Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Getting Smart story, Michael Niehoff discusses the RULER approach to emotional intelligence developed by education researchers at Yale.

• How does the RULER approach differ from other SEL teaching strategies? How does the integrated practice described by Allen differ from other curriculum trends, is it more likely to succeed, and is it easier for teachers to introduce?

• To learn about more ways we can improve social-emotional learning, click here.

Success in school is something that has long been evaluated. When it comes to achieving academically, we continue to consider various instructional pedagogies, assessments and accountability models, technology and new curriculum. But more and more, many practitioners and researchers are turning to a foundational idea: academic performance is directly related to social and emotional intelligence.

Thousands of educators have embraced the practice laid out by RULER, an evidence-based approach for integrating social and emotional learning into schools, developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

But don’t be fooled. This is not just another program waiting to be piloted or added to a long list of cursory curricular drive-bys. Indeed, according to Jennifer Allen, Director of School Relations and Implementation at the Yale University Center for Emotional Intelligence, RULER is the exact opposite of a program, curriculum or packaged set of lessons.

“We call it, approach. It’s who you are. It’s more a way of being,” said Allen. “This is a way to value and address overall school climate. “Recognize each emotion that people feel, name it and understand it better.”

Allen suggests that the work and intent behind RULER is really a way to value and address overall school climate by recognizing each emotion that all of us feel, while also naming it and working to collectively understand it better.

“That’s why this is not a program,” said Allen. “This is not something to add on, but something to integrate in everything you do. Once you understand it, it becomes part of your daily pedagogy.”

Read the full article about the RULER approach to emotional intelligence by Michael Niehoff at Getting Smart