Key Points
Back to top- As part of National SEL Week 2026, CASEL hosted a congressional briefing on the topic of how social and emotional skills serve as a foundation for students’ future readiness.
- Our panel of experts included Lillian Pace (Knowledgeworks), Dr. Rista Plate (CASEL), Tim Taylor (America Succeeds), and Chelle Travis (Skills USA).
- This blog post offers highlights of their discussion.
National SEL Week 2026 began with a trip to the Hill, where CASEL staff visited the offices of 25 senators and representatives to discuss the importance of social and emotional learning. During that visit, we were joined on the Hill by a panel of experts for a congressional briefing that addressed how social and emotional skills serve as a foundation for students’ future readiness.
After an opening address and introduction from CASEL board member Melissa Johnston and Director of Policy Asher Miller (CASEL), we heard powerful reflections from our panelists, Lillian Pace (Knowledgeworks), Dr. Rista Plate (CASEL), Tim Taylor (America Succeeds), and Chelle Travis (Skills USA).
Here are some of the highlights from that panel.
Lillian Pace (Knowledgeworks)
Back to top“We need to think about the content knowledge that these students need to know in order to be relevant for those jobs that we don’t yet know are going to be there two years from now. This means it’s going to take an incredible partnership with our employers and our community partners and our post-secondary institutions alongside K-12 education to say, What is changing rapidly right now?”
“In this country, we talk about designing personalized and competency-based education systems. What that means is that we need systems that are more relevant and engaging and customized to learners’ interests. We also want to make sure that we are focusing on student mastery.”
Dr. Rista Plate (CASEL)
Back to top“These foundational [social and emotional] skills are the skills of learning. They are the skills that help students acquire content knowledge. In addition, they are the skills of flexibility and adaptability and critical thinking that are also essential in the workplace. So it’s not an either or either developing the academic or technical skills, or developing the social and emotional learning skills or competencies. It’s the social and emotional skills and competencies that support academic learning as well as a host of other important competencies.”
“There’s research that followed children longitudinally over time. They show that students whose teachers rated them as proficient as high in social and emotional competencies had higher rates of graduation and higher rates of full-time employment. Another study that came out just this past year showed that students involved in a social emotional learning program were 23 percent more likely to graduate from high school than those who were not involved. … What that means is that students who who develop those skills, particularly in self-control and self-management, have a host of positive outcomes in adulthood, from finances to health to social behavior, and lower criminal offending.
Tim Taylor (America Succeeds)
Back to top“Durable skills represent eight of the top 10 most in-demand skills across every job in the U.S. And when you move from job to job across the course of your career, oftentimes you will not bring your technical skills with you from one job to the next, but you will bring 100 percent of your durable skills with you for job to job and. … The more often you are thinking critically, collaborating, and communicating, the higher your salary will be. This is so important for young people today.”
“Sixty percent of employers have fired a Gen Z student within their first two months of work because of a lack of durable skills. An employer will help train technical skills when you show up. They don’t expect you to know every technical skill, but they’re not going to spend a lot of time training you up on your durable skills.”
Chelle Travis (Skills USA)
Back to top“I was on a panel much like this not long ago where one of the panelists said, More often than not, I’m hiring students or entry-level employees for technical skills, but I’m firing for soft skills. … Future readiness is not just about what our students know, but it’s who they are becoming and how they show up in our workplace and our communities that is so important.”
“We know that technical proficiency, while important, is not enough, and that is what employers tell us every day. They consistently tell us that they need graduates that can communicate clearly, solve problems, collaboratively demonstrate integrity and the ability to manage conflict and adapt to change. Those are the foundational skills that they’re looking for every day.”
Thank you to all these panelists for their insights. Learn more about National SEL Week 2026.
The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.
Related Posts
- Looking Back on National SEL Week 2026: Skills for Community, Skills for Career
- National SEL Week 2026: Students Speak Up!
- Highlights and Insights From the 2026 Exchange
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