Understanding How a School District Implements Social Emotional Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of how a school district implements Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Evidence suggests that SEL positively influences academic growth and achievement (Chernyshenko et al., 2018). Current efforts are focused on developing social emotional domains and measurable competencies that integrate developmental psychology, educational theory, and cultural relevance (Ross & Tolan, 2018). Despite the development of these frameworks, successful widespread implementation is limited in completeness of integration and sustained SEL integration in coursework throughout the school year. Therefore, a need exists for research on implementation practices related explicitly to SEL (Osher et al., 2016). I followed the exploratory case study research design (Yin, 2018). Data collection included semi-structured interviews of 15 district personnel of one school district in the Midwest. Two models of implementation science provided a conceptual understanding of how a district implemented SEL, those were Moullin et al., (2019) and Greenberg et al., (2017). Key contributions include the identification of bridging factors of inner and outer contexts influence the process of choosing a framework and how a district manages its organizational structure and resources for implementation social emotional learning during a pandemic.