1. New market research in social and emotional learning: Introduction
Webinar
December 12, 2016
Lucas Held, Director of Communications
The Wallace Foundation
Good morning.
Welcome to today’s webinar on new market research conducted by Edge Research in social and emotional learning.

2. I’d like to thank all of you who participated in the research – whether being interviewed, or, taking a survey.
Your responses made this research possible. So thank you. We appreciate the time you took to respond.

3. Our goals for today Share survey findings Get your reactions
We have two goals for today:
To share the research findings.
And to get your questions and reactions.
To type questions, please use the question box on your screen.

4. Where this fits in Wallace’s approach
Market research helps sheds light on the larger context for our work
Understand the Context
(Engage with the external environment to identify knowledge gaps, field interest, and barriers)
Generate Improvements and Insights
(Build promising new approaches and new evidence/knowledge)
Catalyze Broad Impact
(Improve practice and policy nationwide)
You may be wondering why we conducted market research.
The Wallace Foundation’s approach is to first understand the context for a particular field, and to identify a question, that if answered, could help propel progress in a field.
Once we have identified a question, we work with a small number of partners to test out solutions or answers, and understand what works, what doesn’t and why. We then share those lessons broadly with the goal of catalyzing broad impact.
Market research to help us understand the context.

5. Our goal: To better understand
Terminology: How is it used – and heard – among key audiences for our work?
To help us use terms that are clear
And help us avoid terms that communicate unintended messages or associations
Framing: What underlying perspectives on the issue motivate – or discourage – interest?
In this case, we sought to understand two things in the arena of social and emotional learning:
How people think about the various terms in use, so that we could use terms that are clear, and avoid communicating things we didn’t intend.
We also sought to understand what’s often called framing in social and emotional learning – that is, what underlying perspectives on the issue motivate or discourage interest.
It’s important to note that while we think the findings have broad relevance, we are not suggesting any particular term or frame is ideal for all groups, situations or purposes. That will depend on your own local context.
Note: While we think the findings have broad relevance, Wallace is not suggesting any particular term or frame is ideal for all groups or purposes, as this will depend on the particular context.

6. Key audiences whose views we sought to understand
Leaders in K-12 education
Leaders in afterschool
Policymakers in education
Afterschool intermediaries
Funders
Wallace’s initiative, now in a planning phase, will bridge these two sectors; we sought to find terms acceptable to both
The audiences whose views we sought to understand included:
K-12 education leaders
Leaders in afterschool
Policymakers in education
Afterschool intermediaries
And funders
We were especially interested in the first two, as a new initiative that we’re in the early stages of, seeks to bridge these two sectors.

7. Limits to the study: It did not probe the federal policy process
Edge Research did probe partisan associations of terms
We did not ask Edge to map the federal policy landscape
Since the survey, we have become aware of some concerns among some federal lawmakers. These resulted in ESSA omitting any specific mention of social and emotional learning. Concerns apparently focused on:
The term “social and emotional learning” (SEL) as well as other terms
Gathering SEL data on children (“psychological profiling”)
Taking on a role often assumed by parents or religious institutions
Diverting time from academic instruction
Extent of concerns is not clear – we will be monitoring them
We think the results of this survey remain highly relevant – and are using its conclusions to guide our thinking
I also want to point out a limit to the study. Edge did probe partisan association of the terms it studied.
However, we did NOT ask Edge to map the federal policy landscape.
And since the research was conducted, we have become aware of concerns among some federal lawmakers about this topic that resulted in the Every Student Succeeds Act omitting any direct mention of social and emotional learning.
As we understand it, concerns focused more on underlying issues rather than specific terms – including gathering data on children’s social and emotional learning (which some fear would lead to psychological profiling; taking on a role often assumed by parents or religious institutions; and diverting time from academic instruction.
The extent of the concerns is not clear to us, and we wilsl be monitoring them.
Meanwhile, we think the results of the research remain highly relevant and we are using it to guide our own thinking.

8. Our presenters Pam Loeb, principal, Edge Research
So let me briefly introduce our presenters.
Pam Loeb is principal at Edge Research firm, a full servide market research firm based in Virginia that we have used for a number of years.
Stacia Tipton is senior research analyst at Edge.
Over to the two of you.
Stacia Tipton, senior research analyst, Edge Research

9. Thank you!
The full PowerPoint presentation and a recording of the webinar will be posted on on Thursday, Dec. 15
For questions and comments:
The Wallace Foundation
Lucas Held:
Melissa Connerton:
Edge Research
Pam Loeb:
Stacia Tipton: