Expanded Learning

Research on Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom

The value of teaching social emotional learning (SEL) skills is indisputable. Decades of SEL research and its effect on academic performance have linked the development of these skills to “higher student achievement, more positive student motivation and more socially acceptable classroom behaviors.” 

Incorporating SEL into class instruction improves not only social and emotional skills but also academic achievement. Results from a meta-analysis that looked across 213 studies involving more than 270,000 students found that:

• SEL interventions that address the five core competencies increased students’ academic performance by 11 percentile points, compared to students who did not participate.
• These are not short-lived effects: follow-up studies completed an average of three to four years after SEL implementation show that gains not only last, but many grow.
• Achievement scores for K-12 students who received SEL instruction were an average of 13 percentile points higher three and a half years later, in comparison to similar students with no SEL instruction.
• Students participating in SEL programs showed improved classroom behavior, an increased ability to manage stress and depression, and better attitudes about themselves, others, and school.
• Additional meta-analyses echoed these findings. Consistency across independent research teams offers strong support that well-implemented SEL programs are beneficial.

Read the 2011 meta-analysis (Durlak et al., 2011). Research around the impact of SEL is primarily focused on programs that explicitly teach those skills. More recent SEL research suggests integrating academics with social emotional learning.