Standards and Policies» SEL Policy

Latest Policy Developments: 2009 Academic Social and Emotional Learning Act Introduced

The introduction of the Academic Social and Emotional Learning Act (H.R. 4223) was announced at CASEL's Forum in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 9, 2009. Congressman Dale E. Kildee(D-MI), Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL), and Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) sponsored this legislation that authorizes the US Department of Education to establish programs and allocate funds to establish a national technical assistance center for SEL, provide grants to support evidence-based SEL programming, and conduct a national evaluation of school-based SEL programming. To learn more, read the press release and the legislation.

Two states, Illinois and New York, have already passed legislation requiring schools to address social and emotional development and learning. California is funding projects between schools and mental health agencies working together to promote SEL, and is considering legislation to help all students succeed in school, in part, by requiring schools to better address student social and emotional issues. Many other states have policies that touch upon SEL practices, including anti-bullying and character education, and four states have contacted CASEL for assistance in crafting social and emotional legislation. We detect a policy trend!

Details about these legislative initiatives can be found below, followed by resources for developing an SEL policy for your own school or district.

IL SEL Policy

In 2003, the Illinois Children's Mental Health Task Force, comprising over 100 state agencies and organizations (including CASEL), released a report documenting that mental health services fell far from addressing the needs of children in Illinois. The report further stated that services were fragmented, and the state lacked any short- and long-term plans to address these issues. The report called for reform to the existing mental health system to ensure that the full range of children's social and emotional needs are addressed across the continuum of prevention/ promotion, early identification/intervention, and treatment (Illinois Children's Mental Health Task Force, 2003). Following this report, CASEL helped draft the Children's Mental Health Act, passed by the state in 2003, and designed to provide comprehensive, coordinated mental health prevention, early intervention, and treatment services for children from birth through age 18.

This act is intended to ensure that schools:

• Regard social and emotional development as integral to the mission of schools and a critical component of student academic readiness and school success;
• Take concrete steps to address their students' social and emotional development

Key provisions of the act relating to SEL are:

• Section 15(a) Incorporating SEL into the state learning standards

The Illinois State Board of Education shall develop and implement a plan to incorporate social and emotional development standards as part of the Illinois Learning Standards for the purpose of enhancing and measuring children's school readiness and ability to achieve academic success.

• Section 15(b) Incorporating SEL into each district's educational program

Every Illinois school district shall develop a policy for incorporating social and emotional development into the district's educational program. The policy shall address teaching and assessing social and emotional skills and protocols for responding to children with social, emotional, or mental health problems, or a combination of such problems, that impact learning ability.

New York Social and Emotional Development and Learning Policy

New York's 2006 Bill A 9649C S 6672-C legislates for a comprehensive, coordinated approach to children's mental health services. This act provides for the incorporation of social and emotional development into elementary and secondary school programs. In 2007, New York also introduced a law, which would require the completion of a curriculum in the social and emotional development and learning of children as a condition for teacher certification. NY 2006 Mental Health Act Legislative Justification (pdf).

In 2008, the Children’s Plan was jointly submitted by nine Commissioners from child-serving agencies in New York State, who each signed off on The Plan and have committed to work towards supporting the social and emotional needs of children and their families. This plan, "presents a new way of thinking about the social and emotional needs of children and charts a course of action to improve upon the services and supports provided to children and their families in New York State. The Plan was built on the premise that the promotion and maintenance of mental health is a universal concern for all individuals, as it is directly linked to future physical health, well–being, and longevity.

The Plan was developed based on the beliefs that:

• Social and emotional development is everyone’s concern, not a single state agency’s mission
• Social and emotional development is an essential component in the development of each child
• Responsibility for emotional well-being lies with families, friends, care givers, schools and communities
• We must take a public health approach to promoting social and emotional development and learning
• Preparing young people developmentally is more than avoiding risk, but promoting positive growth."

To learn more about this plan and social and emotional development policy and legislation in NY, visit:

• The Office of Mental Health's Children's Plan website
• NYSED Social/Emotional Development and Learning website
• Read Guidelines and Resources for Social and Emotional Development and Learning (SEDL) in New York State

California Mental Health Policy

In California, the new Mental Health Services Act (Proposition 63) approved by voters in November 2004 is intended, according to official documents, to bring about "an unprecedented level of cooperation" between mental health agencies and schools to provide school-based emotional and social learning programs. Exactly how that is to be done will apparently depend on the responses the state receives to a request for proposals, but California is providing substantial funding for the projects, all of it from state general revenues. That may make California the first state to make such a local commitment; individual school districts in a number of other states, including Illinois, have mounted school-based mental health programs using federal funds from the Safe and Drug-Free Schools Act. (From Vol 7(6) Health and Health Care in Schools)

In 2007, Senator Lee introduced legislation (Senate Bill 288, Comprehensive Pupil Learning Support System) that would require each participating school in the pilot program to develop, "a comprehensive system of learning supports as a primary and essential component at every school with a view to ensuring each pupil has an equal opportunity to succeed at school...Each school plan would be designed to enhance the capacity of classroom and school-wide programs to address problems, engage and re-engage pupils in classroom learning, and foster social, emotional, intellectual, and behavioral development..."

Resources for Developing School and District SEL Policies

• Seven core components of a comprehensive SEL policy
• Student support services model policy
• SEL instruction model policy
• Administrative procedure protocol for responding to students with social, emotional, or mental health problems
• A review of Illinois school district policies for incorporating social and emotional development into district educational programs (Word)
• The Fall 2007 issue of the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools newsletter provides a policy framework for addressing barriers to learning and promoting healthy development