In addition to providing instruction in social and emotional skills, teachers’ involvement in promoting SEL goes beyond the classroom and includes the following:

• Participating on a school team or committee that selects an SEL program and oversees the implementation and evaluation of SEL activities
• Communicating regularly with students’ families about SEL classroom activities to encourage reinforcement of SEL lessons at home
• Modeling and providing opportunities for students to practice and apply SEL skills in the classroom
• Using participatory instructional methods that draw on students’ experience and engage them in learning
• Using SEL skills in teaching academic subjects to enhance students’ understanding. For example, in language arts or social studies lessons, students can be encouraged to discuss how characters or historical figures did or did not express understanding of others’ feelings or use good problem-solving skills

SEL Programs

 

Research clearly demonstrates that social and emotional skills can be taught through school-based programs. Today numerous nationally-available, evidence-based SEL programs provide systematic classroom instruction that enhances children's abilities to recognize and manage their emotions, appreciate the perspectives of others, establish pro-social goals and solve problems, and use a variety of interpersonal skills to handle the challenges of growing up. In addition to skills-building components, a number of SEL programs also feature elements designed to create supportive climates in the classroom and throughout the school--for example, by nurturing the relationships between students and teachers and others important to the child, and establishing practices that build trust and rapport among and between students and adults.
        
Although an SEL program is only one component of evidence-based school-wide SEL programming, it can be the cornerstone of the entire effort. A well-designed program implemented in all classes will ensure all students receive consistent and developmentally appropriate skill instruction. School-wide classroom instruction allows all faculty and staff to share a common language and approach for addressing social, emotional, and behavioral issues. In addition, many programs include components for involving the family, community, and school mental health and support personnel in promoting SEL, and provide the necessary professional development for using the program.

 

Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs

 

Based on a three-year study funded by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) in the U.S. Department of Education, Safe and Sound is the most comprehensive and inclusive guide to SEL programming available. This guide provides a road map for schools and districts that are launching or adding social, emotional, and academic learning programs. The guide reviews 80 multiyear, sequenced SEL programs designed for use in general education classrooms. Safe and Sound also offers guidance to educational leaders on how to integrate typically isolated or fragmented SEL efforts with other school activities and academic instruction by providing a framework for "putting the pieces together."

The Illinois version (2005) includes the original material from Safe and Sound (2003), plus an introduction about the precedent-setting Illinois SEL standards and policies, and a listing of the K-12 SEL standards, goals, and benchmarks.

Download “Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs—Illinois Edition”

Source: CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning)