Wellbeing, Work Climate, and Levers of Transformation for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Implementation among California Educational Leaders in Summer 2023

High-quality social and emotional learning (SEL) initiatives have been demonstrated to prevent problems and promote wellbeing among youth. Educational leaders are tasked with implementing SEL that creates the conditions for students to thrive. SEL initiatives, intended to facilitate healthy development and address inequities, often face implementation challenges that threaten their success. To overcome these challenges, CalHOPE Student Support was established as an effort to build capacity for implementation of SEL in K-12 public schools across all counties in the state of California. As part of CalHOPE, County Offices of Education (COEs) work closely with focal schools and districts to support them in sustainable SEL implementation with an equity lens. Specific CalHOPE implementation activities to build statewide capacity for SEL through CalHOPE have been underway since 2021 and are ongoing. To capture the current outlook of SEL in California, 133 educational leaders (69% non-Hispanic White, 77% female) from 49 COEs reported on their own wellbeing, conditions associated with their wellbeing (e.g., work climate), and their work to engage levers of SEL system transformation. Overall, most educational leaders self-reported strong wellbeing (experiencing positive emotions) and resources for coping with work-related stressors, positive work climate in the domains of safety and connection as well as opportunities for leadership, and a strong presence of specific levers of system transformation (e.g., partnership activities, supports received, supports provided, capacities built). The establishment of partnerships (e.g., with schools, teachers, students) in the SEL improvement process was associated with success in bolstering other levers of transformation. Continued investment in CalHOPE will enable a strengthened focus on equity in SEL implementation, and building more robust data-driven feedback loops for continuous improvement, as the CalHOPE team continues to make progress in building statewide capacity.