Equity

To learn best, young people need to be surrounded by trusting relationships and environments where they feel motivated and engaged, emotionally and physically safe, and a sense of belonging among adults and peers. That means pursuing equity in education.

Equity in education means every student—across race, ethnicity, family income levels, learning abilities, home language, immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other factors—engages in high-quality educational opportunities and environments that best promote their healthy social, emotional, and academic development. 

SEL and Equity

How does social and emotional learning (SEL) advance equity in education?

• By supporting authentic school-family-community partnerships where students, their families, educators, and community partners work together to best serve all students in alignment with the school’s and community’s goals, priorities, and resources. 
• By fostering trusting and collaborative relationships where educators take into account students’ developmental needs and unique strengths; develop deeper awareness of students’ cultures, backgrounds, and learning differences; and create inclusive classroom environments. 
• By promoting rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction that sets high standards for all students and actively engages them in developing the skills they need to achieve their goals.  
• By evaluating policies, practices, and outcomes to ensure all students are treated fairly, have access to supportive learning environments, engage in high-quality educational opportunities, and achieve excellence.

SEL helps students and adults:

• Reflect on and express their perspectives.
• Listen to and build connections with those with differing viewpoints and experiences.
• Work together toward personal and collective goals.

Transformative SEL

In 2019, CASEL pioneered a form of SEL implementation intended to serve districts, schools, and educators wishing to prioritize equity. 

Transformative SEL (tSEL) is a form of SEL implementation where young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships to engage in co-learning. It focuses on skills for individual success, interpersonal relations, and community-building, as well as skills needed to ensure democratic, fair, and inclusive communities.  

tSEL emphasizes five focal constructs, which are closely related to the CASEL 5 competencies: 

• Identity, a core part of self-awareness, which refers to how students (and adults) view themselves as individuals and as part of the world around them. Having a healthy sense of identity buffers against negative or traumatic experiences and contributes to positive academic, social, and emotional outcomes.
• Agency, part of self-management, or feeling empowered to make choices and take actions that produce a positive difference. Agency helps young people make choices about learning and career goals, overcome personal challenges, and shape the course of their lives.
• Belonging, part of social awareness, the experience of acceptance, respect, and inclusion within a group or community. Having a sense of belonging is critical to well-being, motivation, and achievement.
• Collaborative Problem-Solving, part of relationship skills, the ability to build shared understanding and work together to come to solutions by pooling knowledge, skills, and efforts.
• Curiosity, part of responsible decision-making, which leads to the pursuit of knowledge and different perspectives and contributes to attention, engagement, and learning.

Our Work: Equity