What is Social Emotional Learning and Why is it Important?

Children learn best when their bellies are full, their bodies feel safe, and their minds are at peace. Social Emotional Learning means creating a classroom and school environment where kids feel the support of the adults around them, where the learning community is equitable and welcoming to all people (families and students alike) and where students have access to the emotional resources, tools and spaces they need to do the most important academic and developmental work of their young lives.

Transformative SEL is the process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being. (CASEL, 2023)  

Lynn Public Schools is committed to supporting our students and families through our SEL practices and service delivery of student support. In SY 22/23 we expanded our clinical model to provide a tiered level of support for all our students. This means that we ensure that all students at the schools receive universal support while providing increasing levels of support for learners with higher needs. At present, there is clinical support in all schools! We have 27 Clinical Supervisors and 69 Clinicians that are present and able to respond to students experiencing a range of needs. For example, clinicians may meet with students to build their social emotional regulation skills, facilitate social skill building friendship groups, attend Wellness meetings with families to address any barriers impacting student learning and attendance. This team is also committed to increasing communication and partnership with families and helping to link with community resources.

SEL is also present in our schools via our curriculum resources such as Teach Town (PreK) and Caring Schools Community (K-5th). The overall goal of these resources is to help our students become caring responsible members of their school community by:

• Building caring and belonging relationships
• Teaching social and emotional skills
• Creating learning environments that support student learning

In grades 6-12 social emotional learning is embedded into all content via SEL practices as opposed to adopting a curriculum. Research supports the benefits of SEL and students who have experienced SEL in schools have demonstrated:

• Higher academic achievement
• Improved social emotional skills
• More positive classroom behavior
• Reduced emotional problems such as depression, stress, and anxiety

Our collective mission and desire is to assist our students and families and to provide support and resources so all our students have equitable access to academic success.

If you have need to communicate with a Clinician, please feel free to contact your building Principal or feel free to reach out to me, Tina Hoofnagle, LICSW Executive Director of SEL [email protected] or 781-477-7220 ext. 3183.