The Missing Piece - Civic Enterprises

Survey Findings 1Figure 6 The relational benefits to teaching social and emotional skills are readily apparent; academic benefitsare seen as likely.Teaching social and emotional skills in schools:Will improve relationships betweenteachers and studentsThis is definitely trueThis is probably trueThis isnot true59% 35% 5% 1%Not sure30%Will improve relationships among studentsand reduce bullying57% 36%5%2%26%Will improve students’ academic performance,such as increasing standardized test scores7%36%41% 18%5%of teachers (77 percent) think social andemotional skills will improve students’academic performance (Figure 6).Teachers in high-poverty schools (schoolswith 60 percent or more students inthe free/reduced-price lunch program)are even more likely to endorse SELthan their peers in higher resourcedcommunities (Figure 7). They are morelikely to report social and emotional skillswill improve student-teacher relationships(63 percent versus 44 percent), reducebullying (61 percent versus 51 percent),and improve students’ academicperformance (42 percent versus 27percent). Furthermore, only 8 percent ofteachers believe that social and emotionalskills should be taught to only studentswith social and emotional problems. Theresearch base is beginning to explicitlyshow the positive effects of SEL forstudents in low-income communities. Forexample, students participating in socialand emotional intervention programsin high-poverty urban high schoolswere found to have improved social,behavioral, emotional, and academicadjustment, including higher grade pointaverages, compared to those studentsnot participating in the program. 46 Somenational education organizations thatserve these populations are embeddingSEL into their programming. 4718 The Missing Piece