Making SEL Stick: From Policy to Practice Across Education Systems

Selected by the managing editor of Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy (otherwise known as the SEL Journal), these four must-read articles showcase findings about SEL and early childhood.  

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is more than just a program. Across five recent articles, we see a common story about what it takes to move SEL from intention to sustained practice. The studies run the gamut, from statewide policy and large public education systems to whole-school implementation, school leadership, and the day-to-day realities of a suburban high school. Together, they highlight the importance of leadership, educator capacity, professional learning, relationships, local adaptation, adequate resources, and meaningful integration into existing educational structures. They also show that implementation is rarely a straight line: Schools and systems must balance consistency with flexibility, build ownership among educators, respond to local contexts, and continually refine their approach if SEL is to become embedded rather than remain another short-lived initiative.

Using statewide policy to promote student and adult social-emotional competencies

Key Takeaways

• The study examined Illinois’ statewide Learning Renewal-SEL initiative, which supported both student and educator social-emotional competencies through regional professional learning and capacity-building.
• Interviews with 40 regional education professionals showed that educator well-being was one of the most pressing needs identified by schools and districts. Participants emphasized that adults need opportunities to develop and practice their own social-emotional competencies in order to effectively support students.
• The initiative used a decentralized, opt-in model, allowing regional offices to adapt communication, professional learning, and supports to local needs. This flexibility encouraged responsiveness but also resulted in variation across regions.
• Strong, pre-existing relationships between regional education offices and districts helped build trust and buy-in, illustrating the importance of intermediary organizations in translating state policy into local practice.
• The SEL Hub structure also generated unexpected cross-regional collaboration, with education leaders sharing resources, solving problems together, and drawing on their own social-emotional competencies to support implementation.

Daruwala, I., Shramko, M., Clancy, E., Salinas, V., Edwards, I., Jiang, J. Y., & Kendziora, K. (2025). Using statewide policy to promote student and adult social-emotional competencies: Implementation evaluation of the Learning Renewal–Social Emotional Learning initiative. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 6, 100165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2025.100165

Perceptions, challenges and opportunities of system-level social emotional learning interventions in India

Key Takeaways

• Interviews with seven senior policymakers from Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Nagaland explored how SEL is being understood, adapted, and implemented across three very different Indian state education systems.
• Policymakers described a broader shift from education focused primarily on academic knowledge toward holistic development, including well-being, emotional development, relationships, life skills, and preparation for life beyond school.
• Implementation challenges included teacher resistance, limited instructional time, insufficient training, and differences in resources and infrastructure. Teacher capacity-building emerged as particularly important.
• Context mattered considerably. Successful implementation required SEL to be adapted to local cultures and communities, illustrated by approaches such as Delhi’s Happiness Curriculum, Uttarakhand’s locally grounded Anandam curriculum, and Nagaland’s incorporation of traditional practices.
• The authors identify broader conditions for scaling SEL, including sustained resources, teacher development, school leadership and autonomy, stakeholder collaboration, early introduction of SEL, and stronger approaches to assessment and evaluation.

Ahmad, S., Pillai, V., Ravindranath, S., Sinha, P., Mashhadi, S. S., & Talreja, V. (2026). Perceptions, challenges and opportunities of system-level social emotional learning interventions in India. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 7, 100171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2025.100171

Impact of schoolwide support for social and emotional learning

Key Takeaways

• The cluster-randomized study involved 28 urban elementary schools. All implemented the PATHS curriculum, while half also received monthly coaching and implementation support through the CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL (School Guide).
• Staff perceptions improved over time across all seven outcomes examined, suggesting that sustained implementation of a strong SEL program and its supports can itself contribute to organizational development.
• Schools receiving School Guide support showed faster improvement in assessing SEL needs and involving stakeholders, although these differences diminished by the final data collection.
• The additional School Guide support did not produce significant differences in SEL vision, data use, or SEL culture. Improvements in SEL integration occurred more quickly initially but did not result in a lasting significant advantage.
• Early-career educators generally took longer to perceive improvements, but School Guide support appeared to help them catch up with more experienced teachers more quickly. The findings illustrate both the potential and the complexity of changing organizational capacity through systemic SEL.

Domitrovich, C. E., Li, Y., Kendziora, K., & Greenberg, M. T. (2025). Impact of schoolwide support for social and emotional learning: The effect of the CASEL School Guide on organizational capacity for SEL and systemic SEL. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 6, 100156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2025.100156

Sustaining SEL in schools: Collective wisdom from 19 experienced principals

Key Takeaways

• Interviews with 19 elementary school principals showed that sustainability remains difficult even in a district with a long-standing commitment to SEL.
• Principals regarded SEL as essential for academic engagement, relationships, collaboration, and students’ broader success, but identified lack of time, training, resources, and consistency as recurring barriers.
• Integrating SEL into academic instruction, protecting time for SEL, broadening staff involvement, and tailoring approaches to culturally and linguistically diverse students were among the strategies principals identified for strengthening implementation.
• Principals emphasized the need for stronger pre-service and ongoing professional learning, particularly for newer teachers and special education educators, as well as attention to educators’ own social and emotional skills.
• Schools cannot sustain SEL on their own. Principals called for clearer district expectations, dedicated resources and funding, aligned materials, and continuing support that treats SEL with the same seriousness afforded to core academic subjects.

Thayer, L., Melton, H., Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., & Downer, J. T. (2026). Sustaining SEL in schools: Collective wisdom from 19 experienced principals in an SEL-intensive district. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 7, 100194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2026.100194

Implementation challenges and solutions: One suburban high school’s journey to put social emotional learning into practice

Key Takeaways

• Using improvement science and action research, the school gathered student and staff feedback to identify why its original high school SEL approach was struggling and to develop a more workable model.
• SEL shifted from a stand-alone advisory period to content-embedded instruction, with academic departments connecting specific SEL competencies to their subject areas and developing lessons through professional learning communities.
• The new model involved approximately 2,652 students and 175 teachers. Between spring 2024 and spring 2025, student survey results increased across all four SEL areas assessed, with four-percentage-point gains in self-management and social awareness.
• Students described embedded lessons as more authentic, relevant, and connected to their regular school experience. Teachers similarly reported that the approach felt more meaningful and sustainable and valued having flexibility to adapt lessons to their students and subject areas.
• The experience underscored the importance of teacher involvement, professional learning, leadership structures, adequate resources, ongoing feedback, flexibility, and partnership between schools and central offices. Rather than treating SEL as one more task, the goal was to integrate it into the way the school already teaches and works.

Sampson, D. J., Mauthé, C., & Gross, J. (2026). Implementation challenges and solutions: One suburban high school’s journey to put social emotional learning into practice. Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy, 8, 100232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sel.2026.100232

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