Social and Emotional Learning Resources

In this webinar, co-hosted by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Urban League, we shared and discussed tools and resources designed to support advocates and policymakers as they work to leverage opportunities to inform and support continuous improvement across all schools as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is implemented.

Decades of research show that whole child education is essential to students' academic and life success and can reduce the negative effects of poverty on achievement. Speakers at this briefing examined federal policy levers that state and local policymakers can use to invest in research-based whole child approaches to learning, including integrated student supports, community schools, and other approaches that foster academic enrichment.

Decades of research make it clear that social and emotional habits and skills are intimately related to academic learning and life success. However, educator preparation and training do not always provide teachers with effective strategies to support social and emotional learning. This webinar looked at the benefits and challenges of integrating social, emotional, and academic learning in the classroom and explored strategies to inform practice.

How can social and emotional learning and cultural competence be integrated into educator preparation programs? Expert researchers and policymakers discussed this question in this webinar, with the goal of equipping teachers to consider the needs of the whole child with equity in mind.

This webinar featured CCSSO's Carissa Moffat Miller and LPI's Linda Darling-Hammond who, with state education leaders, discussed both how lessons from the science of learning and development can inform restart and recovery plans to support student well-being and learning and how state chiefs are already taking a whole child approach to pandemic response.

With widespread need for virtual learning over the previous year, the importance of centering learning on social and emotional development and student and educator well-being emerged as an essential strategy to develop engaging, relevant learning and to address student trauma. In this briefing, students, members of Congress, and experts in child development discussed the importance of social emotional learning concepts and how they can be advanced through federal policy.

As districts work to reopen schools in the pandemic and post-pandemic era, how can they support schools in creating high-quality summer learning experiences focused on acceleration rather than remediation? The Accelerating Learning Series kicked off with the panel, “Strategies for Whole Child Summer Learning and Beyond.”

How can districts assess students’ experiences and needs and provide targeted supports for accelerating learning? In the fourth of a five-part series, panelists discussed strategies to assess students’ social and emotional well-being, as well as to illuminate student growth and learning through authentic diagnostic and formative assessments. Panelists also explored best practices to avoid separating students into tracks and to foster heterogeneous groups.

Experts share examples of effective student-centered approaches being used in schools, focusing on the social, emotional, and mental health of students. They also discuss mentoring to develop social and emotional learning skills and ways that districts can utilize federal COVID-19 relief funds to meet short-term needs, accelerate learning, and develop relationship-centered schools.