We have an SEL policy! Now what?

Abstract

States have made tremendous growth within the last decade developing and implementing statutory, regulatory, and non-regulatory policies and practices that center student and adult social, emotional, and academic development. Almost all states have some form of guidance or support for local education agencies (LEAs) to implement social and emotional learning (SEL) and over half of states have SEL standards or competencies. Even with this growth, empirical evidence is limited on how state SEL policies and practices influence local implementation. To begin to address this gap, the authors interviewed 16 state education agency (SEA) staff from 13 states to explore what they perceive as effective SEL implementation and any evidence that supports their claim. Through exploring the arc of the development, implementation, and evaluation of their state SEL policies and practices, SEA staff uplifted the significance of engaging with multiple stakeholders (e.g., educators, families, and communities), the critical lever that statutory and regulatory policies hold in supporting locally-driven SEL implementation, key non-regulatory policy and practice efforts (e.g. embedded and explicit instruction, adult SEL, and systemic SEL), the importance of SEL being both a standalone effort and embedded with other pertinent initiatives, and the need for more robust data systems that help determine which policies and practices best support student and adult social, emotional, and academic development.