Why Trouble SEL? The Need for Cultural Relevance in SEL

Focusing on Uptake: The Evolution of an Evidence-Informed Classroom Resource for Student Mental Health

“…This has led to the development of SEL interventions with more explicit incorporation of equity principles (Jagers et al, 2019). Integrating culturally safe and responsive approaches to SEL skill-building is a key first step to enhancing students' social emotional development and ameliorating health and educational disparities (Mahfouz & Anthony-Stevens, 2020). Culturally responsive SEL interventions aim to put in practice cultural safety principles by both developing capacity for cultural competence throughout institutions and acknowledging historical and relational power imbalances (Curtis et al, 2019;Laverty et al, 2017).…”

“…Through reflection, dialogue, and exchange of different understandings of well-being, educators can draw on students' familial and cultural strengths to support mental health and address systemic educational inequities (Mahfouz & Anthony-Stevens, 2020;McCallops et al, 2019). It is important for teachers to understand how students of diverse backgrounds and experiences-including Indigenous, Black, minoritized, 2SLGBTQIA+ students, and students with differing abilities-may experience discrimination.…”

Social Emotional Learning in Schools: The Importance of Educator Competence

“…Additionally, their research supported previously identified issues such as lack of clarity for practitioners to promote the five core competencies when faced with issues of race or trauma. The CASEL organization acknowledges this gap in their research and is strategically working to improve their focus on equity (Jagers et al, 2018; Mahfouz & Anthony-Stevens, 2020). Specifically, research focusing on transformative SEL that incorporates culture, identity, agency, belonging, and engagement as they pertain to the five core competencies in the CASEL framework are being explored (Jagers et al, 2019).…”

A Systematic Review of Student Disability and Race Representation in Universal School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions for Elementary School Students

“…There is considerable momentum to implement USB SEL to transform a pathway to educational equity for minoritized youth (Aspen Institute, 2018; Farrington, 2020; Jagers et al, 2019), particularly toward the end of dismantling structural racism and the use of exclusionary practices 1 (Duchesneau, 2018; Mahoney et al, 2020; Williams & Jagers, 2022). Making matters most urgent, despite the presumed promise of USB SEL for all students (Aspen Institute, 2019, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2020; Mahoney et al, 2020), there remains open questions as to whether evidence-based SEL is in fact effective or even accessible to ability-minoritized and racially minoritized students (Cipriano & Rappolt-Schlichtmann, 2021; Gregory & Fergus, 2017; Hoffman, 2009; Mahfouz & Anthony-Stevens, 2020).…”

“…Once more, in some cases the deficit orientation of these interventions, practices, and policies have been considered to contribute to the inequitable, inaccessible, and punitive educational practices affecting minoritized youth (Cipriano et al, 2021a; Annamma et al, 2018; Bal & Trainor, 2016; Duchesneau, 2018). Although scholars have cautioned against the potential for SEL interventions to be race-evasive, failing to consider power, privilege, and cultural differences, or overlooking the role of individual beliefs and structural inequities in their design and implementation (Aspen Institute, 2018; Cipriano et al, 2021b; Duchesneau, 2018; Gregory & Fergus, 2017; Hoffman, 2009; Mahfouz & Anthony-Stevens, 2020; Osher et al, 2014), recent media commentary politicizing SEL and misconstruing it as or adjacent to the enaction of critical race theory in U.S. schools has drawn public criticism. But what do we know about the experiences of marginalized youth in USB SEL programs and approaches?…”