Social Emotional Learning in High School: How Three Urban High Schools Engage, Educate, and Empower Youth

The psychological, social, and emotional aspects of education—so-called noncognitive factors and soft skills—have gained traction in recent years among educators as well as the wider public as major drivers of student achievement. From developing grit and a growth mindset to learning collaboration and perspective-taking skills to fostering student belonging and inclusion, psychological resources are critical to student success and a 21st-century education. This renewed attention represents a significant shift, as social and emotional supports for students in school have frequently been called the missing piece in the accountability-driven practices that are the legacy of No Child Left Behind. Furthermore, failing to meet students’ psychological, social, and emotional needs will continue to fuel gaps in opportunity and achievement for students—in particular, students from low-income backgrounds and students of color—who are frequently underserved by the schools they attend.

Researchers in the field of social emotional learning are working to understand how schools can effectively implement and sustain practices that meet students’ social and emotional needs as well as provide them with the opportunity to learn adaptive skills and strategies to succeed both inside and outside the classroom. Much of the existing research in the field has focused on elementary and, to a lesser extent, middle schools, where fostering social and emotional skills is often seen as part of the educational mission and early intervention is possible. As a result, little is known about what effective social emotional learning practices look like at the high school level—a gap this study seeks to fill.

Through in-depth case studies of three urban, socioeconomically and racially diverse small public high schools, this report investigates how schoolwide social emotional learning can be implemented and how these efforts shape students’ educational experiences.

The study looks at the following schools:

• Fenway High School (Boston, MA)
• El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice (Brooklyn, NY)
• International School of the Americas (San Antonio, TX)

A particular feature of the schools that are the focus of this study is that they draw on an expanded vision of social emotional learning that includes social justice education as a means to develop social responsibility; empower the student communities the schools serve; and provide a culturally relevant, asset-based, and identity-safe education. Through an explicit, schoolwide focus on social emotional learning, these schools educate the “whole child;” prepare students to be socially aware, skilled, and responsible; and provide students with the psychological and academic resources they need to belong and succeed in school. While psychological resources cannot replace schools’ material resource needs, they are a vital part of the opportunity equation.

Posted with permission, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.