Social emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary 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. (CASEL.org)

SEL is an important need in our education system as a tier 1/universally designed instruction for all students in order to teach them skills to use in daily life as well as beyond high school.  SEL provides children the strategies and tools to solve conflicts and achieve positive goals; it does not tell them which goals to make. 

By incorporating SEL as a preventative practice we can better help our students deal with conflicts so they can better focus on traditional learning areas.  The truth is, a lot of academic instruction can be lost if we do not take care of students' basic physical and emotional needs first.  We saw this before the pandemic, and now it is even more obvious.

Thank you for suggesting these standards so that educators, and families, can reinforce these skills. 

Sincerely, 

A School Psychologist