Cipriano also directs the Educational collaboration at Yale, whose mission is “to advance the science of learning and social and emotional development.”
The SEL academic boost in this 2025 article is much lower than the 11 percentile points documented in a previous study. 2011 meta-analysis that summarized the research until 2007, when SEL had not yet gained widespread popularity in schools. Since then, that has changed. More than 80 percent of K-12 school principals said their schools used an SEL curriculum during the 2023-24 school year, according to a survey conducted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the RAND Corporation.
The Yale researchers only studied a small subset of the SEL market, programs that underwent rigorous evaluation and included academic outcomes. Three-quarters of the 40 studies were randomized controlled trials, similar to pharmaceutical trials, in which schools or teachers were randomly assigned to teach an SEL curriculum. The remaining studies, in which schools or teachers volunteered to participate, still had control groups of students so that researchers could compare the academic achievements of students who did not receive SEL instruction.
The SEL programs in the Yale study taught a wide range of interpersonal skills, from consciousness and anger management to resolve conflicts and set goals. It’s unclear what soft skills are driving academic gains. That is an area for future research.
“Developmentally, when we think about what we know about how children learn, emotional regulation is really the determining factor,” Cipriano said. “No matter how good that curriculum is, or that math or reading program, if a child feels insecure, anxious, stressed, frustrated or embarrassed, they are not available for instruction, no matter how good that teacher is.”
Cipriano said effective programs give students tools to cope with stressful situations. He offered the example of a pop quiz, from a student’s perspective. “You can recognize that I feel nervous, the blood rushes to my hands or face, and I can use my strategies of counting to 10, thinking about what I know and using positive self-talk to help me regulate myself so I can take my test,” she said.
The strongest evidence for SEL is found in elementary school, where the majority of assessments have been conducted (two-thirds of the 40 studies). For young learners, SEL lessons tend to be short but frequent, for example, 10 minutes a day. There is less evidence for middle and high school SEL programs because they have not been studied as much. Typically, preteens and teens have less frequent but longer sessions, lasting half an hour or even 90 minutes, weekly or monthly.
Cipriano said schools do not need to spend “hours and hours” on social and emotional instruction to see academic benefits. A current trend is to incorporate or integrate social and emotional learning into academic instruction, as part of math class, for example. But none of the studies underlying this article evaluated whether this was a more effective way to achieve SEL. All programs in this study were separate, independent SEL lessons.
Advice to schools.
Schools are inundated with sales pitches from SEL providers. Estimates of the size of the market vary wildly, but half a dozen market research firms put it above $2 billion annually. Not all SEL programs are necessarily effective nor can they be expected to produce the academic benefits that the Yale team estimated.
Cipriano advises schools not to be fooled by clever marketing. Many of the effective programs They do not have any type of marketing and some are free. Unfortunately, some of these programs have been discontinued or transformed through ownership changes. But she says school leaders can ask questions about what specific skills the SEL program is intended to foster, whether those skills will help the district achieve its goals, such as improving school climate, and whether the program has been externally evaluated.
“Districts invest all the time in flashy, pretty things, in all content areas, not just SEL,” Cipriano said. “It may have never had an external review, but it has a really great social media presence and really great marketing.”
Cipriano has also created a new website, improvingstudentoutcomes.orgto track the latest research on the effectiveness of SEL and help schools identify proven programs.
Cipriano says parents should ask questions, too. “Parents should be partners in learning,” Cipriano said. “I have four children and I want to know what they are learning in school.”
This meta-analysis probably won’t stop SEL critics who say these programs force educators to be therapists. Groups like Moms for Liberty, which celebrates its national summit This week, they say teachers should stick to academics. This article rejects that dichotomy because it suggests that emotions, social interaction, and academics are all interrelated.
Before criticizing all SEL programs, educators and parents should consider the evidence.
