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BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) is developing a program to support the social-emotional needs of students across Louisiana.

School officials believe the new Social-Emotional Learning and Academic Integration program (SELA) will help lead to stronger school climates and academic and emotional success. The program will serve students in grades K-12 and is being developed to build upon the social-emotional learning (SEL) work of the LDOE in early childhood.

In addition, SELA will work with system and school leaders to develop skills to help students understand their emotions, strengthen social behaviors and improve academic achievement.

“The needs of our students are often complex and go beyond academics,” said State Superintendent of Education Dr. Cade Brumley. “Supporting their social-emotional health ultimately leads to greater academic outcomes and happier kids.”

Students in all grades will be able to access the program. Social and emotional learning is how children and adults learn to understand emotions, set goals, show empathy for others, establish positive relationships and make responsible decisions.  

The LDOE is working with LSU to provide support to hundreds of school and system administrators and school leadership teams, who will participate in a series of five 6-hour professional workshops on the fundamentals of the program.