Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): A Key to Children’s Success in School and Life
Excerpts from CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning)
To succeed in school, students need to be engaged, interested, and excited to be there. They need to know how to focus their attention on their work, keep trying even when they get discouraged or face setbacks, work effectively with other students and adults, and be good communicators and problem-solvers. These skills form a foundation for young people’s success not just in school, but in their adult lives as members of the community, as productive workers, and as parents.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a process for helping children and even adults develop the fundamental skills for life effectiveness. SEL teaches the skills we all need to handle ourselves, our relationships, and our work, effectively and ethically.
These skills include:
- recognizing and managing our emotions
- developing caring and concern for others
- establishing positive relationships
- making responsible decisions
- handling challenging situations constructively and ethically
These are the skills that allow children to calm themselves when angry, make friends, resolve conflicts respectfully, and make ethical and safe choices.
Socially and emotionally competent children and youth are skilled in five core areas:•They are self-aware. They are able to recognize their emotions, describe their interests and values, and accurately assess their strengths. They have a well-grounded sense of self-confidence and hope for the future.
•They are able to regulate their emotions. They are able to manage stress, control impulses, and persevere in overcoming obstacles. They can set and monitor progress toward the achievement of personal and academic goals and express their emotions appropriately in a wide range of situations.
•They are socially aware. They are able to take the perspective of and empathize with others and recognize and appreciate individual and group similarities and differences. They are able to seek out and appropriately use family, school, and community resources.
•They have good relationship skills. They can establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships based on cooperation. They resist inappropriate social pressure; constructively prevent, manage, and resolve interpersonal conflict; and seek and provide help when needed.
•They demonstrate responsible decision-making at school, at home, and in the community. In making decisions, they consider ethical standards, safety concerns, appropriate social norms, respect for others, and the likely consequences of various courses of action. They apply these decision-making skills in academic and social situations and are motivated to contribute to the well-being of their schools and communities.
Recent research clearly shows that students who receive SEL programming academically outperform their peers, compared to those who do not receive SEL. Those students also get better grades and graduate at higher rates. Effective SEL programming drives academic learning, and it also drives social outcomes such as positive peer relationships, caring and empathy, and social engagement. Social and emotional instruction also leads to reductions in problem behavior such as drug use, violence, and delinquency.
The research is clear: attending to the social and emotional learning of children is a hugely profitable investment in their success in school and their future success as adults.
Why is Social and Emotional Learning Important?
What the Research Says
Early investments in SEL yield long-term dividends. One major multi-year study found that by the time they were adults, students who received SEL in grades 1-6 had an 11 percent higher grade-point average and significantly greater levels of school commitment and attachment to school at age 18.
- SEL promotes positive development among children and youth, reduces problem behaviors, and improves academic performance, citizenship, and health-related behaviors
- Academic outcomes promoted by SEL include greater motivation to learn and commitment to school, increased time devoted to schoolwork and mastery of subject matter, improved attendance and graduation rates, and improved grades and test scores
- Students in schools that use an evidence-based SEL curriculum (one that has been scientifically evaluated and found effective) significantly improve in their attitudes toward school, their behaviors, and their academic performance. A recent review of 30 studies found that SEL results in improvements in students’ achievement test scores—by an average of 11 percentile points over students who are not involved in SEL programming
- Research has also showed that even as SEL programs produce positive effects in students, they also prevent negative outcomes. The retention (hold-back) rate of students who received SEL in grades 1-6 was 14 percent, versus 23 percent of students in a control group. The same students at age 18 showed a 30 percent lower incidence of school behavior problems, a 20 percent lower rate of violent delinquency, and a 40 percent lower rate of heavy alcohol use
Endnotes
- From a forthcoming report by Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P.,Taylor, R.D., Dymnicki, A.B., & Schellinger, K. (2008).
- Source: Hawkins, J.D., Catalano, R.F., Kosterman, R., Abbott, R., & Hill, K.G. (1999) Preventing adolescent health-risk behaviors by strengthening protection during childhood. Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med, 153, 226-234.
- Greenberg, M. T., Weissberg, R. P., O’Brien, M. U., Zins, J.E., Fredericks, L., Resnik, H., and Elias, M.J. (2003). School- based prevention: Promoting positive social development through social and emotional learning. American Psychologist, 58(6/7), 466-474
- Durlak, J.A., et al., op.cit. Also: Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P.,Wang, M. C., & Walberg, H. J. (Eds.) (2004). Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? NY: Teachers College Press.