Social and Emotional Learning

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Recent research has demonstrated the importance of helping students develop a broad range of competencies that include but are not limited to academic achievement. Educators are increasingly working to promote students' interpersonal competencies, such as collaboration and social awareness, and their intrapersonal competencies, such as emotion regulation and goal setting. The process through which these competencies are developed is often referred to as social and emotional learning (SEL). Research suggests that the development of SEL competencies while students are in school predicts a variety of later outcomes, such as participation in postsecondary education, success in the workforce, civic engagement, and personal well-being.

Report
Strengthening Students' Social and Emotional Skills
Children benefit when schools and out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL). Case studies from six communities illustrate approaches to implementing SEL. Shared themes include committed leaders and focusing on adult SEL before children's.
Sep 15, 2022
Report
How Social and Emotional Learning Works in Innovative Schools
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is critical for preparing students for college and career success. Opportunity by Design high schools provide a unique perspective on what implementation of integrated, schoolwide SEL can look like when it is a core design feature from school inception.
Dec 14, 2021

Explore Social and Emotional Learning

Report
Social Studies Teachers' Perspectives on Key Civic Outcomes in 2010 and 2019
High school social studies teachers play an important role in fostering the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students need to thrive after graduation. How have these teachers' perspectives on student civic development changed from 2010 to 2019?
Aug 3, 2020
Report
Parents Need Help During School and Child Care Center Closures
The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly challenging for parents since schools and child care centers closed or switched to distance learning in the spring. Parents with children in different age groups and those under financial stress need the most support.
Jul 27, 2020
Commentary
California Could Develop Guidance to Reopen Youth Sports
There is growing evidence that long-term isolation from school closures has negative impacts on kids' physical and mental health and social development, with impacts potentially lasting for years. Youth sports can help to offset many of these negative impacts. California public health officials could prioritize the development of guidelines that would allow youth sports to reopen safely.
Jul 22, 2020
Report
How Teachers Use Civics Instructional Materials
Teachers' instructional materials provide a window into civic education in schools. Where are public-school social studies teachers getting most of their instructional materials? And how are they using these materials to teach civics?
Jul 13, 2020
Report
Understanding Media Use and Literacy in Schools
Schools can play a key role in fighting Truth Decay—the diminishing role of facts in U.S. public life—by teaching media literacy to students. How much emphasis do teachers and schools put on this subject?
Jun 29, 2020
Report
How Are Educators Teaching and Leading Through the Pandemic?
U.S. teachers and principals shifted quickly to support students with distance learning during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis. But unfortunately, the pandemic is likely to make existing inequalities worse.
Jun 22, 2020
Report
Data Access and Use Among Middle and High School Principals
School principals make countless decisions that could benefit from access to data in electronic data management systems. During the 2018–2019 school year, what kinds of student data did principals have access to through these systems? Were the data disaggregated by student race, ethnicity, and income?
Jun 11, 2020
Report
Teachers Find Value in National Educator Survey Data
More than 80 percent of teachers reported that their peers' responses to surveys about topics like social and emotional learning and curriculum would be useful. Those in higher-poverty schools were more likely to report that data on many topics would be useful for improving their instruction.
Apr 15, 2020
Blog
Hospitals' Critical Care Capacity, Unemployment Insurance, Farmworkers: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on how hospitals can increase critical care capacity, reforming the U.S. unemployment system, supporting farmworkers, and more.
Apr 10, 2020
Report
Are Educators Setting Goals for Social-Emotional Learning?
Evidence shows that social and emotional skills predict long-term life outcomes of students. Interventions that improve social and emotional learning (SEL) can also boost academic achievement. Many teachers and principals are setting goals for SEL growth in their schools, but 40 percent of them are not.
Apr 7, 2020
Q&A
Schools Pivot Online in Wake of COVID-19: Q&A with RAND Experts
Nearly all school-age children in the United States are no longer in the classroom as districts shut down to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus. RAND education researchers discuss how this situation might exacerbate educational inequities, how districts and teachers are innovating and what they need, and what parents can do.
Apr 2, 2020
Commentary
Online Doesn't Have to Mean Impersonal
Children's needs extend beyond the purely academic. It is important that their social and emotional well-being is supported as instruction moves online during the COVID-19 pandemic. A whole-child view of what students need could benefit them now more than ever.
Apr 2, 2020
Multimedia
The Impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. Education System
In this Call with the Experts podcast, in response to the COVID-19 crisis RAND experts discuss K–12 education issues, potential income-based gaps, social and emotional learning matters, and resources for students and parents. The experts also consider actions that can be taken to facilitate learning while meeting social distancing goals.
Mar 31, 2020
Research Brief
Four Lessons Learned from Implementing a Social and Emotional Learning Program to Enhance School Safety
This brief describes the implementation of Tools for Life®, a social and emotional learning program, in elementary and middle schools in Jackson, Mississippi, and evaluates the program's effects on school climate and safety.
Mar 17, 2020
Report
Social and Emotional Learning, School Climate, and School Safety: A Randomized Controlled Trial Evaluation of Tools for Life® in Elementary and Middle Schools
This report describes the implementation of Tools for Life®, a social and emotional learning program, in elementary and middle schools in Jackson, Mississippi, and evaluates the program's effects on school climate and safety.
Jan 9, 2020
Report
Learn Together Surveys: 2019 Technical Documentation and Survey Results
This report provides additional information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the 2019 Learn Together Surveys that were administered to principals and teachers via the RAND Corporation's American Educator Panels.
Dec 31, 2019
Journal Article
Walking a Fine Line: School Climate Surveys in State ESSA Plans
As state survey systems mature, states will be able to improve how they use surveys and explore other nonacademic indicators of school performance, recognizing the breadth of ways that schools help students succeed.
Dec 12, 2019
Report
Measuring School and Classroom Climate
Features of a learning environment, also called school and classroom climate, are associated with higher student achievement. What do educators need to assess these features—and to help create positive, safe, and inclusive environments for students?
Dec 11, 2019
Blog
The Syria Withdrawal, Climate Policy, Drones: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the effects of the U.S. withdrawal from Syria, one expert's take on climate policy, how drones could help get blood to soldiers who need it, and more.
Oct 25, 2019
Commentary
Restorative Justice Isn't a Panacea, but It Can Promote Better Relationships Among Students
Restorative practices aren't necessarily a cure-all. But if implemented well, they can contribute to an overall solution. Teaching children to treat one another with respect has the potential to make schools safer and to help kids get along better throughout their lives.
Oct 21, 2019

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RAND Education and Labor