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Emotional Learning Helps Academic Learning

RECENT STUDIES SHOW IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING

In a recent New York Times article, Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning and of the Special Olympics, and Roger P. Weissberg, professor of psychology and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and president of the collaborative, wrote of exciting recent studies which show that social and emotional learning programs significantly improve students’ academic performance.

“The average student enrolled in a social and emotional learning program ranks at least 10 percentile points higher on achievement tests than students who do not participate in such programs,” wrote Shriver and Weissberg. ” Such students also have better attendance, better behavior, better grades, and they like school more.

“The numbers vindicate what has long been common sense among many teachers and parents: that children who are given clear behavioral standards and social skills, allowing them to feel safe, valued, confident and challenged, will exhibit better school behavior and learn more to boot,” wrote the researchers.

We can add this to the many reasons to help children learn how to recognize and manage their emotions.

You can read more at http://www.casel.org/home/index.php