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Abstract
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is a unifying framework for essential life skills, including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and responsible decision-making. In this article, we examine the intersection of SEL competencies with national accreditation policy, state standards, and course descriptions using curricular mapping and content analysis. Our findings revealed conceptual connections with differing degrees of alignment but no explicit mention of SEL. Arts accreditation standards had SEL intersections with foundations, development, communication and relationship building, curriculum and improvement. We recommend a closer synthesis between arts teacher education and SEL through greater attention to teacher identity, mental health awareness, self-awareness, self-management, diversity, and social justice in arts teacher education policy and recognize the possibilities for enhancing K-12 arts learning.
Notes
1 The use of accreditation to achieve these outcomes itself is subject to a wide array of debate within and beyond education circles.
2 Jones (Citation2008–09) makes a distinction among “hard” and “soft” policies that may be useful in understanding the web of policies and its influence. He argues that while hard policies or mandates are the subject of scrutiny and action, it is actually soft policies or more subtle policies that more substantially influence institutionalized practices.
3 The Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Preparation was formed in 2010 as a result of the merger of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Teacher Education Accreditation Council with the mission of “advancing equity in educator preparation through evidence-based accreditation that assures quality and support continuous improvement to strengthen P-12 student learning.”
4 The Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation was formed in 2017 with the vision of promoting excellent, effective, and innovative educator preparation that is committed to evidence-based improvement and enjoys a high degree of community engagement and public confidence. AAQEP leverages credible evidence, technological advances, and innovations in quality assurance/accreditation to provide transparent, understandable reports on program quality and to foster innovation and improvement.
While the CAEP accreditation process is centered around evidence-based accountability and compliance, the AAQEP process takes a more flexible and holistic approach to meeting standards. It may be helpful for the reader to recognize that education accreditors do not make distinctions whether competencies required for accreditation are addressed in education or arts units. They are largely concerned with program assessment and not permitted to make judgments regarding institutional decisions about which units house various aspects of curriculum.
5 Specialized professional Associations or SPAs constitute program-specific reviews of teacher education programs that usually precede the institution-wide CAEP process.
6 The arts accrediting agencies utilize fewer rigid data-based processes and standards-driven approaches, in comparison to the specialized professional associations. The education accrediting bodies largely base their evaluations on outputs that are measured through the collection of data on candidate outcomes, field experience quality, data-informed improvement and program coherence. CAEP has also based their accreditation on K-12 learning impact data and rigid entry requirements. This has generated significant controversy in teacher education and is considered to have led to the formation of AAQEP.
7 Institutions have discretion for how the standards are met. Courses that address particular standards might locate in arts units or education units depending upon how particular programs are organized.
8 These two tables are a synthesis of the AAQEP and CAEP standards but only focus on expected candidate outcomes. The vast majority of accreditation requirements focused on institutional requirements, but those elements have not been incorporated into these tables. Readers should note the selective lens used by the authors.
9 See Omasta et al. in this issue for additional details on the Illinois SEL standards and the National Core Arts Standards.
10 In Missouri, certification and teacher preparation programs in theatre are combined with speech and debate.
11 As of the writing of the articles, less than 100 institutions are members of AAQEP, and no institutions in Missouri have been reviewed by AAQEP. However, Missouri has established a state partnership with AAQEP that parallels its CAEP partnership, and three Missouri institutions have joined AAQEP.
12 Notably, the AAQEP standards have only been used for accreditation for reviews at 13 institutions.
13 As part of changes to their statewide K-12 evaluation system, the Missouri State Board recently passed new regulations that require that school districts collect evidence-based data on culture and climate that must be used to implement strategies for improvement. See MoDESE (Citation2020).