Using statewide policy to promote student and adult social-emotional competencies: Implementation evaluation of the Learning Renewal—Social Emotional Learning initiative

Among its many effects, the COVID-19 pandemic destabilized schools as social institutions, highlighting the central role of social-emotional learning (SEL) in recovery for both students and educators. Although most SEL policies have focused on students, less is known about policies that support adult social-emotional competencies (SECs). The current study examines the Illinois State Board of Education’s Learning Renewal—SEL initiative, which offered regionally-prioritized programming for schools to support students and educator SECs through professional learning and capacity building across the state. Through interviews with regional educational leaders implementing Learning Renewal—SEL programming, we found that educator well-being was a top concern among districts; the decentralized, opt-in nature of the policy relied on strong regional office of education (ROE) and intermediary service center (ISC) relationships to tailor communication and professional learning (PL) delivery; and the policy spurred new cross-agency collaboration related to SEL resources, requiring ROE/ISC leaders to exercise their own adult SECs. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois implemented a statewide policy to promote social-emotional learning (SEL) for students and educators. Our study of the Illinois Learning Renewal—SEL initiative centered the voices of state education leaders working to advance SEL and identified novel aspects of state, regional, and local implementation approaches to support adult social-emotional competencies in a decentralized context. We found that educator well-being was a top concern among schools and that the opt-in approach created regional variability in SEL communication, offerings, and delivery. Additionally, we found that policy implementation required education leaders to exercise their own SECs to engage in new forms of cross-agency collaboration related to SEL resources and delivery.