Education Commons^™

An Investigation Of Principals' Social And Emotional Learning Beliefs And Attitudes, Kimberly Jones Phd., Melissa Cater Phd.

The Qualitative Report

With recent educational demands placed on academic accountability, it is difficult for many people to determine or acknowledge where or how focusing on social and emotional learning (SEL) can be beneficial. In this paper we focus on principals’ beliefs and attitudes about social and emotional learning. Principals influence implementation through their school priorities, vision, expectations, and emphases. We used grounded theory techniques and semi-structured interviews with K-8th grade principals of public schools located in a state in the southeastern United States. When describing principals’ beliefs and attitudes, late majority adopters held neutral attitudes and weak beliefs regarding SEL. In addition, …