On SEL and Equity

Abstract

At the time we prepared this chapter, the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) was at an inflection point. The mounting meta-analytic evidence for SEL was concurrent with increasing attention to SEL’s role in promoting equity. However, despite the presumed promise of SEL for all students, there remain significant questions as to what constitutes effectiveness in the context of educational equity. Scholars are increasingly questioning whether SEL is inclusive of racially-, ethnically-, linguistically-, gender-, sexually, or ability-diverse student populations and there is increasingly greater disagreement as to what SEL’s role should be in advancing equity.In this chapter, we attend to these tensions explicitly. We begin by organizing the approaches to equity in SEL through the introduction of a framework on SEL and equity. We then discuss the importance of learner variability for understanding student experiences with SEL and ultimately improving the effectiveness of SEL programming. Lastly, we detail SEL competencies, teaching practices, implementation methods, and outcomes, respectively, to identify unique challenges to, and opportunities for, advancing equity with, through, and in SEL.