Social Emotional Learning in High School: How Three Urban High Schools Engage, Educate, and Empower Youth. Research Brief

• Published in: Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education
• Main Authors: Hamedani, MarYam G, Darling-Hammond, Linda
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education 01.03.2015
• Subjects: Case Studies; Comparative Analysis; Content Analysis; Documentation; Educational Environment; Educational Practices; Emotional Development; Focus Groups; High School Students; High Schools; Institutional Characteristics; Interviews; Massachusetts; Mixed Methods Research; New York; Observation; Skill Development; Social Development; Social Justice; Student Characteristics; Student Empowerment; Surveys; Texas; Urban Schools; New York; Massachusetts; Texas

The psychological, social, and emotional aspects of education have enjoyed increased attention in recent years as often termed "non-cognitive factors" and "soft skills" have gained traction in research, policy, and practice circles as major drivers of student achievement. This renewed attention represents an important shift, as social and emotional supports for students in school have frequently been called the "missing piece" in the accountability-driven practices that are the legacy of No Child Left Behind. Further, failing to meet students' psychological, social, and emotional needs will continue to fuel gaps in opportunity and achievement for students--in particular, low-income students and students of color--who are frequently underserved by the schools they attend. We studied three very different high schools that have centered their work on developing young people as whole human beings who are socially and emotionally aware and skilled, who engage a growth mindset that enables them to persevere when challenged, who learn to be mindful, conscientious, and empowered, and who develop a sense of social responsibility about making positive contributions to their school community and the wider community beyond. The authors studied three very different high schools that have centered their work on developing young people as whole human beings who are socially and emotionally aware and skilled, who engage a growth mindset that enables them to persevere when challenged, who learn to be mindful, conscientious, and empowered, and who develop a sense of social responsibility about making positive contributions to their school community and the wider community beyond. The schools were: (1) Fenway High School (Boston, MA); (2) El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice (Brooklyn, NY); and (3) International School of the Americas (San Antonio, TX). The authors designed their study to address the following questions: (1) How is effective social emotional learning practiced in high schools? In particular, what can we learn from high schools that have developed an explicit mission to prepare students to be personally and socially aware, skilled, and responsible?; (2) How can social emotional learning strategies be tuned to meet the needs of students in diverse socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic schooling contexts?; and (3) How does a systemic, whole-school approach to social emotional learning, in contrast to an interventionist or programmatic approach, function as a model of school-wide practice? This research underscores how meeting students' psychological, social, and emotional needs is not simply an add-on to the academic goal of education. Findings show, taking a social emotional approach to education will be most effective when these strategies are developmentally informed, practiced through both whole-school implementation and direct instruction, and grounded in the needs of diverse student communities. Further, while incorporating a social emotional learning perspective is necessary to provide all students with an equitable, high-quality education suited to today's world, it is particularly critical to closing the opportunity gap and understanding the crucial ways in which schools today frequently underserve students of color and low-income students. While psychological resources cannot replace the material resource needs of schools, they are a vital part of the opportunity equation. [This is a summary of the full report, which includes three case studies, a cross-case analysis, a technical report, and a research brief. To see the full series, please visit: https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/publications/pubs/1310.]