Running Head: Social Emotional Learning in Schools 1

The Effects of Social Emotional Learning in Schools

Ryan Fedders

Drake University: EDL 277

Social Emotional Learning in Schools 2

The Effects of Social Emotional Learning in Schools

In the year 2016, just under forty-five percent of children - ages zero through

seventeen - in the United States had been exposed to at least one adverse childhood experience, or

ACE (Sacks & Murphey, 2018). Adverse childhood experiences can include but are not limited to:

physical, emotional, and verbal abuse or neglect, a drug or alcohol addicted parent, a parent lost to

divorce, a family member who experienced abuse, or a family member who is in jail (Stevens,

2013). With all of these events normally occurring outside of the school setting, there has been

little done in the past to support students when they arrive at school each day. As all educators

know, students can not learn if they do not feel safe and welcomed, and the students that have

incurred adverse experiences have these events heavily weighing on their mind each and every

school day. Many schools are beginning to focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) for students in

order to combat this. Throughout this paper, social-emotional learning will be covered in-depth,

including these topics: the definition, the importance, the impacts, the barriers to implementation,

and the programs utilized to teach SEL.

The Definition of Social-Emotional Learning

In order to begin teaching students the coping skills to work through adverse experiences,

schools need to first define what social-emotional learning is. According to the Collaborative for

Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL,) social-emotional learning can be defined as

“the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve

positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and

make responsible decisions” (“What is SEL?”n.d.). CASEL also goes on to specify five

components needed to effectively teach students how to manage their emotions. They are:
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self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision

making. These five components place a great deal of ownership on the students, and the only way

that this can be completed effectively is to explicitly teach students these skills, just like teachers

would teach foundational math or reading skills. Most schools in the state of Iowa have familiarity

with the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Social-emotional learning and teaching can be

thought of as a Tier One “intervention.” It should be taught to all students, and more intensive

supports can be implemented with students that show a need.

The Importance of Social-Emotional Learning

As schools are beginning to realize, teaching students SEL skills is becoming just as

important as teaching students academic and behavioral skills. One idea that has been previously

mentioned is that numerous students - nearly half - are being affected. While readers may think that

these experiences occur only in urban or low-income areas, this is simply not the case. They do

occur more often in houses with lower-incomes, but even in high-income families, more than one in

four children will have been exposed to an adverse childhood experience, according to a report on

the National Survey of Children’s Health conducted by the Center for Disease Control (Stevens,

2013). Think about that statistic for a moment. In a classroom of twenty-eight students with a

high-income level (very unlikely,) more than seven of these students will have had at least one

traumatic experience in their lifetime that will negatively impact their ability to learn and function

in class. As the income level begins to decrease, this number goes up. Stevens (2013) also reports

that over sixty-five percent of students below the poverty line have experienced at least one adverse

childhood experience. When we have almost half of the class not understanding a concept in math,
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it normally needs to be remedied by whole group instruction and re-teaching. This is the same with

social-emotional skills; all students will benefit from exposure to and practice of these skills!

In addition to a large number of students needing SEL instruction, there is growing support

regarding the implementation of these programs in schools. CASEL recently conducted a survey of

principals around the country, and ninety-eight percent of the leaders that were interviewed said that

they “probably” or “definitely” agreed that students from ALL types of background would benefit

from the teaching of SEL skills (DePaoli, Atwell, & Bridgeland, 2017, p. 14). School leaders are

realizing the importance and benefits of SEL instruction, but there is work yet to be done in most

schools.

The Impacts of Social-Emotional Learning

When most people think of social and emotional skills, their minds do not automatically

jump to an improvement in academics. They will usually think of behavioral or social

improvements. While these areas normally do improve, research is beginning to show that teaching

SEL skills school-wide can have a positive impact on student achievement. In fact, students that

participated in an SEL program saw, on average, an increase of eleven percentile points in

achievement when compared to their peers who did not receive SEL instruction (Durlak, Dymnicki,

Taylor, Weissberg, & Schellinger, 2011, p.13 ). The measures used in this study were standardized

assessments like the Stanford Achievement Test and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Ultimately, the

goal of most educational programs is to increase student achievement, and SEL instruction does just

that while providing a variety of other benefits.

In addition to raising academic achievement, schools have seen social behavior improve

where SEL is being explicitly taught. According to Durlak et al., (2011) “compared to controls,
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students demonstrated enhanced SEL skills, attitudes, and positive social behaviors following

intervention and also demonstrated fewer conduct problems” (p. 9). This should come as no

surprise; if students are taught to become more self-aware of their behavior and are learning the

skills necessary to manage these behaviors, then a decrease in unwanted or negative interactions is

likely. For students to truly learn at the highest levels that they are capable of, outside factors, like

behavior, need to be mitigated to the highest degree possible, and SEL seems to be one

high-leverage way of removing some of these factors.

While SEL programs have been shown to improve both student achievement and behavior

within the school setting, critics may still argue that SEL programs will cost taxpayers too much

money. This simply isn’t true. A recent study by Columbia University examined the return on

investment of six SEL programs. Each of these six programs yielded a positive return, with an

average benefit-cost ratio of eleven to one, which means for every dollar spent on SEL programs,

there was a return of eleven dollars (Clive, et al., 2015, p. 5). As Clive mentions, these returns are

hard to monetarily measure, as different members of society may place a different value on

treatments for issues such as future substance abuse or aggression problems. While there is some

variability in the total amount that is gained through these programs, I would argue that any amount

that outweighs the initial investment to taxpayers is seen as a positive future outcome.

The Barriers to Implementation

As previously written, there are numerous benefits to SEL programs in schools. With that

being said, it should be a no-brainer for every school in the nation to implement one of the

numerous available programs, but unfortunately, it is not that simple. One of the most valuable

resources in a school day is a teacher’s time. Between juggling differentiated learning needs of
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upwards of thirty students, providing feedback on formative assessments, and teaching to the

countless standards assigned to a grade level, there is often not a lot of free time left in a school day.

In a study completed by DePaoli, Atwell, & Bridgeland, (2017) seventy-one percent of school

principals surveyed reported that time is an issue in regards to SEL implementation. To counter this

barrier, Dr. Maurice Elias (2014) suggests that there needs to be “systematic integration of the skills

and values that are the focus of the programs into academic subject areas and all school routines.”

This means that staff members are weaving the learning and skill practice into their daily subjects

and discussions, which will cover both SEL and academic skills.

One other barrier that continued to surface in research was the ongoing support needed with

a new program. Dr. Elias (2014) suggests that a three-year window to implement an SEL program

is an ideal timeframe. That’s a problem when teachers are leaving the field at an alarming rate.

Mary Jane Cobb, the Iowa State Education Association Executive Director, reported that the

five-year turnover rate for teachers in Iowa is about thirty percent (Wiser, 2014.) This is where

strong leadership in a school setting will come into play. If social-emotional learning is truly

grounded in your school’s mission and vision, then new staff should have the support needed to

continue on with an existing school program. This is often done as part of a mentoring program for

teachers who are new to the district or profession.

Programs to Teach Social-Emotional Learning

The case has been made for the importance of SEL programs as the benefits are numerous,

and the barriers can be overcome with the support of a district. With that being said, it may be

difficult to determine what SEL program is right for your school as there are a variety available.

Three main programs will be discussed as they are implemented in districts across the Des Moines
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Metro area. The first program that will be discussed is​ The Leader in Me.​ According to “Leader in

Me” (n.d.,) ​The Leader in Me​ program is most often a kindergarten through sixth-grade curriculum

that focuses on Stephen Covey’s ​The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.​ There is a large

amount of support and professional development for staff as the program takes about three years for

full implementation and includes five core training experiences for teachers.

​ odel.
Another common program in the Des Moines Metro is the ​Responsive Classroom m

“Responsive Classroom” (n.d.) states that this program is also a kindergarten through sixth-grade

curriculum, but it does not seem to require as much professional development as ​The Leader in Me.

​ odel puts a large focus on teacher modeling that responds to a variety

The ​Responsive Classroom m

of student needs through ideas like a morning meeting, logical consequences, academic choice, and

positive teacher language. The sum of all of these components hopes to realize a well-rounded

student that has developed social and emotional skills.

The final program that will be discussed is the ​Zones of Regulation​ model. According to

“Learn More About the Zones” (n.d.,) this model is a way to categorize the feelings that students

are having into four colored “zones.” Each zone represents a different level of emotion. The red

zone represents intense emotions, the yellow zone represents elevated emotions, the green zone

represents a zone of optimal learning and feeling, while the blue zone represents feelings like

sadness, sickness, or boredom. Students are then explicitly taught how to manage their emotions

while they are in each of these zones.

Conclusion

As readers have discovered throughout this piece, social-emotional learning is a complex

topic to cover. SEL is a process for students to manage and regulate their emotions through a large
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amount of internal awareness after teacher modeling. There are many benefits to SEL programming

in schools, such as increased academic achievement, increased positive social behaviors, and a

positive return on taxpayer investment. While there are barriers, like time in a school day or the

need for ongoing teacher support, there are solutions for districts to manage and remove these

barriers. Finally, many programs exist to provide students with the skills needed to regulate their

emotions, and while ​The Leader in Me, Responsive Classroom, a​ nd ​Zones of Regulation​ are a few

common ones implemented across the Des Moines Metro, there are many more options available.

As a future school leader, it is important to remember that more and more students are coming to

school with the unfortunate exposure to adverse childhood experiences, and that is not going to go

away. The question to think about is this: what will you do as a leader to support these students in

overcoming their traumatic experiences?

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References

Clive, B., Bowden, B., Klapp, A., Levin, H., Shand, R., & Zander, S. (2015, February). The

Economic Value of Social and Emotional Learning (Rep.). Retrieved http://

blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/SEL-Revised.pdf

DePaoli, J., Atwell, M., & Bridgeland, J. (2017.). Ready to Lead (pp. 5-15, Rep.). Retrieved from

http://www.casel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/ReadyToLead_FINAL.pdf

Durlak, J., Dymnicki, A., Taylor, R., Weissberg, R., & Schellinger, K. (2011). The Impact of

Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based

Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82(1), Retrieved from http://www.casel.org/

wp-content/uploads/2016/01/meta-analysis-child-development-1.pdf

Elias, M. J. (2014, August 15). Avoiding Common Mistakes When Implementing SEL. Retrieved

from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/ avoiding-common-mistakes-when-implementing-sel-

maurice- elias

Leader In Me. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://casel.org/guide/leader-in-me/

Learn More about the Zones. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://zonesofregulation.com/learn-more-

about-the-zones.html

Responsive Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://casel.org/guideprogramsresponsive-classroom/

Sacks, V., & Murphey, D. (2018, February 12). The prevalence of adverse childhood experiences,

nationally, by state, and by race or ethnicity. Retrieved from https://www.childtrends.org/

publications/prevalence-adverse-childhood-experiences-nationally-state-race-ethnicity
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Stevens, J. E. (2013, May 13). Nearly 35 million U.S. children have experienced one or more types

of childhood trauma. Retrieved from https://acestoohigh.com/2013/05/13/

nearly-35-million-u-s-children-have-experienced-one-or-more-types-of-childhood-trauma/

What is SEL? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://casel.org/what-is-sel/

Wiser, M. (2014, May 18). Iowa schools see turnover with teachers. Retrieved from https://

www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/iowa-schools-see-turnover-with-teachers-2014

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