SEL for Some? How State Education Policies are Undermining Mental Health Equity in US Schools

BY Edith Guan 

Photos by M. Monk and Ivy Dao on Unsplash.

Depending on your zip code, your school might offer trauma-informed social-emotional learning (SEL) programs, or none at all. According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), SEL programs help students acquire and apply the skills to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, build supportive relationships, and make responsible decisions. Designed to improve equity, fragmented SEL programs instead widened mental health disparities between districts.

In 2012, the Obama administration began granting flexibility to states in executing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA mandates that states include at least one whole-child indicator of student success in their accountability systems as a step to moving beyond test scores. Common measures selected by states include student engagement, career readiness, and SEL, assessed by community wellbeing questionnaires such as the CASEL-aligned Panorama Survey. Providing states with a menu of options was intended to allow local leaders to adjust interventions based on their communities' needs. However, this flexibility was a double-edged sword as states were left to themselves without federal standardization. For instance, conservative states that already brush aside the needs of marginalized students could underfund these interventions without consequences. The lack of SEL tools in historically underserved communities widened the inequity gaps ESSA set out to bridge, disproportionately undermining academic achievement for students of color.

While wealthier districts leveraged ESSA policies to develop robust trauma-informed instruction, low-income and minority districts often have limited access to mental health support programs. Because school districts are funded with local property taxes, this legalized inequality implies that underserved districts have fewer resources to improve the status quo. Systemic bias, ingrained in institutional norms, also consistently disadvantages certain groups. For example, according to a UC Berkeley study, disciplinary policies disproportionately target Black and brown students for suspension, which creates adolescent relational trauma stemming from fearful mistrust. Additionally, standard curricula often fail to take into consideration the challenging past and emotional realities of BIPOC groups. At the educator level, teachers from under-resourced schools without SEL training frequently mistake students' distress signals, such as withdrawal and outbursts, as disruptive behavior, leading to over-identification for discipline and under-referral for mental health intervention. Decentralized ESSA allows these forces to reinforce each other and escalate unchecked.

Not all districts are equally capable of implementing SEL effectively. ESSA's lack of specificity, therefore, resulted in wide implementation disparities, failing to support students who most needed help. For instance, a 2020 All4Ed study revealed that over 80% of Michigan schools in the bottom 5% were completely overlooked for intervention, while only 37% underperforming schools in Connecticut were not identified for targeted support,. Generalized guidelines also overwhelmed under-resourced districts to deal with the cultural, racial, and socioeconomic complexities of teaching SEL, traditionally reflecting White middle-class values, in a diverse community. Besides being culturally irresponsive to students' lived experiences, ESSA implementation for English language learners, including immigrants and asylum seekers, is cursory in many states. Additionally, ESSA's lack of safeguards to ensure equity is reflected in phenomena such as the widespread continuation of racially biased disciplinary measures without accountability mechanisms for schools. Without a concrete structure, policies such as ESSA only reinforce injustice.

One path towards addressing this cultural trauma is developing of culturally responsive federal SEL guidance. Besides teaching competencies necessary for achieving academic success, SEL has untapped potential to systemically close racial mental health gaps. For instance, teaching resilience would help minority students validate their individual experiences of trauma and find strength. Scalable platforms offer solutions that seamlessly integrate competencies, such as self-management and social awareness, into the daily curriculum. Mindfulness Labs serves as an example, offering SEL activity plans supported by AI that allow for customization tailored to each student's needs. Finally, accountability metrics could be developed to ensure equitable and thorough implementation. Quantitative measures would be especially effective, such as disaggregating SEL assessment results by race and socioeconomic status to prevent invisibility. A composite national index, based on school climate, student equity outcomes, staff training, and ESSA implementation, could also be used to identify schools needing support.

ESSA outlines essential student wellness metrics, but state-level flexibility must come with responsibility outlined in the policy. Unless SEL is equitably implemented across the country, superficial measures will not close the mental health gap. Mental health access, as a prerequisite for student success, must be prioritized as a fundamental right.