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The purpose of this paper is to examine educators’ beliefs, perceptions and use of culturally responsive practices in implementing a social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention.

Focus groups with school personnel in a school with a diverse student population that had sustained success with an SEL intervention were conducted. Grounded theory was used to analyze data.

The analyses produced 11 interrelated themes.

School personnel noted that instruction in culturally responsive practices was foundational and should occur before SEL intervention implementation commences to ensure the use of culturally responsive practices as part of SEL implementation. Moreover, they noted the importance of school community buy-in (administrator, faculty, staff, parent and student) in supporting school-based SEL intervention sustainability.

Within the USA, continued diversification of the student population is predicted, while the teaching force is projected to remain primarily White, middle class and female. Consequently, educators often differ in cultural background from their students, which has implications for SEL instruction. Incorporating the use of culturally responsive pedagogy in teaching SEL skills is one approach to addressing this cultural mismatch.

There are currently few studies that explore educator perceptions of SEL and no studies that examine the use of culturally responsive pedagogy in teaching SEL.

This study aims to understand the impact of a pilot of the actions against racism (AAR) intervention, aimed at enhancing educators’ multicultural efficacy and attitudes in a mid-Atlantic K-8 charter school.

AAR included eight sessions delivered over one school year. Experienced facilitators led these sessions, focusing on combating racism, prejudice and discrimination. Of the 84 school staff, 56 completed a baseline survey and 33 completed a postintervention survey.

Paired sample t-tests revealed a significant increase in multicultural attitudes, t(29) = 2.55, p = 0.016, whereas the increase in multicultural efficacy was not significant, t(28) = 1.93, p = 0.063. The authors examined cultural and emotional intelligence as moderators of the intervention’s impact. Higher baseline cognitive reappraisal scores (an indicator of emotional intelligence) were linked to a larger increase in multicultural efficacy from pre- to postintervention, B = −0.59, t (27) = −2.20, p = 0.037. The number of sessions attended was unrelated to the intervention’s impact.

This study was a single-site, uncontrolled pilot of AAR with a small sample size. Further research in additional settings with appropriately powered samples is needed to validate these results and extend findings to examine the impact of AAR on the student experience.

The study demonstrates the promising potential of AAR in improving teachers' multicultural attitudes and efficacy. Exploratory findings highlight the role of cognitive reappraisal in enhancing multicultural efficacy, contributing valuable insights for designing effective teacher training programs. This research supports the implementation of critical, identity-centered and asset-based pedagogies in education.