Tennessee uses the term “Social and Personal Competencies” rather than “social-emotional learning,” but the content is identical. The TDOE's SPC framework defines five competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Those are the same five CASEL competencies used by states that do call their frameworks SEL. Tennessee simply chose a different name.
The TDOE has published a comprehensive K-12 Social and Personal Competencies Resource Guide with developmental indicators across grade bands (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and adult), linked the SPCs to the TEAM teacher evaluation process, integrated them into the school counseling model, and aligned them with the Tennessee Succeeds strategic plan. The state's health education standards include “Mental and Emotional Wellness” as a named component at every elementary grade level. And the Tennessee Framework for Student Supports provides a tiered system that explicitly addresses social, personal, and behavioral development.
Tennessee was also the first state in the nation to pass the Jason Flatt Act, making it a pioneer in requiring school personnel to receive youth suicide awareness and prevention training.
For Tennessee elementary educators, the framework is built. The question is execution.
Tennessee's Social and Personal Competencies
The Five Competencies
The TDOE defines Social and Personal Competencies as essential mindsets and skills for success in school, career, and life. The five competencies are:[1]
Self-Awareness
Understanding one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence behavior across contexts.
Self-Management
Managing emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively to achieve goals and aspirations.
Social Awareness
Understanding the perspectives of and empathizing with others from diverse backgrounds.
Relationship Skills
Establishing and maintaining healthy and supportive relationships.
Responsible Decision-Making
Making caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions.
Self-Awareness: Includes recognizing emotions, identifying personal strengths and challenges, demonstrating self-confidence, and experiencing a sense of self-efficacy.
Self-Management: Includes managing stress, exercising self-control, setting and working toward goals, and demonstrating personal and collective agency.
Social Awareness: Includes demonstrating empathy, showing concern for others' feelings, and recognizing situational demands and opportunities.
Relationship Skills: Includes communicating effectively, resolving conflicts constructively, working cooperatively, seeking and offering help, and standing up for the rights of others.
Responsible Decision-Making: Includes demonstrating curiosity, identifying solutions to problems, evaluating consequences, and reflecting on one's role in promoting personal and community well-being.
Grade-Banded Indicators
Each competency includes developmental indicators organized by grade band: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and adult. The indicators describe what students should demonstrate at each developmental level, building progressively in complexity.[1]
K-2 Examples
3-5 Examples
- •Explaining how self-control avoids health risks
- •Recognizing and managing stress
- •Demonstrating empathy and perspective-taking
- •Resolving conflicts more independently
- •Making decisions by considering consequences
- •Recognizing situations that might lead to violence
The SPC Toolkit and Resource Guide
The TDOE has published two key documents that support SPC implementation:[1][2]
SPC Resource Guide
Detailed information about each competency, developmental indicators by grade band, and strategies for fostering each competency. Explains the relationship between SPCs and health education standards.[1]
SPC Toolkit
Links 10 teaching practices to TEAM rubric indicators. Provides sample activities, discussion prompts, and descriptions of SPC-supportive teaching in action.[2]
TEAM Evaluation Connection
Tennessee has woven social and personal competency development into the framework that evaluates teacher performance. This is not a separate initiative. It is part of how good teaching is defined.
SPCs and Health Education
The TDOE explicitly states that the SPCs and health education standards are interrelated and encourages educators to consider both when developing learning experiences. The Resource Guide notes that health education standards “are designed to be skills-based” and that integrating SPCs with health education topics “is a proactive way to reinforce both areas.”[1]
| TN SPC Competency | Health Education Component | CASEL Competency |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Awareness | Mental and Emotional Wellness (EW) | Self-Awareness |
| Self-Management | Mental and Emotional Wellness (EW), Safety (S) | Self-Management |
| Social Awareness | Mental and Emotional Wellness (EW) | Social Awareness |
| Relationship Skills | Mental and Emotional Wellness (EW), Safety (S) | Relationship Skills |
| Responsible Decision-Making | Safety (S), Personal Wellness (PW) | Responsible Decision-Making |
Health Education Standards
What the Standards Include
Tennessee's Health Education Standards for grades K-5 are organized into five components:[3]
Personal Wellness (PW)
Nutrition, physical activity, hygiene, personal health habits.
Mental and Emotional Wellness (EW) ★
Emotional identification, stress management, self-concept, mental health awareness, coping skills.
Disease Prevention (DP)
Communicable and noncommunicable disease prevention, dental health, hygiene.
Safety (S)
Injury prevention, internet safety, bullying prevention, violence prevention, refusal skills.
Human Growth and Development (HGD)
Age-appropriate growth and development content.
Mental and Emotional Wellness is a named, standalone component with standards at every grade level. This is not social-emotional content buried within a broader health category. It is a distinct area of required instruction.
2024 Revised Standards
The Tennessee State Board of Education approved revised health education standards in November 2024 for implementation beginning in the 2026-27 school year.[4] Schools should monitor the TDOE for updated guidance on the revised standards, which continue to include mental, social, and emotional health content.
The Tennessee Framework for Student Supports
Tiered Structure
The Tennessee Framework for Student Supports (TN-FSS) provides a tiered approach to addressing student needs, explicitly including social, personal, and behavioral development alongside academic support:[5]
Tier III
Intensive individual interventions
Tier II
Targeted support for at-risk students
Tier I — Universal Instruction
All students receive structured SPC instruction, positive school climate, and mental wellness promotion
Tier I serves as the foundation by addressing the needs of all students through data-driven, evidence-based practices. The TN-FSS identifies Tier I as the place where universal instruction in social and personal competencies, positive school climate, and mental wellness promotion occur.[5]
Tier II provides targeted, evidence-based instruction to strengthen students' coping skills, emotional regulation, and interpersonal skills for students who need support beyond what Tier I provides.[5]
Tier III provides intensive interventions to address identified needs for individual students with the most significant social-emotional and behavioral challenges.[5]
For elementary schools, a structured SEL curriculum providing 40 weeks of instruction functions as the Tier I social and personal competency instruction that the TN-FSS describes. Without a universal Tier I program, the Tier II and Tier III systems are overwhelmed by students who might have been served through prevention-level instruction.
School Counseling Model and Standards
State Board Policy 5.103
The Tennessee State Board of Education's School Counseling Model and Standards Policy establishes a comprehensive school counseling program that must address academic development, social and emotional development, and college and career readiness competency development. The model must be continuously refined through quality evaluation addressing the changing needs of students and the school.[6]
Social and emotional development is not an optional add-on within the school counseling model. It is one of three core domains that every comprehensive school counseling program must address.
For elementary schools, coordinating classroom-based SPC instruction with the school counselor's programming ensures consistent language and complementary coverage. The counselor provides targeted support and specialized interventions. The classroom curriculum provides universal instruction that reaches every student.
Suicide Prevention
The Jason Flatt Act: Tennessee Was First
First in the Nation
Tennessee was the first state in the nation to pass the Jason Flatt Act in 2007, requiring mandatory youth suicide awareness and prevention training for teachers and principals. In-service training must include two hours annually, required for license renewal.[7]
Tennessee's leadership on suicide prevention training reflects a broader commitment to student mental health. The connection to social-emotional instruction is direct: students who develop self-awareness, emotional regulation, help-seeking skills, and the capacity to identify trusted adults are better equipped to navigate the emotional challenges that suicide prevention training teaches adults to recognize.
Bullying Prevention
Tennessee law addresses bullying and harassment in schools, requiring districts to adopt policies and implement prevention strategies. The health education standards include bullying prevention content within the Safety (S) component, and the SPCs build the interpersonal skills (empathy, conflict resolution, respect, communication) that prevent bullying behavior.[3]
How to Align Your Elementary Program With Tennessee's Framework
Step 1: Map to the Social and Personal Competencies
Document how your curriculum addresses all five SPC competencies at the K-2 and 3-5 grade bands. A CASEL-aligned curriculum maps directly to the SPCs because they use the same five-competency framework.
Step 2: Address Health Education Standards
Document how your curriculum covers the Mental and Emotional Wellness (EW) component at each elementary grade level. A comprehensive scope and sequence that addresses all five CASEL competencies across 40 weeks covers the social-emotional content within both the SPCs and the health education standards.
Step 3: Build Your TN-FSS Tier I
The Tennessee Framework for Student Supports expects universal social and personal competency instruction at Tier I. Your curriculum is that instruction. Document how it serves the Tier I function and how students who need additional support are identified for Tier II and Tier III services.
Step 4: Connect to the TEAM Evaluation
The SPC Toolkit links SPC teaching practices to TEAM rubric indicators. When your teachers implement SPC-aligned instruction, they are also demonstrating the teaching practices that the TEAM evaluation recognizes. Document this alignment to help teachers see that social-emotional instruction is not separate from their evaluation criteria.
Step 5: Coordinate With School Counseling
Align classroom-based instruction with the school counselor's comprehensive program. Social and emotional development is one of three core domains in the School Counseling Model. A shared scope and sequence ensures the classroom curriculum and counseling programming reinforce each other.
Communicating With Tennessee Parents
Use the State's Language
Tennessee calls these “Social and Personal Competencies.” When communicating with parents: “The Tennessee Department of Education has identified five Social and Personal Competencies that are essential for success in school, career, and life. Our program teaches these competencies through structured weekly lessons: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.”
Connect to Career and Life Success
The SPCs are explicitly framed as skills for career and life success, not just school behavior: “The skills students learn in our program, managing emotions, working with others, setting goals, solving problems, making responsible decisions, are the same skills that Tennessee identifies as essential for college, career, and life readiness.”
Be Concrete
Describe what students learn: “Students learn to identify and manage their emotions, resolve disagreements peacefully, set and pursue goals, show empathy and kindness toward others, and make responsible decisions. These are practical life skills every child needs.”
Choosing a Curriculum for Tennessee Schools
When selecting social-emotional curriculum for your Tennessee elementary school, verify that the program:
Aligns with the Social and Personal Competencies. All five competencies (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making) should be addressed at the K-2 and 3-5 developmental levels.
Addresses health education standards. The Mental and Emotional Wellness component is a required part of health education. Your curriculum should cover emotional identification, stress management, conflict resolution, and related content at every elementary grade level.
Functions as a TN-FSS Tier I component. The Tennessee Framework for Student Supports expects universal social and personal competency instruction. Your curriculum serves that role.
Supports the TEAM evaluation connection. The SPC Toolkit links teaching practices to TEAM rubric indicators. Your curriculum should promote the teaching practices that the toolkit identifies.
Maps to CASEL competencies. Tennessee's SPCs are explicitly aligned to CASEL's framework. A CASEL-aligned curriculum fits directly.
Provides grade-band differentiation. The SPCs use K-2 and 3-5 grade bands. Programs that provide distinct content for upper elementary match this structure.
Offers a full-year scope and sequence. Social and personal competency development requires sustained instruction. A program providing 40 weeks of sequenced instruction ensures consistent coverage.
Supports evidence-based bullying prevention. Your curriculum should teach the skills that prevent bullying: empathy, communication, conflict resolution, and respect.
Requires no devices or student accounts. Device-free, teacher-led programs eliminate data privacy concerns and preserve the shared classroom experience.
Supports bilingual learners. Bilingual curriculum in English and Spanish supports equitable access.
Requires minimal prep. Tennessee teachers navigate extensive testing and evaluation demands. Programs that provide ready-to-use weekly lessons are more likely to be implemented consistently.
What to Avoid
Treating SPCs as a counseling-only responsibility
The SPC Toolkit is explicitly designed for teachers and administrators, not just counselors. The TEAM evaluation connection makes clear that SPC-supportive teaching practices are part of effective classroom instruction. A school that delegates all SPC work to the school counselor is missing the classroom-based Tier I instruction that the TN-FSS expects and that the TEAM evaluation recognizes.
Ignoring the health education connection
The TDOE has explicitly connected the SPCs to the health education standards and encouraged educators to integrate both. Schools that implement SPCs without connecting to the Mental and Emotional Wellness component of health education are running parallel tracks when the state has drawn the connection for them.
Treating the five competencies as separate units
The TDOE Resource Guide describes the five competencies as “interrelated.” A student using self-awareness to recognize frustration, self-management to regulate the response, social awareness to consider the other person's perspective, relationship skills to communicate effectively, and responsible decision-making to choose an appropriate action is using all five competencies in a single moment. Curricula that teach the five competencies in isolation as separate instructional units miss how they function together in real situations.[1]
Waiting for the SPCs to become academic standards
The SPCs are a TDOE-published framework with a resource guide and toolkit, not State Board-adopted academic standards in the way that math or ELA standards are. Schools that wait for formal academic standard status before implementing structured SPC instruction are waiting for a reclassification while the TDOE has already published the framework, linked it to the TEAM evaluation, embedded it in the school counseling model, and integrated it into the TN-FSS. The expectation is already clear.
Final Thoughts
Tennessee has built a thorough framework for social and personal competency development. The five SPCs mirror the five CASEL competencies exactly. The Resource Guide provides grade-banded indicators and strategies. The Toolkit links SPC practices to the TEAM teacher evaluation. The health education standards include Mental and Emotional Wellness as a standalone component. The Tennessee Framework for Student Supports expects Tier I universal instruction. The School Counseling Model includes social and emotional development as a core domain. And Tennessee was the first state in the nation to require annual suicide prevention training for educators.
The framework uses the words “Social and Personal Competencies.” The content is social-emotional learning. The infrastructure is in place.
For Tennessee elementary schools, the path forward is practical: choose a program that addresses all five SPC competencies at the K-2 and 3-5 levels, covers the health education Mental and Emotional Wellness standards, functions as Tier I instruction within the TN-FSS, and supports the teaching practices that the TEAM evaluation recognizes.
Tennessee built the framework. It published the toolkit. It linked it to teacher evaluation. The students need the instruction. Start there.
References
- Tennessee Department of Education. K-12 Social and Personal Competencies Resource Guide.
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/education/safety/safe_sch/Social_and_Personal_Competencies_Resource_Guide.pdf - Tennessee Department of Education. Incorporating Social and Personal Competencies Into Classroom Practice: A Toolkit for Tennessee Teachers and Administrators.
https://drc.casel.org/blog/resource/incorporating-social-and-emotional-learning-into-classroom-instruction-and-educator-effectiveness-a-toolkit-for-tennessee-teachers-and-administrators/ - Tennessee State Board of Education. Tennessee Health Education and Lifetime Wellness Standards.
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/stateboardofeducation/documents/Health_Ed_Lifetime_Wellness_Standards_2016_FINAL.pdf - Tennessee Department of Education. Health Education and Lifetime Wellness Standards.
https://www.tn.gov/education/districts/academic-standards/health-education-and-lifetime-wellness-standards.html - Tennessee Department of Education. Tennessee Framework for Student Supports: Comprehensive School Mental Health Guide.
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/education/safety/Comp_School_Mental_Health_Guide.pdf - Tennessee State Board of Education. School Counseling Model and Standards Policy (5.103).
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/stateboardofeducation/documents/5.103_School_Counseling_Model__Standards_Policy_4-21-17.pdf - The Jason Foundation. Tennessee: Jason Flatt Act.
https://jasonfoundation.com/get-involved/educator-youth-worker-coach/professional-development-series/tennessee/ - Tennessee Department of Education. Social and Personal Competencies.
https://www.tn.gov/education/districts/health-and-safety/school-based-mental-health-supports/social-and-personal-competencies.html - 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 - 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
Social and Personal Competencies for Tennessee Schools
Be The Buffalo aligns with Tennessee's Social and Personal Competencies framework and health education standards. 40 weeks of K-5 curriculum covering all five SPC competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
Interactive projector activities, original songs, stories, printable worksheets, and teacher guides. Bilingual English and Spanish. No student accounts. No devices. No prep. Built to serve as your Tier I social and personal competency instruction.
Related Resources
SEL Curriculum for Elementary Schools
How to evaluate and choose a CASEL-aligned SEL curriculum for K-5 schools.
Best Character Education Curriculum
What to look for in a K-5 character education program that combines character traits with social-emotional skills.
Alabama SEL Requirements
How Alabama's daily character education mandate and health education standards create expectations for social-emotional instruction.
Georgia SEL Requirements
How Georgia's health education standards and school climate expectations create SEL obligations.
North Carolina SEL Requirements
How North Carolina's school mental health law, Healthful Living standards, and SEL improvement plans create implementation expectations.
Mississippi SEL Requirements
What Mississippi schools are expected to teach under the state's character education and health education framework.