SEL Day 2023: Shifting Power to Families in SEL

By Rhonda Hall & Shannon Wanless

As we think about ways to bring a social justice lens to SEL, one important social justice question keeps coming up: Who has power in SEL and who does not? There are many ways to think about that question, but this year, for SEL Day, we are focused on people that we think should have the most power in deciding how our community should raise its children -- families. How do families have power in their children’s SEL?

In SEL programs in schools, there is often a stock letter that can go home to families to let them know what their children are learning about SEL. Sometimes this letter includes activities that families might do at home to reinforce SEL lessons that are happening at school. This letter is often the extent of “family engagement” in SEL. What if we imagined what it would look like if family voices held power in SEL? What if families were driving the SEL agenda, rather than being told how to support it from afar?

One source of power is being part of a community of practice where you are share ideas, learn with others, get feedback, and pur forward initiatives as a group. Teachers often have this in professional learning communities at their schools. SEL researchers often have this when they join professional organizations such as AERA’s Social Emotional Learning Special Interest Group. What would it look like for families to have a community of practice with each other, to join one another and increase their power?

In Pittsburgh, we have been building communities of practices for families and we will share two examples below. For both of them, communities of practice have been an effective way for families to build relationships with one another, hear parenting experiences from different points of view, and to practice speaking up as experts on their children’s SEL learning.

One example is our work in a school-wide literacy programming called 3Rs: Reading, Racial Equity & Relationships, our team has developed a model of elevating parent voices in their children’s learning. We gather about a small group of families, once per week, over 4 weeks, as a parent community of practice. Rather than the school telling families what they should teach their children, this model gathers families and asks them what is important to them about their children’s learning. We begin each week with a trusted community leader reading a racially-affirming picture book to the parents and facilitating a conversation about what comes up for them in this book. The discussion is rich, unstructured, and helps parents connect to one another as the experts in their children’s learning. This model was originally based on “Family & Community Learning workshops; FCLs” shared by our local Public Broadcasting System affiliate (WQED) and we adapted it to elicit discussion about racial equity and affirming young Black children’s racial identity. Shifting the power-dynamic to lift up parent voices and expertise, connect parents to each other, and let teachers observe and learn about parent strengths has encouraged schools to question deficit approaches to family engagement.

A second example, is happening in our partnership with The Allegheny County Family Center Network, which is a countywide network of community centers that provide authentic and supportive connections to families throughout Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The Family Center Network has integrated family voice into the creation of programming and supports at the centers and prioritized parent leadership development to empower all families so they thrive in their communities and beyond.  Each center establishes a formal group for families known as Parent Advisory Councils (PAC), where families take on the responsibility of facilitating meetings and organizing events at the centers. The center activities and events for the families are designed to meet the educational, parenting and social needs of families and children. Through PACs, families are given agency to make decisions about the experiences and learning opportunities that are integrated into the center programming.

When parents have the skills to improve what is happening around them and partner with other families in the interest of children, they become a stronger voice for equity, justice, and advocacy. Parents are empowered to speak up about what they need for themselves, their families, and their communities. The skills they learn and relationships they build because of their participation with PAC can extend even beyond their work at the centers.

Developing family leadership can have a profound impact for family centers and schools to become stronger and more impactful to the communities they serve. The 3Rs and PACs are positive representations of parent leaders who are valued as experts and who inform, advise, and collaborate with other individuals in the community. On SEL Day this year, we are dreaming of a future where SEL programming shifts power to families, because when we value their expertise, families, children, and communities can thrive.
 

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2022 SEL Day Post, Shannon Wanless & Tracy Larson: How We Use Love to Create a More Just & Equitable World

2021 SEL Day Post, Shannon Wanless:  Reimagining SEL for Social Justice

2020 SEL Day Post, Shannon Wanless & Tia Barnes: The Missing Link in Social-Emotional Learning: Why Social Justice and Equity is Essential to SEL