lead to low expectations for and disengagement among marginalized groups. Examining biases, building respect for other views and cultures, and increasing teacher diversity can boost empathy and student engagement.

Engage families and the community. Training staff in research-based methods for engaging marginalized families and respecting their culture, concerns, and hopes for their children can help educators build trust with the community and gain support for SEL initiatives.

Provide trauma-informed care. A tendency to focus SEL on building skills can miss underlying causes of behavior, such as poverty, neglect, and abuse. Complementing SEL with trauma-informed care can reduce triggers, promote healing, and foster a sense of security for students.

Rethink discipline. Suspensions and expulsions can have long-term negative effects and are often imposed disproportionately on Black and male students. Focusing discipline on managing behavior and taking responsibility for one’s actions can promote safer and more equitable schools.

Build educators’ social and emotional skills. Stress, burnout, and turnover can affect educators’ ability to model SEL and support students in crisis. Developing staff’s social and emotional skills can strengthen their well-being and ability to manage stress and support all students.

Invest in staff training. Providing training and coaching on SEL and equity can help staff integrate and tailor SEL, recognize and address inequities, and provide culturally responsive instruction.

Building Blocks of Equity

• This may require a culture shift within the school
• Establish a foundation of inclusion and respect
• Empower critical thinking
• Hilight culturally relevant teaching
• Encourage family and community involvement
• Engage in purposeful planning
• Empower your students
• Use positive and inclusive language
• Consider project-based, experiential and participatory learning
• Integrate equity content into subject areas
• Build community
• Cultural integration

When SEL is leveraged to promote equity:

• SEL is relevant for all students in all schools and affirms diverse cultures and backgrounds.
• SEL is a strategy for systemic improvement, not just an intervention for at-risk students.
• SEL is a way to uplift student voice and promote agency and civic engagement.
• SEL supports adults in strengthening practices that promote equity.
• Districts must engage students, families, and communities as authentic partners in social and emotional development.

​

​

SEL is relevant for all students in all schools and affirms diverse cultures and backgrounds.

• Students bring their strengths, values, lived experiences, and culture with them.

​

• SEL does not seek to have students conform to the values and preferences of the dominant culture but uplifts and promotes understanding of the diverse individuals and communities.

​

​

SEL is a strategy for systemic improvement, not just an intervention for at-risk students.

• While SEL reduces risky behaviors and improves mental health the impact is maximized when systemic SEL becomes a coordinating framework that transforms all aspects of schooling — from how the central office is organized to how classroom instruction is delivered.

​

• What it looks like: The focus of implementation is on creating the conditions that promote social and emotional growth for all students, including building trusting relationships, welcoming learning environments, consistent routines, engaging teaching strategies, culturally-relevant practices and authentic family and community partnerships.

​

​

​

​

SEL is a way to uplift student voice and promote agency and civic engagement.

• The goal of SEL is to build skills and competencies that help students successfully navigate and meaningfully contribute to their schools, careers, families, relationships, and multicultural communities. This occurs when SEL goes beyond behavior management and positions young people “as experts in understanding and fashioning a world that is more just and equitable” (Jagers, 2016, p. 3).

​

• What it looks like: All students have developmentally-appropriate opportunities to engage in discussions with each other, raise problems and identify solutions in their schools and communities, productively challenge the inequities that they see, have a voice in how the school district operates, and take on authentic leadership roles.

​

​

​

SEL supports adults in strengthening practices that promote equity.

• SEL also offers a way for districts to examine how their own policies and practices may impact equity, and acknowledge and address the larger impact that systemic and individual bias, racism or oppression may have on the lives of their students.

​

• What it looks like: Adults reflect on their own identities, assets, and biases, and engage in culturally-responsive practices and conversations around equity. District staff examine disaggregated data, analyze root causes of disparities, and engage various stakeholders to co-develop policies and practices that support equity.

​

​

​

Districts must engage students, families, and communities as authentic partners in social and emotional development.

• The relationships between a district and school staff, students, families, and communities are at the core of systemic SEL. In order for SEL to affirm the assets of children from diverse backgrounds, schools need to understand the cultures, lived experiences, and values of families and communities, and all students need to feel ownership over their own social and emotional development.

​

• What it looks like: Students, families and community partners are active partners in the planning and implementation of SEL and play a role in district decision-making. All students have frequent opportunities to share their perspectives and feedback.

​

​

​

Resources

​

• http://www.changekidslives.org/lists-culturally-responsive-teaching/
• https://greatlakesequity.org/sites/default/files/201001011005_equity_tool.pdf

​

Sources

Bayles, Taryn; Morrell, Claudia. Creating an Equitable Learning Environment. Chemical Engineering Education, v52 n2 p143-151 Spr 2018.

https://nearpod.com/blog/creating-equitable-classrooms/ Katie Micallef 2-18-19

Equitable Classroom Practices Observation Checklist https://greatlakesequity.org/sites/default/files/201001011005_equity_tool.pdf

​

https://measuringsel.casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Frameworks-Equity.pdf

Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects Taylor et al. 2017.

​

Jagers, Robert. Framing Social and Emotional Learning among African-American Youth: Toward an Integrity-Based Approach. 2016.

​

​

​

​

​

​

For additional information, please contact Wendy Ward

​

wward@sccharter.org

​

(803) 403-3933