Updated Brief: Instructional Practices That Integrate Equity-Centered Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning

At the tail end of 2021, the American Institutes for Research released an updated brief on the Instructional Practices That Integrate Equity-Centered Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning. This brief, developed in collaboration with Harmony SEL at National University and the Center to Improve Social Emotional Learning and School Safety at WestEd, refines a 2014 brief on the integration of SEL with academics and specifically addresses 10 educator practices that promote social, emotional, and academic development.

The authors, listed below, have updated the 10 practices to be more inclusive of the multiple spaces in which students learn and develop and to reflect recent learnings on culturally responsive practices, trauma-informed instruction, and the science of learning and development. To help clarify what integration means, the authors have also provided a taxonomy of SEL-academic integration that includes four categories: explicit skill alignment, explicit strategy alignment, ways of interacting, and ways of being.

Nicholas Yoder, PhD
Harmony SEL at National University

Angela M. Ward, PhD
Transforming Education
Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety at WestEd

Sara Wolforth, JD
American Institutes for Research

New Blog Post

Give Yourself Permission To Feel
Rebecca Guillory | Jan 19, 2022

“And herein lies one of the problems within our current education system: There’s been a huge shift towards recognizing the importance of social-emotional learning but minimal steps taken to create space for adults to grapple with their beliefs around expressing emotions and showing up (for themselves, their colleagues, and their students) authentically.

Restorative Practices
(Edutopia)

Restorative Practices to Implement in 2021
(Woolf, N., Panorama)

Calm a Distressed Mind by Changing Your Environment
(Newman, K.M., Greater Good Magazine, 4/22/21)

LearnLaunch Virtual Workshops
Building a Community of Care: Strategies to Support Adult Well-Being
Jan 25 |10-11:30 AM; Jan 25 | 3-4:30 PM; Jan 28 | 10-11:30 AM (ET)

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had an unequal impact on both adults and students. Because of the substantial evidence indicating the effect of adult well-being on both students’ well-being and their academic performance, school and district leaders need a concrete understanding of this topic as well as specific strategies to support teachers and staff. As we embark on the second half of the school year, school and district leaders can strategically address adult well-being by identifying needs and tailoring well-being supports to meet those needs. While individual strategies that address self-care are valuable, this workshop goes beyond these more immediate strategies to highlight the leadership competencies and communication strategies that leaders can leverage to enhance the well-being of all adults in their community. This 90-minute highly-interactive virtual workshop will support participants to:

• Provide leaders and educators with concrete language to talk about adult wellbeing in order to identify meaningful solutions that meet the specific needs of each school or district community;
• Consider ways to strategically identify staff needs through targeted surveys and active listening;
• Understand the ways in which positive and consistent communication can enhance staff well-being;
• Learn with and from your peers; and
• Leave with actionable next steps

Register Here.