Would you agree that children are better off when they have the skills they need to interact effectively with others, form positive relationships, and participate successfully in school and life? These are social-emotional skills, and the process of acquiring them is called social and emotional learning, or S.E.L.
While students’ emotional well-being and social skills has always been on educators’ radar, a shift in recent years has witnessed a stronger focus on S.E.L. in the classroom. Researchers have come to understand the connections between academic performance and S.E.L., as well as the importance of attending to the many facets of student learning experiences in an effort to educate the whole child.
Researchers have found that instruction in S.E.L. is as critical to development and school success as academic instruction. For example, in a pivotal study of SEL programs across K–12 settings, a study in 2017 found that students who received social and emotional instruction and support programs gained 13 percentile points in academic performance, social skills, behavioral skills, and attitudes over students who did not receive these programs.
At Project Pneuma, S.E.L. is part of our core-programming, equipping our boys with the tools for a life-long journey in terms of developing impulse control, building respectful relationships, developing our principles, values, and reaching their full potential as human beings.
P.S. Project Pneuma is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
