Supporting evidence-based SEL programs: What state policymakers can do

This latest issue brief from Penn State’s Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center looks at the ways in which policymakers are in a unique position to support social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools.

State policymakers, specifically, can advocate for the local selection and implementation of high-quality, evidence-based SEL programs and create conditions that support these SEL programs across their states. The 2022 CASEL State Scan found that 27 states now have competencies for SEL and 44 offer guidance to support SEL implementation.

While this brief is written specifically for state policymakers, all policymakers – at the federal, state, and local levels – can benefit from these recommendations. In the sections below, the co-authors provide an overview of the CASEL Program Guide’s selection of high-quality, evidence-based SEL programs. They illustrate how state policymakers currently support these programs with attention to equity, quality implementation, and systemic integration. In addition, they share a few examples based on what they have observed in CASEL’s CSI. The co-authors conclude with recommendations for what state policymakers can do going forward.

Read the entire issue brief

• CASEL Program Guide
  CASEL

• What Works Clearinghouse
  U.S. Department of Education

• CASEL District Resource Center
  National Children's Alliance

• CASEL Interactive Map
  CASEL

• 2022 State Scan
  CASEL

• NIRN Hexagon Tool
  Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina

• Key Features of High-Quality Policies and Guidelines to Support Social and Emotional Learning
  CASEL

• State Theory of Action: Systemic Social and Emotional Learning for States
  CASEL

• Recommended Process for Developing State Policies and Guidelines to Support Social and Emotional Learning
  CASEL

• Navigating SEL From the Inside Out
  The Wallace Foundation