By Tommy Wells & Amy Auletto
Extensive research exists on students’ social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. SEL helps students develop healthy identities, regulate their emotions, and build supportive relationships. While much is known about the importance and impact of SEL for students, less research exists on educators’ SEL skills and how these skills relate to student academic achievement.
This report examines educators’ SEL skills, including emotion regulation and relationship management, as well as educators’ perceptions of well-being and school climate. We determine whether and how these factors relate to student academic achievement. Our analysis uses 2024 survey responses from 269 K-8 educators in a district with approximately 34,000 students, as well as students’ diagnostic assessments from a digital learning platform. This exploration is a first step in understanding how adult SEL skills may predict student learning outcomes.
Our key findings are as follows:
- Teachers’ gender identity is associated with their relationship management skills and well-being.
- Teachers’ racial identity is associated with their relationship management skills.
- Teachers’ well-being predicted their emotion regulation skills.
- Some teacher characteristics are not associated with their emotion regulation and relationship management skills, well-being, or perceptions of school climate.