Supporting Pandemic Recovery: A Cost Study of Three Social Emotional Learning Initiatives in Illinois

• In Event: Supporting Students Through Educational Disruptions: State and District Strategies for Post-Pandemic Education Renewal

Abstract

Purpose: The social and emotional consequences of the pandemic on students have been dire, with symptoms of anxiety and depression—which were already increasing (CDC, 2020)—doubling during the pandemic (Racine et al., 2021). The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) adopted a multicomponent approach, called Learning Renewal-SEL (LR-SEL), to address learning and recovery in the state consisting largely of SEL approaches. LR-SEL includes three elements: (a) the establishment of six SEL Hubs across the state to provide professional learning supports to Regional Offices of Education, districts, and schools, (b) Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH), a program promoting trauma-informed educational approaches in schools, and (c) community partnership grants, which connect schools with external partners to support students’ mental health and well-being.

Theoretical framework: Guided by three research questions, this paper presents a cost study which describes and estimates the program costs for the three elements of LR-SEL at the school-level.
What is the per-student cost for SEL Hubs, REACH, and community partnership efforts?
How do program costs vary by categories of spending (i.e., professional learning for educators, direct support/services for students in need, supports/services/programs for all students) and stage of implementation?
How do program costs vary by school level (elementary/middle/high school), enrollment (i.e., school size), urbanicity, and proportion of traditionally marginalized students (i.e., ELL status, FRPL-eligible, BIPOC)?

Methods: We employed the ingredients approach to systematically identify all resources and associated costs involved in producing an outcome (Levin et al., 2018; Cost Analysis Standards Project, 2021). This method accounts for personnel and non-personnel resources used, regardless of funding source (e.g., state dollars, donations), ensuring accurate cost calculation associated with resources that are used in whole or in part for program implementation. Ingredients identified for the analysis include personnel, facilities, and materials/supplies. Each component of the LR-SEL initiative has its own cost model to express costs in dollars per student served per year.

Data sources: We collected data in 12 sites representing different regions and approaches to leveraging funding for SEL activities. Researchers gathered data from ISBE Educator Employment Information data sets and a cost study survey and interviews with a sample of administrators, teachers, and counselors in case study schools in winter/spring/summer of 2024.

Results: Findings indicate that a large proportion of costs are attributed to personnel spending. Educators across all study sites indicated that they used LR-SEL-related funds to hire new staff dedicated to the social and emotional well-being of students. Based on a better understanding of students and staff SEL needs, districts have hired staff dedicated to SEL using alternative local and state funding. A smaller percent of funding is sourced for new facilities and locations for SEL activity implementation, housing new staff hired to implement SEL activities.

Significance: This study provides ISBE, policymakers, and researchers with actual costs for SEL programs in schools. Few studies invest in this knowledge-building despite the reality that many programmatic decisions are heavily influenced by cost.

Authors

• Stephanie Levin, American Institutes for Research

• Katherine Laird, American Institutes for Research

• Christopher Brooks, American Institutes for Research