Second Step® Insights
How Human Skills Can Help Students Find Opportunities for Academic Growth
November 6, 2024 | By: The Second Step® Team

One of the most challenging parts of being an educator is witnessing your students struggle academically. It’s why passing out graded tests and report cards can sometimes make for the hardest of days. Seeing a struggling student make a breakthrough in their learning, on the other hand, is one of the greatest joys an educator can have.
Supporting students who are struggling academically is always a top priority, but recent testing data from the National Center for Education Statistics suggests that students are struggling more than usual, with test scores between 2020 and 2022 showing the first ever drop in math performance and also the largest drop in reading since the early 1990s. While testing is only one part of a much larger story, educators everywhere are searching for better ways to support students who are struggling in the classroom.
SEL and academic success: The research
A meta-analysis conducted in 2023 showed that students who participate in universal school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions experienced significantly improved academic skills, attitudes, behaviors, school functioning, and academic achievement. Another key study showed that SEL interventions were related to increased engagement and improved conduct in students who were at risk of academic failure. In sum, research suggests that social-emotional learning is broadly beneficial for students in several ways. But, in terms of addressing the significant academic struggles of millions of children across the country, SEL could also be a vital tool in helping those students find opportunities for academic improvement.
So, how does SEL help students who are struggling academically? Put simply, social-emotional learning helps students build skills that support their academic improvement. But which social-emotional skills are the most important for academic success?
A study on the relationship between social-emotional skills and academic success found that self-control, persistence, curiosity, and creativity were all connected to academic success. SEL programs and interventions can help students build all these skills and more, giving struggling students a better chance to find opportunities for academic growth.
SEL helps students self-manage
For many students, receiving a low grade on a math test can be as painful as being teased in the lunchroom. The feelings that arise—such as disappointment, frustration, and even anger—can then influence their mindset and learning behavior, leading, in some cases, to disengagement or disinterest. When those emotions go unrecognized, students can slip into negative cycles without even realizing what’s happening.
Self-management—or the ability to manage one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors—is one of the main competencies of SEL and can play a major role in helping students remain positively engaged in their learning. SEL interventions are designed to help students recognize and understand their feelings in moments of academic difficulty and then take intentional steps to handle them. In some cases, emotion management could make the difference between a student putting their head down in frustration or raising their hand to ask for help.
SEL teaches kids to persist
When students develop their ability to remain persistent, they boost their likelihood of reaching academic success. But for students who have already fallen behind academically, building and maintaining this persistence can be incredibly hard. Instead of steadily climbing the hill of learning, struggling students may feel as if they’re rolling a boulder up the hill each day without making progress.
According to the study above, persistence is the second most important social-emotional skill for academic success. Another core SEL competency is self-awareness, which encompasses capacities such as growth mindset, self-efficacy, and experiencing a sense of purpose. Persistence is closely connected to each of these capacities. Whether a student is thriving or struggling, persistence propels them onward to the next learning opportunity with a positive attitude.
SEL can foster curiosity and creativity
Students who thrive academically aren’t just quick learners or hard workers. They’re also curious and creative in their learning. They ask questions, seek new information and experiences, and create new pathways for discovery and growth. When students are struggling academically, though, it can be hard to practice the curiosity and creativity that leads to improvement.
SEL can help kids develop curiosity and creativity in their learning in countless ways. It helps them practice responsible decision-making, which fosters their capacity for curiosity and open-mindedness. It can help them build social awareness, which influences their ability to take in new perspectives and understand their environment with greater maturity and nuance. It can build self-awareness, which helps them to make connections between their feelings, values, and thoughts, and it can help them grow their interests and a sense of purpose. All these abilities connect to a student’s capacity for curiosity and creativity.
Finding new pathways to learning
Imagine a student holding a map. If they’re struggling academically, the map may appear to have a single path forward. The path is narrow, and it’s blocked by all sorts of obstacles and challenges. For a struggling student, the journey ahead may seem difficult, even impossible.
Social-emotional learning gives students a new map that better equips them to navigate their academic journey. Rather than turn around at the first obstacle, students can use their learned social-emotional skills to ask questions about how to get around the obstacle. If one path closes, SEL equips them with the curiosity and problem-solving skills to create a new one. It helps them understand and manage the complex emotions that arise on their learning journey, and it helps them persist through setbacks to discover new learning opportunities.
SEL can help kids understand that learning is a journey, not just a destination, and can help them develop the skills to take the next step forward.
Universal school-based SEL interventions and programs are a proven method to help students find opportunities for academic growth. Visit SecondStep.org to learn more about how Second Step® SEL programs can help build essential skills for life and learning.