Student Well-Being From Our Research Center

Survey: Student Success Calls for More Than Academic Skills

By Evie Blad — June 09, 2015 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A majority of educators responding to an Education Week Research Center poll said social-emotional learning is an effective way to improve student achievement, reduce discipline problems, and improve school climate. But there are some telling gaps in perception between teachers and administrators.

Of the responding administrators, 60.5 percent said more than half of their school’s students have strong social and emotional skills. Of responding teachers, 46.5 percent said the majority of students at their schools have such skills.

Administrators also had a rosier view of their school’s climate, student behavior, and engagement and motivation than teachers, the survey shows.

See Also

“Urban Districts Embrace Social-Emotional Learning”

Leaders of districtwide social-emotional-learning initiatives say those gaps in perception are a major challenge to the success of such efforts.

The eight large districts that have worked with the Chicago-based Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning to launch districtwide, comprehensive social-emotional-learning plans try to get principals, teachers, and other school staff on board by holding regular meetings, administering teacher surveys, and working with outside evaluators to gauge whether the programs are being implemented consistently across all schools.

The survey asked about a broad range of topics related to social-emotional-learning strategies and programs, school climate, and student engagement.

The Education Week Research Center administered the survey in April to a random sample of edweek.org registrants who had previously identified themselves as classroom teachers, instructional specialists, or school-based administrators.

Of 709 total survey responses, 562 qualified for inclusion in the study based on self-identification as a teacher or school-based administrator. Educators who do not work at the school level were excluded from the analysis.

The center did not use weighted adjustments to account for geography, respondent characteristics, or school factors.

Of all respondents, 49.9 percent said their school pays “about the right amount of attention” to social and emotional learning, 48.2 percent said their school pays “too little attention,” and 1.9 percent said their school pays “too much attention.”

Coverage of school climate and student behavior and engagement is supported in part by grants from the Atlantic Philanthropies, the NoVo Foundation, the Raikes Foundation, and the California Endowment. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
A version of this article appeared in the June 10, 2015 edition of Education Week as Survey: Students Need More Than Academic Prowess

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Student Well-Being How Teaching Kids 'Digital Agency' Can Make Social Media a Positive Place for Them
Digital agency includes a set of skills educators can teach to help students avoid social media "thinking traps."
4 min read
Vector illustration concept of 3 students and a cell phone being unplugged from the internet.
iStock/Getty
Student Well-Being The News Media Can Be Especially Depressing for LGBTQ+ Students
From Nex Benedict's death to transgender athlete bills, educators must understand the ripple effects of these events, experts say.
7 min read
Two people stand in front of a window. One person supports the other.
iStock/Getty Images
Student Well-Being Opinion Has Spirit Week Lost Its Sparkle? Here’s What Research Says Schools Can Do About It
How research explains why special events can lose their luster as well as how educators can change that trajectory.
Tali Sharot
1 min read
Images shows a stylized artistic landscape with soothing colors.
Getty
Student Well-Being Weight-Loss Drugs Are the Talk of Social Media, and Teens Are Listening
Weight-loss drugs' popularity are feeding into the concerns that teenagers, particularly girls, have long had about body image.
5 min read
This image provided by Novo Nordisk in January 2023, shows packaging for the company's Wegovy medication. The popular weight-loss drug, which has helped millions of Americans shed pounds, can now be used to reduce the risk of stroke, heart attacks and other serious cardiovascular problems in patients who are overweight or who have obesity, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday, March 8, 2024.
The federal Food and Drug Administration in December 2022 approved Wegovy, an obesity treatment, for children as young as 12. Weight-loss drugs have been a popular topic of conversation on social media and teens have been paying attention, feeding into concerns <ins data-user-label="Matt Stone" data-time="03/18/2024 9:57:35 AM" data-user-id="00000185-c5a3-d6ff-a38d-d7a32f6d0001" data-target-id="">that </ins>adolescents, particularly girls, have long had about body image.
Novo Nordisk via AP