Social Emotional Learning and the National Core Arts Standards

• In Event: Social and Emotional Learning and the Arts

Abstract

Arts educators sometimes point to extrinsic benefits of arts learning, including Social Emotional Learning (SEL). This study considers if and how the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS) may align with SEL standards adopted by the state of Illinois. Arts education experts coded 15,500 intersections of arts standards & SEL goals. They found a great deal of indirect alignment between the NCAS and SEL objectives, but little direct alignment. Given this, the authors recommend that educators who wish to pursue both arts learning and SEL goals engage in conscious planning to ensure both types of learning occur. From a theoretical, standards-based perspective it seems unlikely that SEL will automatically take place in arts learning scenarios without deliberate planning.

Authors

• Matt Omasta, Utah State University

• Mark A. Graham, Brigham Young University

• Stephanie Milling

• Beth Murray, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Amy Petersen Jensen, Brigham Young University

• Johanna Siebert