Black teachers: How to recruit them and make them stay
Lessons in higher education: What California can learn
Keeping California public university options open
Superintendents: Well-paid and walking away
The debt to degree connection
College in prison: How earning a degree can lead to a new life
This fall, a typical “classroom” looks unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Yet, during every Zoom session, teacher Paul Drake of Santa Rosa’s Hidden Valley Elementary School uses a familiar and powerful strategy to gauge his second-grade students’ readiness to engage and learn:
He takes the time to ask students “How are you?”
That might seem like a small action, but as Drake says, “If you’re not connecting with students, there’s no learning going on.” Explicit conversation modeling — a Social Emotional Learning, or SEL, technique — helps anxious students understand their feelings and manage their worries, Drake says. “When they see that whatever they’re experiencing is normal, the whole class gets back to work.”
Drake is a 28-year teaching veteran who helps lead Santa Rosa City School’s social-emotional learning efforts, an initiative started after the 2017 Tubbs fire and now key to advancing learning since schools are physically closed in his community due to Covid-19.
As teachers like Drake can attest, this school year has presented unparalleled challenges for educators, parents, and students alike. The pandemic, compounded with wildfires and the urgent need to redress racial inequity in our society, has upended any sense of normalcy in our schools. And as our students and educators slowly begin returning to school buildings, life will look dramatically different with social distancing and myriad safety precautions in place.
Trauma, in fact, may well be one of the unifying experiences of 2020 — and evidence exists that a widespread mental health crisis amongst our youth has already begun.
That is why now, more than ever, there is urgency to expand social and emotional learning so all students in California can benefit. And it is critical that these efforts are supported at both the local and state level.
Social and emotional learning, as a practice, is a set of strategies to help students develop the emotional skills that are vital for success in school — and life — like developing self-awareness, navigating healthy relationships, and building resilience. Research shows that social and emotional learning gives students a greater sense of trust and belonging, makes schools safer, and significantly increases academic achievement.
In other words, when used effectively, social and emotional learning can be the bridge between the trauma that our students face, and those same students’ readiness to learn the more traditional set of curricula that teachers are trained to teach.
“We live in a traumatic, fast-paced world. Kids are not sheltered from this,” Drake says. “To slow it down allows for so much more learning. If one person doesn’t feel safe, none of us feel safe and learning will not happen in the way we want it to. We are very tuned to the emotional state of the people around us.”
Social and emotional learning is not new in our schools, but we must accelerate our efforts to make it commonplace. And yes, this school year has stretched educators beyond what they could have imagined. But social and emotional learning isn’t an add-on. For many educators, it’s already a part of what they do, day in and day out. The opportunity to help young people grow into empathetic, self-actualized, and resilient adults is what brought teachers to — and keeps them in — the classroom in the first place.
We are already seeing hopeful signs of success across California, as educators in every grade level and every district have demonstrated their tremendous power to help students succeed academically, navigate life’s difficulties, and overcome challenges by making social-emotional learning a regular part of the curriculum. “This is our foundation,” said Drake. “SEL is our foundation.”
And the more that social and emotional learning is embraced, the bigger impact it can have.
In Santa Rosa, the school board’s mission statement includes social and emotional learning as a priority and teachers can opt for professional development during common learning time on Wednesdays. Parents, too, are being offered social and emotional learning training to help them cope with their roles in distance learning. “To do this well, adults need to internalize it – they need to know their own internal environment,” said Assistant Superintendent Stephen Mizera. “We are changing our culture through SEL.”
When embraced district wide, as in Santa Rosa, social and emotional learning can help students build the self-awareness, responsible decision-making, relationship building, social awareness, and self-management skills that will help them grow into caring, independent, and responsible adults. Exactly the type of future leaders California needs.
And while implementing social and emotional learning well like Santa Rosa School District has done may sound daunting, so many incredible resources and best practices are already out there to help teachers and administrators achieve their goals.
Last month, Advance SEL in California, a campaign launched in partnership with the California Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the Office of the First Partner, released a report including policy suggestions and specific actions that school leaders can take now, drawn from students, parents, educators and policymakers across the state. The department also has a variety of resources available for educators to use at no cost on its website.
Furthermore, school leaders can leverage funds allocated in this year’s state budget, which included $5.3 billion that schools can use to support programs for social and emotional learning and $45 million for districts and county offices of education to help coordinate delivery of mental health and social-emotional supportive services. Local educational agencies must also develop and publish plans outlining how they will address student mental health and social-emotional well-being.
We urge those in the education community to take advantage of these resources, and make time for social and emotional learning in the curriculum, support educators’ learning, and connect this to a culturally responsive curriculum that fosters greater acceptance, belonging, and understanding in our schools.
Educators like Drake and many others across our state have opportunities every day to make meaningful connections that strengthen students’ chances of success in school as well as in life. It is our job to support them in doing so.
To our education community: let’s stand together committed to ensuring this transformative work continues — and creates meaningful, tangible change that improves the lives of students when they need us the most.
And to the children and families of California: we know this year has been immeasurably difficult, and we stand ready to support you in navigating our path back to a healthier and more sustainable future for everyone.
•••
Linda Darling-Hammond is president of the State Board of Education. Jennifer Siebel Newsom is the First Partner of California. Tony Thurmond is California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The opinions in this commentary are those of the author. Commentaries published on EdSource represent diverse viewpoints about California’s public education systems. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
Part-time instructors, many who work for decades off the tenure track and at a lower pay rate, have been called “apprentices to nowhere.”
A bill to mandate use of the method will not advance in the Legislature this year in the face of teachers union opposition.
Nearly a third of the 930 districts statewide that reported data had a higher rate of chronic absenteeism in 2022-23 than the year before.
The move puts the fate of AB 2222 in question, but supporters insist that there is room to negotiate changes that can help tackle the state’s literacy crisis.
Comments (5)
Comments Policy
We welcome your comments. All comments are moderated for civility, relevance and other considerations. Click here for EdSource's Comments Policy.
Francesca Waggoner 3 years ago3 years ago
Presently, I’m one course away from my receiving my Master's in Ed. with an emphasis in SEL. I literally switched from ELL to SEL three months ago because the framework of SEL aligned with my professional and educational background with the Emotional Intelligence framework. Being a novice teacher, I cannot speak upon the past experiences of the SEL framework within the educational system, but I can speak upon what I see as a fresh … Read More
Presently, I’m one course away from my receiving my Master’s in Ed. with an emphasis in SEL. I literally switched from ELL to SEL three months ago because the framework of SEL aligned with my professional and educational background with the Emotional Intelligence framework.
Being a novice teacher, I cannot speak upon the past experiences of the SEL framework within the educational system, but I can speak upon what I see as a fresh teacher entering a new realm of teaching and interacting with others. For me, the objective of SEL shouldn’t be projected as a negative factor against families or people of color, or even economic status. Instead, it should shed a light on establishing healthier and better understanding of interpersonal relationships within all aspects of the learning communities. In the end, I am super supportive of SEL in schools and I very excited to share with others my positive experiences with self-discovery and helping others discover their true potential.
And yes! SEL can easily be integrated in a varieties of instructional curriculum. In my opinion, “Change can be effective or ineffective and Change can also repeat itself when needed.” I’m passionate about SEL and can’t wait to dedicate another 20 years of my life helping others celebrate who they are as unique individuals and in return I’m able to celebrate who I am as a leader in serving others. Education is a commitment to one’s better self! I can’t wait to be the new 2021 pioneer of the newly established SEL framework. Thank you for letting me share:)
Mercedes Brady 3 years ago3 years ago
Racial inequality! With the billions of dollars spent in the last 50 years doing more harm than good, one cannot deny our country has tried to help people of color. How about more emphasis on how important it is to do well in school and to value family. These goals were important before the destructive 60s. Blacks were made to feel like victims and they could never make it in America unless they … Read More
Racial inequality! With the billions of dollars spent in the last 50 years doing more harm than good, one cannot deny our country has tried to help people of color. How about more emphasis on how important it is to do well in school and to value family. These goals were important before the destructive 60s. Blacks were made to feel like victims and they could never make it in America unless they had special privileges. That is a more racist view than believing that they can make it in America like so many others have done.
How about emphasizing the opportunities in the USA?
Jeffrey Barke, M.D. 3 years ago3 years ago
I am a board certified primary care physician and a former 12 year elected school board member and current cofounder and board chair of a free public charter school, Orange County Classical Academy. I find SEL as nothing more than Marxist rhetoric masquerading as education. As too many of our kids continue to to be unable to read, write, or do math at grade level, trading academics for union backed SEL is disgusting and is … Read More
I am a board certified primary care physician and a former 12 year elected school board member and current cofounder and board chair of a free public charter school, Orange County Classical Academy. I find SEL as nothing more than Marxist rhetoric masquerading as education. As too many of our kids continue to to be unable to read, write, or do math at grade level, trading academics for union backed SEL is disgusting and is in part why more parents are fleeing traditional government schools.
Dr. Bill Conrad 3 years ago3 years ago
Out of the ashes of the COVID-19 pandemic, the zombie idea of social and emotional learning rises yet again. It just won’t die. What is it that the children and families most want from the K-12 education system? Of course, they want their teachers to be nice to them, treat them with respect, and give them some voice within the classroom. However, they also want their teachers to know their content well and to … Read More
Out of the ashes of the COVID-19 pandemic, the zombie idea of social and emotional learning rises yet again. It just won’t die.
What is it that the children and families most want from the K-12 education system? Of course, they want their teachers to be nice to them, treat them with respect, and give them some voice within the classroom. However, they also want their teachers to know their content well and to be able to teach it well.
Is that what they are getting? No. Are the children and their families worried? Yes.
Less than 12% of Black students were proficient or advanced on the last state math test in California. That means if you randomly select 20 Black students in the state, only about 2 of them will be proficient in math. Think about that for a moment.
Less than one-third of Black third graders can read. Being able to read by the end of third grade is essential for future learning.
The California Department of Education would have us believe that this is a kid and family problem. It is not. It is the invisible racism that no one really wants to talk about in K-12 education.
This abomination in academic performance in California is not a kid problem. It is not because the children of color are maladapted socially and emotionally. SEL is a red herring that the K-12 education system would like you to swallow as an excuse for its pathetic ability to educate our children.
We have an adult problem that requires a major transformation of the K-12 education system.
Rather than devoting resources to social and emotional learning, the CDE ought to be addressing the failure in its main mission – the academic achievement of all of its students including our children of color.
The system knows that it cannot really improve academic achievement for children of color. We no longer pursue reducing the achievement gap. We now pursue the soft immeasurable stuff like SEL.
We can only hope that the children and families will rise up to address the abject failure of the K-12 education to achieve its main mission – the academic education of our young.
Brenda Lebsack 3 years ago3 years ago
Quite honestly, the best way to help students with social emotional learning is to reopen schools. Zoom is not cutting it. As a special education teacher, it breaks my heart to see many of my students regressing before my very eyes. Many of the gains they worked so hard to accomplish, have been lost. For students who lack verbal skills, asking them social emotional questions only creates more frustration. … Read More
Quite honestly, the best way to help students with social emotional learning is to reopen schools. Zoom is not cutting it. As a special education teacher, it breaks my heart to see many of my students regressing before my very eyes. Many of the gains they worked so hard to accomplish, have been lost. For students who lack verbal skills, asking them social emotional questions only creates more frustration. Students with mod to severe disabilities express themselves through physical touch or actions. In a minute I would sign a liability waiver to get back into the classroom with my students. We are the ones creating the trauma for these students and families. If we continue on the trajectory of fear, the cure will be worse than the disease.