Opinion
School & District Management Letter to the Editor

Aspen Falls Short on SEL

February 26, 2019 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

To the Editor:

The post about the long-awaited Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development report (“Set Social-Emotional Learning Benchmarks to Guide Efforts, Commission Recommends,” January 15, 2019) attempted to find something inspiring, important, and new about its recommendations.

Unfortunately, the most noteworthy and bold idea in the report is what the post points out: “Their vision: bold changes in education to help schools be more responsive to students’ social and emotional development and, in the process, to see academic gains.”

Note the emphasis upon “academic gains” which is neither the intent nor the guiding purpose of social-emotional learning.

I believe this report and its recommendations are nothing more than “whole child” redux. Neither Aspen’s recommendations nor the whole-child work done by ASCD and CDC’s Healthy School focus on the inner life or self of the child. Therefore, this report and the blog post contribute to the ongoing confusion around social-emotional learning, and do nothing to clarify how to improve children’s mental-health and well-being through schooling.

The robust body of work addressing the social-emotional learning needs of children and adolescents has certainly advanced with the application of positive psychology.

Social-emotional learning best practices have advanced further than this report described. Best practices from CASEL, Penn State’s Bennett Prevention Center, and the Center for the Self in Schools are widely available to teachers, school counselors, and leaders who want to impact the mental health and well-being of children through education in addition to clinical settings normally outside of school.

Aspen authors can do better, don’t you think?

Henry G. Brzycki

President

The Brzycki Group & The Center for the Self in Schools

State College, Pa.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the February 27, 2019 edition of Education Week as Aspen Falls Short on SEL

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Equity & Diversity Webinar
Classroom Strategies for Building Equity and Student Confidence
Shape equity, confidence, and success for your middle school students. Join the discussion and Q&A for proven strategies.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Disrupting PD Day in Schools with Continuous Professional Learning Experiences
Hear how this NC School District achieved district-wide change by shifting from traditional PD days to year-long professional learning cycles
Content provided by BetterLesson
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Is the David Porn? Come See, Italians Tell Florida Parents
A Florida principal resigned after complaints about a lesson featuring Michelangelo’s the David.
3 min read
Michelangelo's marble statue of "David", is seen in Florence's Galleria dell' Accademia on May 24, 2004.
Michelangelo's marble statue of "David", is seen in Florence's Galleria dell' Accademia on May 24, 2004.
Fabrizio Giovannozzi/AP
School & District Management 3 Takeaways From Recent Educator Strikes
Support workers are using collective action to push for better working conditions. That activism can take several forms.
4 min read
Thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and Service Employees International Union 99 members rally outside the LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles on March 21, 2023. Thousands of service workers backed by teachers began a three-day strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District, shutting down education for a half-million students in the nation's second-largest school system.
Thousands of Los Angeles Unified School District teachers and Service Employees International Union 99 members rally outside the LAUSD headquarters in Los Angeles on March 21, 2023. Thousands of service workers backed by teachers began a three-day strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District, shutting down education for a half-million students in the nation's second-largest school system.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
School & District Management What Happened When a District Decided to 'Mess With High School'
Synergy at Mineola High School feels more like a tech startup than a high school. And in many ways, it is.
12 min read
Jared Ebersole teaches students how to build a skateboard at Synergy at Mineola High School in Mineola, N.Y., March 13, 2023.
Local entrepreneur Jared Ebersole teaches students how to build skateboards in the Synergy program at Mineola High School in Mineola, N.Y., on March 13, 2023. The skateboard lessons teach students physics concepts.
Mostafa Bassim for Education Week
School & District Management Q&A There's a Good Chance Your Superintendent Has One of These 15 Names
A researcher's findings highlight just how white and male the American superintendency is.
5 min read
Image of male and female professional silhouettes, with a central male figure punched out in color.
melitas/iStock/Getty + Edweek