SEL in Illinois » Introduction

Illinois is at the forefront of states' efforts to ensure that the social and emotional needs of children are recognized and addressed in schools. In 2004, Illinois became the first state in the nation to adopt student learning standards in SEL. (New York State followed suit in 2006.) The IL Children's Mental Health Act, which called for the SEL standards, also required every district in the state to develop an SEL policy as part of its instructional plan, and all have complied. In 2006, the Illinois legislature allocated several million dollars to implementation of the standards. (See our Standards and Policy section to find extensive information on IL SEL learning standards and legislation.)

The Chicago Public Schools has also become the first large urban district to systematically measure and publicly report information on social and emotional factors—termed by CPS as “"conditions and capacities for learning" that affect learning in the districts' high schools, and in 2007, down to grade six. As part of the Gates-funded High School Transformation Project, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has produced a High School Score Card to share data about schools with school staffs, parents and the public. The Student Connection portion of the score card summarizes student perceptions of four non-cognitive factors known to affect student learning. They are: (1) safety in the school (physical and psychological), (2) high educational expectations from teachers (“challenge”), (3) social and emotional support provided by the school (these three factors are referred to as conditions for learning), and (4) student-body social and emotional skills (termed capacities for learning). Extracurricular participation is also assessed. Sample Student Connection Report (pdf)

The survey was first administered to over 77% of all students enrolled in grades 9-12 in May 2006, and results will be included in future online reports on the CPS web site. A separate eight-page Student Connection Report was also delivered in Fall 2006 to principals and their staffs, with details of their students' responses compared to citywide averages, and suggested steps for improving the school conditions behind the scores. In spring 2007 the survey will be administered to over 200,000 6-12 graders, and annually thereafter.

The tremendous investment of CPS student and staff time and energy in the Student Connection survey and in consideration of its implications for school changes to support healthy student development is a landmark effort of a major district to engage in SEL. Researchers from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) plan to study the relationship between the survey responses and school changes, and also student academic performance. CASEL will assist with this research, and report on it as news becomes available.