We know success in school and life depends on more than academic ability alone. Research shows social-emotional skills have a significant impact on students' academic performance and persistence in school, as well as their lifelong health, wealth, and well-being.
The exSEL Network—and its partners the Rennie Center and Transforming Education—work together to gain critical insight on how to support the development of social-emotional skills through changes in policy and practice at the district, school, and classroom levels. Participants are increasing their understanding of the content and importance of SEL, building their capacity to use actionable data to assess and guide the development of students’ social-emotional skills, and becoming part of a community where educators can learn from one another and support each other’s systemic and practice shifts. Districts have the option to engage in deeper data analysis work, using existing academic and behavioral indicators to guide their SEL efforts while developing new and effective strategies for tracking and measuring student progress.
The exSEL Network launched in 2017 and has worked with more than 30 districts across multiple cohorts. The project is led by the exSEL Coalition—whose members include the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, Massachusetts Organization of Educational Collaboratives, and Massachusetts School Administrators Association— along with the Rennie Center and Transforming Education.
