The past few years have been a roller coaster for social-emotional learning. Even as schools have increased their investments in SEL, the concept has faced fierce political pushback. And fast-changing technologies fueled by AI may dramatically change what social-emotional skills students need to learn in school.
Aaliyah Samuel has led the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, or CASEL, through these turbulent times. CASEL, a school support organization that provides resources and acts as a nonprofit clearinghouse of evidence-based curricula and research, is a leading voice in the promotion and standardization of social-emotional learning.
Samuel, who joined CASEL in 2021, will be stepping down from her post as president and chief executive officer at the end of March. CASEL is in the process of finding its next leader.
Ahead of her departure, Samuel spoke with Education Week about the state of SEL today—both the challenges it faces in defining itself in the current political environment and the opportunities with emerging technologies.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What is the biggest challenge facing social-emotional learning today?
It has been a consistent one, and that is getting clear on language, making sure people understand what it is we’re actually talking about.
There have been such diverse perspectives and opinions on what SEL is but really being that clarifying voice to say, “Here is what it is and what it means.” And that there is a depth of research over decades, over multiple countries, that supports the importance of social-emotional learning.
How do you define SEL?
There’s CASEL’s formal definition, and my definition as a practitioner—I was a public school educator for a decade—and as a parent. It is the everyday skills that you want your child to succeed in. It is the everyday skills, as a teacher, you want your students to have, not only to build relationships but to just be productive citizens.
How do I understand you and how do I communicate so that you understand me? How do I motivate myself as a learner?
Life can dish out some really difficult challenges at any age. Are you resilient? I think about my oldest son who has had a couple of [sports-related] injuries, and he’s had to be resilient to get back both on the court and in the field. How do you encourage these skills?
How is artificial intelligence changing or challenging the field?
If anything, it is putting an emphasis on the importance of social-emotional learning. No matter how advanced technology gets, there’s still going to be humans behind it, around it, on the other side of it. [AI] has really highlighted the need for these [social-emotional] skills.
CASEL is being brought into a lot more conversations [with education technology companies] as this infrastructure around AI and technology happens.
Every year, I attend and speak at ASU-GSV Summit, which is a really large conference out of San Diego. And I am always bombarded by ed-tech providers who are saying, “Hey, we want to be aligned with CASEL’s five core competencies. How do we ensure responsible decisionmaking? How do we ensure self-awareness?”
And they’re looking at how they can ensure that those competencies and the skills underneath them are embedded within their products to make sure that kids are developing the skills.
SEL has been attacked by some conservative groups claiming that it promotes a liberal ideology. Has the increased politicization set back SEL implementation in schools?
It has not set back the work. I’m going to really double down on this one, because this is my exit interview in a lot of ways.
Teachers, principals, when the doors open to the building and parents are bringing kids in or dropping them off, they’re all focused on social-emotional-learning skills in some way or another.
They’re trying to develop strong relationships with their students, no matter what community they come from—rich, poor, urban, rural. They are trying to develop a strong school community where kids can feel respected, seen, valued. We know that kids learn best with teachers that they trust. We know that kids who have at least one adult in the building who they have that strong relationship with do better in school.
We can call [SEL] different things, but when you really get underneath the hood of all the labels, ... the work remains the same.
You can’t take the skills of social-emotional learning out of the classroom. You can take the term out.
What we have seen happen is that our [school] partners are having to spend more time on the explanation side of what is it, why is it important? How does it show up? How is it being implemented in my classroom, in my school, in my building, and in my district?
But the work continues because what teacher isn’t trying to encourage curiosity in their learners? That’s an SEL skill. What kid doesn’t want to have strong relationships and have somebody to play with on the playground or get invited to prom or have a social group? These are all the skills that we’re talking about.
We can call it different things, but when you really get underneath the hood of all the labels, and the labels that can be misconstrued, the work remains the same.
How has the politicization of SEL changed CASEL’s work?
Our role has not changed. And if anything, I would say we’ve doubled down in ensuring people are clear who we are, meaning a nonpartisan, evidence-based institution that focuses on supporting all of our partners across both the nation and now the world.
It’s pushed us to think about the work differently. For example, how do we talk about it? We have communications tool kits so that our district partners can talk about the work. We have our Leading with SEL coalition, which we did not have until my tenure at CASEL began. And that’s almost 40 national organizations coming together to say, wait a minute, social-emotional learning is mission critical to how students learn.
We have really doubled down our policy efforts to ensure that the protection of both time and investment for social-emotional learning remains so that the work can continue. As with anything, we’re learning how to navigate the moment.
My son’s playing basketball now, so I’ll give you a basketball analogy: You have to pivot that foot to stay anchored, and then you move the ball as you can. And we have been firmly planted with who we are in our role to the field and our role to education and young people.
Looking into your crystal ball, what do you see for SEL in the future?
In the next year, I think the spotlight will continue to be made brighter because of the AI conversation.
How are we making sure that kids are able to establish real relationships? From the workforce perspective, with technology dominating those entry-level roles, how do we make sure the next generation has those managerial types of skills and supports? How can they think strategically?
From workforce to education, there’s going to be a real focus on these skills.
Before signing off, do you have a message for educators?
If there’s anything that I would want to say to educators, it is to express my gratitude to them for showing up every day despite the politics, despite the stressors they might be facing in their own lives, despite the weight that they carry of caring for so many kids every day. They really make the difference.
