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A child’s greatest fear can be the result of feeling misunderstood. The pandemic urges us to provide an emotionally safe environment for children at school. We must advocate for strong classroom environments, online and in-person, where our teachers know how to provide social-emotional support in their teaching.

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I still think the use of "strong classroom environments" isn't super clear to a lay person. It can kind of be deduced that you're talking about a safe, productive, environment that encourages participation. But is there another way to say this?

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What is SEL and why is SEL is so important right now? 

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What is SEL and why is SEL is so important right now? 

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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which all children 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, according to CASEL, a nationally renowned research organization.

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Four Reasons Why SEL Is So Important Right Now

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Thank you for defining it :).

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The Problem: SEL is actually rarely trained...

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The Problem: SEL is actually rarely trained...

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Despite a need for SEL evidenced in school data tracking from 1995 onward, many educators still don’t have the support they need to deepen a learning environment that nurtures social and emotional development. EdWeek’s Research Center shares that only 29 percent of teachers “said they received ongoing training in social-emotional learning that continued throughout the school year” and one fifth of teachers never received this opportunity in their job to reflect upon or improve their social-emotional learning skills.

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Cutting down on wordiness just slightly:  Despite a need for SEL evidenced in school data tracking from 1995 onward, many educators still don’t have the support they need to nurture social and emotional development. EdWeek’s Research Center shares that only 29 percent of teachers “said they received ongoing training in social-emotional learning that continued throughout the school year” and one fifth of teachers never received this opportunity in their job to reflect upon or improve their social-emotional learning skills.

Is there a graph that can be included here to make these staggering stats pop?

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The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light this lack of teacher training provided to meet the social-emotional needs of a diverse set of student identities and experience. With distance learning, creating classroom environment with the support SEL provides has become more important than ever.

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The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light this lack of teacher training to meet the social-emotional needs of diverse student identities and experiences. With distance learning, creating a classroom environment with SEL support has become more challenging yet more important than ever.

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But there’s hope, as some school districts have found tools to build an SEL-supported classroom culture...

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But there’s hope, as some school districts have found tools to build an SEL-supported classroom culture...

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EASTCONN region of Connecticut, free interactive digital training sessions have been supporting teachers in incorporating SEL into their lessons from trauma-informed approaches.

West Fargo Public Schools in North Dakota has taken a similar whole child approach where guidance counselors have been introducing SEL techniques to teachers in regular training sessions.

Together, social workers and health workers have partnered with teachers and the community to uplift all participants in distance learning to succeed.

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Good job showing what the success stories look like. It would be helpful to provide the links to the stories on the schools that are pioneering these interventions.

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BE INFORMED! How SEL support can help your kiddos thrive in school...

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BE INFORMED! How SEL support can help your kiddos thrive in school...

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What does the research say?

According to CASEL (Collaborative, Social, and Emotional Learning), in 213 studies that included over 270,000 students, results found:

"SEL interventions that address the five core competencies increased students’ academic performance by 11 percentile points, compared to students who did not participate."

What educators share...

"About 90% of elementary and secondary teachers agreed that promoting SEL would improve students’ academic achievement."

"Eighty-percent of educators from across 15 countries believe positive emotions are critical for academic success, and emotional well-being is crucial for developing foundational literacies and communication skills."

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If there is a figure for the CASEL study, I think that's the statistic that makes the most sense for a visual, because it shows the actual change in academic performance.

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1. Reach out to organizations that support SEL development in schools.

2. Suggest more SEL support to your local School Board.

3. Reach out to your state department of education or local education agency to incorporate SEL into your district's policies.

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Perhaps a link to a helpful webpage on how to find SEL organizations might be useful here.