Social-Emotional Learning

Social and emotional learning (SEL) provides a foundation for safe and positive learning, and enhances students’ ability to succeed in school, career, and life. SEL is the process through which children and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, practices, and skills necessary 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.

A Systemic Framework

Research shows that SEL not only improves achievement by an average of 11 percentile points, but it also increases prosocial behaviors (such as kindness, sharing, and empathy), improves student attitudes toward school, and reduces depression and stress among students (Durlak et al., 2011). For this reason, SEL has become a cohesive framework for how educators, families, and communities partner to promote students’ social, emotional, and academic learning.

To be effective, SEL should be an integral part of a school/district’s strategic plan, budget, school wide practices, policies, and professional learning for all staff. Curriculum and classroom instruction should integrate an SEL approach with reading, math, history, and other core subjects.

In the long run, greater social and emotional competence can increase the likelihood of high school graduation, readiness for postsecondary education, career success, positive family and work relationships, better mental health, reduced criminal behavior, and engaged citizenship (e.g., Hawkins, Kosterman, Catalonao, Hill, & Abbott, 2008: Jones, Greenberg, & Corwley, 2015).

The bottom line is this: Education Technology Partners can help. Our mission is to provide the finest educational software, technology solutions and professional services to educational clients in the central United States.