9: Transformative SEL: Building Capacity for Authentic Caregiver-School Partnerships

Schools that educate racially and economically disenfranchised youth are disproportionately affected by resource constraints addressing student mental health and SEL (Jeynes, 2005). Disparities in students’ social, emotional and mental health are exacerbated when their families are excluded from decision-making (Durlak et al., 2011). Well documented benefits of partnerships between educators and caregivers demand more research to understand how caregiver and educator capacity can be increased to collaboratively improve school environments (Mapp & Kuttner, 2013). CASEL’s SEL Dialogue Series for Caregiver-School Partnerships guides caregivers through understanding their own and their children’s social and emotional development through the focal constructs of Transformative SEL (tSEL) to recognize their roles as educators and leaders (CASEL, 2024). TSEL empowers caregivers to participate in meaningful decision-making by “increasing their social capital and expertise for ‘collective organizing and mobilization’ for their children” (Skoog-Hoffman et al., 2023, p. 8). In this two-year case study, we examined if expanded knowledge of tSEL under supportive conditions increased caregivers’ capacity to partner with educators. We found that caregivers formed a coalition around shared values, aspirations and motivation to participate in informal and formal leadership. In this chapter, we contribute knowledge about tSEL as a pathway to authentic school-family partnerships. Through partnerships rooted in tSEL, we contend that educators and caregivers can develop collaborative solutions to mental, social and emotional challenges affecting students from marginalized backgrounds.