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What is Social-Emotional Learning?

Social-Emotional Learning


What Is Social-Emotional Learning?

SEL helps students acquire the skills to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

SEL is usually divided into five core competencies:

  • Self-awareness

  • Self-management

  • Social awareness

  • Relationship skills

  • Responsible decision-making


Why Social-Emotional Learning Matters for Schools:

  • SEL improves achievement by an average of 11 percentile points.

  • SEL decreases depression and stress and improves student attitudes toward school.

  • SEL boosts prosocial behaviors like sharing, empathy, and kindness.

  • Schools with effective SEL programs experience decreased discipline referrals and increased test scores. 

  • Students develop skills to manage themselves, leading to increased teaching time. 

  • Teachers, students, and their parents are happier and healthier.


How to Foster Social-Emotional Learning

Start by putting the following into place:

  • A safe, positive school culture

  • An emphasis on safety (e.g., faculty and staff are here to keep students safe)

  • Adult modeling of social-emotional competence

  • Fair, equitable discipline policies

  • Anti-bullying policies

  • Morning meetings that provide opportunities for students to connect

  • An emphasis on positive relationships (student-teacher and student-student)

  • Family engagement and community partnerships

  • In addition, teachers need professional development to learn how to foster SEL.


What the research shows:

  • Students were 42 percent less likely to say they were involved in physical aggression

  • 20% less bullying by students with disabilities

  • $11 returned for each $1 invested in social-emotional learning in schools

  • 5–12% decrease in school dropout rates associated with SEL

  • 13% increase in academic achievement with SEL

  • 79% of employers say SEL skills are the most important qualities for job success