Aligning SEL Skills with Academics

By Edward Montalvo —Director, Educator Network

As we process our feelings about this highly divisive presidential election, I want to acknowledge the hard work of our nation’s educators. Our number one job is serving our students; you do that every day, regardless of the challenges. That’s why we often refer to teachers as nation-builders, preparing the next generation for college, career, and whatever paths students choose in a rapidly changing world. Teaching is difficult work, and we are here to support you by providing community, fellowship, tools, and resources.?

In that spirit, we’re focusing on social and emotional learning (SEL) this week. When I was still teaching 9th and 10th grade English at PSI High in Florida, balancing SEL with academic demands felt like an ongoing challenge. Pedagogically, I knew how important it was for students to build skills beyond the textbook, but carving out separate time for SEL didn’t always fit into the packed school day. Often, what I needed wasn’t an entirely different lesson plan but the chance to seamlessly integrate SEL skills as an essential part of the academic work we were already doing.

I saw it most clearly when tackling literacy skills with my students. The demands were high, and as rigor increased, some students would start shutting down, especially as the workload intensified. I recognized and could predict this cycle well: when students lost self-confidence, they disengaged from learning.

I now know what could have helped prevent this cycle: keeping the students focused on academics, reinforcing their agency, helping them see their strengths, and guiding them to build resilience in real-time. We can do this by embedding SEL into academic moments, rather than treating it as something separate.

?? Searching for the Right SEL Resources

As a teacher, I gradually realized that using academic challenges to reinforce SEL skills helped the students tackle their struggles more confidently. Identifying their setbacks, celebrating growth, and adopting an asset-based mindset became central to my classroom management strategy. However, I still struggled to keep my students engaged because I didn’t have a framework to explicitly name and integrate those competencies within the academic content.

The CASEL Framework has long been a cornerstone in social and emotional learning. It offers educators a robust foundation for developing key SEL skills like self-awareness, self-management, and responsible decision-making. CASEL (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) has spent 30 years shaping how schools approach students' holistic development by providing clear structures for educators.

The XQ Competencies build on CASEL’s framework. These competencies are research-backed and aligned to the science of teaching and learning, seamlessly connecting SEL with cognitive and academic skills. The XQ Competencies help educators nurture students’ emotional growth alongside their cognitive and academic achievements. This intersection creates a dynamic learning environment where SEL skills are naturally embedded within the academic journey, empowering students to tackle challenges with resilience and purpose.

??Examples of Aligning SEL and Academics

To illustrate the XQ Competencies in action, let’s look at three competencies that create pathways for students to build resilience, agency, and a growth mindset alongside academic growth:

?? Self-Awareness: Understanding Strengths and Areas for Growth

• What it means: Self-awareness helps students recognize their strengths, areas for growth, and emotional responses. It includes wellness management, coping with interpersonal conflict, and understanding themselves clearly as learners and individuals.

• How to integrate it: Incorporate self-awareness in academics by encouraging students to reflect on their roles in group projects and how their strengths contribute. After presentations or assessments, have students identify their successes and improvement areas, noting how emotional responses affected their learning. This process builds resilience and prepares them for constructive feedback in future projects.

?? Self-Management: Goal-Setting and Self-Regulation

• What it means: Self-management enables students to effectively manage their emotions and behaviors, including receiving and acting on feedback, pursuing goals, and regulating their emotional responses.

• How to integrate it: Guide students to set incremental goals at each project phase, adjusting as they receive feedback from peers and their teachers. During intense tasks, prompt them to identify stress points. Share strategies for maintaining focus and for moments when students need to take mental breaks. Use reflection activities on managing their time and emotions to further strengthen their self-regulation skills, even under academic pressure.

?? Self-Directed Learning: Motivation and Wayfinding

What it means: Self-directed learning fosters intrinsic motivation, helping studentsnavigate their learning path and advocate for their needs. It emphasizes taking ownership of learning goals and finding the necessary resources.

• How to integrate it: Through regular check-ins, students can assess their progress and adjust strategies, enhancing their ability to self-advocate and set meaningful learning targets. Encourage students to choose aspects of SEL skills that resonate with them and connect with the academic standards they are focusing on. These check-ins allow more personalized learning, nurture independence, and actively connect SEL with academic growth.

By incorporating these XQ Competencies into project-based learning, educators can seamlessly align SEL with academic and cognitive standards, fostering an environment where students are encouraged to engage deeply, overcome challenges, and celebrate their growth.

?? If you’re planning to attend the SEL Exchange in Chicago this week, check out our November 13th session exploring how the XQ Competencies integrate academic, cognitive, and social-emotional capacities to fully develop the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed to prepare high school students to flourish in the future.?

At this session, you’ll apply the competencies in an activity with XQ students to develop meaningful, engaged learning experiences using the competency cards and a digital navigator tool. Hear about the research underlying this work and see the competencies in action. We hope to see you in Chicago!

Learn More

Stories about Rethinking High School

?? What is high school for? That’s the title of this recent podcast episode of Have You Heard . The episode dropped before Massachusetts voters approved a ballot measure ending a high school exit exam known as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). This episode features an interview with education historian David Labaree, who argues that high schools have never been equipped to prepare students for the jobs of the future, andpolicy-makers should stop trying to make that the schools’ focus.

?? The Center for Reinventing Public Education released The State of the American Student: Fall 2024 in September. This report analyzes how our post-pandemic system attempted to recover and highlights the challenges experienced by special student populations. Be sure to read the executive summary and the report, both of which we’ll unpack in a future Xtra.

Share With Us:

We want to hear from you! How is your school integrating SEL into academics? What have you learned from students and other educators?

Contribute your stories and insights about transforming the high school experience on social @XQAmerica using #RethinkHighSchool, and we will include them in a later edition of the Xtra.

?? Or send us a message directly at [email protected]

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