New Data: Academic Performance and Social & Emotional Learning

Key Points

• When social and emotional learning (SEL) is thoughtfully integrated into academic instruction, it can transform students’ everyday learning experiences, positively impacting their academic success in addition to their social and emotional development
• Through academic integration, SEL is not just “one more thing,” as educators promote students’ SEL skills through academic tasks such as engaging in discussion, persisting through complex problems, reflecting on learning strategies, and working collaboratively.
• The first blog in this series shows that academic integration is related to third-grade reading proficiency.

Imagine a sixth grader in science class dissecting a frog for the first time. The teacher has paired them with someone they haven’t worked with before. They’re learning science, yes, but what else? While working with their lab partner, they’re practicing relationship skills as they communicate about taking turns, the best next step, and note-taking. They might be managing their own feelings about dissection or may be showing compassion if their partner is feeling a bit squeamish. With sharp tools in play, they’re likely making responsible decisions about how to use them. 

This example shows how, in what seems like a classic science lesson, opportunities to model, teach, develop, and employ social and emotional skills abound. When SEL is thoughtfully integrated into academic instruction, it can transform students’ everyday learning experiences, positively impacting their academic success in addition to their social and emotional development (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2021; Schwartz et al., 2023). (For more information and examples of academic integration, see CASEL’s Innovations Series on Academic Integration and School Guide, or register for our live virtual workshop on Integrating SEL with Academic Integration.)

Over a series of four blogs, we’ll be examining the relationship between academic integration and academic outcomes in schools across the country using publicly available data. In this first blog, we’re excited to share new insights we’ve gleaned from recently collected data about how schools’ efforts to weave SEL into academic instruction connect to students’ reading outcomes. As you’ll see, these findings suggest that schools that undertake this kind of integration of SEL and academic instruction are outperforming expectations on reading outcomes, even when factoring in economic conditions that often predict these outcomes.

The Data We’re Using

For this first blog, we drew on two school-level data sources:

• A nationwide survey of 1,030 principals conducted during the 2023–2024 school year. Principals were asked the extent to which they used or plan to use “SEL approaches in core content area classes to support students’ academic success”—in other words, whether or not their teachers are integrating SEL and academic instruction.
  
• Grade 3 reading proficiency data from schools across the country compiled and generously shared by Chad Aldeman of The 74 from his piece, “These Schools Are Beating the Odds in Teaching Kids to Read.”

We examined the relationship between principals’ reports of academic integration and Grade 3 reading proficiency in the 470 schools that overlapped between the datasets. Because a number of other factors may influence achievement, we controlled for school size, location (e.g., urban, suburban, rural), whether a majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and whether a majority of students are white.

What We Found

Schools whose principals reported higher levels of academic integration had higher percentages of students scoring at or above proficiency in third-grade reading.

In fact, these schools were more than 1.5 times as likely to be deemed “exceptional” by Aldeman’s classification system, meaning they are more likely to perform above expectations based on the poverty level of the school setting.

It’s important to note that we’re looking at a relationship, and from these data alone, we can’t infer that SEL was the cause (or only cause). That’s why it is really important to connect this finding to other research. CASEL’s own Program Guide can help!

CASEL’s Program Guide is a collection of SEL programs that have rigorous research evidence that the program influencedchanges in student experiences and outcomes. Each program in the Program Guide has been reviewed by CASEL’s research and implementation team for the quality of research evidence and design. Through this process, we’ve identified that 11 of the 99 programs in the Guide include a robust academic integration approach. These programs produce a range of positive outcomes, including:

• Improved social behaviors
• Improved SEL skills and attitudes
• Improved academic performance
• Improved school climate
• Improved identity development and agency
• Improved teaching practices
• Improved school connectedness
• Reduced problem behaviors

Importantly, all of these outcomes are in studies using the highest-standard research approaches—randomized control trials or quasi-experimental designs—so that we can infer that the program impacted these changes for students.

What This Could Mean—and What We Still Need to Know

When our new results are viewed alongside evidence from the Program Guide, they help build a growing picture of the relationship between academic integration and student outcomes (and in this case, specifically reading proficiency). But many questions remain unanswered.

We need deeper insight into the mechanisms: WHY and HOW does academic integration influence outcomes? We also need disaggregated analyses to understand how these practices affect students from different backgrounds, including students with learning differences.

This initial analysis is just a starting point.

What’s Next in This Series

In the next few months, we will dig into a range of datasets, conducting analyses to better understand the big picture of academic integration and student outcomes. Our aim is to be curious, creative, and rigorous—using available data to illuminate patterns while also identifying gaps where new research is needed.

Together, these explorations will help us move closer to understanding how integrating SEL into instruction can meaningfully shape students’ learning experiences—and their futures.

This work is made possible through the generous support of the Stone Foundation.

Want to Strengthen Academic Integration in Your Context? Check Out CASEL’s virtual workshop, Integrating SEL with Academic Instruction and the new self-paced series Cultivating Adult Social and Emotional Learning.

Related Posts

• Programming Trends: Integrating Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Academics
• 2024 SEL Exchange Sneak Peek: Powerful Ways to Integrate SEL With Academics
• What Strategies Can We Use to Integrate SEL and Academic Learning?

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