Social-Skills Programs Found to Yield Gains in Academic Subjects

A forthcoming research review offers some counterintuitive advice for educators: Take time out of the curriculum to teach students to manage their emotions and to practice empathy, caring, and cooperation—and their academic achievement could improve in the bargain.

The new findings, discussed last week at a national forum here on social and emotional learning, are based on a not-yet-published analysis of 207 studies of school-based programs designed to foster children’s social and emotional skills.

“In the past, when people would say, ‘You’re taking away from academic time for these programs,’ we would say, ‘Well, it’s not going to hurt learning,’ ” said Roger P. Weissberg, the president of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning , or CASEL, the Chicago-based group that sponsored the four-year study. “What we find now is that when you have...

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Correction: 
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that New York state had mandated the teaching of social and emotional skills.

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