Social and Emotional Learning in Massachusetts

Sign-up to receive the DESE Holistic support and enrichment, SEL, health and safety newsletter and/or information about opportunities to strengthen comprehensive school mental health efforts

This website is an introduction to Social and Emotional Learning in Massachusetts Public Schools. The Department commonly uses the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL's), definition of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions…It can help all young people and adults thrive personally and academically, develop and maintain positive relationships, become lifelong learners, and contribute to a more caring, just world. There are a range of other definitions for Social and Emotional Learning that are also viable.

Holistic Supports and Enrichment: Strengthening Social Emotional Competencies, Health & Safety are goals woven throughout the Department's five core strategies and the Commissioner's Our Way Forward 2019 report. Furthermore, Cultivating Safe and Healthy Learning Environments can help facilitate social emotional learning and is included in Commissioner Riley's Fiscal Year 2023 goals .

Several years ago (2016), the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) held a special meeting on Social and Emotional Learning to provide an opportunity for members to hear a number of key ideas, information, and examples from experts in research, policy, and practice, and have the opportunity to discuss the topic of SEL. More recently (September 2022) the Board heard a presentation about supporting students' mental health and wellness , which included discussion with representatives from two districts using Social Emotional Learning (SEL) & Mental Health Grant funding to support promising practices and challenges they continue to face during this school year.

This website includes information about the following topics. For more information about any of these resources, email achievement@mass.gov .

SEL website sections

• Expand All Sections

• SEL Definitions and Approaches
  • Five Core Competencies of SEL, with examples noted
  • SEL & Equity
  • Four Approaches to SEL Instruction
  • Developing SEL Competencies — a tiered approach
• National Commission on Social, Emotional, & Academic Development
• CASEL's Collaborating States Initiative
• Examples of Department Guidance Documents, Resources, and PD

SEL Definitions and Approaches

Four Strategies that help Strengthen Social and Emotional Competencies

CASEL has identified four general approaches to SEL instruction in schools and other learning environments:

• Free-standing lessons that provide explicit, step-by step instructions to teach students social and emotional competencies across the five core competency clusters;
• General teaching practices that create classroom and school-wide conditions that facilitate and support social and emotional development in students;
• Integration of skill instruction and practices that support SEL within the context of an academic curriculum; and
• Guidance to administrators and school leaders on how to facilitate SEL as a school-wide initiative.

Last Updated: August 23, 2024