Maine takes a different approach to social-emotional learning than most states in this guide. The Maine Department of Education does not have SEL standards and has stated there are no current plans to develop them. There is no mandate requiring SEL instruction.[1]
What Maine does have is a free, state-owned, PreK-12 SEL curriculum (SEL4ME) with over 450 CASEL-aligned modules available to every school in the state. It has health education standards, signed into law in 2022, that explicitly state: “Social and emotional learning is naturally embedded in both health education and physical education.” It has a dedicated SEL Specialist at the DOE. It has a Climate, Culture, and Resilience team. It has Life and Career Ready Standards that braid SEL with career development. And it operates under a Whole Student philosophy that positions social-emotional development as integral to education.[2][3]
Maine's approach is not mandate-driven. It is resource-driven. The state built the curriculum, provided it free, hired the specialist, trained the educators, and trusts schools to use what they have been given. For Maine elementary educators, the question is not what the state requires. The question is why you would leave a free, state-developed, CASEL-aligned curriculum sitting unused when the health education standards already expect the skills it teaches.
Maine's Health Education Standards
The 2022 Revision
The revised Maine Learning Results for Health Education and Physical Education were signed into law on March 31, 2022. The 2022 revision separated health education and physical education into distinct strands to better delineate the unique standards and performance expectations in each.[4]
“Social and emotional learning is naturally embedded in both health education and physical education. Students participate in an inclusive learning environment that values the interests of all Maine children through opportunities to learn and practice social and emotional skills and behaviors.”[3]
What the Standards Include
Health Concepts
Physical, mental, social, and emotional health interrelationship
Health Information
Accessing reliable health information and services
Health Promotion
Impact on physical, mental, social, and emotional dimensions
Communication
Interpersonal communication and conflict resolution
Decision-Making
Using decision-making skills to enhance health
Goal Setting
Using goal-setting skills to enhance health
Advocacy
Advocating for personal, family, and community health
Four of these seven standards (Communication, Decision-Making, Goal Setting, and Advocacy) are directly social-emotional in content. The health concepts standard explicitly addresses mental, social, and emotional dimensions of health at every grade span.
| Maine Health Education Standard | CASEL Competency |
|---|---|
| Health Concepts (mental, social, emotional health) | Self-Awareness |
| Communication (interpersonal skills, conflict resolution) | Relationship Skills |
| Decision-Making | Responsible Decision-Making |
| Goal Setting | Self-Management |
| Health Promotion (managing stress, emotional regulation) | Self-Management |
| Advocacy (empathy, community health) | Social Awareness |
A CASEL-aligned curriculum addresses every social-emotional strand in Maine's health education standards.
Local Control
Maine explicitly states: “In Maine, how schools choose to implement standards remains entirely a local decision.”[3] This means schools have flexibility in how they deliver health education, including its social-emotional content. That flexibility is an opportunity: schools can choose the instructional approach that best serves their students rather than following a one-size-fits-all state prescription.
SEL4ME: Maine's Free SEL Curriculum
450+
Modules
PreK-12
Grade Range
135+
Schools Using
90,000+
Logins (2020-22)
What It Is
SEL4ME is a free, state-owned, PreK-12 SEL curriculum developed by the Maine Department of Education. Launched in November 2020, it includes over 450 modules aligned with CASEL's five competencies and designed through a trauma-informed, equity-centered lens.[6]
The curriculum was constructed by professionals with over 50 years of combined experience in education, student and parent engagement, and staff and administrator professional development. It was developed with funding from the Fund for a Healthy Maine and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.[7]
It Is Not Required
SEL4ME “is not a requirement but an additional support for all existing programs while also being a reliable and foundational way to provide accessible resources that will enable new SEL programs to be created across our State.”[6]
Why This Matters
Maine has done something unusual: it built an entire PreK-12 SEL curriculum and gave it to every school for free. A school that has no structured SEL instruction cannot cite cost as the barrier. The curriculum exists, it is free, and it is aligned to the same CASEL framework that the health education standards reference.
Schools that find SEL4ME's modules meet their needs have a ready solution. Schools that prefer a different instructional approach — one with a structured scope and sequence, grade-band differentiation, integrated multimedia, and print-ready materials — may choose a comprehensive SEL curriculum that complements or replaces the state's free modules.
The Whole Student Philosophy
Maine DOE frames its approach through a Whole Student philosophy that positions social-emotional development alongside academic achievement. The DOE describes its mission as promoting “the best learning opportunities for all Maine students” through a “whole student approach.”[1]
The Whole Student philosophy is not a set of standards or a mandate. It is the lens through which all other work is organized. SEL, health education, trauma-informed practices, school climate, and bullying prevention are components of a unified approach to serving the whole child.
Life and Career Ready Standards
Maine's Life and Career Ready Standards, which build from the 2007 Career and Education Development Standards, include “the braiding of social emotional learning with career development.”[4] This integration means SEL is not treated as a standalone subject but as a thread woven through career readiness, connecting the social-emotional skills students develop in elementary school to the career and life competencies they will need later.
Climate, Culture, and Resilience
SEL Specialist
Dedicated position providing training and TA to schools statewide
Trauma-Informed Training
8,000+ contact hours delivered, 3,500+ educators trained
Climate, Culture & Resilience
Team housing SEL, bullying prevention, and trauma-informed work
Trauma-Informed Schools
Maine has invested heavily in trauma-informed practices. The DOE provides live and asynchronous Trauma-Informed Schools professional development and technical support.[8] Social-emotional instruction complements this work by teaching students the self-regulation, emotional identification, communication, and help-seeking skills that trauma-informed environments are designed to support.
Bullying Prevention
Maine has taken steps to assess and improve school climate, particularly in areas of bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment, to ensure students are learning in a positive and respectful school environment.[9] The health education standards include content related to violence prevention and healthy relationships. Social-emotional instruction that teaches empathy, conflict resolution, respect, kindness, and communication skills directly supports bullying prevention goals.
How to Align Your Elementary Program With Maine's Framework
Address Health Education Standards
The health education standards require students to understand the interrelationship of physical, mental, social, and emotional health. Document how your curriculum addresses the communication, decision-making, goal-setting, and advocacy standards. A comprehensive scope and sequence covering all five CASEL competencies across 40 weeks addresses every social-emotional strand.
Decide Your SEL Approach
Maine gives schools three paths: use SEL4ME (free state curriculum with 450+ modules), use a comprehensive curriculum with structured year-long programming, or combine both approaches.
Connect to Trauma-Informed Practices
If your school has invested in trauma-informed training, your SEL curriculum provides the student-facing instruction that complements the adult-facing training. When teachers understand trauma and students have emotional regulation and communication skills, both sides are equipped.
Support Bullying Prevention
Document how your social-emotional instruction supports school climate goals. A curriculum that teaches empathy, conflict resolution, respect, and communication skills directly prevents the behaviors that harm school climate.
Align With the Guiding Principles
Maine's Guiding Principles guide all education. Document how your SEL instruction supports these principles, including developing informed and integrative thinkers who contribute positively to their communities.
Communicating With Maine Parents
Lead With the Whole Student
“Our school takes a whole-student approach to education, which means we develop students academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. Our social-emotional program teaches students to manage emotions, build healthy relationships, set goals, show empathy, and make responsible decisions.”
Reference the Health Education Standards
“Maine's health education standards explicitly state that social and emotional learning is naturally embedded in health education. Our program teaches the communication, decision-making, goal-setting, and self-management skills the standards describe.”
Be Concrete
“Students learn to identify and manage their emotions, resolve disagreements peacefully, set and work toward goals, show empathy and kindness toward others, persevere through challenges, and make responsible decisions. These are life skills every child needs.”
Choosing a Curriculum for Maine Schools
When selecting social-emotional curriculum for your Maine elementary school, verify that the program:
Aligns with CASEL's five competencies
Maine's SEL4ME, health education standards, and Whole Student philosophy all reference CASEL's framework.
Addresses health education standards
The communication, decision-making, goal-setting, and advocacy standards contain social-emotional content.
Provides grade-band differentiation
The health education standards build progressively. Programs with distinct content for each grade band match this.
Offers a full-year scope and sequence
A collection of standalone modules is not a curriculum without sequencing. 40 weeks ensures developmental progression.
Complements trauma-informed practices
Maine has invested heavily in trauma-informed training. Your curriculum should build self-regulation and coping skills.
Supports evidence-based bullying prevention
Teach the skills that prevent bullying: empathy, communication, conflict resolution, and respect.
Requires no devices or student accounts
Particularly relevant in Maine, where rural schools may have limited device access and connectivity.
Supports bilingual learners
Bilingual curriculum supports equitable access for Maine's growing multilingual population.
Requires minimal prep
Maine's rural schools often operate with limited staffing. Ready-to-use weekly lessons ensure consistent implementation.
What to Avoid
Assuming no mandate means no expectation
The health education standards explicitly embed SEL. The DOE maintains a dedicated SEL Specialist and provides free curriculum. A school that does nothing with SEL is out of step with the state's philosophy, standards, and investments.
Using standalone modules without a scope and sequence
A collection of individual modules selected at random is not a curriculum. Without a scope and sequence ensuring all five competencies are covered systematically, instruction becomes episodic.
Treating SEL as separate from health education
The standards explicitly state that SEL is “naturally embedded” in health education. Schools that implement one without connecting to the other are missing the integration the standards describe.
Ignoring the trauma-informed connection
A school where adults are trauma-informed but students have not been taught self-regulation and communication skills has built only half the support system.
Final Thoughts
Maine's approach to social-emotional learning respects local control while providing substantial state-level resources. There are no SEL standards. There is no mandate. But there is a free, CASEL-aligned, PreK-12 curriculum. There are health education standards that explicitly embed SEL. There is a dedicated SEL Specialist. There are Life and Career Ready Standards that braid SEL with career development. There is a robust trauma-informed training infrastructure. And there is a Whole Student philosophy that frames social-emotional development as integral to education.
Maine has built the resources and trusts schools to use them. The curriculum is free. The standards embed the skills. The training supports the adults. The philosophy embraces the whole child.
For Maine elementary schools, the path forward is practical: choose a structured approach — whether SEL4ME, a comprehensive CASEL-aligned curriculum, or a combination — that addresses the health education standards' social-emotional content, complements your trauma-informed practices, and delivers consistent instruction to every student across the school year. The resources are there. The students need the skills. Start there.
References
- Maine Department of Education. Social Emotional Teaching and Learning: SEL Implementation. maine.gov
- Maine Department of Education. SEL FAQs. maine.gov
- Maine Department of Education. Health Education and Physical Education Resources and Standards. maine.gov
- Maine DOE Newsroom. Health and Physical Education Standards Updated (April 2022). mainedoenews.net
- Maine Department of Education. Maine Learning Results: Health Education and Physical Education Standards (April 2022). maine.gov (PDF)
- Maine Department of Education. SEL4ME Web Based Lessons. maine.gov
- Maine DOE Newsroom. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Category. mainedoenews.net
- Maine Title V Maternal and Child Health. State Action Plan: Adolescent Health (2022). hrsa.gov
- Maine Department of Education. Bullying Prevention. maine.gov
- Maine Department of Education. Health Education: Maine Learning Results. maine.gov
- Durlak, J. A., et al. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. doi.org
- Cipriano, C., et al. (2023). The state of evidence for social and emotional learning. Child Development, 94(5), 1181-1204. doi.org
Social-Emotional Learning for Maine Schools
Be The Buffalo provides the structured, year-long programming that turns Maine's SEL philosophy into daily classroom practice. 40 weeks of K-5 curriculum covering all five CASEL competencies. Interactive projector activities, original songs, stories, printable worksheets, and teacher guides. Bilingual English and Spanish. No student accounts. No devices. No prep. Designed for the realities of Maine classrooms, including rural schools with limited staffing and connectivity.
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