It seems almost intuitive that if we teach students in our schools the essential social- emotional skills they need for life that it would not only benefit them greatly but would benefit society as a whole as well. However, because of the many pressures that exist in schools today it seems we end up focusing little of our time and attention on teaching social-emotional skills. But what if teaching social-emotional skills could actually save us money?

The Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education at Teachers College Columbia (Belfield et. al, 2015) brings to light the “11 to 1 ratio” in their recent study. In researching the impact of six social-emotional learning curricula, the authors found that “on average, for every dollar invested equally across the six SEL interventions, there is a return of eleven dollars, a substantial economic return”. For more information on this study and the social – emotional curricula researched please see the link below. For additional information on social – emotional learning and intervention packages see: http://www.casel.org/

Belfield, C, Bowden, B, Klapp, A, Levin, H, Shand, R & Zander, S. (2015). The economic value of social and emotional learning. Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education Teachers College, Columbia University.