Implementing Social-Emotional Learning in the Elementary Classroom

Social-emotional learning has the power to change how educators deliver instruction across the country. For this article, social-emotional learning research and journal articles were reviewed for the purposes of identifying common themes among existing research. Multiple perspectives were considered in the review of literature and the findings were used to identify potential issues and create overall recommendations. The first author provides an example of an implementation case at her elementary school. The recommendations from this case are provided for school leaders to consider when implementing social-emotional learning in their elementary school buildings. A step-by-step action plan is laid out for school leaders to use as a guide for this process, based on the first author’s case, while taking possible issues into consideration.