SEL is…
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is 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. (Read about the definition updates in December 2020 from CASEL's CEO at https://www.the74million.org/article/niemi-casel-is-updating-the-most-widely-recognized-definition-of-social-emotional-learning-heres-why/.)
Benefits of SEL
Research confirms and teachers, parents, and principals agree: social and emotional competencies can be taught, modeled, and practiced and lead to positive student outcomes that are important for success in school and in life.
Decades of research studies demonstrate the following benefits of SEL:
- Improvement in students' social and emotional skills, attitudes, relationships, academic performance, and perceptions of classroom and school climate
- Decline in students' anxiety, behavior problems, and substance use
- Long-term improvements in students' skills, attitudes, prosocial behavior, and academic performance
- Wise financial investment according to cost-benefit research
Learn more about CASEL's research-practice-policy partnership approaches that advance ways that SEL supports equitable learning environments and optimal developmental outcomes for diverse children, adolescents, and adults. To learn more, visit https://casel.org/impact/.
SEL: What are the Core Competence Areas and Where are they Promoted?
SEL: Our Theory of Action for Effective Implementation
To be most effective, it is essential that states, regions, districts, and schools infuse the principles of SEL across practices and policies such as curriculum and instruction, extra-curricular activities, discipline, student-support services, professional learning, and ongoing assessment for continuous improvement.
CASEL's Theory of Action at the state, district, and school level addresses four key elements that are necessary to comprehensively support quality SEL implementation throughout the system:
- Build foundational support and plan;
- Strengthen adult SEL competencies and capacity;
- Promote SEL for students; and
- Reflect on data for continuous improvement.
To learn more, visit https://casel.org/theory-of-action/.
"What is SEL?" Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Reprinted with permission. All CASEL content is available for free on their website, casel.org.
MLA Citation
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). "What Is SEL?" School Library Connection, March 2021, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/article/2263192.
Entry ID: 2263192