Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum
Coalitions that Adopted
Strategy Type
School-basedStrategy Goal
Enhance the social-emotional (SE) development of elementary school students in the areas of Emotional Regulation and Social Awareness, so that social emotional learning (SEL) skills do not diminish over time.Intended Population
3rd through 5th grade elementary school students in Racine Unified School District (RUSD).Strategy Background
A child’s social-emotional (SE) skills are central to their healthy development and lay a foundation for well-being that influences their entire life. Research shows (PDF) the greatest factors to improve mental health outcomes for youth are early intervention strategies and policies that build a strong foundation, thus building resiliency and protective factors that reduce the probability of the risky behaviors that often lead to substance abuse or involvement in the criminal justice system. In Racine County, early intervention for social emotional learning (SEL) involved building on the existing curriculum to improve youth mindfulness through the addition of the Inner Explorer mindfulness program and the administering of the Panorama SE assessment. SEL can be defined as the development of self-awareness, self-control and interpersonal skills in students that benefit their academic, professional, and social future and allow them to better cope with everyday challenges.
Inner Explorer is a daily audio-guided mindfulness program, offered in both English and Spanish, designed to support mental health and well-being in school-aged youth. It takes approximately 10-minutes and promotes each of the five core competencies of SEL:
- Self-Awareness;
- Self-Management;
- Social Awareness;
- Relationship Skills; and
- Responsible Decision-Making
The Panorama SE assessment is a validated survey that collects reliable data from youth to measure progress over time which can further be used to guide strategy. The Panorama tool is especially beneficial, because it provides data at the district level, school level, classroom level, and individual level. It also provides a playbook with 2-minute interventions to improve upon core competencies and whole lesson plans provided by other teachers who’ve found them effective.
The survey has been used with diverse student populations across the U.S., containing questions specifically designed for multiple age groups, and measures SE health along nine competency scales. Two scales were chosen for this strategy. The first, Emotional Regulation, is defined as how well students regulate their emotions. The second, Social Awareness, is defined as how well students consider the perspectives of others and empathize with them.
To supplement this curriculum, SE education courses for a child’s parents/caregivers were provided, as well as training for child-serving professionals. These educational opportunities provide parents with the skills to support SE development at home and teachers with the ability to design teaching strategies and cultivate classroom environments in a manner that promotes SE development more generally. At the organizational level, new policies have been embedded in local school districts that sustain parental education on SE health and require all RUSD elementary school child-serving staff to complete SE health professional development.
In short, early intervention for SEL should involve improving mindfulness in youth and can be complemented by educating parents and training child-serving professionals. Through the use of Inner Explorer and Panorama, one can develop an enhanced curriculum that supports SEL and provides students with the opportunities to develop better cognitive, social, and emotional skills that ultimately improve their behavioral health and mental well-being.