Summary: In this episode, host Tia Kim speaks with Justina Schlund, Senior Director of Content and Field Learning at the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). In her role, Justina leads the translation of CASEL’s learning and expertise into content to deepen and expand social-emotional learning (SEL) knowledge across the education field. Prior to joining CASEL, Justina was the executive director of Chicago Public School’s Office of Social and Emotional Learning, where she led districtwide strategies to promote the social and emotional development of all students. While at CPS, Justina also launched a districtwide initiative to build organizational commitment to addressing issues of race and equity. Justina talks with us about the connections between SEL and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work. During the conversation, she addresses some common critiques of SEL in relation to DEI and provides practical recommendations for how educators, schools, and districts can effectively approach SEL and DEI. To learn more about CASEL, visit casel.org. To read more about CASEL’s resources on Transformative SEL as a Lever for Equity and Social Justice, visit casel.org/research/transformative-sel. For more episodes of Grow Kinder, visit GrowKinderPodcast.org. You can rate and follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, or Stitcher—we’d love to hear from you. And to let us know more about you and what you think of the podcast, take our listener survey: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=LWN-Qn3OEkeSrzrKSxjPe1fy2tWnuMpOsq-A9xekDc9UQlNYU05BVU5WVTJPOEQyNzc0Sk0wRjJGWi4u
