Recent years have seen a rapid expansion of efforts to promote social and emotional learning (SEL) in the nation's schools. As some observers have pointed out, though, the growth of the SEL movement poses some challenges. In particular, concerns have been raised about the need for clearer definitions of SEL, less hype, more attention to equity,…

Critics and supporters have expressed concern that social-emotional learning (SEL) has not been adapted to children suffering from trauma. While SEL has been identified as a mechanism through which trauma-informed schools can be created, this does not make SEL implementation, in and of itself, trauma-informed. Erica Pawlo, Ava Lorenzo, Brian…

Despite the enthusiasm around social-emotional learning, the vast number of skills, dispositions, and attitudes we hope to infuse into students will overwhelm even the most ambitious schools. However, a single core capacity underlies a great many social-emotional learning outcomes: social perspective taking. Recent research on this process of…

Many kindergarten teachers have encountered children who enter school lacking the ability to control their behavior, but they may not understand the social and biological processes behind these children's disruptive behavior. The author reviews research into early childhood brain development to explain how trauma and chronic stress can make it…

Many schools and out-of-school organizations use social-emotional learning (SEL) programs to boost students' skills. Yet research shows that these programs can be difficult to implement and don't always meet students' needs. In response, Rebecca Bailey, Laura Stickle, Gretchen Brion-Meisels, and Stephanie Jones propose a new approach to SEL…