“I’m not a math person.” “I’m not a writer.” “I’m not a science kid.” We tell ourselves stories like these all the time, and those stories can hold us back. In this eSchool News piece, Colorado teacher Lauren McKinney shares how she helps students rewrite that story. She treats mistakes as part of learning, invites curiosity before expecting the right answer, and helps students build the confidence to say exactly what confuses them. Her classroom is science, but the lesson applies to every subject. When students feel they belong, they’re more willing to take risks, ask questions, and keep trying. Read more: bit.ly/4dTX1oN

If we’re never failing, it means we’re not stretching ourselves. Failure is a normal part of life, but helping children understand and accept this is not always easy. We can help by forging strong relationships with them and building an open, caring culture that normalizes failure as part of learning, puts trauma in context, encourages civic engagement, and gives students chances to express themselves. Read this K-12 Dive article on why strong relationships are critical to building student resilience: bit.ly/47uCYtp #RelationshipsFirst #SEL

Our CEO Josh Starr wrote a piece for @The74 this week. His question: is chronic absenteeism our students' version of "quiet quitting?" And if so, what are schools doing to re-engage those kids who are checking out?

Let CASEL help you build the classroom culture you want. CASEL's new self-paced virtual course, Belonging & Engagement in the Classroom, gives teachers concrete strategies for building a classroom where students feel like they belong, because that's what makes curiosity, and eventually learning, possible. Think of it as SEL 101: the foundational piece before everything else clicks into place. Watch this short clip of CASEL board member Marc Brackett for a preview of what you can expect, then sign up to take the first step to creating a classroom environment where learners can grow and thrive. bit.ly/4jPEy0h.. #SEL #TeacherPD #ClassroomCulture #CASEL

Midterm elections can evoke strong emotions. With Election Day on Tuesday, young people and adults alike may experience a range of emotions that can overflow into the classroom and the workplace. To offer support to students, school staff, and community members as they navigate their feelings this week, we've collected resources and guidance you can employ to ensure your learning community remains a safe, nurturing, and positive space. bit.ly/4ebGoVz

Look who's working hard to help advance SEL! Join us in welcoming Marissa Lane to our new cohort of SEL Fellows.

We're thrilled to announce the keynote speaker for the 2027 SEL Exchange — Dr. Christina Cipriano! As we dive into belonging and engagement in schools, Dr. Cipriano will ask, "What if what we call 'belonging' isn't unambiguously good for all students?" Her talk will trace the legacy of SEL forward to the latest evidence of its effectiveness, chart the science of belonging to the present moment, and invite the SEL field in to build a future where all students are seen, served, and safe to learn in school. Don't miss it! Register now: bit.ly/4iLRseB

On Halloween, we can be anyone we want to be. A superhero, a scientist, a friendly ghost! 🎃 But every other day of the year, we want students to know they can show up as themselves and still belong. When schools build a culture where every student feels seen and valued, students are free to be exactly who they are. Happy Halloween from all of us at CASEL!

We have a new blog written by Sreehari Ravindranath and Suchetha Bhat of Dream a Dream. They look at evidence from two statewide programs in India, Delhi’s Happiness Curriculum and Uttarakhand’s Anandam Pathyacharya, and explore what happens when SEL reaches scale. Their takeaway: the conditions schools create, like trust, safety, and belonging, matter as much as the curriculum itself. Read “What Changes When Social and Emotional Learning Reaches Scale?” here: bit.ly/4jukpwC

🏫 Looking for what moves the needle on student attendance? Check out the 2026 Attendance Playbook by @FutureEdGU and @attendanceworks, which highlights more than 30 evidence-based strategies to tackle absenteeism. The Playbook covers every level of support, from schoolwide prevention to intensive help for students who need it most. It emphasizes the importance of supportive school climates and strengthening students’ relationships with each other and trusted adults and includes new sections on the essential features of successful attendance efforts, early childhood education, and schoolwide social and emotional supports. #AttendancePlaybook 👉 Dig in and find approaches that best fit your community: future-ed.org/attendance-pla…

Look who's working hard to help advance SEL! Join us in welcoming Alessia Garcia to our new cohort of SEL Fellows.

Choosing the right SEL program for your school or district is...exhausting. That's why CASEL has done the hard part for you! bit.ly/4zSqHen Our Program Guide has added 11 new programs to our FREE catalog of 100+ high-quality, evidence-based, effective SEL programs that we've maintained since 2003. Take a look inside!

This K-12 Dive article provides an update on where states stand in efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism. The article compares the progress of states participating in the 50% Challenge, an initiative launched by Attendance Works, EdTrust and Nat Malkus with AEI, with those that are not. States participating in the 50% Challenge have reduced their chronic absenteeism rates by an average of 5.7% from baseline between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, while the 29 states not participating have seen a lower average reduction of 3.2% within the same period. Read the article for a more in-depth overview: bit.ly/3U2NgxO #ChronicAbsenteeism

Look who's working hard to help advance SEL! Join us in welcoming Allison Freitag to our new cohort of SEL Fellows.

🎉 We have a brand-new quarterly publication that we’re pretty excited about: Data-Driven: A Research Quarterly for Education Leaders. We created it specifically for educators. Each issue takes new research findings and explains what they mean for your classroom and your school. It’s written for teachers, principals, counselors, and all the adults in a school community. Education research that educators can actually use. bit.ly/4Bjyy6j Our first issue is all about #attendance. Subscribe now and read the first issue FOR FREE!

The way this Philadelphia program brings agencies together to support the whole child is what we need more of. The program, Handle With Care, lets police officers send a note to the school district when they encounter a child while responding to a call. The officer shares only the child’s name, with no specific details. The district then identifies the student’s school and alerts school staff that the student may need extra care and attention. Read more in this Chalkbeat Philadelphia article: bit.ly/4zJKhte #WholeChild #SEL

It's BAAACK! The SEL Exchange is returning in February, and we're focused on one topic — belonging and engagement in ACTION! Registration is now open! Check out what we have planned: bit.ly/3DD4gPn

Look who's working hard to help advance SEL! Join us in welcoming Shawn Fortin to our new cohort of SEL Fellows.

CASEL is proud to introduce Data-Driven: A Research Quarterly for Education Leaders. casel.org/quarterly/fall26/ Data-Driven is for every day educators who hear about new findings by education researchers and ask, "Now what? How does this impact what happens in my school?" This quarterly newsletter translates what's new in research and makes it tangible for teachers, principals, counselors, and all the adults in a school community. It's education research that educators can use. Subscribe now and read our first issue on attendance FOR FREE!

It always comes back to relationships. A new study from Equal Opportunity Schools and the Center for Trust and Transformation looked at 1.8 million student records across more than 1,400 schools. The finding: students who have a trusted adult at school are 10 to 20% more likely to take advanced coursework, and they tend to have slightly higher GPAs too. Teachers topped the list of who students named as that trusted adult, followed by counselors, coaches, school leaders, and office and custodial staff. Read more about the study in this K-12 Dive article: k12dive.com/news/trusting-re… What's one way your school or district is working to make sure every student has that adult in their corner? #SEL #K12Education #SchoolClimate