Social-Emotional Learning Helps Students Build Skills to Succeed in School and Beyond

This school year, South St. Paul Public Schools is introducing Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) for grades PreK-5 based on the CASEL-5 framework, a widely used framework for developing students’ social and emotional skills. This framework is designed to help students build the skills they need to succeed in school and navigate life’s challenges. These important skills are woven into students’ everyday learning to help them engage more fully and successfully in core subjects such as math, reading, and science.

What Is Social-Emotional Learning?

SEL goes beyond academic learning. It helps students develop skills such as self-awareness, empathy, resilience, relationship-building, and responsible decision-making. Students learn to recognize and manage their emotions, set and work toward goals, understand different perspectives, build healthy relationships, and consider how their choices affect themselves and others.

Students will develop five key areas of social-emotional learning (The CASEL-5):

• Self-Awareness: Understanding their feelings, thoughts, values, and how they affect their choices.
• Self-Management: Managing emotions, thoughts, and actions while working toward personal goals.
• Social Awareness: Understanding others’ perspectives and showing empathy and respect for differences.
• Relationship Skills: Building positive relationships and working well with others.
• Responsible Decision-Making: Making safe, thoughtful choices and considering how they affect themselves and others.

Connecting SEL and the CASEL-5 to Our Packer Values

SEL also builds on the values that guide our district and school community. Our core values connect directly to the five CASEL-5 competencies:

• Respect and Resilience → Self-Awareness and Self-Management
• Pride and Equity → Social Awareness and Relationship Skills
• Collaboration and Integrity → Responsible Decision-Making

Together, these values and skills support our mission to Engage, Educate, Empower every student.

Building Skills Students Can Use Every Day 

The skills students learn through SEL can be applied to everyday situations at school, in their afterschool activities, and carried throughout their lifetime.

Handling Frustration: SEL helps students recognize and manage frustration when things don’t go as planned. For example, when a student is struggling with a difficult math problem, they can learn to pause, take a breath, ask for help, and try a different strategy. These skills help students manage challenging emotions and stay engaged rather than becoming overwhelmed or giving up.

Solving Conflicts: Students naturally experience disagreements with classmates, and SEL gives them tools to work through those moments in a respectful way. During a group project, for example, students may practice expressing their concerns, listening to another person’s perspective, finding common ground, and working together to decide how to move forward. These experiences help students build stronger relationships and learn that conflicts can be resolved constructively.

Making Good Choices: SEL helps students slow down and think through their decisions before acting. If a student is encouraged by friends to break a school rule, for example, they can learn to pause, consider the possible consequences, and make a safe and responsible choice. Over time, students develop greater awareness of how their actions affect themselves and others and become more confident in making thoughtful decisions.

More Information and Questions

SEL is about giving students practical skills they can use every day to manage challenges, build strong relationships, make thoughtful choices, and contribute positively to their schools and communities. If you’re a parent looking for more information about Social-Emotional Learning in South St. Paul Public Schools, please contact your building administration.

SEL supports our district vision of “Nurturing an inclusive Packer community of lifelong learners.” By teaching students how to understand themselves, work with others, manage challenges, and make thoughtful decisions, SEL helps create the foundation for both inclusion and lifelong learning.