Pennsylvania SEL Requirements for Elementary Schools

Pennsylvania's approach to social-emotional learning is pragmatic. The state does not mandate a specific SEL curriculum or require districts to adopt SEL standards. What it has done is build an infrastructure of career readiness frameworks, school safety legislation, mental health systems, and implementation resources that collectively create strong expectations for social-emotional instruction without a single mandate labeled “SEL.”

The Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills (PA CRS) are explicitly described by PDE as “social emotional learning progressions that support the development of student competence.”^[1] They are managed through PDE's Office of School Climate and Well-Being, which positions SEL as a school safety and climate strategy. And four legislative acts passed between 2014 and 2022 have progressively expanded the state's expectations for how schools address student mental health, threat assessment, and emotional wellbeing.

For Pennsylvania elementary schools, this means that while no single law says “teach SEL,” the cumulative weight of state frameworks, safety legislation, and implementation resources makes structured social-emotional instruction increasingly expected and increasingly supported.

Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills (PA CRS)

What They Are

The PA CRS are social-emotional learning progressions designed to ensure students are career ready and prepared for the 21st century workforce. PDE explicitly identifies them as SEL progressions addressing self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.^[1]

Three Domains, Five Competencies

PA CRS uses three domains rather than CASEL's five, but the content is equivalent. A CASEL-aligned curriculum covers all three PA CRS domains because they encompass the same competencies.^[1]

The Career Readiness Framing

Pennsylvania deliberately frames SEL through a career readiness lens. The PA CRS are aligned with Pennsylvania's Career Education and Work Standards and are consistent with the Future Ready PA Index.^[1] This framing is strategically useful: “We teach students the social and emotional skills employers consistently identify as essential: teamwork, problem solving, communication, and self-management.”

PA CRS Toolkit

PDE provides a toolkit with a skills continuum showing developmental progression from early childhood through high school, implementation resources for embedding PA CRS into existing tiered support systems K-12, and guidance for connecting career ready skills to classroom practice.^[2]

Pennsylvania's School Safety Legislative Framework

Four legislative acts, passed over eight years, have progressively expanded Pennsylvania's expectations for student mental health and emotional wellbeing in schools.^[3]

Safe2Say Something

Pennsylvania's Safe2Say Something program, operated by the Attorney General's office, teaches students and adults to recognize warning signs in individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others and report them through an anonymous 24/7 tip line.^[4] The program has received over 80,000 tips since its inception, with approximately 75% related to mental health, bullying, or harassment.^[4]

Safe2Say Something depends on the exact skills that SEL instruction builds: the ability to recognize emotional distress in others (social awareness), the trust in systems and adults that makes reporting feel safe (relationship skills), and the judgment to determine when a situation warrants a report (responsible decision-making). Schools that teach these competencies through structured weekly SEL lessons are building the student capacity that Safe2Say Something relies on.

The Social Emotional Wellness Action Planning Guide (2024)

PDE, in partnership with intermediate unit partners and the Regional Educational Laboratory, released the Social Emotional Wellness Action Planning Guide in 2024.^[5] This guide provides a clear, evidence-based process for creating and implementing social-emotional wellness programs at the school and district level. It represents PDE's most recent and most explicit support for structured SEL implementation, signaling that the state is moving beyond providing a framework (PA CRS) toward actively supporting schools in implementing comprehensive SEL programs.

Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood

Pennsylvania's Learning Standards for Early Childhood, revised in 2024, cover development from infancy through Grade 2. The 2024 revision moved the Social and Emotional Development domain to the front of the standards document, positioning it as foundational.^[6]

The standards describe social-emotional development as one of the “foundational skills” that “help children develop the competencies essential for success in school, life, and careers.”^[6] For elementary schools, this means social-emotional instruction has formal standards-level status through Grade 2. Beyond Grade 2, the PA CRS provide the continuation framework.

How to Align Your Elementary Program With Pennsylvania's Framework

Step 1: Map to the Three PA CRS Domains

Document how your instruction addresses each of the three Career Ready Skills domains. A comprehensive CASEL-aligned curriculum with a 40-week scope and sequence covers all three domains because PA CRS encompasses the same five competencies CASEL uses, organized into three groups.

Step 2: Connect to the Early Childhood Standards (K-2)

For kindergarten through Grade 2, document how your SEL instruction aligns with the Social and Emotional Development domain in the Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood. These are the only formal, standards-level SEL requirements in Pennsylvania.^[6]

Step 3: Support the School Safety Framework

Document how your SEL instruction supports the school safety expectations created by Acts 44, 71, 18, and 55. The connections are direct: threat assessment readiness, Safe2Say Something preparation, and school climate improvement.

Step 4: Use the Social Emotional Wellness Action Planning Guide

PDE's 2024 guide provides a structured process for planning and implementing social-emotional wellness programs. Using it to document your SEL implementation demonstrates alignment with PDE's recommended approach.^[5]

Step 5: Embed in MTSS and PBIS

Step 6: Connect to Career Education and Work Standards

PA CRS is designed to align with Pennsylvania's Career Education and Work (CEW) Standards. Document the connection between your SEL instruction and the CEW standards to demonstrate that social-emotional learning serves the state's career readiness objectives.

Choosing a Curriculum for Pennsylvania Schools

• •Addresses all three PA CRS domains. Self-awareness and self-management, establishing and maintaining relationships, and social problem solving should all be covered.
• •Aligns with early childhood standards through Grade 2. Demonstrate alignment with the Social and Emotional Development domain in the Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood.
• •Provides K-2 and 3-5 differentiation. Your curriculum needs grade-appropriate content that builds on the early childhood foundation through fifth grade.
• •Offers a full-year scope and sequence. The PA CRS describe learning progressions, which implies developmental continuity. Weekly lessons across 40 weeks provide that continuity.
• •Supports school safety objectives. Pennsylvania's four school safety acts create strong expectations. Curriculum that builds emotional regulation, empathy, and help-seeking skills directly serves these objectives.
• •Supports bilingual learners. Pennsylvania's growing multilingual population benefits from bilingual English and Spanish curriculum.
• •Integrates with PBIS. Pennsylvania's PBIS infrastructure is well-established. SEL curriculum should complement existing behavioral support systems.
• •Requires minimal prep. Ready-to-use weekly lessons integrate into existing schedules without adding teacher burden.
• •Produces documentable outcomes. PDE's Wellness Action Planning Guide emphasizes evidence-based implementation. Your curriculum should generate observable outcomes.

What to Avoid

Final Thoughts

Pennsylvania has taken a practitioner-centered approach to SEL: provide the framework (Career Ready Skills), the resources (toolkit, wellness action planning guide), the infrastructure (PBIS, SAP, Safe2Say Something), and the safety legislation (Acts 44, 71, 18, 55), and let schools build programs that fit their communities.

For Pennsylvania elementary schools, the practical path involves choosing a CASEL-aligned curriculum that addresses all three PA CRS domains, aligning with the early childhood standards through Grade 2 and extending through Grade 5 with age-appropriate content, connecting SEL to school safety and Safe2Say Something, embedding in existing PBIS and MTSS structures, and using PDE's wellness action planning guide for implementation and continuous improvement. The framework exists. The resources exist. The safety legislation creates the urgency. The students need the skills. Pennsylvania trusts schools to put the pieces together.

References

1. [1] Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/resources/student/career-ready-pa/pennsylvania-career-ready-skills
2. [2] Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). PA Career Ready Skills toolkit. https://www.education.pa.gov/K-12/CareerReadyPA/CareerReadySkills/Toolkit/Pages/Skills.aspx
3. [3] Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania. (n.d.). PA school mental health and related acts. https://www.commonwealthu.edu/documents/pa-school-mental-health-and-related-act
4. [4] KingSpry. (2024). School safety requirements in Pennsylvania. https://kingspry.com/school-safety-requirements-in-pennsylvania-2/
5. [5] Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2024). Office of School Climate and Well-Being. https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/education/programs-and-services/schools/safe-schools.html
6. [6] Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2024). Early learning standards. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/instruction/early-learning/early-learning-standards
7. [7] Pennsylvania Department of Education. (n.d.). Resources for evidence-based practices. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/education/programs-and-services/federal-programs/title-iv/resources-evidence-based-practices
8. [8] 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
9. [9] 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

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