By Wendy Y. Perez, Ph.D. and Sara McAlister
Over the past two decades, social and emotional learning (SEL) has assumed prominence as a strategy to increase college readiness, especially among historically marginalized students. At the same time, SEL approaches have faced mounting critiques for their failure to grapple with the structural inequalities, cultural incongruence, and hostile racial climates that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) youth often face in both K-12 and postsecondary education. Recently, Jagers, Rivas-Drake, and Williams (2019)3 have argued for including critical social analysis and skills for collective action into SEL, articulating a framework for “transformative” SEL that can prepare young people for active, justice-oriented citizenship.
This brief shares findings from a longitudinal study of six established youth organizing (YO) groups (among approximately 300 nationwide). Youth organizing engages mostly BIPOC and low-income young people in collective, youth-led work to identify and address inequities that constrain their opportunities. We find the transformative SEL framework useful for understanding how young people in organizing develop socio-emotional skills and critical consciousness as they lead campaigns for educational, racial, and environmental justice.
In this research brief, we use the lens of transformative SEL to understand the postsecondary transition experiences of BIPOC youth who participated in youth organizing groups. We share qualitative reflections from 25 college-enrolled recent YO alumni about how participating in YO helped them develop both ‘traditional’ and transformative SEL skills, and how they draw on those skills as college students, along with survey findings from YO participants (N=180). We argue that YO, and similar critical approaches, help prepare BIPOC youth to navigate and thrive in college and to press for more equitable, affirming campus climates.