Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an educational framework that helps students manage emotions, build relationships, and make responsible decisions. It fosters emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, contributing to academic success and a positive classroom environment. Despite strong evidence supporting its benefits, many schools remain hesitant to implement social and emotional learning programs. Teachers play a vital role in SEL by modeling empathy, resilience, and effective communication, which shapes how students interact and respond to challenges. Traditional curricula often lack focus on social and emotional learning, which can negatively affect students’ mental health and academic performance. This inquiry-based research explores the effective implementation of social and emotional learning programs in upper elementary classrooms. Based on a literature review on social and emotional learning program’s impact on students, paper and pencil surveys were distributed to fourth-grade students and teachers at a rural, public school in Iowa. Analysis of the responses demonstrated that social and emotional learning programs have positively impact on students’ social and emotional well-being. Respondents acknowledged time constraints, student buy-in, differing student needs, and the need for professional development and collaboration to effectively implement social and emotional learning programs in their classrooms. On this basis, it is recommended that school properly train and support teachers to utilize social and emotional learning programs as a key factor in promoting students’ academic achievement, emotional well-being, positive behavior, and the development of essential life skills. Further research is needed to evaluate specific strategies, implementation models, and long-term outcomes of social and emotional learning programs over diverse educational settings and student populations.
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Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an educational framework that helps students manage emotions, build relationships, and make responsible decisions. It fosters emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, contributing to academic success and a positive classroom environment. Despite strong evidence supporting its benefits, many schools remain hesitant to implement social and emotional learning programs. Teachers play a vital role in SEL by modeling empathy, resilience, and effective communication, which shapes how students interact and respond to challenges. Traditional curricula often lack focus on social and emotional learning, which can negatively affect students’ mental health and academic performance. This inquiry-based research explores the effective implementation of social and emotional learning programs in upper elementary classrooms. Based on a literature review on social and emotional learning program’s impact on students, paper and pencil surveys were distributed to fourth-grade students and teachers at a rural, public school in Iowa. Analysis of the responses demonstrated that social and emotional learning programs have positively impact on students’ social and emotional well-being. Respondents acknowledged time constraints, student buy-in, differing student needs, and the need for professional development and collaboration to effectively implement social and emotional learning programs in their classrooms. On this basis, it is recommended that school properly train and support teachers to utilize social and emotional learning programs as a key factor in promoting students’ academic achievement, emotional well-being, positive behavior, and the development of essential life skills. Further research is needed to evaluate specific strategies, implementation models, and long-term outcomes of social and emotional learning programs over diverse educational settings and student populations.