CI Develops Culturally Responsive SEL Classroom Practices Tool
Although there is nearly universal agreement that social and emotional learning (SEL) is important and necessary across education settings and grade levels, many educators struggle with how to incorporate high quality SEL practices in their classrooms. Teachers have shared with Children’s Institute that they lack confidence and training in how to address challenging classroom behaviors and support social and emotional learning, all while getting through the content for which they are responsible. Educators are looking for ways to incorporate and infuse SEL into their academic instruction seamlessly – to bring SEL closer to instruction.
In response to this challenge, Children’s Institute has developed the Culturally Responsive SEL Classroom Practices Tool. The tool is designed to be an observational assessment and coaching tool. In other words, an observer (it could be a peer, a coach, or even a teacher watching a video of oneself) watches a period of instruction and scores the teacher on a set of SEL practices. There are 6 sections of the tool, one focused on practices for building a welcoming and affirming classroom environment and the other 5 focused on one of the core social emotional competencies developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Once the observation is complete, the scores can be used for coaching purposes to help the teacher identify 1 or 2 key areas for improvement. With regular cycles of observation and coaching, teachers will be able to improve their SEL practice and better support their students’ social emotional development and learning.
The tool is currently undergoing reliability and validity testing with funding from the WT Grant Foundation’s Reducing Inequality program. By mid-February, Children’s Institute will have completed 75 paired observations of educators from across grade levels (K-12), geographic locations (urban, suburban, rural), and school types (public, private, parochial). In addition to the observations, teachers were asked to complete a survey about their confidence in and experience with SEL and culturally responsive education. CI’s data and science team will then conduct analyses to better understand how the tool works across content areas, grade levels and school types. In the future, we will be offering this tool, associated coaching supports, and a virtual toolkit to school districts to continue building teacher capacity for culturally responsive SEL practice.
For more information, reach out to Elizabeth Devaney at edevaney@childrensinstitute.net
