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SEL and Academic Success

Research also suggests that SEL plays an important role in fostering students' academic achievement. Dr. Joseph Zins, professor of education at the University of Cincinnati and a member of the CASEL Leadership Team, has been doing important work in this area.

According to Zins, with schools’ increasing accountability for meeting academic goals, it is important for educators to understand the specific connection between SEL and academic achievement. They need to know the scientific base proving that programs that build students’ social and emotional competencies are not merely add-ons, but essential components to children's academic learning.

“Emotions affect what and how we learn,” Zins said. “Schools are social places and relationships provide a foundation for how children learn.”

Zins recently led a project to review the available scientific evidence demonstrating the link between SEL and educational outcomes such as academic performance, positive social behavior, and citizenship.

“Social competence is a powerful predictor of academic achievement,” Zins said. “Two years ago, perhaps, I could not have said this with certainty. But today I can say very strongly that there is a growing body of scientifically-based research supporting the strong impact that social and emotional factors have on academic success and ultimately on life.”

Research demonstrates that SEL has positively affected students’ academic performance in a variety of direct and indirect ways. Research shows that when SEL programs are conducted systematically and effectively in schools, they can provide students with skills such as the ability to manage emotions that interfere with learning, the motivation to persevere in the face of academic setbacks, the ability to work cooperatively with peer groups in the classroom, and the ability to set and work toward academic goals.

Thus, SEL enhances preparation for learning by promoting students’ attachment to school and developing beliefs and behaviors that lead to academic achievement. It also enhances engagement in learning and mastery of subject content through increased motivation, commitment, and time spent on task. These skills result in improved attendance and graduation rates, as well as reduced suspensions, expulsions, and grade retention. There also is increasing evidence of improvements in subject areas such as math, language arts, and social studies.

Help for Educators

Many educators accept that students need to develop social and emotional competencies but are unsure how to teach these skills. Which programs or teaching strategies have been proven to help children develop these competencies and avoid problem behaviors? How do we know what works?

Through a three-year program review project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, CASEL identified the strongest research-based SEL programs currently available. CASEL reviewed more than 250 programs to identify 81 that met minimum standards for effectiveness.

Then, using a systematic scoring procedure, CASEL rated these 81 programs on a variety of factors. Of the 81 programs, CASEL identified 22 as “select” SEL programs because they met the highest standards for effectiveness. The results of the review are available in a 48-page booklet with an accompanying CD-ROM titled Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs. (See “Prevention Library,” p.8, for details.)

In the guide, quality SEL programs are identified as those that have sound SEL practice focusing on the core SEL competencies; program effectiveness and strong implementation supports; and safe and sound learning environments that include family and community partnerships.

A ratings table helps educators identify the strengths and weaknesses of specific programs, compare programs across 17 variables, and select programs that meet criteria and standards of interest to them.

Both the U.S. Department of Education and CASEL hope that this resource will help school leaders understand the essential connection between SEL and academic achievement and identify those programs that will best serve the mission of their school.

This article was adapted from the following two presentations at the August 2002 National Technical Assistance Meeting in Washington, DC:

Zins, J. “The Scientific Base Linking
Prevention Programs to Academic Achievement.”

Weissberg, R.P., Utne-O’Brien, M., and Payton, J.W. “Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs.”