As key stakeholders in the education process, teachers and school leaders have a great influence on the adoption, sustainability, and development of school-based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs. SEL is defined as “the process through which individuals learn and apply a set of social, emotional, behavioral, and character skills required to succeed in schooling, the workplace, relationships, and citizenship” (Jones et al., 2019, p. 19). Schools have a fundamental goal of teaching children to learn core curriculum subjects, such as mathematics and science. In addition to these fundamental academic skills, education studies, politics, and experience have become more aware that social and emotional competencies influence learning (Elias et al., 1997; Jones et al., 2013; Osher et al., 2016). The need to develop future citizens is now prioritized through the combination of academic and social-emotional development (Oberle et al., 2014). Typically, education policy has two goals that have been proposed for schools: (a) improve academic success; (b) strengthen social and emotional competencies (Ellis, 2003). Previous studies have suggested several potential SEL pedagogies to decrease behavioral issues, improve psychological well-being, and enhance academic achievement among students at elementary and middle school levels (Gordon et al., 2016; Hulvershorn and Mulholland, 2018; Dyson et al., 2021).

Teachers have been recognized as the most critical figures implementing school-based SEL programs (Humphrey et al., 2018; Dyson et al., 2019). However, previous research indicated that in-service teacher training in SEL was not adequately provided to address the needs of students (Walker, 2020). In addition, other studies argued that pre-service teachers should receive more training in SEL in their teacher education programs to be better prepared to deliver SEL-based programs (Fleming and Bay, 2004; Katz et al., 2020). Given that they are the ones who deliver SEL pedagogical practices to students in school, their perspectives toward SEL need to be investigated to promote the effectiveness of SEL-based programs (Avramidis and Norwich, 2002). In a longitudinal school-based SEL program, Humphrey et al. (2018) found a higher level of teachers’ buy-in and enthusiasm for SEL would lead to a better quality of program implementation and more comprehensive student learning outcomes. However, when teachers’ buy-in in SEL is low, the quality of the SEL-related practices and the students’ SEL learning outcomes can be impeded (Ee and Cheng, 2013). Subsequently, teachers’ buy-in and enthusiasm influenced their curricular and instructional decision-making toward SEL in classrooms (Ennis and Chen, 1995).

A successful school-based SEL program relies on joint efforts between school leaders and teachers. When school leaders’ interests and supports toward SEL were weak, teacher’s professional development in SEL and the program implementation at schools would highly unlikely to be encouraged and supported, which resulted in SEL programs being “insufficiently coordinated, monitored, evaluated, and improved” (Greenberg et al., 2003). However, when school leaders’ interests and supports toward SEL were robust, sustainable support for teachers’ professional development in SEL and the schoolwide implementation of SEL programs can be prioritized (Durlak and DuPre, 2008; Evans, 2014).

Research has studied constraints that educators encountered during the implementation of SEL programs. By investigating early childhood teachers’ perspectives on SEL in urban classrooms, Humphrey et al. (2018) found limited time, lack of support, and insufficient resources as barriers for teachers to SEL implementation. Avramidis and Norwich (2002) identified several variables that influence teachers’ attitudes toward SEL, including child-related variables, teacher-related variables, and educational environmental-related variables. Turnbull (2002) proposed several key factors influencing teachers’ response to schoolwide reform programs (e.g., schoolwide SEL programs), including teachers’ in-service training, school leaders’ support, support from program developers and staff members, and control over classroom implementation. Jones and Cater (2020) pointed out that the lack of a clear understanding of SEL among school leaders is a significant constraint that impedes schoolwide SEL programs and reduces teachers’ willingness to use SEL practices in classrooms. However, studies have shown that when those constraints are minimal, the implementation quality of SEL programs and students’ SEL learning outcomes can be significantly improved (Zins and Elias, 2007; Collie et al., 2012; Anyon et al., 2016).

To date, only a few research have been conducted qualitatively to explore educators’ perspectives on SEL programming, especially with teachers, school leaders, and other school staff in high-needs rural elementary school settings (Dyson et al., 2019; Jones and Cater, 2020). A qualitative study with seven teachers in a high-needs rural elementary school indicated that a new curriculum grounded in SEL empowered students to be responsible citizens by discussing issues over race, immigration, and gender discrimination (San Antonio, 2018). Another study, which was grounded in the promotion of a county-wide SEL program in rural schools, highlighted the importance of the interdisciplinary professionals’ collaboration (e.g., teachers, social workers, school psychologists, university research experts, and parents) and the recursive organizational consultation process involving perspectives from multiple stakeholders (Meyers et al., 2015). Despite those encouraging findings, more research about the development and promotion of SEL programs in high-needs rural schools is needed.

Elementary schools are recognized as high-needs if there is a high percentage (>60%) of students from families with incomes below the poverty line, or a high teacher turnover (Higher Education Act, 2020). Students in high-needs schools often experienced “unhelpful schooling relationships and deleterious learning outcomes” (Palacios and Lemberger-Truelove, 2019), demanding a higher level of social and emotional support from school educators. Understanding school educators’ perspectives of SEL in a high-needs elementary context can help us better conceptualize SEL and facilitate SEL programming for students (Humphrey et al., 2018). With this in mind, the purpose of this study was to explore educators’ buy-in and constraints toward SEL in a high-needs elementary school setting, understanding what worked and what needs to improve. Recommendations that facilitate programs and practices grounded in SEL were discussed based on the findings.

The purpose of this study was to explore educators’ buy-in and constraints toward SEL in a high-needs elementary school setting. Six themes were drawn from the interviews with the school educators and observations in the school: prerequisite for academic success, essential skills for life success, lack of time, lack of preparation and development, home-school disconnection, and pushback from students. The themes of prerequisite for academic success and essential skills for life success implicated the school educators’ buy-in of SEL. The school educators’ perceived constraints to SEL implementation were presented in the other four themes.

The purpose of this study was to explore educators’ perspectives or voices of SEL in a high-needs rural elementary school setting, our research at this lab school/partnership school provides an understanding of what works and what needs improvement when schools attempt to develop students’ SEL skills. Six themes were drawn from the interviews with the school educators and observations in the school: prerequisite for academic success, essential skills for life success, lack of time, lack of preparation and development, home-school disconnection, and pushback from students. The study confirmed the importance of SEL and revealed nested levels of constraints for school educators’ SEL implementation from the school educators’ perspectives.

School educators in this study confirmed the importance of SEL, acknowledging the interrelated and dynamic relationships between students’ social, emotional, and academic competencies. Previous studies have shown quantitative evidence to conclude that SEL competencies are associated with students’ academic success in schools (Durlak et al., 2011; Sklad et al., 2012; Taylor et al., 2017; Corcoran et al., 2018). Adding to the previous quantitative evidence where a general reciprocal relationship between SEL competencies and academic success was recognized, this study adds more in-depth qualitative evidence about the relationship between students’ SEL competencies and academic success perceived by these elementary school educators. Drawing on the human developmental Cascades Theory (Capaldi, 1992; Dodge et al., 2008), we found evidence from the educators’ voices that students’ SEL competencies can be fundamental to students’ academic success and life skill development. In other words, positive changes and development of students’ SEL competencies have complemented and enhanced the students’ potential for academic and later life success. Based on this finding, the study advocates more SEL programs and practices should be available for students in high-needs rural elementary schools. The research strongly advocates for school-based SEL research making use of qualitative research methods concentrated on the school context and relevant family and community connections to transform our understanding of the need for quality SEL implementation (Jagers et al., 2019).

In adopting a social-ecological systems perspective, we found nested levels of contextual constraints and process challenges the school educators had to confront when infusing SEL into the current teaching practice at the Whitehead. Constraints of lack of class time and pushback from students were recognized by the school educators in the immediate school context. Those constraints were categorized as the micro-level. A lack of professional preparation and development was recognized by the school educators as a significant constraint at the meso-level. In addition, school educators also perceived home-school disconnection as a salient constraint for students’ SEL development at the meso-level.

Due to the pressures of the current school agendas, educators reported a lack of time as the most salient barrier to teaching SEL in the classrooms (Jones et al., 2017; Oberle and Schonert-Reichl, 2017; Humphrey et al., 2018). To combat the barrier of limited time, Ottmar et al. (2015) conducted an SEL intervention, where teachers were trained to create a well-managed and positive social environment in the classrooms. The study suggested the infusion of SEL into existing school curricula to overcome the constraint of limited class time caused by high demands for academic performance. In addition to the strategy of infusing SEL into the current school curriculum, we also suggest that SEL practices could be “sequenced, active, focused, and explicit” in the organization and sequencing of selection activities to achieve greater students’ learning outcomes in SEL (Durlak et al., 2011).

Educators in high-need schools tend to have job-related stressors and burnout (LoCasale-Crouch et al., 2007; Pas et al., 2012). Those negative feelings and experiences can be deteriorated with students’ pushback, which may lead to poor quality classroom instructions and may aggravate school and classroom climate (Hamre and Pianta, 2005; Downer et al., 2007). We advocate that high-need elementary school leaders reduce students’ pushback by promoting schoolwide policies for SEL and using consistent SEL languages, which may “shift the norms, culture, and climate of their school” (Brackett et al., 2019, p. 154).

Lack of professional preparation and development emerged as a salient challenge for school educators to implement SEL successfully and was considered a meso-level constraint. It has been recognized that school educators’ SEL competencies, pedagogical skills, and their understandings of students’ SEL states and lives outside of school have significant influences on school-based SEL programs’ process and effectiveness (Weissberg et al., 2015). However, previous studies have reported that the majority of school educators, especially teachers, received very few pre-service preparation and in-service professional learning experiences that focus explicitly on the content and pedagogical knowledge for students’ SEL development (Bridgeland et al., 2013; Schonert-Reichl, 2017; McKown, 2019). The inclusion of children’s development, teacher-student relationship, and positive learning environment in the pre-service teacher education program has been suggested as a way to empower school educators to facilitate implement SEL practices or programs at schools (Schonert-Reichl, 2017). These contextual factors have been recognized to be highly associated with the effectiveness of school-based SEL programs (Stoiber, 2011). In-service teachers continued professional development explicitly focusing on SEL should also highlight the importance of the context, colleague collaboration, roles of modeling, expert support, and opportunities for reflection and feedback (Immordino-Yang et al., 2019, Jagers et al., 2019).

Home-school disconnection stands out as another salient barrier at the meso-level of the social-ecological system for students’ SEL. To provide students contextual opportunities to practice the SEL values learned at schools consistently in their homes, effective communications must be built between program providers, school personnel, and families (Payton et al., 2000). Families have played a critical role in students’ SEL development since norms and values held by family members have a significant influence on their children’s SEL (Meléndez and Martinek, 2015). The extent of family involvement in the school often determines the success of the SEL program (Holt et al., 2017; Jagers et al., 2019). To avoid fragmented SEL programs or practices “through which students pass like pinballs in a pinball machine” (Elias, 2019, p. 234), we suggest high-needs rural elementary schools adopt a multi-level SEL approach (Weissberg et al., 2015; Gordon et al., 2016; Brackett et al., 2019). Knowledge and strategies for developing SEL competencies are shared among multi-level social organizations, such as schools, families, and communities. Consequently, students will have the opportunity to learn and practice SEL competencies consistently across those social contexts. We also encourage affordable technologies (McKown, 2017; Williamson, 2017) to be employed for more effective communications regarding effective strategies to develop SEL competencies between the school and the family.

The major limitation of this study is the transferability of the findings. Since Whitehead is a lab school that is operated in partnership with the school district and a local university. It could be argued that this school has more resources and opportunities to conduct SEL programs compared to other public high-needs elementary schools. In addition, the number of participants in this study was relatively small. Those limitations might raise concerns about the transferability of the findings to other settings. Despite those limitations, we would argue that our findings would contribute to future SEL studies in the context of rural high-needs elementary schools.

The purpose of this study was to explore educators’ buy-in and constraints toward SEL in a high-needs rural elementary school setting. In the process of observing classes and interviewing educators, we sought to better understand what works and what needs to be improved. The study provides evidence to support the importance of SEL and revealed nested levels of constraints for school educators’ implementing SEL from the “voices” of school educators. The study recommends future school-based SEL research utilizing a qualitative research approach to gain more in-depth knowledge and understanding of the needs for contextually relevant SEL implementation. The study also calls for collaborative efforts and shared strategies to facilitate “legitimate” long-term partnerships between universities and schools, families, and communities, particularly in rural areas, in promoting a more holistic vision of the social and emotional development of our children (Meyers et al., 2015; San Antonio, 2018; Jagers et al., 2019).

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

BD conducted the research and wrote the manuscript. YS collected the data and drafted the manuscript. DH and SB collected and analyzed part of the data and contributed to the writing and proofreading process. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.