The Impact of SEL Broadly Defined in Schools
It is essential to define student achievement as a balance between academic, social-emotional, and ethical skills in order for students to be adequately prepared for the tests of life. Schools that embrace social-emotional learning, character development, and a positive culture and climate accrue many of the following benefits: enhanced social-emotional skills in students and staff; improved attitudes about self, others, and the school; increased positive classroom behavior and civic engagement; gains of up to 11 percentile-points on standardized tests; reduction in conduct problems, aggressive behavior, and emotional distress; improvement in staff morale, and decreased staff turnover.[1]
[1] Source: Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., & Schellinger, K. (2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development. (available at www.casel.org) and M. Berkowitz & M. Bier, What works in character education. (Washington, DC: Character Education Partnership, 2006) (available at www.characterandcitizenship.org.)
