Social and emotional learning (SEL) is here to stay! That was our guiding principle during 2025, from our State of the Field webinar in January (Skills That Last, Impact That Endures), to our efforts to deepen knowledge about SEL through our innovative research, to our collaborations with leaders, policymakers, educators, students, and families.
Our work this year required the bravery to speak up, the curiosity to keep learning more, a vision for the kind of future we want for our students, and the wisdom to connect across divides as we build a community dedicated to ensuring all students succeed. Join us as we take a look back on the year that was.
Declaring Our Message: Everyone Needs SEL!
Back to topWe the students, we the teachers, we the families—we ALL benefit from SEL. CASEL’s mission is to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to gain the skills and mindsets they need to build to thrive throughout life.
With that in mind, we worked to communicate the facts about SEL in the face of federal challenges in the past year, from releasing statements about the mischaracterization of SEL, to mobilizing champions in Congress to produce a Dear Colleague Letter, to reaffirming state and local authority to continue SEL implementation.
In our letters to the U.S. Department of Education and Congress, we addressed several key issues relating to the academic, social, and emotional learning of students across the U.S.:
- In May we, and members of the Leading with SEL Coalition, urged lawmakers to protect the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program and to support SEL grants within it—funding critical for addressing the most persistent educational challenges to student success.
- We opposed proposed cuts to the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) programs, programs that enable states and districts across the country to support training and professional development for educators.
- We responded to calls for comment on federal proposals relating to artificial intelligence (AI), career and workforce readiness, and the redesign of the Institute of Education Sciences, the nation’s leading source for rigorous, independent education research, evaluation and statistics.
Every child deserves to feel safe, supported, and valued at school so they can focus on learning.
CASEL Statement on Federal Overreach and Misrepresentation of Social and Emotional Learning
More to explore:
Expanding and Activating the Knowledge Base
Back to topThe SEL field is constantly growing, and in 2025, CASEL was committed to building our knowledge and making it actionable for practitioners.
With Educators’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Landscape Analysis of Strategies and Outcomes for Thriving Schools, we undertook a field scan of adult SEL approaches to assess what is already known in this area and propose questions to advance the research field.
Supportive learning environments was the focus of By Choice Not By Chance: Engaging Social and Emotional Learning to Create a Supportive Climate and Discipline Strategies, the latest in our SEL Innovations series. The report laid out four indicators that a school is building a culture that supports student success and three principles to guide supportive discipline and examined the role of adults in creating supportive schools. It also showcased case studies from three school systems.
On the ground, we pursued innovative research-practice partnerships that enabled us to support high-quality implementation while helping to build the knowledge base. Thanks to support from the Oak Foundation, we initiated work on a large-scale effort to deepen understanding of how SEL can contribute to supporting students with learning differences. Our work this year to review the existing research serves as the foundation for the next phase, when we’ll engage with and learn from researchers and practitioners in this field using what we learn to update and develop CASEL guidance, tools, and resources.
Work is also underway to lift youth voice through the SEL Ambassador Program offered in a California school. Through this youth participatory action research project, we are exploring how to create and sustain authentic, meaningful youth voice and lift up stories and bright spots showing how youth voice strengthens systemic SEL.
How to integrate SEL into academic instruction was also a focus of this year’s work, from our co-development of the Guidelines for Math Curriculum Developers to our offerings for professional learning, including 8 workshops to support integrating SEL into academic instruction, staff meetings, and professional learning — reaching nearly 900 educators and practitioners. In addition, CASEL supported 100+ school leaders across 23 countries in developing strategic plans for SEL implementation through our Leading Schoolwide SEL course.
More to explore:
- Blog: What About the Adults? A Sneak Peek at CASEL’s New Report on Adult SEL Approaches
- Blog: Still I RISE: Innovative Work at Da Vinci RISE High School
Forecasting a Bright Future
Back to top“Skills for Success: Ready for the Future” was the theme of National SEL Week (March 3-7, 2025), during which we showcased how SEL helps students build the skills they need to succeed after graduation. The anchor of the week was our trip to Capitol Hill, where we engaged with 21 congressional offices, both Democratic and Republican.
More than 40 Hill staffers attended our congressional briefing, which was focused on the connections between literacy and SEL. They were joined by 15 student ambassadors, who shared their stories of how SEL has prepared them for the future. Members of the education community joined the effort, posting their own SEL videos to celebrate the week, including a public school leader, students from Peru and India, and a parent from Ukraine.
We explored this same theme in our three-part webinar series, Thriving in Tomorrow’s World: Learning Spaces for a Future-Ready Generation, which brought together leading researchers, practitioners, and policy leaders to explore role of social and emotional learning in future readiness, systems-level approaches to defining and measuring success more holistically, and effective classroom strategies that carve out dynamic pathways for students’ futures.
The focus on the future was central to our work on a scan of over 250 district-level portraits of a graduate. These documents offer a holistic look at the skills and competencies students need to master to thrive in their future lives and a vision of what districts want students to leave with upon graduation. Our forthcoming publication will offer insights into the kinds of skills districts are focusing nationwide, and how social and emotional learning fits into the portrait.
Caption: Example of a Portrait of a Graduate
In our webinar Wired for Connection: Reimagining Engagement in a Digital World, Dr. Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), shared inspiring insights about the role of technology in the classroom, the ever-changing landscape of education, and how social and emotional learning can help ensure that new technological advances fuel each student’s journey to a successful future.
More to explore:
- Blog: From Classroom to Career—Why SEL Skills Matter Everywhere
- Blog: Business Leaders Tell Us What It Takes to Thrive at Work. (Hint: It’s SEL Skills.)
- Blog: 5 Stories About How SEL Builds a Foundation for the Future
- Article: Executive functioning is key to future success. Here’s how educators can embed it in the classroom
Coming Together Nationally and Globally
Back to topThe “C” in CASEL stands for “Collaborative,” and we take seriously our role of convener, bringing researchers, practitioners, and education advocates together to advance and lift up the field of social and emotional learning.
In August, we welcomed our second-largest SEL Fellows cohort, bringing together 36 leaders from 17 states who collectively serve nearly 3 million students. Launched in 2020, The SEL Fellows Academy is an annual, virtual 10-month engagement that brings together education leaders from across North America with the goal of strengthening SEL practices in community. Here are a few examples of the work accomplished during the 2024-2025 cohort:
- Two Fellows in Wisconsin prioritized future readiness in their work through enhancing student engagement and skill development through AI personalized-learning and thinking classrooms.
- In California, one Fellow led a series of empathy interviews with educators and administrators to better understand their needs for professional learning and cultivation of their own skills.
- In light of Ohio’s new statewide required health curriculum, one Fellow created guidance for the district to ensure alignment with existing science and social studies pacing at the elementary level and sharing lesson planning best practices for middle and high school.
The effort to connect with education leaders went global as we launched the inaugural recruitment and application cycle for the 2026–2027 International SEL Fellows Academy. A rigorous review of highly competitive applicants resulted in the selection of 18 exceptional global SEL leaders to join the first cohort, beginning January 2026.
CASEL staff also reached to engage all over the country and all over the world. Within the U.S., we worked with districts and educators in East Irondequois, NY; El Dorado County, CA, Elk Grove, CA; Glenbrook, IL; Grand Forks, ND; Los Alamos, NM; Port Chester Rye, NY; Sacramento, CA; Seattle, WA; and Winston-Salem, NC.
Internationally, CASEL staff visited China to promote high-quality SEL, where we collaborated with educators and system leaders on systemic SEL implementation and adult SEL. The visit resulted in a formal partnership proposal, marking a significant step forward in expanding CASEL’s global impact.
Staff also led a workshop with students from the University of Central Asia (OSUN) representing Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, South Africa, the United States, and a number of other countries.
Thank you for the lesson we had on the OSUN zoom platform. I learnt a lot from your engagement. It definitely sparked a lot of self reflection. I come from Zimbabwe but live in South Africa. I am interested in helping the two countries incorporate SEL in teaching and learning. Great lesson and excellent preparation!
CASEL also helped lead the field of research through convenings of both early career and established scholars. Our 2023-2025 cohort of Weissberg Scholars wrapped up, and the third cohort (2025-2027) launched in November 2025. The Weissberg Scholars program is designed to inspire the next generation of innovators through mentorship, virtual convenings, and an individual development plan. The first two cohorts continue to collaborate and make meaningful contributions to the field, including Weissberg alum Cheyeon Ha, who recently published a large-scale meta-analysis on the effects of social and emotional learning programs on student academic achievement.
We also continued to collaborate with the Research Advisory Council, which met quarterly for thought-partnership on CASEL research activities and deliverables. One major output of the work was a landscape scan of scholarship on adult SEL. In 2026, the council with a working group was deeply involved in the adult SEL landscape scan. Will continue as key collaborators in 2026 in content areas of workforce development, AI/tech, and academic integration.
More to explore:
- Blog: Social and Emotional Learning in Kenya: Viewing Classrooms Through the Educators’ Lens
- Blog: SEL Week 2025—Beyond Borders: An International Service-Learning Experience
- Blog: One Man’s Passion for Transforming Nigeria’s Education Sector With Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
With these achievements in mind, we’re ready to tackle 2026 and create our New Year’s vision for the future of SEL!
Related Posts
- 2024 Social and Emotional Learning Year in Review
- 2023 Social and Emotional Learning Year in Review
- 2022 Social and Emotional Learning Year in Review
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