CASEL’s 2024 SEL Exchange Reflection: Three keys to drive social & emotional learning in your school or district
Milestone dates offer opportunities to celebrate, elevate, and in the case of CASEL’s 30th anniversary, accelerate.
The Chicago-based 2024 Social & Emotional Learning Exchange theme was ‘Accelerate: Academic Thriving and Lifelong Learning.’ Driven by strong speed and strategic direction, the Nov. 12-14 conference attracted 1,800 attendees and marked three decades of SEL growth.
Throughout 100+ sessions and speeches on how to advance impact, a consistent theme emerged: leverage evidence linking SEL to academic gains, professional success, and personal happiness.
Our team in attendance was motivated by this mission and inspired by the leaders at every level who center students, engage communities, and find opportunities to infuse SEL in and out of the classroom.
As we reflect on the conference and consider the year ahead, we’ve compiled three keys to fuel meaningful social and emotional well-being, and equip your students with the skills and mindsets to thrive.
1) Make the best case for SEL with skills-aligned validation
SEL’s designated term and delivery style varies, but its core competencies have earned approval from the majority of school, district and political leaders.
According to CASEL-led research, 49 U.S. states now have at least one policy promoting SEL education. Additionally, 83 percent of principals report an SEL curriculum in their schools.
However, if SEL skepticism and politicization remain an issue in your school or district, administrators should lead with child-centered, evidence-based reasoning, urged CASEL’s President and CEO, Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel, in her opening remarks.
“The same part of the brain that helps kids sound out words,” Dr. Samuel said, “also helps them identify emotions in facial expressions, which means that all learning is social and emotional learning.”
Another way to widen SEL approval is by using the practice as a universal/Tier 1 support, which is proven to proactively reduce higher-order student service needs and increase career and life success. These efforts are also well-supported by the business community, said conference attendee Bill Miller, KPMG Partner and culture leader.
“We’re all here because we share a common goal: to ensure the next generation is future ready,” Miller explained during a corporate panel. “...We want students to walk out of our schools not just with diplomas, but with the emotional intelligence to navigate the complex issues that will face them in the world after education.”
2) Weave SEL into core curriculum & involve students as partners
SEL as a stand-alone activity is a solid start, but as various speakers emphasized, seamless integration within the class material is even better.
“You don’t teach kids just by handing them information,” explained Harper Anthony, a 7th grader at Chicago Public Schools who spoke at the event. “It takes motivation, connection, and support. That’s where SEL and academics come together, like peanut butter and jelly.”
This sandwich-inspired concept couples well with the idea of using the curriculum and project-based learning to create more enriching experiences, like those encouraged by Kevin Dykema of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
“We need to be working with our students to develop these skills [to investigate, analyze, listen, interact, vocalize and process] that are so necessary to be engaged human beings in society today,” urged Dykema’s opening plenary speech.
Rather than inflating teacher workloads, SEL should be seen as a simple yet effective tool to strengthen classroom culture, relationships, student engagement, and academic effectiveness.
3) Address whole child well-being with the Community Schools Model
Students cannot thrive academically if their physical, mental and social needs are not met. However, by developing a network of homegrown and partner resources to help the whole child, students are far more likely to succeed.
This theory and its evolution were fully unpacked by Sown To Grow co-presenters Rupa Gupta and Zaia Vera, Ed.D., whose conference session was “Growing Community: How Oakland Unified leverages the Community School Model to support whole child well-being & success.”
By using student voice in Tier 1 of MTSS, OUSD was able to proactively and equitably identify student and community needs, and comprehensively enhance support across their district.
“It’s crucial,” Dr. Vera said, “to develop assets-based strategies and track data that shows how strong fundamental SEL well-being is to the student community school experience.”
This belief echoed throughout the CASEL event, as well as in a closing plenary speech by Dr. Teri Lawler, school psychologist with the Delaware Department of Education.
“[SEL] is community resilience,” Dr. Lawler said, “and the way you build community resilience is welcoming everyone to a seat at the table.”
Although the SEL journey looks different for each school and district, all students deserve educators invested in their academic thriving and lifelong learning. As you continue your commitment to this cause, keeping these three CASEL 2024 SEL Exchange topics on your admin radar should accelerate progress.
Our team appreciates all of the conference contributors, we’re grateful for the experience, and we wish everyone the best in implementing these practices.
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At Sown To Grow, we’re working to support these efforts and more by providing easy and engaging student check-ins, personalized feedback and built-in-curriculum.
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