If your school wants to strengthen academics, SEL should be an essential part of that priority. Why? When students have supportive relationships and opportunities to practice social and emotional skills across many different contexts, academic learning accelerates. New research consistently saw increases in academic performance with SEL. These new findings merely build on what we have long known. As Dr. Aaliyah A. Samuel said, “Any parent or teacher knows the basics of learning involving supportive relationships, joy, and skills like perseverance and effective communication.”