U.S. Teachers’ Perspectives on Preparing Young People for Success in School, Work, and Civic Life

• In Event: How State and Local Policy Can Help Shape Students’ Civic Development

Abstract

Although civic education scholars have long recognized that social and emotional learning (SEL) is part of a set of “promising practices” through which schools and other institutions can promote civic learning (Levine & Kawashima-Ginsberg, 2017), much of the research on teachers’ perspectives and practices has approached SEL and civics as separate areas of inquiry. In this presentation, we discuss evidence-based strategies for promoting students’ civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions by drawing on SEL, and we describe analyses of recent survey data that shed light on how teachers are approaching SEL and civics in their classrooms.
The connections between SEL and civics are evident in recent, broad definitions of civic learning that include the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to engage constructively in democratic societies (Vinnakota, 2019; Lee, White, & Dong, 2021). Additionally, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) revised its popular framework to incorporate competencies related to social justice and civic engagement (CASEL, undated), and a shift toward Transformative SEL (Jagers et al., 2019) has further contributed to a more unified vision of whole-child instruction that supports students’ social, emotional, and civic development in ways that are responsive to their cultural contexts and interests. In the first part of the presentation, we draw on a unified framework that describes both learning outcomes and opportunities (instruction, resources, etc.) related to social, emotional, and civic learning, and we discuss a review of evidence-based strategies for drawing on SEL to promote civic learning.
We then draw on a nationally representative sample of 1,087 U.S. K-12 public school teachers obtained from the American Teacher Panel (ATP) in November 2022. The survey captured teachers’ beliefs about schools’ prioritization of SEL and civics instructions and the barriers they face in these instructional areas. We also examine variation in teachers’ responses based on the characteristics of schools, teachers, and students. All descriptive analyses are weighted to be representative of the national population of public school teachers.
We found that overwhelming majorities of teachers expressed support for promoting SEL and civics. For example, over 90% indicated that each of five civic-learning competencies we asked about were essential or moderately important for students to develop. Elementary and secondary teachers reported different approaches: for instance, secondary teachers tended to place greater emphasis than elementary school teachers on evaluating the credibility of media information, whereas elementary school teachers placed greater emphasis on understanding and appreciating social and cultural diversity, and on understanding the responsibilities of civic life. At the same time, our results suggest a need to address barriers to this instruction; teachers lacked access to high-quality assessment data and to curricular guidance, and they noted pressure from state accountability systems as a barrier. We also examine differences in responses based on geographic and political context. By documenting how teachers prioritize and approach SEL and civic-learning competencies and what conditions might be hindering or facilitating that work, our findings can guide how education leaders and other policymakers support teachers in meeting all their students’ needs.

Authors

• Sam Rikoon, American Institutes for Research

• Laura S. Hamilton, National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, Inc.

• Margarita Olivera Aguilar, American Institutes for Research