Social and emotional learning (SEL) helps create the conditions for student learning, while academic instruction provides a ripe opportunity for teaching and practicing social-emotional skills.
CASEL has been a leading voice in researching and promoting the integration of SEL with academics. Over decades of work, here’s what we’ve learned:
- SEL and academic learning are mutually reinforcing.
- The strongest results occur when SEL is woven into everyday teaching and learning rather than delivered only through a separate curriculum.
- High-quality instruction naturally requires social and emotional competencies.
- Academic standards and SEL competencies can be intentionally aligned.
Did You Know?
Back to top- SEL programs improve academic achievement, including on standardized tests for literacy and math.
- Studies involving more than one million students worldwide consistently find that SEL positively impacts academic achievement.
- SEL builds social and emotional skills that increase student engagement and lead to improved academic performance.
Our Work: Integrating SEL With Academic Instruction
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Supporting Student Literacy Through Social and Emotional Learning (2024-2026). A series of white papers and briefs that takes a closer look at special topics in the relationship between literacy and SEL.
- Bridging Sciences: An Integrated Approach to Supporting Student Literacy Development (2024)
- The Role of Social and Emotional Learning in Improving Literacy Development (2024)
- How Social and Emotional Learning Supports Literacy Pre K – Grade 5 (2025)
- Literacy Across Academic Disciplines in Adolescence: The Integration of Social and Emotional Learning (2026)
Integrated Learning, Integrated Lives: Highlighting Opportunities for Transformative SEL Within Academic Instruction (2023). Explores Project-Based Learning (PBL) and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as examples of integrated, systemic approaches to SEL that allow students to co-design their own learning.
SEL Trends Brief Series – Integrating with Academics (2018). Case studies showcasing how districts have integrated SEL with instructional practices and academic content.
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Integrating Social and Emotional Learning With Academic Instruction Workshop (Virtual, facilitated, one 2-hour session)
Integrate SEL with Academics, Discipline, and Student Supports, The District Resource Center. Guidance for district leaders about how to make the integration of SEL into other school and district functions as part of systemic SEL implementation.
Integration of SEL and Academics, The CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL. Guidance for school leaders about how to incorporate SEL the classroom, along with creating a supportive classroom environment and teaching students about SEL.
Social and Emotional Learning in Mathematics: Guidelines for Curriculum Developers. A set of guidelines designed to support curriculum developers and math instructors in incorporating equity-centered SEL into high-quality mathematics curriculum materials.
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Series: Igniting Lifelong Learning: SEL and Academic Integration Series
A three-part webinar series exploring the research, practices, and policy conditions that promote SEL and academic integration. Blog recaps:
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Blog Series: How SEL Supports Learning in Reading and Math, contributed by CASEL’s Assistant Director of Research, Rista Plate, Ph.D., and CASEL’s Director of Policy, Asher A. Miller, Ed.M.
Powerful Ways to Integrate SEL With Academics, contributed by Dr. Sara Rimm-Kaufman
Commonwealth Professor of Education, University of Virginia
Integrating Preschool SEL with Pre-Academic Skills Instruction, contributed by Dr. Karen Bierman, Director of the Child Study Center, Penn State University
Programming Trends: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Academics, contributed by former CASEL Data Analysis Consultant Gabrielle Meyers
Math + Social and Emotional Learning = Student Success, contributed by CASEL’s Practice Advisor Heather N. Schwartz
Read more stories about SEL on CASEL’s blog.
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