Criticality or Compliance: A Qualitative Comparative Case Study Analysis of Principals Implementing Social Emotional Learning

• In Event: Empowering and Supporting Young Men of Color Through the Pre-K–20 Pipeline

Abstract

Introduction
The purpose of this qualitative comparative case study is to explore how principals lead social-emotional learning (SEL) initiatives in ways that attend to marginalized students' cultural and racial identity. SEL initiatives have gained nationwide popularity in schools and have been lauded for improving student behavior and increasing academic achievement (Elias, 2006). However, SEL has been critiqued for its whitewashed approach - centering whiteness and having hegemonic notions of emotional regulation (Simmons, 2019). Empirical evidence suggests that the positive findings of SEL should not be generalized to diverse groups due to SEL studies’ inconsistent effects across diversity characteristics, such as race, sex, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and disability (Rowe & Trickett, 2018). For schools that serve racially and culturally diverse students, this may present itself as a challenge when implementing conventional SEL programs (this is particularly problematic for Black and Brown boys). Scholars agree that strong leadership is necessary for an initiative to be implemented effectively, considering the context in which the initiative is being implemented (Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins, 2008; Soini, Pietarinen, & Pyhältö, 2016). As SEL proliferates, school leaders need to take a critical approach to lead SEL initiatives to ensure students of color are not further marginalized.

Methods and Analysis
This study uses a grounded theory framework to explain how school leaders implement SEL in their respective schools. This approach is appropriate because the emerging findings for this inquiry are based on secondary analysis identified as a result of memo writing during the initial open coding and for fostering the development of emergent categories. According to Charmaz (2006), theoretical sampling is developed through both inductive and deductive reasoning that “reflect qualities of your respondents’ experiences and provide a useful analytic handle for understanding them. In short, theoretical sampling pertains only to conceptual and theoretical development” (p. 100). Thus, the theoretical development is grounded from the data. Two elementary, K-5, schools were selected for study sites. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and document reviews. Interviews were conducted with 4 participants including two school principals, one school counselor, and one district school leader.

Preliminary Findings & Significance
A significant preliminary finding from this inquiry was how the leaders addressed SEL as culturally responsive. School leaders need to explicitly understand and address the shortcoming of SEL to ensure that marginalized students aren’t further marginalized. When I asked school leaders about SEL being culturally relevant, one of the school leaders stated that they had not thought deeply about that and confessed that her school was implementing SEL in the “white way.” Contrarily, leaders at the second school site explicitly made efforts to make their conventional SEL program anti-racist by ensuring teachers recognized the importance of coupling SEL with anti-racism and valuing student’s diverse backgrounds and identities. This study has implications for how SEL is taught in schools and for how school leaders lead programmatic initiatives. Further, this study sheds light on the importance of school leaders explicitly taking a critical lens to lead rather than trying to make students comply with inherently racist programs and policies.

Author

• James Lamar Foster, University of Washington - Seattle