Desrrollo Humano

Promoting Social and Emotional
Development Is an Essential Part of
Students’ Education
Joseph A. Durlak a Roger P. Weissberg b
a Loyola University Chicago and b Collaborative for Academic, Socialand Emotional
Learning, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Ill. , USA
The disappointing educational outcomes achieved in many of our nation’s
schools have been the focus of muchattention, but usually from a negative perspective.
That is, some point the finger at students who do not seem motivated and do
not put in enough effort, others blame teachers for not getting the most out oftheir
students, and others criticize parents for their lack of involvement and support.
Sometimes, school leaders decry ever-changing state and federal policies and standards
that impede anyconsistency or innovation in pedagogical curricula. Still others
point to taxpayers’ frequent failure to back proposals for adequate and equitable
school funding. Yet, the focus on problems and who’s toblame for them has failed to
solve the current predicament that too many students either do not graduate, or finish
school unprepared for becoming successful adult citizens. Here we describefindings
from a large-scale research review that concludes that promoting students’ social
and emotional development can have broad implications for student learning,
achievement and behavior [Durlak,Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger,
2011].
We examined the outcomes that were obtained by 213 controlled published and
unpublished outcome studies that involved over 270,000 students. Eachstudy evaluated
a social and emotional learning (SEL) program and compared the outcomes to
students participating in these programs to those in control groups. SEL is defined
as the process ofacquiring the skills to recognize and manage emotions, set and
achieve positive goals, appreciate the perspectives of others, establish and maintain
positive relationships, make responsible decisions,...