{"id":79563,"date":"2024-05-22T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.org\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=79563"},"modified":"2025-04-17T09:37:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T14:37:46","slug":"state-of-the-sel-field-2024-dr-aaliyah-a-samuel-and-dr-timothy-p-shriver-on-sel-then-now-next","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/state-of-the-sel-field-2024-dr-aaliyah-a-samuel-and-dr-timothy-p-shriver-on-sel-then-now-next\/","title":{"rendered":"State of the SEL Field 2024: Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel and Dr. Timothy P. Shriver on SEL Then, Now, &amp; Next"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-points\"><strong>Key Points:<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The field of social and emotional learning (SEL) was born 30 years ago to address a \u201cmissing piece\u201d in education. As SEL has grown into a global movement impacting millions of students, the same issues remain critical today: strengthening relationships, closing the trust gap, and supporting our young people\u2019s needs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To continue strengthening the field for the next 30 years, we should expand our focus to larger systems and structures, continue improving educator support and training, and deepen our knowledge of what works, for whom, and under what circumstances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, CASEL is turning the big 3-0! Throughout the year, we\u2019ll be celebrating<strong> three decades of social and emotional learning<\/strong> (SEL). We hope you\u2019ll join us as we honor the history of the movement, reflect on where we are now, and set a vision for the future of the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of our 30th anniversary, CASEL president and CEO Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel and CASEL board chair Dr. Timothy P. Shriver hosted the <a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/events\/state-of-the-field-2024-accelerating-the-30-year-movement-for-social-emotional-and-academic-learning\/\">2024 State of the Fiel<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/events\/state-of-the-field-2024-accelerating-the-30-year-movement-for-social-emotional-and-academic-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">d<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/events\/state-of-the-field-2024-accelerating-the-30-year-movement-for-social-emotional-and-academic-learning\/\"> webinar<\/a>, where they discussed the SEL movement \u201cthen, now, and next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the full webinar below, or read on for key takeaways from the conversation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><iframe title=\"State of the Field 2024: Accelerating the 30-Year Movement for Social, Emotional &amp; Academic Learning\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WosY-iQ_zLk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"then\"><strong>THEN<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><em>CASEL began in 1994 at a small conference in New Haven focused on a simple, but powerful idea: <\/em><strong><em>What if education fully supported the social, emotional, and academic development of all children?<\/em><\/strong><em> This conference brought together a passionate <\/em><em>interdisciplinary<\/em><em> group of researchers, educators, practitioners, and child advocates, including Dr. Timothy Shriver. They emerged from their meeting with a name and a mission: Both CASEL and the term \u201csocial and emotional learning\u201d were born. Here\u2019s what Shriver had to say about the beginnings of CASEL and the SEL movement:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>On Dr. James <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>P. <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Comer, SEL pioneer<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDr. Comer came into schools and saw almost intuitively a \u2018missing piece\u2019 that wasn\u2019t being addressed. He said <strong>the fundamental science of education has to be the cultivating and strengthening of relationships.<\/strong> People talk about content and curriculum, and it\u2019s important. But what he saw was that there was a trust gap between families and schools, children and teachers, even between children and each other. These fissures were the primary ways in which learning was being damaged, and the primary pathways to strengthening learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>On Dr. Roger P. Weissberg, CASEL co-founder<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThen [Comer] met Weissberg, who was trying to take practical steps. Roger was investigating concrete ways to learn how to strengthen relationships, and there were colleagues around the country doing similar work. These giants came together. \u2026 We had a conviction that these giants were leading us into a giant challenge: How do we create an evidence-based field with the best scholars, educators, practitioners, and policymakers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>An idea whose time had come<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c[SEL] was an idea whose time had come. Whether it had been us or someone else, educators, families, researchers, and political leaders were all looking for this field. All we did in building CASEL and this field was tap into a hunger that was out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"now\"><strong>NOW<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Thirty years after that first conference, where does the field of SEL stand today?&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>SEL work continues to be critical today.&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJust in the last week there were two critical conversations that I was able to participate in. One was around chronic absenteeism rates: Why are so many of our young people still absent from school? The other was a youth summit about the priorities for young people right now. <strong>The same themes we saw 30 years ago continue to be at the core of the conversation: strengthening relationships, closing the trust gap, really having systems and policies and support for our young people.<\/strong> The work is more critical now and will continue to be critical as our society changes because of technology, because of the pandemic, and we can go on and on.\u201d\u2014<strong>Samuel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Well-established research shows \u201cwhen we do this work well, it works.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe headline here, that\u2019s been reinforced in hundreds of studies across this field, is that when SEL is well-implemented with adequate training, we see improvements in behavior, improvements in mental health, reductions in discipline, and improvements in academics. If we look at the evidence, it says that <strong>SEL helps your children feel better, behave better, and learn better\u2013\u2014not just for one moment in time, but for life.<\/strong> \u2026 When we do this work well, it works. That\u2019s the most important finding.\u201d\u2014<strong>Shriver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>We are much more united than divided when it comes to SEL.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen we talk to parents about what they want, they want their children to be able to make friends, to have an environment where they feel accepted, to have a relationship with their teachers. <strong>At the core, we want the same things for our children. \u2026 We ought to try as best we can to neutralize political noise and deeply engage parents in this work.<\/strong> If parents have a chance to fully understand what\u2019s being taught and why, the vast majority are going to say yes. If parents see we\u2019re helping children become more empathetic and more engaged in their learning at the same time, most parents are going to go, \u2018Yes.\u2019 We need to zone in on the things that make us more alike than different.\u201d\u2014<strong>Samuel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s our duty to be in the political conversation that\u2019s inevitable in our country, but not to use political tactics of \u2018us vs. them.\u2019 There is an enormous amount of common ground. SEL isn\u2019t going to look the same in every community\u2014and it shouldn\u2019t. It\u2019s okay if you want to put a greater emphasis on one piece of the puzzle over another.\u201d\u2014<strong>Shriver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"next\"><strong>NEXT<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p><em>From a small conference to a global movement impacting millions of students and adults, SEL has come a long way in the last 30 years. But there is still work to be done. How can we continue to strengthen the field and its impact over the next 30 years?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>What works, for whom, and under what circumstances?<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne of the critical challenges we face is around quality of implementation. As we think about this, you start to think about all the different questions: Which skills? At which ages? How do we think about the arts, sports, etc., within the overall social fabric of the school? We need more information on the contextual factors that contribute to these programs being effective or less effective. The same thing is true of mathematics or language.\u201d\u2014<strong>Shriver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>How can we continue to improve educator support and training?<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI recently spoke to a veteran teacher in New York, and she said finally she had the words to use to respond to behaviors. As an educator, you\u2019re managing the behaviors anyway, doing the work anyway. She said she was doing her best, but she didn\u2019t have the formal training to understand how to promote the skills and ensure implementation. <strong>If we\u2019re not focusing on supporting the educators, we\u2019re absolutely not going to have the impact we want to have.<\/strong> As we address the chronic absenteeism of students, we\u2019re also seeing the chronic absenteeism of educators matching. Teachers also are burned out. We have to think about those supports.\u201d\u2014<strong>Samuel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSEL is grounded in basic science. For doctors, their training is grounded in the basic science of human anatomy. <strong>The basic science of education should be child development. Every educator should have a rigorous grounding in the science of child development.<\/strong> We need our teacher education programs to take seriously preparing educators not just in pedagogy and content, but really critical grounding in the patterns of early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, and so on. Knowledge of the brain, relationships, cognitive capabilities, and the way children operate throughout the developmental cycle is essential for educator preparation.\u201d\u2014<strong>Shriver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>How can SEL programs expand their focus to larger systems and structures?<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMany of the [SEL] programs would acknowledge that they have placed a strong emphasis on classrooms, not as much on systems and structures. We need a new generation of \u2018program developers\u2019 whose evidence base is not just how things are taught in the classroom, but about systems. We have a big set of questions about school culture and climate that we\u2019re still getting our head around. Is our climate welcoming, inclusive, safe, supportive of personal expression? Does it allow for a sense of agency and empowerment? How do we measure that?\u201d\u2014<strong>Shriver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cClassroom environment and what it should look like as we reimagine education is at the forefront of every policy conversation I\u2019ve been a part of. And I would push beyond 9-12 into higher education. There\u2019s a consortium of universities asking how to integrate SEL at a higher-ed level, not just for students, but for families who are preparing to let their children go away to college.\u201d\u2014<strong>Samuel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>After 30 years, there is no question: this community will rise to the challenges ahead.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf I were looking for a group of people who could help heal our country, build a new version of our country for the future, lay a new foundation of respect and dignity for every American, I\u2019d say it\u2019s educators. <strong>I\u2019d say the people in this field have the greatest power to make a difference for the future of our country.<\/strong>\u201d\u2014<strong>Shriver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the full webinar, <a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/events\/state-of-the-field-2024-accelerating-the-30-year-movement-for-social-emotional-and-academic-learning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>State of the Field 2024: Accelerating the 30 Year Movement for Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/30-years-of-sel-research-whats-new-and-whats-next\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">30 Years of SEL Research: What\u2019s New, and What\u2019s Next?<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/lets-make-schools-places-where-students-want-to-be\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Let\u2019s Make Schools Places Where Students Want to Be<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/nurturing-tomorrows-leaders-by-making-sel-a-way-of-life\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nurturing Tomorrow\u2019s Leaders by Making SEL a Way of Life<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog, <em>Constellations<\/em>? <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a> about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points: Back to top This year, CASEL is turning the big 3-0! Throughout the year, we\u2019ll be celebrating three decades of social and emotional learning (SEL). We hope you\u2019ll join us as we honor the history of the movement, reflect on where we are now, and set a vision for the future of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":81140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[204],"class_list":["post-79563","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-ceo-corner"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/79563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=79563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}