Ron DeSantis' wrongheaded SEL thinking

Dear global education leader,

In mid-April, the Florida Department of Education rejected 42 of 132 maths textbooks proposed for use in public schools because they “incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies” including social-emotional learning and critical race theory.

?The New York Times dug into what was inside these textbooks that worried Florida officials. The reporters found no evidence of critical race theory, but lots of examples of social and emotional learning.?

?My guess is that most of you educators believe this is smart. Good SEL should not be a standalone topic but incorporated into content, as well as being taught explicitly. What’s scary to me, as an American and as a human, is that Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, sees social and emotional learning as unnecessary.

?“Math is about getting the right answer,” he said at a Monday news conference. “It’s not about how you feel about the problem.”

?This is false. According to Marc Brackett, director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of Permission to Feel, “The research is clear: emotions determine whether academic content will be processed deeply and remembered.”?

?A meta-analysis that looked across 213 studies involving more than 270,000 students found that SEL interventions that address the five core competencies increased students’ academic performance by 11 percentile points, compared with students who did not participate. In addition, students participating in SEL programs showed improved classroom behaviour, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school. Its effects have been shown to be durable, cost-effective and successful across cultural contexts.?

?The idea that emotions don’t affect maths performance will also be news to people like neuroscientist Sian Beilock. Working memory, the “search engine of the brain,” which is needed to do mathematical calculations, is impeded when we work under pressure, her research finds.?

?Pam Cantor, a psychiatrist and founder of Turnaround for Schools, co-authored a book on whole-child development. There’s a chart in it I love that dispels the myths upon which most education systems are based with science. Here’s one that seems relevant to DeSantis’s boneheaded approach to SEL:

?Myth: “Genes are the primary determinant of learning and development (rather than context). Contexts and relationships (in school and outside) are secondary contributors to skill development and mastery of content. Intelligence and cognitive abilities are fixed, and personality is stable.” Translation: some kids have it, some kids don’t.?

Reality: Contexts – relationships, environments, and experiences in and out of school – are the primary determinants of learning and development.

?Academic performance matters. So do emotions, context and relationships. Learning is complex, which may be why DeSantis struggles so much to understand it.

?Stay curious

?Jenny