As battles rage over what can be taught in the nation’s classrooms, social-emotional learning (SEL) has been caught in the cross fire. Bills in at least eight states have sought to ban or limit SEL, and parents around the country are rallying against itopens in new window.
SEL teaches students interpersonal skills and how to understand, control, and express their emotions and has been part of education for decades under various names, including whole child education and character development. But the programs recently came under fire after conservative media outlets, including a 2021 Washington Examiner article,opens in new window suggested SEL could be a “Trojan horse” for teaching children about critical race theory and gender diversity.
“What’s clear is that there is a segment of the public that has conflated the SEL goal of ‘working well with others’ to mean something other than supporting a student’s learning,” even though SEL programs are not focused on diversity and equity, said Tammy Hughes, PhD, a professor of school psychology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and past president of APA’s Division 16 (School Psychology).
But psychologists emphasize that research shows SEL skills are essential for student learning, mental health, and well-being. If bans and funding cuts are successful, children and teenagers—many of whom are already in crisis—will suffer at a time when anxiety, depression, and suicidality are all on the rise (Youth Mental Health, Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, 2023opens in new window).
“I find it really alarming that this could be used as a political point-scoring activity in a way that could genuinely cause harm to children, educators, and schools,” said psychologist Stephanie M. Jones, PhD, a professor of childhood development and education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education who has helped develop, evaluate, and implement SEL programs in K–12 schools.
Critics of SEL are also ignoring the vast body of research that shows the wide-ranging benefits of social-emotional learning. Meta-analyses of hundreds of studies show that SEL programs improve academic achievement, student well-being, peer relationships, and overall school functioning (Durlak, J. A., et al., Child Development, Vol. 82, No. 1, 2011opens in new window; Cipriano, C., et al., OSF Preprints, 2023opens in new window). SEL can also help address major risk factors for suicide among youth, including hopelessness, anxiety, substance use, and sexual abuse (Posamentier, J., et al., Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2022opens in new window). Longitudinal research suggests that benefits can persist for at least 18 years, predicting better social relationships, increased high school graduation and college attendance, and fewer arrests and health problems (Taylor, R. D., et al., Child Development, Vol. 88, No. 4, 2017opens in new window).
“At this point, it’s clear that exposure to these programs really does help kids both academically and socially,” said psychologist Sara Rimm-Kaufman, PhD, a professor of education at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development who conducts research on the impacts of SEL programs.
Backlash against SEL
Two main concerns are fueling the attacks on SEL, said Jordan Posamentier, JD, vice president of policy and advocacy at Committee for Children, one of the country’s largest SEL providers: that the programs are part of a “woke agenda” to teach progressive ideas in school and that they distract from academics.
Those accusations have surfaced during school board meetings,opens in new window within parent-teacher associations, and during routine parent-teacher conferences, said Hughes. Parents express fears that SEL is a slippery slope—or even an indoctrination toolopens in new window—to teach kids about racial inequality, gender identity, and sexual orientation.
At Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, Virginia, several parents criticized a freshman seminar class designed to help students transition from middle to high school when it was launched shortly before the pandemic. The course provides academic support and teaches SEL skills, including expressing empathy for others, developing healthy relationships, and contributing to the broader school community.
“When there has been pushback from parents, they usually say it’s not the domain of the school to teach these topics or that their children don’t need the support,” said Steven Turner, an equity education specialist in the Ablemarle County school district.
At the state level, proposed bills in North Dakota,opens in new window Oklahoma,opens in new window Maine,opens in new window Iowa,opens in new window and more have sought to ban or limit SEL. For example, Oklahoma’s SB 1027 aimed to prevent schools from providing instruction on “self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision making, and/or other attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, feelings, emotions, mindsets, metacognitive learning skills, motivation, grit, self-regulation, tenacity, perseverance, resilience, and/or intrapersonal resources.” While such bans have largely failed, a newer slate of less overt bills, which require extensive vetting of instructional materials and make it easier for children to opt out, could be a bigger threat to SEL programs, Posamentier said.
And yet data show that families, lawmakers, and communities do value the principles underlying SEL, Posamentier said. In a nationally representative survey commissioned by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education policy think tank, parents overwhelmingly wanted schools to teach the skills that SEL emphasizes, including managing emotions and communicating with peers (How to Sell: Parents and the Politics of Social-Emotional Learning , Fordham Institute, 2021opens in new window).
More than 90% of parents surveyed agreed that students should learn in school how to set and achieve goals, approach challenges in a positive way, and believe in themselves and their abilities. More than 80% supported schools teaching kids how to navigate social situations; understand, express, and control their emotions; empathize with others; and stand up for people of different backgrounds.
“When you ask parents what they want for their child in school, they often report things that line up with social and emotional skills,” said Jones. “They want their children to be noticed and cared for, to be happy, to learn things, to be successful, and to feel that they fit in.”
But when asked about terminology, parents ranked “SEL” second to last in a list of 12 related program names. “Soft skills” was the least popular term; “life skills” was by far the most popular. The survey also found differences along political lines: Democratic parents were more likely to support teaching SEL skills at school, including allocating more resources to SEL programs, than Republican parents.
Those findings suggest that using different terminology could be a key way to build support for the material taught in SEL programs. Many programs currently use scientific terms (“self-regulation” instead of “self-control,” for example) that do not clearly convey what is being taught and may make parents feel sidelined, said Adam Tyner, PhD, national research director for the Fordham Institute and author of the 2021 survey report.
“Instead of using terms that everyone knows, we’re using new ones that make parents feel like outsiders or like they’re not involved,” he said. “That raises a lot of red flags for people who may already be skeptical about what’s going on in schools.”
Dispelling myths
Part of the reason educators have been using a standard term such as “SEL” is that it can help garner support for funding and policies, said Rimm-Kaufman. Indeed, school and district spending on SEL programs increased by 45% between November 2019 and April 2021, according to a report by the education consulting firm Tyton Partners (Social Emotional Learning Takes Center Stage in K–12, Tyton Partners, 2021opens in new window).
“But it also calls attention to SEL and suggests that we’re doing something completely new and different,” Rimm-Kaufman said.
Psychologists say that one of the best ways to increase support for SEL programs is to include parents in the conversation.
“Whereas teachers are the clear experts on teaching the periodic table, that’s not the case for things like believing in yourself and cooperating with others,” Tyner said. Parents, he added, have been teaching those types of skills since birth and may have strong opinions about how they should be developed.
Ninety percent of the people Fordham surveyed said parents are most responsible for developing social and emotional skills in their children. Teachers ranked fourth, after other family members and children themselves.
Schools can include parents in the conversation by providing clear, jargon-free explanations of what SEL skills are and how they support learning. Kids learn how to focus and shift attention, manage behavior, communicate with others, and express feelings such as frustration or exuberance in an appropriate way. Programs from leading groups, including the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learningopens in new window (CASEL), Character Labopens in new window, and Committee for Childrenopens in new window, also teach kids about gratitude, grit, curiosity, humility, and more.
Schools can also share specific details about what they plan to teach and how, then invite dialogue with parents about how those skills would be taught at home and address any concerns, said Rimm-Kaufman. For example, teenagers often learn about respectful behavior in middle and high school classrooms, but not all families and cultures define “respect” the same way. For some, behavior toward authority is paramount; others encourage kids to show respect to adults only if those adults show respect to them by listening and trying to understand their point of view.
In addition to providing parents with details on what SEL programs teach children, schools can explain that SEL programs do not replace academic learning and be clear about what they do not cover. For example, while a core SEL skill involves understanding and adjudicating unfair situations, Jones and her colleagues have shown that most SEL programs do not include content on equity, culture, or racial injustice (Frontiers in Education, Vol. 6, 2021opens in new window).
“There’s a big myth about what SEL programs are actually intended to do and what they have in their content,” Jones said.
In fact, promoting SEL as a way to increase equity may be worsening the polarization around it, Tyner said. A parent who hears “equity” may incorrectly assume the programs are not designed to help their child. Instead, SEL can be pitched as a way to enhance learning for all students.
Emphasizing the practical, long-term outcomes of SEL programs can also help get parents on board, said Angela Duckworth, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and cofounder of Character Lab.
[Related: The benefits of social-emotional learning]
“When I talk to parents or educators, I point out that these skills are positively correlated with and predictive of academic outcomes—grades, attendance, even college graduation,” she said.
Psychologists can support that dialogue by bridging the gap between science and the public, including policymakers, educators, and parents. Committee for Children helps school districts find jargon-free ways to highlight the benefits of SEL and to adapt those conversations to resonate with specific communities. For example, they provide easy-to-digest research summaries on the tangible benefits of SEL skills, including reductions in substance misuse, violence, and suicide.
“We should not expect a child to progress academically, much less find future success in work and life, when we ignore their emotional and relational experience,” Posamentier said. “Policies and politics that get in the way of these parts of life undermine the essentials of education.”
Because psychologists have already helped build a strong evidence base for SEL, the priority moving forward should be to promote the idea that these programs are simply meant to help kids succeed at school, said Jones.
“It’s almost like having a mantra,” she said. “If we can just continue talking about SEL in these very basic ways, I think we can push aside some of the political mythmaking that has risen around it.”
