In This Issue:

• Social and Emotional Learning Matters!
• Real Stories
• Quotable: New York State Assemblyman Peter Rivera

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Social and Emotional Learning Matters!

Hot off the presses, our whole child partner the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has released a preliminary report about the impact of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs on academics. Its meta-analysis of 207 studies involving nearly 300,000 children concludes that students who experience SEL programming improve significantly with respect to:

• Social and emotional skills;
• Attitudes about themselves, others, and school;
• Social and classroom behavior;
• Conduct problems such as classroom misbehavior and aggression;
• Emotional distress such as stress and depression; and
• Achievement test scores and school grades (by 11 percentile points!).

In fact they found that "these positive results do not come at the expense of performance in core academic skills, but rather enhance academic achievement" and persist over time. Not surprisingly, CASEL's study also demonstrates that programs conducted by teachers themselves with strong administrative support for high-quality implementation were the most effective. An earlier CASEL study also demonstrated the impact of after-school programs that promote personal and social skills.

» So what's working in your schools and communities? What's not working? Are students in your community healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged? Use our Share Your Story tool to tell others about your experiences. See a story that interests you? Now you can add your comment or question by clicking the link below the story.

Real Stories

"Infinity High School decided that freshman transition for students… is very important. Since our school opened in 2005 we have put together a freshman retreat before the opening of the school year. We take our students to our Infinity Leadership Retreat. Our students are walked through orientation in a unique way. We use team building [and] workshops on understanding diversity [and] understanding disabilities, and we end with an indigenous celebration as the closing where we hear how our children's thoughts have changed about each other in such a positive way."

—Martha I., Chicago, IL
Click here to comment on Martha's story and see many more.

» Expect More. Get More.

“It is not acceptable that 75 to 80 percent of children and youth in need of mental health services in this country do not receive these services. We must work to do better, for the sake of our children.”

—New York State Assemblyman Peter Rivera
Click here to see more quotes from policymakers and access our Whole Child Resolution Tool Kit.

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