Washington, D.C. (March 18, 2021) – CoSN and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) today released new guidance for K-12 school districts seeking to deploy technology to enhance social and emotional learning.

The member-only brief, Making Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) a Priority, is part of a comprehensive library of resources offered by CoSN to help K-12 educators manage the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and utilize distance learning to its greatest potential. Review the brief’s Executive Summary here.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to provide additional student support for social and emotional learning in the absence of face-to-face interactions,” said Keith Krueger, CEO of CoSN. “This resource is designed to provide K-12 educators around the country with critical information on how they can create more engaging and interactive virtual learning environments. When edtech leaders team up with social-emotional learning experts within districts, the results can lead to greater educational success across the board.”
“Remote learning during COVID-19 has exacerbated existing inequities in students’ access to high-quality educational experiences,” said Melissa Schlinger, Vice President of Practice and Programs at CASEL. “We believe edtech leaders can play a critical role in helping districts leverage technology to ensure all students have consistent and relevant opportunities for social and emotional learning (SEL) now and into the future.”
This new resource provides guidance to edtech leaders on how they can better support and implement social and emotional learning by collaborating with SEL teams. This includes:
  • Facilitate two-way communication and build engagement with social and emotional learning across staff, families and community partners. Districts should build buy-in and deepen family and community partnerships by identifying solutions for sharing information and receiving input and feedback from all stakeholders.
  • Identify interactive platforms for ongoing adult learning and collaboration around SEL. Districts should support staff with technology that allows for engaging professional learning and promotes reflection, collaboration and relationship-building between adults.
  • Proactively support students, teachers and families with technology that facilitates teaching and integrating SEL across classrooms. Districts should use technology to help facilitate both in-person and virtual SEL instruction self-assessment tools. This will allow them to gauge student agency/data points, including supporting educators in using platforms that allow for small groups and deeper interaction, collaborative work and connecting SEL practices between classrooms and homes.
  • Develop robust systems for collecting, disaggregating and reflecting on SEL-related data. Districts should develop or enhance their systems to facilitate data collection and sharing, and meaningful analysis of SEL-related data alongside academic and other pertinent data.

The full Making SEL a Priority brief is available only to CoSN members and CASEL district partners. This publication was a joint collaboration between CASEL’s expertise on SEL and CoSN’s expertise on education technology leadership — together, we are stronger.

 
To request a copy of the brief for reporting purposes please contact Heidi Payter (hpayter@fratelli.com).
About CoSN
CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) is the premier professional association for school system technology leaders. CoSN provides thought leadership resources, community best practices and advocacy tools to help leaders succeed in the digital transformation. CoSN represents over 13 million students in school districts nationwide and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education. cosn.org
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