Social emotional learning skills

Fundamentals of SEL - CASEL

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SEL can help all young people and adults thrive personally and academically, develop and maintain positive relationships, become lifelong learners, and contribute to a more caring, just world.

We define social and emotional learning (SEL) as an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.

SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.

What Does the Research Say?

SEL makes a difference. We know this from the research, which demonstrates that an education that promotes SEL has a positive impact on a wide range of outcomes, including academic performance, healthy relationships, mental wellness, and more.

Dive into the research

The Impact of Social and Emotional Learning

What is the CASEL SEL framework?

For many, our framework is known as the “CASEL wheel.” At the center are the five core social and emotional competencies—broad, interrelated areas that support learning and development. Circling them are four key settings where students live and grow. School-family-community partnerships coordinate SEL practices and establish equitable learning environments across all of these contexts.

Explore the CASEL Framework

How Does SEL Support Equity?

We are driven by a vision of all children and adults as self-aware, caring, responsible, engaged, and lifelong learners who work together to achieve their goals. SEL can be a powerful lever for creating caring, just, inclusive, and healthy schools that support all young people.

Learn more about SEL and equity

How Can You Speak Up for SEL?

The majority of students, teachers, and families agree: SEL belongs in schools. But when it is co-opted by political agendas, students risk losing out on an education that will help them succeed in school and in life. Now is the time for brave thinkers and tireless doers to speak up for SEL.

Resources to champion the facts

How does SEL connect to…

The COVID-19 PandemicMental HealthCivic LearningWorkforce Preparation

The COVID-19 Pandemic

SEL offers a powerful means to support one another during these challenging times by developing crucial competencies relating to empathy, resilience, and relationship-building that students and adults need.

Mental Health

While SEL and mental health are not the same, SEL can promote positive mental health in many ways, and should be incorporated in a system of mental wellness supports and resources.

Learn more about Mental Health

Civic Learning

Today’s dynamic and multicultural society calls on the next generation of civic leaders to develop strong social and emotional skills. Integrating SEL into civic learning gives students the opportunity to participate as caring and engaged community members.

Workforce Preparation

By aligning and integrating SEL and workforce preparation efforts, states and districts can promote the competencies and environments that will prepare youth to thrive and succeed in the workplace.

Learn more about SEL and Workforce Preparation

Social-Emotional Learning | Social-Emotional Skills

Social-emotional learning helps students succeed in the classroom and throughout their lives.

Social-emotional learning isn’t just a feel-good activity. It’s not psychotherapy or an attempt to parent kids. Nor is it a substitute for core academic subjects such as math, science, or literacy.

Instead, SEL concepts provide an extra dimension to education, focusing on improving cooperation, communication, and decision-making. In a world where emotional intelligence is critical for lifelong happiness, successful careers, and healthier relationships, SEL gives students a framework for developing these skills.

Decades of research have demonstrated the benefits of SEL. A short list of research findings includes the items below.

In a meta-analysis of 213 school-based SEL programs, participants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, and behavior, as well as an 11-percentile-point gain in academic performance. ^[1]

Children who are socially and emotionally competent have more friends and more connections with positive peers, and are less likely to be rejected, isolated, or bullied. Children with friends are happier and more successful in school. ^[2]

Empathetic children with good perspective-taking skills are less likely to be physically, verbally, or indirectly aggressive toward peers. ^[3]

Children’s social relations affect their feeling of connectedness at school, which affects their sense of academic competence. ^[4]

The social-emotional competence of students is an important component of effective bullying prevention. ^[5]

SEL interventions show an average return on investment of $11 for every dollar spent. ^[6]

Learn more about the research showing the efficacy of SEL and Second Step programs.

How SEL Is Taught in the Classroom

The teacher explains a concept with words, pictures, video, and/or audio
Students practice the concept through skill practice, group discussion, individual writing, or partner work
The teacher continues reinforcing the concept throughout the week

The teacher sends information home for students to work on with parents
The teacher checks for understanding
The teacher re-teaches where necessary

This ebook features perspectives from a number of leading teachers, administrators, researchers, and education experts.

Download the Ebook

Joan Cole Duffell

Former Executive Director, Committee for Children

Matt Segneri

Director, Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI), Harvard Business School

Andria Amador

Assistant Director of Behavioral Health Services, Boston Public Schools

Roger P. Weissberg, PhD

Chief Knowledge Officer, CASEL

Meria Joel Carstarphen

Superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools

Reed Koch

Former President, Board of Directors, Committee for Children

Alonda Williams

Senior Director for Education, Microsoft

R. Keeth Matheny

Teacher, Austin (Texas) Independent School District

Dan Kranzler

Founder, Kirlin Charitable Foundation

Paul D. Eaton

Major General (Ret.), United States Army

5 Social Emotional Learning Skills Required for Lagging Students

Thanks to neuro-technologies that literally look into the brain, we now have a neurological explanation for adolescents' disproportionate impulsivity, their desire for risk and hypersensitivity to peer pressure.

Simply put, the development of the adolescent "rational brain" or prefrontal cortex lags behind the development of the "emotional brain" or limbic system of the brain. This means that executive function skills such as impulse control and emotion regulation often lose out to strong desires for instant gratification and peer approval. And emotions like stress, frustration, or embarrassment cause a short circuit in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, making learning difficult. nine0003

It is therefore no wonder that students who are lagging behind in reading and learning are in such dire need of support for social-emotional learning (SEA). For such students, a specific reading teaching methodology that includes SEA skills is likely to be more effective than a traditional reading development program. An example of such a technique is Fast ForWord with its latest programs Foundations and Elements (for high school students). This technique was developed by eminent US neuroscientists and is aimed at developing the areas of the brain responsible for speech, reading and cognitive functions - key elements for successful learning. nine0003

The social-emotional impact of reading retardation

When students lag behind in reading, their self-confidence drops as they become aware that they are lagging behind their peers. By the time they become teenagers, they may feel socially and emotionally isolated. Thus, a domino effect begins due to a lack of motivation to try to catch up, frustration in learning and, ultimately, low expectations from one's own prospects. Often students' negative emotions lead to their destructive behavior, which affects their relationship with peers and teachers, leading, among other things, to lesson disruptions, neglect or lack of participation in class work. nine0003

The best approach to overcome these socio-emotional barriers to student achievement is to develop social-emotional skills. As best-selling author and education expert Eric Jensen states in his book Teaching with the Brain in Mind, “Emotions and the mind do not exist separately; emotions, thinking and learning are interconnected.”

But social-emotional learning is a big topic. What priorities should secondary school teachers set in teaching? Here are five social-emotional learning skills that are especially important for students in adolescence, and how the Foundations and Elements programs develop SEA skills and reading/learning skills at the same time. nine0003

Five social-emotional learning skills for high school students

at school. A series of repeated failures often leads to self-doubt and even conviction of one's own stupidity.

The real problem is often not learning disabilities, but finding the right way to unlock the true, limitless potential of students. And when students begin to achieve academic success, their confidence skyrockets, which in turn helps them to study even better, and this cycle continues endlessly. nine0003

The secret to success lies in the 80:20 ratio between success and difficulty. This proportion is provided by classes that are not too difficult, so as not to suppress the motivation to study, and at the same time, classes are not too easy, forcing the student to work hard.

Students who regularly fall behind their peers in class are not used to a consistent 80% success rate. But if you arrange classes in such a way that these students are successful 80% of the time, they experience a surge of confidence that they can achieve their goals, instead of feeling overwhelmed by the fact that they are wrong all the time. The dopamine rush that accompanies this success also fires up students' intrinsic motivation to keep learning and succeeding. nine0003

Foundations and Elements are the latest Fast ForWord programs for slow learners. The exercises in these programs are constantly adapted to the student's abilities, the curriculum is designed to ensure that the student can consistently give at least 80% correct answers, with optimally timed rewards that keep students engaged and willing to learn. This system helps build self-confidence and ensures success in reading and learning. nine0003

2. Healthy self-esteem

Students' increased confidence in their ability to learn and succeed creates a new sense of self - healthy self-esteem. Instead of thinking "I can't do this" or "I'm stupid", they set themselves up for success by believing in themselves: "I'm smart!".

One of the components of healthy self-esteem is flexible thinking, the belief that education makes a person successful, and not some intangible, innate ability to learn. The validity of this belief is rooted in the ability of the human brain to change, called neuroplasticity (brain plasticity). Neuroplasticity is the state of the brain as a flexible, experiential organ that can be constantly reprogrammed throughout life. Thanks to this, a person is never too late to learn new skills. nine0003

After early childhood, adolescence is the time when the brain is at its most plastic, with incredible potential for continued learning. Thus, teenagers who need to strengthen their learning ability and confidence will greatly benefit from the development of flexible thinking.

Educators and parents can instill flexible thinking in middle school students by thinking through their speech. When a student says, "I can't do it," the teacher can gently correct him, "You can't do it yet. But you can! When a child says, "I'm giving up," the parent can support, "I'll help you find another way to deal with this." Teachers and parents should avoid making statements like "it's easy" and instead make sure their students know that "it's okay to have trouble. " nine0003

One of the leading neuroscientists who elucidated the role of human brain plasticity in learning was Michael Merzenich, often referred to as the "father of neuroplasticity." He is one of the founders of the Fast ForWord methodology, which uses neuroplasticity to effectively train the brain in speaking and writing, cognitive skills, and social-emotional skills at the same time. This is what flexible thinking means in action!

3. Self-government

Self-management is the ability to regulate one's actions, thoughts, and emotions for goal-directed behavior that leads to the achievement of goals. As evidenced by a recent EdSurge article, high school students are successful when their self-management skills are developed.

Teenagers strive for independence and self-reliance, and educators can help them develop the self-management skills they need to succeed. Self-management skills include the ability to focus on the current task, goal setting, planning, and time management. nine0003

Some of the Foundations and Elements exercises are specifically designed to develop attention skills, developing the cognitive ability to stay focused on a task. For example, SonoLab is an exercise that requires students to listen carefully to a series of sounds and press a button as the sound changes. In essence, it trains the brain to concentrate and not act impulsively.

Students also develop self-management by reviewing the "Today's Report" at the end of each session, tracking their own progress. As students evaluate how well they achieved their goals during each session, being single-minded becomes a habit and they improve their self-management skills. nine0003

4. Self-defense

Closely related to self-management is self-protection, that is, the ability to constructively support one's own interests and security both independently and when seeking help or support when needed.

Some students find self-defense easy. These are the students who raise their hands during the lesson, ask questions, and even ask for an extension of the deadline for assignments when extenuating circumstances arise. nine0003

Other students—usually those who are not confident in their academic or speaking skills, who are afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of their peers, or who fall behind so often in school that they lose interest in it—have not developed self-defence skills. Unfortunately, when these students encounter barriers to their academic progress, they don't seek the help they need. They don't ask for clarification when they don't understand the assignment. They miss deadlines. nine0003

Fortunately, today's technology offers a socially safe environment where students can access more information or practice more when difficult or confusing tasks come up, all without potentially embarrassing scenarios. And when students get used to seeking and receiving help on their own, with the help of a computer program, they can learn to seek help from a teacher or peers when they need it. nine0003

In Fast ForWord programs, such self-protection tools are implemented in the form of operational interventions. For example, if a student is having difficulty in any of the exercises, they can click on the question mark button in the top navigation bar to practice in "help" mode without affecting their progress or accumulated points. This socially safe self-help mechanism allows the student to learn at their own pace and seek the help they need without risking peer judgement. nine0003

5. Self-control

Finally, self-management and self-protection combine to create self-control, to control the execution of all points to achieve the goal. Essentially, self-control is the student's ability to take responsibility for their own learning. As students develop the skills needed to become responsible adults, self-control becomes an important social-emotional learning ability. nine0003

From the very beginning of each lesson in Fast ForWord, students practice self-control. In the "Today's Assignment" menu, the student chooses which exercise to start with. Within each exercise, the student is responsible for the quality and completeness of their work; whether the lesson was completed; whether it is necessary to use the built-in help for additional practice, and for which exercise to move on to.At the end of each session, the student tracks their daily progress in the "Today's Report", enters the data into motivational tables and assesses whether the goals have been achieved. nine0003

What's more, because Fast ForWord Foundations and Elements are online programs, students can easily work with them at home, providing even more opportunities to practice self-organization and self-control.

Conclusions

Teenagers have special social-emotional learning needs due to their rapidly developing brains. Five social-emotional learning skills that can be especially useful for middle and high school students are self-confidence, healthy self-esteem, self-management, self-protection, and self-control. nine0003

Along with developing the language, writing, and cognitive skills needed for academic success, Fast ForWord Foundations and Elements classes develop the skills needed for self-management and self-protection. The combination of these two factors gives the student a sense of confidence in their ability to learn and exercise free will, providing a sense of control over tasks and their successful completion. During this process, the child develops healthy self-esteem and sees himself for who he really is - a capable student with great potential for success. nine0003

Source

Social-emotional skills in school. Part 1.

Within the framework of the project “University Environment for Teachers” of the Moscow Department of Education, a program of several lectures was presented at the HSE Institute of Education, the participants of which were also members of the Educational Spaces Design Studio. This article will focus on lecture "Forms of work in the classroom that contribute to the development of social and emotional skills of students" , author - Tatyana Kanonir , associate professor, PhD, co-director of the master's program “Measurements in Psychology and Education”.

There has been a lot of talk lately about the importance of developing social-emotional skills. The educational standards of basic and primary schools in Russia require the formation of students, along with subject educational results, meta-subject and personal educational results. It is under personal educational results that social-emotional skills are hidden. nine0003

Social Emotional Skills (SES) are skills that enable people to recognize and manage their emotions, successfully manage conflicts, understand and empathize with others, establish and maintain positive relationships, follow ethics, contribute constructively to their reference communities, set and achieve goals.

Different terms are used to refer to these “non-cognitive” skills: Soft Skills, 21st century skills, emotional intelligence... All of these concepts differ from each other in scope and context of use, but have similar features: conceptual independence on cognition, total value for social adaptation, relative stability over time, potential change as a result of exposure , situational manifestation.

In this article, we will focus on 2 social-emotional skills

Achieving goals : working towards achieving short- and long-term goals, including in changing conditions:
- stability (ability to maintain stable work for a significant time),
- self-control (the ability to control one's state in the process of performing a task),
- striving for the goal (awareness of the need to achieve the goal - independent or set by the teacher).

Collaboration with others

sociability (ability to establish and maintain social contacts),

respect (tact and respect for peers and adults, including those from other cultures),

caring (disinterested assistance to the interaction partner).

Exercises to help teachers develop these social-emotional skills in students

1. Formation of the skill of achieving goals

Exercise : mutual assistance in achieving individual goals (conducted in small groups)

The teacher begins the lesson by telling the children about the difficulties people often face in achieving their own goals, and suggests the most common strategies for overcoming these obstacles, writing the main points on the board. For example, it could be a list like this:

frustration (depending on the audience, a more understandable term may be used, such as depression) that the goal is too difficult. Possible strategies: relaxation, distraction, break from work. nine0194
boredom . Possible strategies: set a shorter-term goal, give yourself a reward (such as a break or ice cream). too lazy to do the task. Possible strategies are: assign yourself a reward, think about how you will feel when you complete the task, or that if you do not study, you will let the whole group down.

anxiety due to fear of failure . Possible strategies: remember situations in which everything worked out, relaxation techniques. nine0194

Then the teacher formulates in writing an individual educational (or near-academic) goal for each of the children (it is better to do this work in advance) and divides them into groups.

Children sit in a circle, each voices their goal and names possible obstacles to achieving it. The rest of the group suggests possible solutions based on the information on the board or their own experience, and also try to suggest one action that they personally could help another child (for example, “I can call you on Friday and remind you that in you have to do the weekend…”, “I can call and find out how you are doing…”, “I can explain to you the material that you don’t understand…”, etc.). nine0194
In the following week, students discuss in groups their progress towards their goals, how they felt when their classmates helped them, what kind of help was most helpful.

Expected results : children learn to anticipate barriers to achieving a goal and think in advance about possible options for overcoming them, children learn to help others achieve their goals, ask for help and accept it.

2. Learning how to work with others

Exercise : learning together

projects - for example, to study material about a country, continent, scientist, physical phenomenon, etc.,
each student is instructed to work through a certain part of the material, and then tell all the other members of the group about their findings,

then the group should prepare a joint presentation for the rest of the class,

at the end of the work it is necessary to discuss - what has been done and what has not been done? What turned out to be difficult in doing joint work, what can be done differently next time (when discussing, it is important not to indicate value judgments).

This exercise can have many variations, for example, “brain rings”, “debates” of representatives of different historical eras, etc.

According to the head of Design Studio of Educational Spaces Rai Ivanovskaya, the task of forming and developing SES among students can definitely be solved with the help of designing the school space:
forgot about the goals set (by the teacher or by themselves) - you can make a special stand in the class , on which they could write their goals, indicate the planned deadlines for achievement, indicate the expected obstacles and how they eventually coped with them. That is, this information is constantly “in sight” (the guys will not forget), and is also a demonstration of their success. In the event that someone does not cope with the task on their own, this is also visible and the teacher can “hint” to the students that their help and support is required (and this is already a manifestation of caring - that is, the skill of working together). nine0003
The stand itself must be visually attractive in design (with motivating phrases, for example), made of modern materials (marker film, cork, etc.) - so that children would be “pleasant” and interested in interacting with it.

Educational space design studio: we turn boring school interiors into bright and beautiful ones! View our work in the PORTFOLIO section.

By the way

Many currently existing SES assessment tools have disadvantages: they are based on purely local experience, data on the psychometric quality of methods are not published, there are practically no references to international experience, experience is often designed for individual assessment and is not scaled, and the result of assessment depends on the skills of the teacher and his attitude towards a particular student. nine0167 However, if we do not have SES assessment tools, then we cannot draw conclusions about their development, can we?

The HSE Education Quality Monitoring Center, together with the Sberbank Charitable Foundation “Investment in the Future”, conducted a large-scale study of social and emotional skills in primary and secondary schools, based on an international research framework, associated with the Federal State Educational Standards for Primary and Basic Education, which resulted in developed monitoring evaluation tools.