Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves processes through which children, youth, and adults develop fundamental emotional and social competencies 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. Social and Emotional Learning: What?

Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Academic Mindsets AIDS Education Bullying Prevention Character Education Civic Engagement Conditions for Learning Climate Deeper Learning Drug Education Emotional Intelligence Executive Function Family Life Education Grit Health Promotion Interpersonal Skills Intrapersonal Skills Life Skills Mental Health Promotion Multicultural Education Positive Youth Development Project-based Learning Resilience Restorative Practices Service-learning Self-discipline 21 st Century Skills Violence Prevention Whole Child

Credit: CASEL SEL can help schools and communities move from… Fragmented efforts Piecemeal implementation No common language CASEL 2012 SEL as a Coordinating Framework

Credit: CASEL...to a better place for youth Built on student strengths Academic and life success Coordinated efforts Systemic integration

5 Competency Domains

The ability to accurately recognize one’s emotions and thoughts and their influence on behavior. – Positive Self Concept – Self Esteem – Self Efficacy – Task Orientation – Emotion Knowledge (Self) Self Awareness

Self-Management The ability to regulate one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in different situations. – Cognitive Regulation – Behavioral Regulation – Emotion Regulation – Motivation

Social Awareness The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and to recognize resources and supports. – Empathy – Emotion Knowledge (others) – Social-Cognitive Skills

Relationship Skills The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. – Interpersonal Skills – Communication Skills

Responsible Decision Making The ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions. – Problem Solving – Moral Reasoning – Resistance Skills

Five Core Competencies A Positive Sense of Self Self Control Decision-Making Skills A Moral System of Belief Prosocial Connectedness Guerra, N. G., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2008). Linking the prevention of problem behaviors and positive youth development: Core competencies for positive youth development and risk prevention. In N. G. Guerra & C. P. Bradshaw (Eds.), Core competencies to prevent problem behaviors and promote positive youth development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 122, 1-17.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL attachment to school, family, and friends personal commitment to learning environments belief in potential to succeed BONDING to school to teachers to peers to parents to the community OPPORTUNITIESSKILLSRECOGNITION SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR (i.e., prevention of delinquency and other forms of misbehavior)

Safe, Caring, Well- Managed Learning Environments Social & Emotional Competencies Self-awareness Social awareness Self management Relationship skills Responsible decision making Greater Attachment to School Less Risky Behavior & More Positive Development Better Academic Performance & Success in School and Life How Evidence-Based SEL Programs With Adolescents Work to Produce Greater Student Success in School and Life Evidence- Based SEL Programming

Relationships are Key Students who get along well with others do better in school and life! Students who feel the adults around them care about them are more motivated to learn. Sense of belonging predicts academic performance, well-being, and reduced risk. Improving the quality of relationships in classrooms improves academic performance.

Science Links SEL to Student Gains: Social-emotional skills Improved attitudes about self, others, and school Positive classroom behavior 11 percentile-point gain on standardized achievement tests And Reduced Risk of Failure: Conduct problems Emotional distress Source: Durlak, J.A., Weissberg, R.P., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., & Schellinger, K. (2011) The impact of enhancing students’ social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development: 82 (1), SEL Improves Student Outcomes 15

Best Practice Criteria S equenced A ctive F ocused E xplicit

Service Learning Best Practices Linking to Curriculum Youth Voice Community Involvement Reflection*

SCE: Primary Problem Not enough of the most vulnerable youth have access to learning environments that build, promote and reinforce social and emotional skills vital to life success in the 21st century. What is missing from the nascent field of SEL is knowledge about what practices are most effective, how to promote the development of key SEL skills, and how to measure impact.

SCE: What they are looking for: Social and emotional learning is often the fiber of many activity-based programs: sports, arts, apprenticeships, community service, and more. There are a number of ways SEL can be put into practice. It’s how these programs operate and the quality of the impact on youth that we are interested in codifying into a set of best practices. The social and emotional skills of particular interest to SCE are agency, grit, resilience, self-regulation and empathy.

Project Description Through a learning community approach, a senior leader and frontline staff member from each partner organization will collaborate with an evaluation team to identify common metrics for a study of each organization’s practices and impact on youth’s social and emotional skills over the course of one program year. The learning community will be focused on answering three questions: – What are the best practices for SEL for teens? – What are the patterns of growth in social and emotional skills for participating youth? – How are the programs structured to produce high-quality SEL services?

Requirements of Candidates Serve youth age Operate out-of-school time Identify social and emotional skill development as an explicit program outcome Demonstrate evidence of the program’s impact on vulnerable youth Have administrative capacity, infrastructure and mission-driven motivation to participate in a learning community Have 501(c)(3) tax-exemption and demonstrate financial stability Engage paid professional staff Have capacity and infrastructure for program evaluation and data collection