The Intersection of School Climate and Social and Emotional Development

Healthy schools and supportive school environments provide connection, support, engagement, and physical and emotional safety, as well as access to social capital for students. They provide caring environments and positive conditions for learning. These environments include opportunities for all students to develop the social and emotional skills needed to meet the demands of school, work, and life, as well as opportunities for all students to have voice and to contribute and be recognized for positive contributions. In addition, healthy schools connect young people to essential health, mental health, and other family services that support physical and emotional wellness (Osher, Dwyer, & Jackson, 2004). In healthy schools, children and adults have relational trust, feel connected, supported, and have the opportunity to thrive (Bryk & Schneider, 2002).

The goal of this paper is to inform an applied research and translation agenda that will support the creation of healthy, safe, nurturing, and developmentally supportive schools that support the development of students’ social and emotional competencies as one mechanism to foster optimal learning experiences and school environments. It is informed by three meetings—a practitioner meeting, a researcher meeting, and a synthesizer meeting—and a web-based Delphi survey. Discussions at the meetings focused on the intersection of school climate and SEL; gaps in existing theory and research and its translatability to practice that need to be addressed; what barriers exist to integrating climate and SEL, both with each other and with related areas; what opportunities are available to integrate or align them; and how implementation strategies and service delivery can be better aligned and improved to meet the needs of educators and students. A previous version of this paper informed the conversation at the three meetings.