Project report
Evidence for Social and Emotional Learning in Schools
Mark T. Greenberg ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This report reviews findings from 12 meta-analyses of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs in schools serving PreK-12th grade students. SEL programs aim to help children develop social and emotional capacities needed to navigate the world. The review found consistent positive effects of evidence-based SEL programs across multiple outcomes including improved social and emotional skills, better academic performance, increased positive behaviors, and reduced behavior problems and psychological distress. Benefits were found to be consistent across different demographic groups.
Key points
- Evidence-based SEL programs show consistent, reliable positive effects on students' social, emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes
- SEL programs improve social and emotional skills development
- Students in SEL programs show improved academic engagement and performance
- SEL programs are associated with growth in positive social behaviors
- Benefits of SEL programs are consistent across gender, ethnicity, race, income, and other demographic variables
Limitations
This is a review of meta-analyses rather than original research, so it cannot detail specific implementation approaches or identify which SEL program components are most effective. The document does not specify which countries or regions the reviewed studies covered.
Abstract
There is a consensus among educators, parents, and policymakers that education should include a focus on supporting essential social and emotional capacities to help children navigate the world successfully. To develop these competencies, many schools adopt social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. The report on which this brief is based reviews the findings from 12 meta-analyses of school-based SEL programs. Across these studies, there is a consistent, reliable effect of tested, evidence-based SEL programs on students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes in PreK–12th grade, including the development of social and emotional skills, improved academic engagement and performance, growth of positive social behaviors, and lower rates of behavior problems and psychological distress. These findings are applicable across gender, ethnicity and race, income, and other demographic variables.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- School-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs
- Population
- PreK-12th grade students across multiple demographic groups
Key finding
Consistent, reliable positive effect on students' social and emotional skills