As Terms Like ‘SEL’ Draw Fire, Organizations Supporting Schools Sharpen Their Message [edweek.org]

By Libby Stanford, Photo: John Tully/Education Week, Education Week, June 13, 2022

Nonprofit organizations that have spent decades offering social-emotional learning and equity-based support to schools are facing a new challenge: defending their existence.

This year, education terms like SEL and equity have become embroiled in the controversy surrounding “critical race theory,” an academic framework that argues racism is a social construct that has been embedded into legal systems and policies.

In some states, lawmakers have passed bills, rejected books, and censored teachers with the goal of preventing the discussion of “divisive topics” like racism and sexuality. In April, the Florida education department rejected math textbooks because they included content related to SEL. Forty-two states have introduced bills or taken other steps to restrict teaching critical race theory or limit how race and sexuality are discussed in class, according to Education Week’s critical race theory tracker.

[Please click here to read more.]