More than thirty years ago, progressive educators developed K-12 “social and emotional learning” (SEL) programs to teach emotional awareness and empathy in addition to academics. As it is currently construed, SEL focuses on teaching children five core competencies—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. In the classroom, this can look like daily emotional check-ins, structured conflict resolution, and mindfulness activities, although SEL varies in practice by school and even educator preferences. Creators of these programs initially believed that fostering children’s social and emotional development would allow them to grow into more responsible, engaged adults.
Over time, however, teachers and school communities realized that while learning these skills is essential, SEL programs are far less effective when they fail to address systemic inequities such as racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and transphobia, issues that face a huge percentage of public school students.
Matthew K. Attaya and Lacey J. Hilliard, developmental psychologists and education scholars, have centered their research on the development of social-emotional competencies in children and adolescents for nearly a decade. Their most recent paper, “Student Outcomes Associated with Equity-Based Social and Emotional Learning,” pushes the needle from skills-based SEL that helps students manage and analyze their emotional responses to integrating social justice principles into SEL curricula. By using an explicitly sociopolitical lens, Attaya and Hilliard argue that students can develop a better understanding of their own racial, class, and gender identities and upend inequity and injustice.
Attaya and Hilliard spoke to The Progressive in mid-May about the importance of equity-based SEL. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What do you see as the major deficits in skill-based SEL programs?
Matthew K. Attaya: SEL has been impactful and effective in helping students develop important social skills in schools, but it also needs to expand in order to be more reflective of increasingly diverse classrooms.
When SEL programs began in the mid 1990s, educators and scholars had great intentions, but the landscape over the past thirty years has changed, and SEL has to change with it.
Our most recent paper highlights differences between conventional skill-based SEL and equity-based SEL programs. Most school districts engage with skill-based curricula that focus heavily on the development of social skills. However, an over-emphasis on skill building can also minimize important lived experiences and social realities that impact children’s emotional well-being. For example, skills-based SEL programs often leave little room to talk about concepts like racism or discrimination—hugely impactful forces in the lives of many children. Kids who have witnessed or experienced discrimination benefit from talking about it specifically and learning how to navigate and combat bias and inequity. SEL programming is well positioned to create space for this kind of learning, which is why we argue for an integration of SEL and social justice principles.
Lacey J. Hilliard: Of course, teachers have to foster competencies like empathy, but competency also has to include recognition of how some identities have historically been marginalized. This extends to race, gender, gender identity, class, and sexuality. Equity-based SEL gives schools a way into these conversations and does not avoid them in the interest of making everyone feel comfortable.
Bader: Can you make this more concrete?
Attaya: Consider a child who is being teased in school for being different. Sure, the class can discuss why teasing is wrong, but that happens in most classrooms already. In an equity-based SEL classroom, this conversation has the potential to be more expansive. Students and teachers can explore why certain differences become targets for teasing and can unpack the stereotypes, biases, and systems of discrimination that contribute to exclusion. In this case, students are not only developing core social-emotional skills (such as perspective taking and communication), but they are also developing a deeper understanding of equity and social justice.
Hilliard: Research on bullying has found that there are usually issues of identity involved. A teacher can facilitate a discussion that centers that issue. Maybe it’s poverty. The teacher can open a dialogue about how we talk about people who are poor. They can also name racism or other forms of discrimination to help their students think about prejudice more deeply. Furthermore, they can ensure that students listen to each other as they describe how they feel.
Q: Are there ways to open these conversations without a triggering incident?
Attaya: Reading culturally responsive books about people with different identities can help students develop new insights and new perspectives. They can address racial differences, gender differences, and assess who racism and sexism ultimately serve.
Young kids, in particular, tend to categorize people and things, so elementary school educators need to give kids a chance to discuss diverse ideas, the concepts and ideas they’ve heard in their families and communities.
Hilliard: Interventions don’t come with a script. But if classrooms include space for conversations that draw on clear examples from books, films, and everyday life, kids will be better able to apply what they’ve learned to the situations they encounter.
Q: Given the current political backlash against books and curricula that deal with race, gender, gender identity, and social issues more broadly, can school districts and individual teachers actually do this?
Attaya: Learning about systemic injustice can be empowering for kids because it gives them an opportunity to practice advocating for themselves. They learn that they can say, “Stop. You can’t treat me like I’m inferior.” That’s a start.
Hilliard: I agree, but teachers having important conversations in individual classrooms is insufficient if the school has policies that are discriminatory or if the administration doesn’t take bias or discrimination seriously. A good conversation in one classroom is not enough to give students a positive academic experience overall. We need to mitigate harm at all levels.
Students who see their identities reflected in their coursework feel respected and supported. It makes them feel that they belong. This leads to positive outcomes including higher graduation rates, better course completion, and more participation in class discussions. When students don’t feel like they belong, or don’t feel supported by their schools, teachers, and peers, it often leads to a bad outcome.
Attaya: Equity-based SEL can help reposition school operations and give students, parents, and teachers a way to recognize what’s wrong. When equity principles are embraced it may make it harder for school administrators to justify punitive discipline.
Q: Let’s get back to the backlash against curricula that incorporate race, class, gender or gender-indentity consciousness.
Attaya: One potential pathway to equity-based SEL is to simply keep advocating for it. People who support culturally responsive pedagogy can continue to push school districts to bravely say what they stand for, including social justice. This cuts down on uncertainty and can end unhelpful debates, for example, over whether these topics make white kids feel bad or guilty, debates that run counter to the experiences of students of color as well as LGBTQ+ kids. Openness fosters discussions about things that matter.
Hilliard: I am a developmental educator and my work zeroes in on what is best for kids and families. As a researcher, I’ve been able to document the emotional and intellectual impact of exclusion on students and show how exclusionary policies result in severe limitations on learning.
From what I’ve seen, at a minimum, schools need to protect the teaching of social and emotional competencies, including empathy, and help students understand that what they’ve experienced personally might not be the same as what others have experienced. We need to think about ways to cultivate core social and emotional skills and promote conflict resolution. A big part of maintaining student mental health is teaching them how to understand their emotions. This skill-based learning needs to be protected.
As researchers, we also know that we have to listen to educators and learn from their experiences. We need to hear from the English teacher in Texas who is trying to read books with her students and get them to think about literature. We need to ask what she needs.
This political climate requires something else as well, though, and it is important for educators to build coalitions with a variety of stakeholders: community groups; religious bodies; teachers’ associations; and parent, family, and youth groups.
Q: How can parents be encouraged to support equity-based SEL?
Attaya: Parent outreach is critical. Many parents feel uncertain about SEL, but all it takes to win their support is a little explanation of what we’re advocating and why. At a minimum, parents want their kids to know how to control their emotions and be responsive to the needs of others. Most parents also want their kids to be able to talk about their identities. They want them to know how these identities impact what they do and how they live. They want their kids to be able to express themselves in school.
Q: How about getting school districts on board?
Hilliard: As scholars, our role is to be truthful about what the research shows. Even when there are legislative restrictions, we need to get the information out and talk about what students need in order to succeed. For example, we know that students who feel excluded don’t do as well as those who feel a sense of belonging. We have to continue advocating policies that are grounded in data if we are going to effectively push for programs that mitigate harm.
Q: How should equity-based SEL be scaffolded to meet student needs throughout their schooling?
Attaya: Kids in kindergarten start to learn about differences between people. In first and second grade, they start to learn about identity, the things that make them unique, and explore subjects like culture, religious traditions, and language diversity. From third to fifth grade, they begin to analyze how discrimination impacts people; kids at this stage should have an opportunity to discuss the discrimination they’ve personally felt or witnessed. The curriculum should build from there. By middle school, classes should touch on systemic economic inequities and other injustices. Ideally, equity-based SEL can reposition the way an entire school meets the needs of diverse students. At times, some kids may feel uncomfortable about what is being discussed, but school and teachers should still not sidestep this educational opportunity. Discomfort can lead to growth.
Hilliard: Talking about class is a good entry point. Kids understand quite early that people have different levels of material comfort. As part of the discussion about this, teachers need to address assumptions about wealth and poverty. They need to leave space to talk about what these attitudes mean and how they may impact someone’s life. It’s a lot to wrestle with, but books can be a good tool to help students imagine a life they may not have personally known.
Equity-based SEL does not shy away from tough topics, and instead, as kids grow, it makes sure that conversations change and deepen.
Q: Teachers are often as uncomfortable as their students when engaging in difficult subject matter. How can they be better prepared to have tough conversations?
Attaya: Back in 2020, Lacey and I surveyed about 300 teachers across the country about SEL. We found that many teachers on the left were already doing a beautiful job with their students while those on the right asked us why we were talking about concepts like race, gender, sexuality, and class in the first place. But the largest group was in the middle and they had lots of questions about SEL. This told us that teachers need a lot more information if they are going to engage in difficult conversations about difficult subjects. They need guidance, support, and instruction.
Hilliard: Teachers have to meet their students where they are, and that’s where social and emotional skills training needs to start. There are no perfect interventions, but equity-based SEL provides an orientation for teachers to better engage with their classes. There are model curricula for specific environments, for kids in different grades, or facing different obstacles. The throughline is pushing beyond discomfort and recognizing the role that education can play in addressing important social issues. Conversations about race, class, gender, and gender identity are necessary if kids are going to figure out how to engage with the world.