Want to Improve Students’ Reading? Make it Easier for Teachers to Integrate SEL

Teacher reading to students in elementary school

Key Points

A large majority of principals report substantial challenges in ensuring that teachers get training in social and emotional learning (SEL).
The data indicate that these challenges can have a big impact on students’ reading skills: Schools facing bigger barriers in teacher SEL training are less likely to outperform reading proficiency expectations (based on poverty level). The same pattern appears when teachers don’t have enough time to deliver explicit SEL instruction in their classrooms.
Together, these findings affirm the importance of teacher support for SEL implementation to bolster student outcomes.

In our first blog of this series, we emphasized the importance of integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) into academics to support student achievement. We started by inviting you to consider a student’s perspective on how SEL skills could help them navigate a new situation in science class.

Now, consider an English teacher trying to scaffold SEL skills that will help the lesson go smoothly. Ideally, they’ll select books that connect with their students’ experiences and identities as a way to promote their self- and social awareness. They might connect reading to responsible decision-making by drafting classroom agreements at their students’ reading level. Or they may share their own love of reading with their students to strengthen relationships and promote classroom engagement.

But is this enough? Are teachers getting the professional learning they need to integrate SEL? Do they have enough time to deliver explicit SEL instruction in their classrooms?

In this blog, we examine the challenges teachers face in implementing SEL and explore the relationship between these challenges and student reading achievement.

The Data We’re Using

In this second blog of the series, we draw on two school-level data sources:

A nationwide survey of 1,030 principals conducted during the 2023–2024 school year. Principals were asked to identify potential challenges their school might face in implementing SEL and rate them on a five-point scale from “not a challenge at all” to “a very big challenge.” We’re sharing two key challenges they identified: teachers not having enough training or professional learning to support students’ SEL and teachers not having enough time to teach SEL in the classroom.
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 challenge 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

First, most principals reported that teachers having enough time and training for SEL is a substantial challenge. Over a quarter of principals indicate that these are very big challenges.

Second, schools whose principals reported greater challenges in providing teachers with sufficient time and professional learning for SEL were less likely to be deemed “exceptional” in third-grade reading (by Aldeman’s classification system). To break it down:

Schools where teachers not having enough time was a higher challenge were nearly half as likely to be rated “exceptional” in this way, while
Schools where teachers not having training was a higher challenge were nearly a quarter as likely.

This means that these schools are less likely to perform above expectations based on the poverty level of the school setting.

Given what we know about the critical role that teachers play in the academic integration of SEL, this relationship shouldn’t come as a surprise. In addition to setting the tone of the learning environment, teachers instruct and model SEL directly in lessons.

These correlations also align with research on the importance of supporting teachers in SEL. For example, teaching practices grounded in SEL support more positive interactions with students as well as effective classroom management (Blewitt et al., 2020). And teachers who have training related to SEL tend to have students who score higher on measures of reading and math proficiency (compared to students of teachers who did not receive the training; Brown et al., 2023; Jennings et al., 2017; Nichols-Barrer & Haimson, 2013).

For some teachers, these practices come naturally. However, for consistent and meaningful integration of SEL in academics, teachers would benefit from time and professional learning to support the use of effective approaches.

What’s Next in This Series

We are halfway through our series! In the last two blogs, we will shift our focus to how education policy can support meaningful outcomes for students.

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 support for educators? Check Out CASEL’s professional development offerings, including:

CASEL Workshops: Sessions focus on important topics that offer new growth in your SEL journey. Visit the the CASEL Workshop page to learn about upcoming offerings, including:

The 3 Signature Practices for SEL (one virtual, facilitated, 2-hour session. Check the upcoming schedule!)
Integrating SEL With Academic Instruction (one virtual, facilitated, 2-hour session; Check the upcoming schedule!)
Cultivating SEL for Adults (self-paced learning series, on-demand)

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