Moving Social and Emotional Learning from Research to Action

Bridging the educational achievement gap is one of Extension’s identified issue areas. The Howland Endowment has developed a three-year initiative dedicated to developing programming that enhances understanding of social and emotional learning factors and their contribution to closing the achievement and opportunity gaps. This poster explores social and emotional learning frameworks, shares research on the importance of these skills, identifies partners, and delineates strategies to move those efforts into programming. UNDERSTANDING TO ACTION: A SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL INITIATIVE Goals  To enhance and broaden understanding of the role and importance of socio-emotional factors  To build consensus through dialogue on how these factors are defined and operate  To promote assessment and actions that support their development for all youth in multiple contexts across Minnesota Strategies  Learning Events (e.g., symposia, regional forums, webinars)  Learning Communities  Working Groups (e.g., Generation Next’s 6th Goal, Out-of-School SEL Outcomes, 4-H SEL Outcomes)  Developing Resources (e.g., issue briefs, blogs, web site)  Engaging Youth  Gathering Information Partners  Extension Center for Youth Development  Youthprise  Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement  Extension Center for Family Development  Department of Family Social Science KEY RESEARCH & FRAMEWORKS Social & Emotional Learning Core Competencies Three Broad Domains of “21st Century Skills” How Non-Cognitive Factors Affect Academic Performance SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL LEARNING What it is: A process through which young people enhance their ability to integrate thinking, feeling, and behaving to achieve important life tasks:  Recognize and manage emotions  Care about others  Make good decisions  Behave ethically and responsibly  Develop positive relationships  Avoid negative behaviors Why it matters: These attitudes, behaviors, and skills affect:  Whether youth see the point to learning (e.g., hope)  What youth bring to learning (e.g., mindset)  What youth do while learning (e.g., self-control, teamwork)  Whether youth persist in learning (e.g., grit) Source: Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Source: National Research Council’s 2012 report, Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century Source: : University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research’s 2012 report, Teaching Adolescents To Become Learners :The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance Source: Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL)