Decades of research have demonstrated the need for an education system that recognizes the connections between children’s social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development, as well as their physical and mental health.
A “whole child” education prioritizes the full scope of a child’s developmental needs as a way to advance educational equity and ensure that every child reaches their fullest potential. A whole child approach understands that students' education and life outcomes are dependent upon their access to deeper learning opportunities in and out of school, as well as their school environment and relationships.
Shifting toward a whole child education has far-reaching implications if education systems are to promote children’s learning, well-being, and healthy development. This includes designing learning environments to support the whole child; developing curriculum, instruction, and assessments for deeper learning; preparing educators for whole child practice; and changing policy and systems to support the whole child.

Resources
Designing Learning Environments to Support the Whole Child
- Design Principles for Schools: Putting the Science of Learning and Development Into Action (playbook)
- Design Principles for Community-Based Settings: Putting the Science of Learning and Development Into Action (playbook)
- Social Justice Humanitas: A Community School Approach to Whole Child Education (report)
- A Restorative Approach for Equitable Education (brief)
- Teaching for Powerful Learning: Lessons from Gateway Public Schools (report)
- Teaching the Way Students Learn Best: Lessons from Bronxdale High School (report, brief)
- Educating the Whole Child: Improving School Climate to Support Student Success (report, brief)
- Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development (journal article), Applied Developmental Science
- How Social-Emotional Learning Can Be Integrated Throughout the School Day (infographic)
- What the Four Pillars of Community Schools Look Like in Action (infographic)
- Community Schools Online Research Compendium (interactive)
- Educating the Whole Child (blog series)
- With the Whole Child in Mind: Insights from the Comer School Development Program (book), ASCD
- Nurturing Nature: How Brain Development Is Inherently Social and Emotional, and What This Means for Education (journal article), Educational Psychologist
- The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development: How Emotions and Social Relationships Drive Learning (brief), Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development
- What Makes Social-Emotional Learning So Important? Four Measures That Can Contribute to Developmentally Healthy Schools (article), School Administrator
- Community Schools: A Promising Foundation for Progress (article), AFT’s American Educator
Developing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessments for Deeper Learning
- Deeper Learning Networks: Taking Student-Centered Learning and Equity to Scale (report, brief, 3 case studies)
- Closing the Opportunity Gap: How Positive Outlier Districts in California Are Pursuing Equitable Access to Deeper Learning (report, brief, 7 case studies)
- California’s Positive Outliers: Districts Beating the Odds (report, brief)
- The Promise of Performance Assessments: Innovations in High School Learning and Higher Education Admissions (report, brief)
- Taking Deeper Learning to Scale (report)
- Developing and Measuring Higher Order Skills: Models for State Performance Assessment Systems (report, brief)
- Keeping Students at the Center With Culturally Relevant Performance Assessments (article), Education Week
- Project-Based Learning (video series), Edutopia
Preparing Educators for Whole Child Practice
- Educator Preparation for Social-Emotional Learning, Cultural Competence, and Equity at Trinity University (whitepaper)
- Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning (brief, 5 case study briefs)
- Preparing Teachers to Support Social and Emotional Learning: A Case Study of San Jose State University and Lakewood Elementary (report, infographic)
- Social Emotional Learning Is Essential for Student Success (blog), AACTE EdPrepMatters
- What Principals Can Do to Ensure School Discipline Policies Promote Safe and Inclusive Learning Environments (blog), NASSP School of Thought
Changing Policy and Systems to Support the Whole Child
- Whole Child Policy Toolkit (interactive report)
- A Whole Child Approach to School Improvement Under ESSA: Support for Students in Low-Performing Schools (resource)
- Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning in the Context of New Accountability (report, brief)
- Redesigning School Accountability and Support: Progress in Pioneering States (report)
- Interactive Map: Making ESSA’s Equity Promise Real (interactive)
- Want Safe Schools? Start With Research-Based School Discipline Policies (op-ed), Forbes
- How Can States Foster SEL under ESSA? (blog), MeasuringSEL
- Why education needs a whole child approach (commentary), Governing
Funders
Stuart Foundation, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Pure Edge, Sanford Institute of Philanthropy, Carnegie Corporation of New York, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Photo courtesy of Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action.