Wellbeing, Work Climate, and Levers of Transformation for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Implementation among California Educational Leaders in Fall 2024

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 to help create 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 the 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 and equitable SEL implementation. Specific CalHOPE implementation activities to build statewide capacity for SEL through CalHOPE began in 2021 and are ongoing. To capture the state of SEL in California as of Fall 2024, 298 educational leaders (75% non-Hispanic White, 85% female) from 56 counties (91 COE leaders, 44 district office leaders, 163 school leaders) 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, and an overall strong presence of specific levers of SEL system transformation (e.g., supports received and provided, capacities built). In a prior report comparing data from Spring 2024 with data from Fall 2023, the CalHOPE team noted short-term stability in wellbeing, work climate, and SEL implementation among COE leaders, while also observing positive growth in these conditions among district and school leaders. The current report builds on the Spring 2024 report in two important ways. First, we provide a year-over-year snapshot of leader voices, between Fall 2023 and Fall 2024. It is useful to provide direct comparisons of SEL conditions at the same time in the school year. Second, this report assesses change over a longer period, potentially strengthening the evidence base for sustained improvements in SEL conditions. Among COE leadership, outcomes from Fall 2023 to Fall 2024 were consistently favorable. District leadership saw improvement in supports provided and the structures and routines of SEL implementation, while school leadership saw improvement in SEL knowledge. Notably, improvement in SEL skills was evident within all three educational settings. It appears county office leaders “went first,” and the ongoing investment in CalHOPE has now been associated with positive change in district and school leaders. The CalHOPE team continues to make progress in building statewide capacity to advance wellbeing in schools.