Teachers, staff, student service providers and administration are each important components in making SEL work effectively in schools that adopt SEL. In harmony, they work as a team to build a school culture that ideally turns out students who are thoughtful and compassionate problem-solvers.

Still, In their everyday teaching of subject matter, teachers have the most impact on students.  And embedding SEL in different subject matter is challenging if exciting.

It is significant that so many teachers say they have a thankless job, filled with requirements that they do not have the time to meet. This is a meaningful barrier to SEL adoption which, effectively taught, actually helps to reduce stress because it makes the classroom experience easier and more effective. Teachers who are trained in SEL universally give it high marks for making their work and lives easier, north of 80% satisfaction.

Cleveland, which for two years has had an SEL program from K-5, did a survey of teachers at the end of the school year and 86% of them said that classroom behavior and overall environment improved as a result of the program.

These results are replicated across the country when SEL is prioritized in a comprehensive way in schools.  Why so? As  Maurice Eilas, director of the Social-Emotional Learning Lab at Rutgers University, puts it:  The “most important consideration is to create positive feelings and optimism about school. This has many practical implications for both educators and parents.”

Our Alliance encourages teacher membership and urges teachers to become advocates for it.  Below is a guide to how to best to advocate, along with some helpful resources.