Social Emotional Learning: Building the Foundation

At the heart, CRE helps children be more socially and emotionally competent so they can lead happier lives and contribute more positively to society (Jones & Compton, 2003). Both regular and special-needs students can benefit from programs that teach them the competencies delineated below (Feuerborn & Tyre, 2009).

The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) articulated five core areas of social and emotional competency (Zins & Elias, 2007):

1. Self-awareness—accurately assessing one’s feelings

2. Self-management—regulating one’s emo­tions and controlling impulses

3. Social awareness—taking the perspective of and empathizing with others

4. Relationship skills—establishing and main­taining healthy and rewarding relationships based on cooperation; resisting inappropri­ate social pressure; preventing, managing, and resolving interpersonal conflict; seek­ing help when needed

5. Responsible decision making—making decisions based on consideration of ethi­cal standards, safety concerns, appropriate social norms, respect for others, and likely consequences of various actions

While all of these competencies are impor­tant, research suggests that developing empa­thy is one of the most critical (Irimia, 2011). Empathy, even more than aggression, dif­ferentiates youth offenders and nonoffend­ers (Cohen & Strayer, 1996). Jolliffe and Farrington’s (2004) meta-analysis concluded that low empathic response predicts antisocial behaviors in adolescents. Empathy is nega­tively related to physical, verbal, and relational aggression (Kaukiainen et al., 1999); and more empathic students are more likely to defend targets of bullies (Gini, Albiero, Benelli, & Altoe, 2007; Kumar & Ryan, 2009).

Comprehensive reviews of SEL programs report that they are effective in developing students’ competencies. Two recent meta­analyses of SEL programs deserve special mention. Payton et al.’s (2008) meta-analysis of 317 studies involved 324,303 children in K-8 populations. Durlak et al. (2011) reported results from a meta-analysis of 213 school-based, universal SEL programs involv­ing 270,034 kindergarten through high school students. Both meta-analyses provide strong support for positive effects of SEL on students’ SEL skills, attitudes, positive social behavior, conduct problems, and academic achieve­ment. Compared with controls, SEL par­ticipants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behav­ior, and academic performance that reflected an 11-percentile-point gain in achievement (Durlak et al., 2011).