Knowledge of and Support for Social and Emotional Learning Programs: Perspectives of Parents and Caregivers. ACT Research Report. 2022-09

This study examines the perceptions of parents and caregivers on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), or in-school programs designed to teach social and emotional skills. The study aims to replicate the main findings from the Fordham report (Tyner, 2021) and examine how the rank-order method used in the study may have influenced the interpretation of parents'/caregivers' support for SEL. Aside from replication, the first goal was to examine if the results would differ based on the response options provided for the rank-order questions. Specifically, both Social-Emotional Learning and Social-Emotional & Academic Learning were included in the list of 12 programs as response options. The second goal was to examine what parents and caregivers knew about the program labels examined. The third goal was to provide a direct measure of support for each of the program labels. Due to the rank-order nature of the questions in the previous study, the overall level of support for each of the programs was unclear because individuals could only select up to three of the 12 programs. Finally, a fourth goal of the study was to examine potential subgroup differences based on political affiliation. [For the 2021 Fordham report "How to Sell SEL: Parents and the Politics of Social-Emotional Learning," see ED616280.]