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Social-emotional development and well-being are integral to the teaching and learning of literacy practices. This introductory brief focuses on the underlying science of how thinking, feeling, and perceptions along multiple dimensions interact to influence what we do as learners. This brief draws on the work of scholars in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, human development, learning sciences, literacy, and social and emotional learning (SEL) to provide a grounding framework for understanding the relationship between social-emotional development and literacy development. This brief also provides concrete examples of how supporting the five core competencies of SEL -- self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making -- can support students' literacy development, and vice versa. Finally, informed by the civic goals of public education, this brief also documents the relationship between social and emotional learning and literacy development are central to civic reasoning and discourse.

This report examines state portraits of a graduate and how state strategies for development and implementation can support future readiness. It also provides recommendations for state education agencies to consider to lift up the importance and visibility of these portraits. Several states have begun the process of developing a "portrait" or "profile of a graduate," which is a holistic look at the skills and competencies students need to master to thrive in work, postsecondary educational opportunities, community, and their personal lives. To better understand how states are utilizing the portrait of a graduate to prepare students for career and college, we conducted a scan of all 50 states to see which states had developed state-wide portraits of a graduate or visions of a high school graduate. The results inform the findings and recommendations of this report, including the skills states are highlighting as essential for students' future success and how states are making this vision actionable in service of cultivating future-ready graduates. As this review indicates, states are keenly aware that today's students will be called on to meet the growing challenges of the 21st century, as among the top skills are critical thinking and problem- solving, social awareness skills, and being an active citizen. Moreover, states deeply understand it is necessary to develop students' social and emotional skills and competencies. This report delves deeper into how states are implementing their portrait of a graduate to help students meet these expectations.

The Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) network is a diverse collaborative of organizations working together to advance equity in education. The BELE Network research and learning team, and are responsible for documenting the network learnings, which are grounded in seven "Essential Actions" and reflected in shared annual aims. This brief shares learnings from BELE district partnerships around the fifth Essential Action: invest in staff. To support this Essential Action, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) developed the Transformative (tSEL) Adult Learning Series, a set of six interactive workshops that build an opportunity for adults themselves to deepen their self-awareness and discover how they can curate equitable learning environments for young people by leveraging the five focal constructs (identity, agency, belonging, collaborative problem-solving, and curiosity). Through this series, education leaders are making investments for in-service professional learning that supports educator well-being and promotes equitable learning environments for adults and young people. Investing in staff actualizes the value of continuous improvement, which fosters a culture of expansion, growth, and development among educators.

The SEL Innovations series aims to help the field imagine new, more expansive and equitable approaches to social and emotional learning (SEL) and wellness to ensure that all children, adolescents, and adults feel safe, supported, and seen so that they can thrive. This is the second report in a series exploring innovations in SEL. The purpose of the report is to highlight the importance of systemic, integrated SEL in classrooms, where the goal is to foster supportive classroom environments wherein educators teach explicit SEL and integrate SEL throughout academic instruction by weaving deep academic learning with opportunities for students to understand their own emotions, empathize with diverse perspectives, solve problems constructively, and make decisions while considering the needs of others. The authors briefly explore the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) model for SEL before critically examining the literature around inquiry-based learning opportunities. The focus is on two inquiry-based approaches to learning, Project-Based Learning (PBL) and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), which show promise as examples of integrated, systemic approaches to SEL by allowing students to be authors and co-designers in their own learning. Next, conditions necessary to enact inquiry-based approaches in the classroom are explored. Lastly, they share a set of case studies illustrating what inquiry-based learning opportunities, specifically PBL and YPAR, can look like in practice. In this way, the goal is to provide both inspiration and practical application for educators, program providers, and researchers looking to continue to move the conversation forward, integrate new strategies into their programs or practices, and expand their research agendas.

This paper explores insights from the Building Equitable Learning Environment network's (BELE) equity initiatives in partner districts. It focuses on the critical importance of cultivating and sustaining relationships with caregivers and community stakeholders. Given the roles parents and caregivers play in a child's education as their first educators and their primary educators, this brief focuses on building partnerships that cross the boundaries of schools, communities, and homes. When school and community educators build relationships and make conscious and continued efforts to learn from families and communities, they become more adept at creating educational experiences for students that are nurturing and grounded in an understanding of the whole child. These efforts should be sustained year-round and prioritize designing schooling experiences with input from families and using school resources to support the families and communities themselves. [This report was produced by the Building Equitable Learning Environment (BELE) Network.]

The second of three "bright spot" briefs examines how states are leveraging ARP funds to improve SEL for all students through collaboration among schools, families, and communities. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) provided a $122 billion historic federal investment in K-12 education to help states and districts safely reopen schools and address students' academic, social, and emotional learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CASEL has recommended three priority areas for social and emotional learning (SEL) investment that can assist states and districts in optimizing ARP for student success: (1) Promote social and emotional learning (SEL) for students; (2) Align SEL efforts across schools, families, and communities; and (3) Support adult SEL competencies and capacity building. This "Bright Spots" brief highlights policy innovations around Priority Area 2--aligning SEL efforts across schools, families, and communities--through state investments in evidence-based SEL to support academic recovery and social and emotional well-being, the need for which was made abundantly clear by the COVID-19 pandemic. A brief for Priority Area 1 was published in December 2022 and an additional brief for Priority Area 3 is forthcoming. [For the Priority Area 1 brief, see ED626379.]

We are at a pivotal time in our country. As reading achievement declines pre-and post-COVID-19, large portions of our nation's students continue to be underserved by our education system while many teachers do not have needed support to provide evidence-based literacy instruction (NAEP, 2024). In this white paper, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and leading researchers across diverse disciplines urge policymakers to consider the full breadth of research on literacy to enable strong reading development and to improve teacher knowledge and their ability to deliver rigorous instruction. We demonstrate evidence for an integrated approach to building foundational reading skills that also focus on comprehension, language, knowledge, and social and emotional learning. Since the 2000 National Reading Panel, new insights have emerged from a comprehensive understanding of the Science of Reading about the nature of reading, how students develop their skills in it, and effective teaching pedagogy. In many states, legislation has been passed in the past few years emphasizing a comprehensive approach to improving reading and literacy. While this is a good start, more must be done to support the literacy development of all students and close gaps in reading achievement. Such an undertaking cannot be achieved without comprehensive and long-term literacy programs based on solid empirical evidence. Current research in the fields of human development, learning sciences, and neurosciences build upon each other and demonstrate that learning environments and instruction must support students' social and emotional development and well-being to drive student literacy development. The white paper also puts forward research and policy recommendations to support a comprehensive approach to supporting student literacy development and instruction through: (1) Strengthening Education Research, including by: (a) Updating the National Reading Panel and Commissioning Studies on Literacy Development; and (b) Bridging the Science of Reading and the Science of Learning and Development; (2) Strengthening Teacher Preparation and Professional Development; and (3) Expanding Access to Reading Supports in the Classroom, School, and Community Libraries.

This brief shares learnings from Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) district partnerships around the sixth Essential Action: Measure What Matters. This Essential Action focuses on achieving equitable learning environments through the routine collection and review of relevant student feedback data to co-design new practices and policies to improve learning environments. Although the following paper highlights a specific student feedback tool (Elevate), the authors believe these learnings are applicable to other student-centered data systems used by schools and districts alike to measure what matters. As a result of working directly with district and school partners, in addition to focus groups with BELE Network coaches and leaders, the authors found five key actions as necessary for supporting effective implementation of student-centered data systems to improve learning conditions and experiences at the classroom and school level: (1) center and share power with students through student experience data; (2) clearly and frequently communicate the purpose for student data systems; (3) use data to cultivate and model a culture of learning and growth for adults and students; (4) build on and nurture foundational trust and safety through practices that demonstrate respect and professional regard; and (5) demonstrate and facilitate effective implementation through district- and school-level support. Each section of this paper centers on a key action, interwoven with field examples ("In Action") of the condition's practical application in partner districts. [This report was produced with the National Equity Project, part of the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network.]

The SEL Innovations series aims to help the field imagine new, more expansive and equitable approaches to SEL and wellness to ensure that all children, adolescents, and adults feel safe, supported, and seen so that they can thrive. This report focuses on the conditions and guiding actions to foster authentic school-family partnerships. Research confirms that school-family partnerships are crucial. While much attention has been given to the core competencies, our new innovations series digs deeper into the "rings" of CASEL's SEL Framework where young people live and learn, beginning with school-family partnerships. The report offers case studies illustrating four guiding actions in practice, featuring Communities in Schools of Michigan, The Allegheny County Family Center Network's Parent Advisory Council, Village of Wisdom, and Minneapolis Public Schools Parent Participatory Evaluation Initiative. The report includes these guiding actions for school staff: (1) Begin with family priorities, interests, concerns, knowledge, and resources to create opportunities for building trust and genuine relationships; (2) Transform power dynamics by increasing the capacity of both families and staff around knowledge and confidence; (3) Build reciprocity and agency between school staff and families by setting up systems and structures that foster a sense of camaraderie and collaboration; and (4) Undertake change as collective inquiry together using the relationships that are built as a way to collaboratively problem-solve.

Research indicates that establishing collaborative partnerships between educators and families and using complementary strategies to promote learning in school and at home create optimal conditions to promote student's academic, social, and emotional skill development (Albright et al., 2011). As reflected in the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework (n.d.a), families and caregivers are essential to the implementation of high-quality social and emotional learning. Federal K-12 education law includes important provisions and resources to foster parent and family engagement in schools. To help support alignment between schools and families, this brief explores opportunities for how states and districts can leverage the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to help strengthen family engagement in support of students' academic, social, and emotional learning. This brief also makes key recommendations to states and districts to support and advance this crucial work, particularly using formula-funded ESSA programs. As students return to their fourth academic year since the initial impact of COVID-19 pandemic--which has had devastating impacts on every facet of student learning--it is imperative that educators and families continue to strengthen their relationships to support students' academic, social, and emotional needs.

The first of three "bright spot" briefs dives deeper into examples of how states are leveraging ARP funds to improve SEL for all students. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act (2021) provides a $122 billion historic federal investment to help states and districts safely reopen schools while addressing students' academic, social, and emotional learning in response to COVID-19. CASEL has recommended three priority areas for social and emotional learning (SEL) investment that can assist states and districts in optimizing ARP for student success: (1) Promote SEL for students; (2) Support adult SEL competencies and capacity building; and (3) Align SEL efforts across schools, families, and communities. This "Bright Spots" brief highlights policy innovations around Priority Area 1 through state investments in evidence-based SEL to support academic recovery and social and emotional wellbeing, the need for which was made abundantly clear by COVID-19. It also spotlights state ARP spending plans in 12 states.

The purpose of this brief is to introduce a developmental framework for states working to systematically integrate evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) with career and workforce development efforts. Career and workforce development is a well-known, nonpartisan strategy for preparing students for postsecondary success in schools. According to the Coalition for Career Development Center (CCD), career development is "a process that informs individuals about career opportunities, helps them identify their talent, become aware of how their talent transfers into a wide range of occupational opportunities and enables them to make effective decisions on the academic and postsecondary pathways that will enable them to pursue their career and life goals" (CCD, 2021). Adopting this definition, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) uses the term "career and workforce development" to capture the diversity of approaches and efforts employed by states to describe this process and the efforts that support it. CASEL, the Coalition for Career Development Center, and CIVIC created this developmental framework in collaboration with eight states (Delaware, Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Wisconsin) participating in the CASEL Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) SEL and Career and Workforce Development Community of Practice (CoP). This community of practice supports states advancing the integration of SEL with career and workforce development and fosters relationships in which lessons can be shared, common challenges can be discussed, and innovative ideas can be discovered. Specific strategies for the integration of SEL and career and workforce development efforts are being co-constructed through our partnership with states. [This report was prepared with the Coalition for Career Development Center (CCD) and CASEL's Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) partners.]

How can districts weave social and emotional learning throughout their work to foster a systemwide culture of connection and trust? This was a key question for district leaders of Atlanta Public Schools (APS), which serves 87 schools and 52,000 students. When a districtwide cheating scandal in 2011 was uncovered, it may have been the expected course to simply address the "bad apples" and return to "business as usual." But APS recognized that what they had uncovered was an important symptom of districtwide issues: a problematic work culture and an overemphasis on academic outcomes at the expense of student and staff well-being. APS saw SEL as a key strategy for rebuilding its culture and redefining how to pursue its desired outcomes but knew it would require more than a standalone initiative. In this "Practices of Promise," you'll see how APS worked to weave SEL throughout the district to create a culture of trust, caring, and support.

The CASEL Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) observed that state policymakers who have created foundational policies to advance social and emotional learning (SEL) often become interested, as a next step, in creating a statewide community of practice (CoP) to engage districts and schools around a shared vision to promote implementation of SEL. This playbook was developed in collaboration with state policy teams participating in the CSI over the past five years. It includes lessons learned from CSI CoPs that have advanced SEL at the state level (with 42 states), integrating SEL into MTSS (9 states), and integrating SEL into career and workforce development (12 states). In addition, this playbook is informed by the work of CASEL's Collaborating Districts Initiative (CDI) which has worked with 20 partnering districts over the past 10 years. It is designed specifically to support state teams as they work to build and sustain an effective within-state CoP centered on SEL. The playbook offers simple, user-friendly guidance that identifies key principles, processes, tools, and resources which can be utilized to organize, launch, and implement a statewide CoP designed to promote SEL.

This document is designed to help guide the process of developing, implementing, and sustaining social and emotional learning (SEL) policies and practices by state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) that want to implement SEL policies and guidelines. Based on their extensive experience supporting state and district teams, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and American Institutes for Research (AIR) designed this tool to support teams as they work through the process of developing policies and guidance. The document identifies steps to complete the process and should be used in combination with more content-driven documents. Included is a flow chart of the process they recommend for writing and implementing SEL policies and guidelines, which may include learning goals or standards for student social and emotional competencies. [For more content-driven documents about the process of articulating learning goals for SEL, see "Systemic Social and Emotional Learning for States. Theory of Action" (ED617366) and "Key Features of High-Quality Policies and Guidelines to Support Social and Emotional Learning: Recommendations and Examples for the Collaborating States Initiative (CSI)" (ED581623).]

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has been a leader in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) for over two decades. CASEL collaborates with thought leaders to equip educators, policymakers, and researchers with the knowledge and resources to make evidence-based SEL an integral part of equitable learning environments so all students can thrive. Fueled by these collaborations and science, CASEL aims to facilitate and promote the continued adoption and implementation of systemic, high-quality, integrated social, emotional, and academic learning that will lead students toward academic success, form meaningful relationships throughout their life, obtain a fulfilling career, and participate in civic life. To support states in this work, CASEL developed a State Theory of Action (TOA). This document outlines how CASEL: (1) Defines SEL and systemic SEL; (2) Connects SEL and equity; (3) Describes the State TOA, including cross-cutting activities and ways to engage in a cycle of continuous improvement; (4) Identifies steps on how to use the tool, including the organization and process; (5) Defines the four focus areas and 20 activities in the State TOA rubric; and (6) Describes the State TOA logic model (Appendix A).

This brief offers a case study focused on Guilford County Schools (GCS), a public school district in North Carolina, to illuminate the role of continuous improvement through a "research-practice partnership" (RPP). RPPs offer a unique collaborative experience with a dual benefit: practitioners get the chance to collaborate in research that has meaningful applications for their work, while researchers have access to a rich, "real-time" opportunity to test and assess their hypotheses. These processes support ongoing improvement of the education initiative to better support important outcomes for young people and educators and inform broader implementation of similar initiatives in other contexts. The brief begins with a closer look at the definition of an RPP and then examines the process and outcomes of the RPP between CASEL and GCS. It shares insights gleaned from the partnership explores what supports are needed, the impact of the work, and the centrality of continuous improvement in sustaining the success of the initiative over the long term.

An important way for young people to practice social and emotional learning (SEL) is by sharing their perspectives, leading discussions, and contributing to decision-making. By listening closely to students' perspectives, educators better understand students' strengths and needs, build stronger relationships with them, and can offer more meaningful, engaging learning opportunities. With their ability to offer fresh perspectives on the school's priorities and issues, as well as difficult topics such as racism and inequities, students are valuable partners for producing change that neither adults nor students could accomplish alone. Recognizing these benefits, student voice has long been a priority at Washoe County School District (WCSD) in Nevada. However, when the 62,000-student district switched to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the district needed to rethink how to elevate student voices by adapting existing SEL efforts to support the well-being of young people and adults. This "Practices of Promise" shows how WCSD used SEL to reimagine student voice initiatives during the time of COVID and distance learning.

At the start of the unprecedented 2020-2021 school year, many schools prioritized or re-prioritized social and emotional learning (SEL) to foster the competencies and learning environments that students and adults need to reunite, renew, and thrive. Entering the second half of the school year, many students will make new transitions -- from distance learning back to in-person learning, or vice versa -- and SEL remains as important as ever. This updated brief focuses on three strategies, adapted from "Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning Roadmap for Reopening Schools" (ED610705), to help prepare for a successful second semester based on insights into how schools districts nationwide have prioritized SEL this year. These strategies are: (1) partner with staff, students, families, and communities to examine data from the first semester on students' and adults' experiences and social, emotional, and academic outcomes; (2) refocus on adult connections, self-care, competencies, and capacity; and (3) maintain safe, supportive, and equitable learning environments and continuously promote all students' social and emotional development.

As school systems across the country continue to wrestle with persistent inequities in students' opportunities and outcomes, they are exploring how SEL [Social and Emotional Learning] can be used as a lever to advance equity. They are asking questions such as: How can we help individuals, groups, and institutions examine and interrupt inequitable policies and practices? How can we create opportunities for students, families, and educators to co-construct more inclusive, student-centered school environments? How can we reveal and nurture the interests, talents, and contributions of children, youth, and adults from diverse backgrounds? This report, developed with extensive support from school districts in our Equity Work Group, offers five emerging insights: (1) explicitly position and communicate about SEL as a lever for equity; (2) prioritize adult learning and critical reflection about their own social, emotional, and cultural competencies; (3) elevate students' cultural assets, voice, and agency; partner authentically with families and communities to develop culturally responsive approaches to SEL; and (5) establish SEL data strategies that help to share power, dismantle inequities, and build more equitable learning environments. For each of these insights, we provide: (1) examples of current practices that CASEL's [Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning's] district partners are using to drive this effort; (2) additional considerations and reflection questions to guide schools and districts in equity-focused SEL implementation; and (3) potential continuous improvement and research questions to help inform action research agendas for systematically testing these emerging insights to create a more robust evidence base.

This brief is one in a five-part series in which the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) documents insights from their efforts to understand how educators and researchers can build relationships that support a shared action research agenda around social and emotional learning (SEL). CASEL has developed three theories of action, guided by four focus areas that are scaled to their position within the system. Each theory of action provides a roadmap to systemic SEL implementation. This Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) series inquiry seeks to demonstrate the emerging coherence of CASEL's theories of action across the tiers of our education system and provide insights into where additional action and support are needed to foster equitable learning and development for children from diverse backgrounds. Specifically, they want to understand how actions within CASEL's State Theory of Action influence district and school actions. When states engage in the activities within the State Theory of Action, the assumption is that states are creating the conditions for districts and schools to implement systemic SEL. To begin exploring those assumptions in this RPP, CASEL and Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction (DPI) co-constructed research questions to examine ways in which its resources, guidance, and professional learning promote systemic SEL. The insights presented here were co-constructed by CASEL with DPI staff. This RPP presents evidence supporting how a state education agency (SEA) can approach and lead SEL professional learning and the influence these sessions have on the perceptions and actions of district- and school-level educators that attended the professional learning.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has produced a five-brief series documenting insights from their efforts to understand how educators and researchers can build relationships that support a shared action research agenda around social and emotional learning (SEL). It shares the perspectives of researchers and practitioners on developing and sustaining collaborative inquiry in classrooms, schools, districts, and states. The goal of the series is two-fold: (1) to articulate an overview of CASEL's research-practice agenda and, (2) to explore our learnings at the school, district, and state level about developing research-practice partnerships (RPPs), action research, continuous improvement, and adult SEL capacity. This first brief in the series summarizes CASEL's history of research, describes an evolution of their research approach, and articulates the plan for their Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs) across school, district, and state levels of the education system.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has produced a series of briefs documenting insights from their efforts to understand how educators and researchers can build relationships that support a shared action research agenda around social and emotional learning (SEL). This five-part series shares the perspectives of researchers and practitioners on developing and sustaining collaborative inquiry in classrooms, schools, districts, and states. The goal of the series is two-fold: (1) to articulate an overview of CASEL's research-practice agenda; and (2) to explore our learnings at the school, district, and state level about developing research-practice partnerships (RPPs), action research, continuous improvement, and adult SEL capacity. The Lowell Community School in Massachusetts research-practice partnership (RPP) aims to better understand how to support teachers in integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) in academic instruction, particularly during early elementary math classes. This partnership also explores how teachers can leverage SEL in their classrooms to build equitable learning spaces and conditions for their students. This brief highlights three key insights related to establishing a successful RPP: (1) Researchers must be flexible and communicate regularly when establishing an RPP project with school staff; (2) Trust between the researcher and school staff is foundational in building a research-practice partnership; and (3) For a successful school-level research-practice partnership, school leaders must be prioritized as key levers.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has produced a five-brief series documenting insights from their efforts to understand how educators and researchers can build relationships that support a shared action research agenda around social and emotional learning (SEL). It shares the perspectives of researchers and practitioners on developing and sustaining collaborative inquiry in classrooms, schools, districts, and states. This brief offers insights from the Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) between the Minneapolis Public Schools district (MPS) and CASEL. These insights highlight important considerations for RPPs focused on integrating continuous improvement in the implementation of systemic SEL.

This brief is one in a five-part series in which the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) documents insights from their efforts to understand how educators and researchers can build relationships that support a shared action research agenda around social and emotional learning (SEL). As discussed in earlier briefs of this series (see ED614237 and ED614229), CASEL has continued to refine strategies and tools to better document the ways that technical assistance aids partner districts in advancing high-quality implementation of systemic SEL. Additionally, they have determined that a design-based Research-Practice Partnerships (RPP) approach affords opportunities to collaborate closely with administrators, practitioners, families, and students to develop a local SEL vision, monitor this work, and identify on an ongoing basis barriers and facilitators for achieving specified benchmarks and annual goals. CASEL's RPP engagement with Lowell Community School provided valuable insights into how CASEL research will approach collaboration with practitioners in the future. In addition to these insights, the engagement with Lowell Community School elevated new learnings related to systemic SEL implementation at the school level. CASEL's Theory of Action provides guidance to states, districts, and schools in their approach to systemic SEL implementation.

Educators across the country are grappling with an unprecedented set of circumstances as they prepare to welcome students and adults back to school. We face the layered impact of schools closures (e.g., loss of school-based relationships, routines, and learning); COVID-19 (e.g., on health, isolation, stress, and trauma); economic crisis (e.g., unemployment, impact on school budgets), and persistent, pernicious racial inequities exacerbated by the pandemic and amplified by the nationwide mobilization for racial justice reflected in the Black Lives Matter movement. At the heart of this complex process is attending to the academic, social and emotional development; physical and mental health; cognitive development; and overall well-being of all students and adults in holistic ways that do not put these concerns in competition with one another. This moment also offers an opportunity to pause and imagine how to bring together educators, students, families and community partners to co-create transformative learning experiences that cultivate the social, emotional, and academic competencies needed to contribute to a caring, thriving, and just society. More than 40 organizations have come together to produce this roadmap to support the return to school with equity-focused Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies centered on relationships and built on the existing strengths of a school community. Schools--in partnerships with their communities, districts, and states--can use these four SEL Critical Practices to foster the competencies and learning environments that students and adults need to reunite, renew, and thrive.

Understanding the developmental and contextual nature of social and emotional competencies has always been a key concern of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), including the ways students and adults use core social and emotional competencies in preparation for and within their work-life. The current labor market requires employees to have social and emotional skills more than any other recent trend in workforce demands, yet there is no clear alignment between the social and emotional skills developed in K-12 and workforce skills. This brief begins to define the relationship between social and emotional competencies and the skills today's employers seek in the workplace for state and district policymakers, educators (e.g., classroom and CTE teachers), and the business community. In this report, the authors first provide an overview of social and emotional competences (as defined by CASEL) and then describe the skills employers seek from employees. They then connect these frameworks, embedding employability skills within the social and emotional competencies framework. This brief provides perspective to help state and district leaders begin to use language and practices that support students' success in both schools and the workforce.

Early in 2019, the National Commission Report, "From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope," highlighted the urgency for new paradigms of research to practice partnerships, engaging all stakeholders in contributing to the understanding and use of data to drive social, emotional, and academic learning. Additionally, the National Commission called for the explicit teaching of social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Rigorously evaluating SEL programming with assessments that are both ecologically and psychometrically valid is a pivotal pathway to these ends. When done well, assessments can empower teacher autonomous and authentic instruction, student voice, and the continuous improvement of school culture. Simultaneously, advancing assessment methodologies also promotes the sustainability of effective SEL practices throughout the school community. Assessments that accurately capture the impact of SEL for students, their teachers, parents, and the school community can drive systemic and sustainable change and have an enduring impact on both policy and practice. In October 2019, 63 stakeholders reflecting the national social and emotional learning (SEL) assessment field participated in a full-day work session to build on the vision articulated by the Assessment Work Group's "State of the Field Report" (Assessment Work Group, 2019) and National Commission Report by generating ideas and forging partnerships to launch the most essential next phases of work related to SEL assessment. Through carefully facilitated discourse, five essential next phases of work were identified. This report shares the process and findings from the day and concludes with a plan for advancing the essential next steps as a collective through the development and sharing of introductory SEL assessment learning modules. [For "From a Nation at Risk to a Nation at Hope: Recommendations from the National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development," see ED606337. For "Student Social and Emotional Competence Assessment: The Current State of The Field and a Vision for Its Future," see ED607094.]

Social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies or standards derive from SEL frameworks. In this report, the terms "SEL competencies" and "standards" are used interchangeably to refer to statements about "what students should know and be able to do," recognizing that states may use different terms such as "competencies," "learning goals," or "benchmarks." In 2019, 14 separate sets of K-12 "learning standards" or "competencies" were analyzed for SEL that states have developed. This report updates that previous analysis to include four additional sets of learning standards (for a total of 18 states) and provides important updates about the original 14 states. The goal in this brief is to examine the specific SEL frameworks the states use and the competencies they have articulated based on these frameworks.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is 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. This report updates the original June 2018 "Emerging Insights" report and shares recent innovations and advancements in the ways states are advancing statewide SEL. In this brief, the authors highlight the ways state education agencies (SEAs) have developed policies and practices to promote systemic SEL within states and across their districts and schools. Specifically, they first provide information about the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning's (CASEL's) Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) and the progress of state teams. Second, the authors provide descriptive and state examples for each activity within the four focus areas of CASEL's state theory of action: build foundational support and plan for SEL, strengthen adult SEL competencies and capacities; promote student SEL; and reflect on data for continuous improvement. [For the original report, "Emerging Insights from States' Efforts to Strengthen Social and Emotional Learning," see ED586404.]

Schools have drastically changed the way that staff, students, families, and communities engage with one another due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools begin planning education for fall, states are in the process of developing guidance and support for districts and schools to navigate students' and adults' academic, social, emotional, and physical health, particularly for those most vulnerable and disenfranchised from the system. While the plans vary in approach and decision points, one thing is clear: student and adult social and emotional well-being and relationships are central to each decision point. This brief focuses on those social and emotional learning (SEL)-related policy actions, providing concrete recommendations based on state examples about ways to support student and adult social and emotional competencies, which are needed now more than ever as we navigate a global pandemic and social unrest.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has been defined in various ways. One of the most commonly cited models, that of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), defines SEL as "the process through which students and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." That process incorporates competencies that include knowledge, skills, and attitudes that affect the quality of students' interactions with one another and their ability to adapt to and successfully navigate the complexities of daily life. This report describes the state of the field of student social and emotional competence assessment and envisions the conditions in which the field can continue to develop in ways that tangibly benefit teaching and learning. [This report was developed by the Assessment Work Group (AWG).]

"Making Assessment Work: Ten Practitioner Beliefs" was developed by the National Practitioner Advisory Group on Using Data to Inspire SEL Practice (NPAG), a group of social and emotional learning (SEL) practice leaders convened to provide insights on SEL. Educators, program leaders, and policymakers recognize the value of holistically supporting young people's social, emotional, and academic development. Assessment of social and emotional competencies helps paint a fuller picture of youth's capabilities and needs. As widespread implementation of SEL practices gains traction, SEL data are increasingly available in multiple forms. Key to the effective assessment of social and emotional competencies, the authors believe, is a continuous improvement lens: that is, the understanding that SEL data can be used in conjunction with other data to improve efforts, rather than evaluate or categorize youth and adults. Those who intend to measure and assess SEL must guard against bias, assess for sound reasons, protect individual privacy, and consider the strengths of youth and adults. This consensus statement reflects NPAG's insights on how assessment of social and emotional competencies, as well as SEL practices, should be planned, implemented, and interpreted. This document is the culmination of the authors' efforts, as well as a basis for new conversations about exactly how, why, and to what end SEL assessment should occur. The hope is that this position statement guides future actions about assessing SEL ethically and from a strengths-based perspective. The authors hope that the 10 beliefs, summarized in this article, can serve as a springboard for additional discussion, collaboration, and advancement of the work by researchers and practitioners alike.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) launched the Collaborating Districts Initiative (CDI) with the goal of supporting school districts to build their capacities to promote social and emotional learning (SEL) for all students. Twenty large, urban districts across the country participate in the CDI. Although many approaches to support SEL start in the classroom, the CDI model takes an ecological approach and addresses the district-level systems, school-level practices, and classroom-level SEL instruction as three necessary components of effective implementation and sustainability. This study investigates the following research questions: (1) How common are SEL implementation strategies in schools nationally, and how do they vary by school characteristics? and (2) Is there a higher level of systemic SEL implementation among CDI districts compared with demographically similar non-CDI districts? If yes, in which areas? To answer these questions, CASEL engaged RAND researchers to learn whether the 20 districts' participation in the CDI has resulted in more frequent implementation of SEL practices than in peer districts and to learn about SEL implementation nationally. Accordingly, they fielded a survey to groups of K-12 classroom teachers and principals about their schoolwide SEL practices and strategies in the 2021-2022 school year. This report begins by explaining the CDI initiative in greater detail and then presents the nationally representative survey results. Next, it explores ten indicators of schoolwide SEL implementation in the CDI districts and in comparable non-CDI districts. The report concludes with a discussion of the implications for districts nationally and, specifically, for CDI districts and CASEL.

A key goal of preschool to high school education is to ensure that students are "future-ready"--with the knowledge, skills, and drive to navigate their careers and lives. But the future is rapidly shifting. This report reframes what it means for students to be future-ready. To be future-ready, students need academic knowledge, training, and credentials that have traditionally been viewed as central for success in a particular pathway. But equally important are the social and emotional skills necessary for success in work and life. There is no one path to reach this goal. Students need an education that allows them to set and follow their own unique paths without limiting their options. They need opportunities that foster lifelong learning to meet the shifting challenges of the future of work. The aim of this report is to provide a state policy roadmap for a PreK-12 education that prepares students to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Key to this effort is the integration of social and emotional learning (SEL) with career and workforce development (CWD). This roadmap builds on prior efforts by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), Civic, and the Coalition for Career Development Center to advance a state-level developmental framework (see ED622311) for systematically integrating SEL and CWD. [This work was co-produced by the Coalition for Career Development (CCD) Center.]

The central message of this report is while current and recent high school students today generally respect their teachers and give their high schools favorable marks, most see a big missing piece in their education -- a lack of social and emotional skills development -- and most recent students feel unprepared for life after high school. Students, like teachers and administrators, see the benefits of attending schools that emphasize social and emotional learning (SEL), especially in terms of improving relationships, reducing bullying, and preparing them for postsecondary education, work, and life. Such schools are broadly appealing to students across backgrounds and from different types of schools. Encouragingly, students in schools with a strong commitment to social and emotional development report having better learning environments, feeling respected more, feeling safer, doing better academically, getting along well with others better, being better prepared for life, and being more likely to serve and give back to their communities than those students not in such schools. These and other findings are the result of a nationally representative survey of current (age 14-19) and recent (age 16-22) high school students, including in-depth interviews with students in schools with and without a strong focus on social and emotional learning. Listening to the perspectives of students completes a compelling picture that has included nationally representative surveys of pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers and principals to assess the role and value of social and emotional learning in America's schools. The survey findings have three major themes: (1) Students and young adults from strong SEL schools report a more positive social climate and learning environment, doing better academically, and being better prepared for life than those in weak SEL schools; (2) Schools that emphasize social and emotional skill development are broadly appealing to students across background, race, ethnicity, income, geography, and type of school attended and students see the benefits of such schools, but fewer than half believe their high schools are doing a good job of helping them develop SEL skills; and Students -- particularly some of the most vulnerable -- cite social and emotional problems as significant barriers to learning, doing their best, and fulfilling their potential. Throughout the report, perspectives of current and recent high school students are shared, providing a clearer picture of how they view their high schools, what their challenges are, and how their schools could be improved to unleash more of their potential. Findings related to the perspectives of students from different backgrounds are also presented in an effort to promote an equitable approach to understanding students' experiences in high school. Finally, what research says about the integration of social, emotional, and academic development is highlighted and recommendations are provided on how to advance the strategic and systemic use of youth voice and SEL in schools to promote student success in school, work and civic life. [This report was written with Jennifer L. DePaoli, Matthew N. Atwell, John M. Bridgeland & Timothy P. Shriver.]

Since the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) launched the Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) to support social and emotional learning (SEL) in 2016, participation has grown dramatically. CASEL initially planned to work with five states. In the past two years, the CSI team and its partners have worked with 25, which collectively serve about 11,500 school districts, 58,000 schools, and 30 million students. The purpose of the CSI is to help state education agencies create statewide conditions that will encourage and equip educators at the district level to engage in the work of promoting integrated, equity-focused, academic, social, and emotional learning. This report offers an in-depth look at some innovative efforts currently underway in six states (Delaware, Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin) to actively partner with and support districts. These states are using a variety of strategies to engage stakeholders, create a learning community, and help districts navigate the challenges of implementing high-quality SEL. [For the companion report, "Innovation in Action: How States and School Districts Are Collaborating to Promote Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning," see ED597734.]

Since the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) launched the Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) to support social and emotional learning (SEL) in 2016, participation has grown dramatically. CASEL initially planned to work with five states. In the past two years, the CSI team and its partners have worked with 25, which collectively serve about 11,500 school districts, 58,000 schools, and 30 million students. The purpose of the CSI is to help state education agencies create statewide conditions that will encourage and equip educators at the district level to promote integrated, equity-focused, academic, social, and emotional learning. The purpose of this report is to describe examples of the strategies states have used to connect with, support, and learn from districts, recognizing that many districts are leading the way. This report begins to note the ways many states have been enacting those recommendations. Critically important across all of the strategies described is that they clearly communicate, first and foremost, that SEL is a statewide priority. Finally, this document highlights how state and district activities correspond with CASEL's recently revised District Theory of Action (TOA). [For the companion report, "Deeper Insights: How Six States Are Collaborating with Local and Regional Educators to Implement Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. CSI Spotlight," see ED597733. For a more detailed report on this topic, "District Recommendations for How States Can Support SEL," see ED597735.]

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed by Congress in 2015, provides an important opportunity for states to broaden their definition of student success. As states begin to implement their ESSA plans, it is timely for them to reflect on ways they can include measures of social, emotional, and academic development; school climate; and related outcomes in their accountability and continuous improvement systems to shine a light on how schools are developing the whole child. This brief offers recommendations for how state agencies might measure and promote social and emotional learning in their accountability and continuous improvement plans. [For the full report, "Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning in the Context of New Accountability," see ED606438.]

The purpose of the Collaborating States Initiative (CSI) is to help state education agencies (SEAs) create statewide conditions that facilitate and encourage implementation of evidence-based approaches to social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools and districts. Because each state is unique, state teams must develop their own customized plans for advancing SEL. However, in creating these plans they can draw on a number of strategies for supporting district SEL efforts, preferably strategies that respond to what districts themselves say would best support their work. The suggestions offered in this document were culled from numerous conversations with district leaders, as well as consultations with states. Telephone interviews with districts lasted 30-60 minutes. In total, the authors spoke with four district superintendents, one assistant superintendent, five directors of SEL (or similar role), two directors of student services, and one chief accountability officer. The authors also learned from a survey of CSI states and general consultation with CSI state team leads. For each recommendation, action steps are proposed that grew out of the above conversations and the authors' own experience. Examples from states are also included. These examples are not exhaustive, but represent a variety of strategies. [For a more detailed report, "Emerging Insights from States' Efforts to Strengthen Social and Emotional Learning," see ED586404.]

Since the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) started working with state education agencies in 2003, the level of activity to advance social and emotional learning (SEL) has accelerated significantly, particularly in the past few years. State education leaders and policymakers are taking numerous steps to help districts and schools support students' social and emotional development and closely align these efforts with academic improvements. This report shares eight key insights and examples emerging from the work: (1) Since 2003, there has been growing momentum in state efforts to promote student social and emotional development, evidenced by an ever-increasing number of states that have developed policies and guidance to advance SEL; (2) Customizing SEL--each state is using an approach that works for its own districts and schools; (3) State education agency leadership is key; (4) Integration of SEL across state programs and policies is important to the ultimate success of these efforts; (5) Equity, cultural competence, and SEL are intertwined, and policymakers and educators must address them together to optimize student SEL generally and employability in particular; (6) Effective, customized messaging and communication are important to engage all the stakeholders; (7) Professional development is critical in advancing SEL, and states can play an important role in supporting districts and schools, using a variety of different approaches; and (8) A cross-state community of practice can be very powerful in advancing systemic SEL.

Six years ago the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) took the unprecedented step of launching an effort to study and scale high-quality, evidence-based academic, social, and emotional learning in eight of the largest and most complex school systems in the country: Anchorage, Austin, Chicago, Cleveland, Nashville, Oakland, Sacramento, and Washoe County, Nevada. With the recent addition of Atlanta and El Paso, the Collaborating Districts Initiative (CDI) now includes 10 districts, enrolling 900,000 students a year. It is one of the most comprehensive and ambitious school district improvement initiatives ever. The goal of the CDI was to create a comprehensive shift in how superintendents and entire school districts approach education. In order to help redefine quality education (beyond test scores alone), and to prioritize the practices in classrooms, schools, and communities for promoting the social and emotional development of children, the CDI focused on systemic social and emotional learning (SEL) implementation. This report describes why SEL is needed, highlights seven key insights drawn from CASEL's experience over the last six years, and describes the impact of the CDI's efforts. It concludes with CASEL's goals for the future.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides an opportunity for states and local education agencies (LEAs) to rethink the goals and policies that they have in place for public education. Under the new law, education leaders have greater flexibility to define student success and to design their own systems and programs to ensure educational equity. This paradigm shift allows policymakers to develop comprehensive strategies that take into account all aspects of children's learning and development, including social-emotional skills, that are instrumental for success in school and in life. Children's social and emotional development has often been called the "missing piece" of America's education system. Yet a large body of research shows that social and emotional learning (SEL) approaches--such as those that teach self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making--are associated with students' long-term academic and career success. This paper suggests five ways that policymakers can integrate SEL approaches into their efforts and identifies strategies that have been proposed in several Consolidated State Plans: (1) Articulate a well-rounded vision of student success; (2) Provide professional development to improve educator SEL capacity; (3) Identify evidence-based SEL interventions as a school improvement strategy; (4) Leverage Title IV grants to implement SEL strategies; and (5) Make data related to SEL transparent to the public. [The research and writing were supported in part by a grant from Pure Edge, Inc.]

The current document serves two purposes. First, it provides an overview of six key features of a high-quality, comprehensive package of policies and guidance to support student social and emotional learning (SEL). These features are based on Collaborative for Academic Social, and Emotional Learning's (CASEL's) review of the research literature on learning standards and SEL as summarized in Dusenbury et al. (2015). The six key features represent policies and guidance that are comprehensive and robust in that they are culturally and linguistically sensitive and developmentally appropriate, as well as connected to positive learning environments and professional development (Figure 1 gives an overview of the six key features). Second, this document provides examples from other states and districts that illustrate each of the key features of high-quality policies and guidance for SEL.

There is growing momentum across the country to support statewide implementation of social and emotional learning (SEL) in preschool through high school. In this brief we report on how many states have developed learning standards to support SEL. We have observed commonalities in the process states have used, and we share some of the lessons we have learned.

In this brief we use the CASEL reviews of evidence-based programs to answer the question, "What do teachers and other adults actually need to do in the classroom and school to help students achieve the goals laid out in social and emotional learning (SEL) standards?" Specifically, we identify and describe four approaches that have been success-fully used to promote social and emotional development in students. One approach uses free-standing lessons that provide step-by-step instructions to teach students' social and emotional competencies. The second approach uses general teaching practices to create classroom and schoolwide conditions that facilitate and support social and emotional development in students. A third approach integrates skill instruction or practices that support SEL within the context of an academic curriculum. The fourth approach provides school leaders with guidance on how to facilitate SEL as a schoolwide initiative. The identification of these four approaches and types of strategies that support each one should help school leaders and teachers develop a comprehensive plan for developing students' social and emotional competencies.

Momentum has been growing across the country to support statewide implementation of social and emotional learning (SEL) in preschool through high school. In this brief we present an update on states' involvement in articulating goals and developing guidelines for student SEL. [Additional support for this work was provided by Pure Edge, Inc.]

The purpose of the CASEL State Scan is to support the development of high-quality standards for social and emotional learning (SEL), preschool through high school, across the country (Dusenbury, Zadrazil, Weiss-berg & Mart, 2011). This brief summarizes recent findings from CASEL's State Scan (Dusenbury, Newman, Weissberg, Goren, Domitrovich & Mart, in press), which reviewed the research literature on learning standards generally to identify key components of high-quality standards and assessed the status of each state in developing well-articulated learning standards for SEL, preschool through high school. This brief also provides recommendations to support development of high-quality SEL standards, including examples from states identified as part of CASEL's State Scan. We conclude with a discussion of CASEL's plans for advancing high-quality standards for SEL nationwide.