Does Minnesota require SEL in elementary schools?

Minnesota's Safe and Supportive Schools Act (Minn. Stat. § 121A.031) explicitly calls for schools to use 'evidence-based social emotional learning to prevent and reduce bullying.' MDE has published comprehensive SEL competencies and benchmarks. While formal SEL standards are not mandated, the statutory directive and state-level framework create strong expectations.

What are Minnesota's SEL competencies?

Minnesota's SEL framework uses the five CASEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. MDE has published grade-band benchmarks for K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.

What is Minnesota's mental health instruction mandate?

Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, Minnesota school districts and charter schools must provide mental health instruction. MDE has noted that SEL instruction likely does not fully meet this requirement, meaning schools need both SEL and mental health education content.

How does Minnesota's Safe and Supportive Schools Act relate to SEL?

The Act explicitly names SEL as a strategy for bullying prevention, making Minnesota one of the few states where SEL is mentioned by name in statute. It established the School Safety Technical Assistance Center and Council at MDE.

Does Minnesota have SEL benchmarks for elementary schools?

Yes. MDE has published SEL competencies and benchmarks with specific expectations for K-2 and 3-5 grade bands, along with sample activities and crosswalks to Minnesota Academic Standards.

Minnesota SEL Requirements for Elementary Schools

Minnesota is one of the few states in the country where social-emotional learning is explicitly named in statute as a strategy schools should use. The Safe and Supportive Schools Act (Minn. Stat. § 121A.031) does not just recommend SEL. It calls for schools to use “evidence-based social emotional learning to prevent and reduce bullying.”^[1]

That statutory language, combined with the Minnesota Department of Education's (MDE) comprehensive SEL competencies and benchmarks, a new mental health instruction mandate starting in the 2026-2027 school year, and ongoing implementation support through the SEL Community of Practice, creates a framework where SEL instruction in Minnesota elementary schools is explicitly expected, well-supported, and increasingly necessary for compliance.

This guide explains what Minnesota requires, what MDE provides, and how to build an elementary SEL program that meets current and upcoming state expectations.

The Safe and Supportive Schools Act: Where SEL Enters Minnesota Law

What the Law Says

Minnesota's Safe and Supportive Schools Act (Minn. Stat. § 121A.031, subd. 5) established two entities at MDE:^[1]

School Safety Technical Assistance Center

Provides leadership and support for bullying prevention, school climate improvement, and safety.

School Safety Technical Assistance Council

Advises on bullying prevention and school climate.

The law encourages schools to implement safe and supportive school programming and explicitly calls for schools to use evidence-based social emotional learning to prevent and reduce bullying.^[1]

Why This Matters

The statutory mention of SEL by name gives social-emotional learning a legal foundation in Minnesota that most states lack. In Texas, Florida, and Georgia, schools teach the substance of SEL through character education mandates, but the term “SEL” does not appear in statute. In Minnesota, the legislature explicitly identified SEL as a strategy for achieving the law's bullying prevention objectives. When a Minnesota educator implements SEL instruction, they are responding to a legislative directive.

The Bullying Prevention Connection

The law's framing of SEL as a bullying prevention strategy is both practically sound and strategically useful. SEL instruction builds the exact skills that prevent bullying: empathy, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.^[2]^[3]

Strategically, the bullying prevention framing provides a clear, universally supported rationale. Every parent, administrator, and community member supports bullying prevention. Positioning SEL as the evidence-based method for achieving that goal grounds the instruction in a priority no one disputes.

MDE's SEL Competencies and Benchmarks

How They Were Developed

In 2015, the School Safety Technical Assistance Council identified SEL as an important strategy. A work group of educators, researchers, parents, students, and nonprofit representatives conducted a systematic 15-month process reviewing SEL research, selecting the CASEL framework as the foundation, and developing Minnesota-specific benchmarks.^[4] The Great Lakes Equity Center provided feedback to ensure culturally responsive implementation.^[5]

The Five Competencies

Self-Awareness

Accurately recognizing one's emotions, thoughts, and values and understanding how they influence behavior. Includes accurate self-assessment and a grounded sense of confidence.

Self-Management

Regulating emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively. Includes stress management, self-control, self-motivation, goal setting, and organizational skills.

Social Awareness

Taking the perspective of and empathizing with others from diverse backgrounds. Understanding social and ethical norms.

Relationship Skills

Establishing and maintaining healthy relationships. Includes communication, cooperation, conflict resolution, and seeking and offering help.

Responsible Decision-Making

Making constructive choices considering ethical standards, safety, and social norms. Evaluating consequences and considering wellbeing of self and others.

Grade-Band Benchmarks for Elementary

K-2 Benchmarks

Foundational skills: recognizing and naming emotions, beginning calming strategies, identifying how others feel, demonstrating basic cooperation and kindness, understanding that choices have consequences.^[4]

3-5 Benchmarks

Increased complexity: describing a range of emotions, using self-regulation strategies independently, perspective-taking, navigating conflicts with growing sophistication, and decisions that consider multiple perspectives.^[4]

Academic Standards Crosswalks

MDE has published crosswalks showing where Minnesota Academic Standards connect to SEL benchmarks.^[4] A read-aloud that builds empathy also builds reading comprehension. A collaborative project that practices relationship skills also develops academic content. The crosswalks make these connections explicit.

The Mental Health Instruction Mandate (2026-2027)

What Is Coming

Starting in the 2026-2027 school year, Minnesota school districts and charter schools must provide mental health instruction.^[6] MDE has published guidance distinguishing mental health education from SEL, noting that “SEL instruction likely does not fully meet the requirements” of the mental health instruction mandate.

What This Means for Elementary Schools

The mental health instruction mandate does not replace the expectation for SEL instruction. It adds to it. Schools will need to address both:

SEL

Building the social-emotional competencies (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making) that the Safe and Supportive Schools Act calls for.

Mental Health Education

Teaching students to understand mental health, recognize when they or others need help, and access support, as the new mandate requires.

A comprehensive SEL curriculum provides the foundation. Students who can identify their emotions, manage stress, and communicate with trusted adults have the base competencies that mental health education builds on. SEL is not sufficient for the mental health mandate, but it is the prerequisite.

MDE Implementation Resources

Minnesota provides unusually comprehensive implementation support:

SEL Competencies and Benchmarks Document

The complete framework with five competencies, learning goals, grade-band benchmarks, sample activities, and academic standards crosswalks.^[4]

SEL District Implementation Guidance

Strategies and recommendations for district-level SEL implementation, including professional development planning.^[5]

SEL Assessment Guidance

Guidance focused on formative assessment, classroom observation, and continuous improvement rather than formal testing.^[7]

Adult Transformative SEL Toolkit

Connects Minnesota's Standards of Effective Practice for educators to SEL competencies, helping teachers develop their own social-emotional skills.^[8]

SEL Community of Practice

Ongoing webinar series with collaborative learning, technical assistance, and peer networking scheduled through 2026 and beyond.^[1]

How to Align Your Elementary Program With Minnesota's Framework

Step 1: Map to the Five Competencies and Benchmarks

MDE Competency	K-2 Focus	3-5 Focus
Self-Awareness	Recognizing and naming emotions	Emotional precision, self-reflection, strengths
Self-Management	Simple calming strategies, routines	Independent regulation, goal setting, perseverance
Social Awareness	Identifying feelings in others, basic empathy	Perspective-taking, appreciating diversity
Relationship Skills	Sharing, listening, basic cooperation	Conflict resolution, communication, teamwork
Responsible Decision-Making	Understanding consequences, basic choices	Ethical reasoning, considering others, safety

A CASEL-aligned curriculum maps directly to Minnesota's framework because MDE built its benchmarks on the CASEL model.

Step 2: Connect to Bullying Prevention

Document how your SEL instruction supports the Safe and Supportive Schools Act's bullying prevention objectives. Empathy reduces bullying behavior, conflict resolution provides alternatives to aggression, upstander training empowers bystanders, and school climate improvement reduces conditions where bullying thrives. Track bullying incident data alongside your SEL implementation.

Step 3: Prepare for the Mental Health Instruction Mandate

Review MDE's guidance and identify where your current SEL curriculum provides the foundation and where supplemental mental health education content may be needed. A comprehensive scope and sequence that builds self-awareness, emotional vocabulary, help-seeking skills, and understanding of emotions provides the base layer.

Step 4: Use MDE's Academic Standards Crosswalks

Map your SEL instruction to the academic standards crosswalks MDE has published. This documentation demonstrates that SEL instruction integrates with, rather than competes with, academic instruction.

Step 5: Participate in the SEL Community of Practice

MDE's ongoing Community of Practice provides collaborative learning, technical assistance, and peer networking. Participating connects your school to state-level support and keeps you current on evolving expectations.

Step 6: Embed in MTSS

Tier 1: Universal Instruction

SEL instruction delivered weekly to all students. Addresses all five MDE competencies and benchmarks across the school year.

Tier 2: Targeted Support

Emotion regulation groups, social skills groups, conflict resolution practice.

Tier 3: Individualized Intervention

IEP-aligned SEL support delivered by specialists.

Choosing a Curriculum for Minnesota Schools

•Addresses all five CASEL/MDE competencies. Minnesota's framework uses the standard five competencies. Full coverage is the baseline.
•Provides K-2 and 3-5 differentiation. MDE's benchmarks specify different expectations at each grade band.
•Offers a full-year scope and sequence. Sustained instruction across 40 weeks, not isolated lessons or monthly themes.
•Supports bullying prevention. Minnesota's statute explicitly connects SEL to bullying prevention. Programs teaching empathy, respect, kindness, and conflict resolution directly serve this purpose.
•Provides the foundation for mental health instruction. Curriculum that builds self-awareness, emotional regulation, and help-seeking skills creates the base layer.
•Connects to school safety. The Act frames SEL as a school safety and climate strategy.
•Supports bilingual learners. Minnesota's growing multilingual population benefits from bilingual curriculum.
•Requires minimal prep. Ready-to-use weekly lessons are more likely to be implemented consistently.
•Produces documentable outcomes. MDE's assessment guidance emphasizes using SEL data to inform instruction. Track behavioral indicators, self-regulation growth, and bullying incident trends.

What to Avoid

Treating the benchmarks as optional because they are not mandated standards

The benchmarks are voluntary guidance. The anti-bullying law's call for evidence-based SEL is statutory. The benchmarks provide the structure for meeting the statutory expectation.

Assuming SEL alone satisfies the mental health mandate

MDE has explicitly stated that SEL instruction likely does not fully meet the mental health instruction requirements. SEL is the foundation, not the complete solution. Plan for supplemental mental health education content.

Waiting to implement until the mental health mandate takes effect

The anti-bullying law's SEL directive is already in effect. The SEL benchmarks have been available since 2016. Schools that have not yet implemented structured SEL instruction should start now.

Separating SEL from academic instruction

MDE's academic standards crosswalks demonstrate that SEL integrates with academic content. Schools that silo SEL into a separate block are working against MDE's recommended approach.

Final Thoughts

Minnesota has built one of the most coherent state-level SEL frameworks in the country. The anti-bullying statute provides the legal directive. The SEL benchmarks provide the instructional framework. The implementation guidance, assessment guidance, and Community of Practice provide the support infrastructure. And the upcoming mental health instruction mandate adds an additional layer of expectation.

For Minnesota elementary schools, the path forward involves implementing a CASEL-aligned curriculum that addresses all five competencies with grade-appropriate content, delivering it consistently through weekly instruction across the full school year, connecting it to bullying prevention and school climate objectives, and preparing for the mental health instruction mandate by building the social-emotional foundation that mental health education requires. The statute names SEL. The benchmarks define it. The support exists. The question is implementation.

References

[1] Minnesota Department of Education. (n.d.). Social emotional learning. https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/edi/social/
[2] Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
[3] Cipriano, C., Strambler, M. J., Naples, L. H., et al. (2023). The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions. Child Development, 94(5), 1181-1204. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13968
[4] Minnesota Department of Education. (n.d.). SEL competencies and benchmarks. https://education.mn.gov/MDE/MDE073518
[5] Minnesota Department of Education. (n.d.). SEL implementation guidance. https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/edi/social/imp/
[6] Minnesota Department of Education. (n.d.). Mental health in schools. https://education.mn.gov/mdeprod/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&Rendition=primary&RevisionSelectionMethod=latestReleased&dDocName=PROD097606
[7] Minnesota Department of Education. (n.d.). Social and emotional learning assessment guidance. https://education.mn.gov/mdeprod/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&Rendition=primary&RevisionSelectionMethod=latestReleased&dDocName=MDE073521
[8] Minnesota Department of Education. (n.d.). Adult transformative social and emotional learning (SEL) and the standards of effective practice toolkit. https://www.mnseps.education/overview

CASEL-Aligned SEL Curriculum for Minnesota Schools

Be The Buffalo provides 40 weeks of CASEL-aligned K-5 SEL curriculum that addresses all five MDE competencies and supports bullying prevention as the Safe and Supportive Schools Act directs.

Interactive projector activities, original songs, stories, printable worksheets, and teacher guides. Bilingual English and Spanish. No student accounts. No devices. No prep.