West Virginia does not call its framework “SEL standards.” What it calls them is the West Virginia College and Career Readiness Dispositions and Standards for Student Success (WVCCRDSSS), and they are required to be integrated into all aspects of each student's educational experience. That is not guidance language. That is mandate language.
The WVCCRDSSS describe the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and dispositions all students need to develop in relation to four domains: academic and learning development, career and life planning, personal and social development, and global citizenship. The personal and social development domain covers the same competencies that other states label as social-emotional learning: emotional regulation, self-awareness, empathy, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.[1]
West Virginia also maintains a dedicated Social and Emotional page on the WVDE website, provides K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 alignment documents connecting the WVCCRDSSS to ASCA Student Success Standards, and lists free SEL resources for educators. The state has adopted a comprehensive school counseling program model that uses the WVCCRDSSS as its foundational standards. And the wellness education content standards include mental and emotional health content at every grade level.
For West Virginia elementary educators, the infrastructure exists. The standards are in place. The question is how to deliver instruction that satisfies these overlapping requirements coherently.
The Four WVCCRDSSS Domains
The WVCCRDSSS (Policy 2520.19) describe the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors essential to support K-12 students in achieving everyday school success and being college and career ready. They are organized around four domains:[1]
Academic & Learning Development
- •Study habits and learning strategies
- •Academic achievement dispositions
- •Self-directed learning skills
Career & Life Planning
- •Understanding career pathways
- •Setting goals for the future
- •Planning for postsecondary success
Personal & Social Development
- •Emotional regulation and self-awareness
- •Empathy and relationship skills
- •Responsible decision-making
Global Citizenship
- •Understanding diverse perspectives
- •Contributing to community
- •Acting responsibly in broader contexts
Personal and social development is where social-emotional learning lives within West Virginia's framework
The Standards for Student Success (WVCCRDSSS)
What the Standards Cover
The WVCCRDSSS describe the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and dispositions all students need to develop across four domains. The personal and social development domain is where social-emotional learning lives within West Virginia's framework.[1]
Academic and Learning Development
Skills and dispositions related to academic achievement, study habits, and learning strategies.
Career and Life Planning
Skills and dispositions related to understanding career pathways, setting goals, and planning for the future.
Personal and Social Development
Skills and dispositions related to understanding and managing emotions, building relationships, showing empathy, and making responsible decisions.
Global Citizenship
Skills and dispositions related to understanding diverse perspectives, contributing to community, and acting responsibly in a broader context.
Definition from WVDE
“The process through which both students and adults gain the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to develop healthy identities, identify and manage emotions, set and achieve goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain healthy and supportive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
— West Virginia Department of Education[2]
That definition is functionally identical to CASEL's definition of SEL. West Virginia chose different branding, not different content.
Integration Requirement
The WVCCRDSSS are not a standalone set of standards to be taught in isolation. Policy 2510 states that they “require integration into all aspects of each student's educational experience.” School leadership teams, in conjunction with school counselors, must design a systematic process for embedding the WVCCRDSSS into courses, co-curricular activities, and extra-curricular activities, involving all staff and engaging community professionals when appropriate.[3]
Policy 2510 Mandate
“Require integration into all aspects of each student's educational experience.”
This is a structural mandate. Every school must have a plan for how the WVCCRDSSS are woven into the school day, not just during counseling sessions but across the educational experience — involving all staff.
How WVCCRDSSS Map to CASEL Competencies
| WVCCRDSSS Domain | Content Area | CASEL Competency |
|---|---|---|
| Personal and Social Development | Identifying and managing emotions | Self-Awareness + Self-Management |
| Personal and Social Development | Empathy, understanding others | Social Awareness |
| Personal and Social Development | Building healthy relationships | Relationship Skills |
| Personal and Social Development | Responsible decisions | Responsible Decision-Making |
| Academic and Learning | Goal setting, self-management | Self-Management |
| Global Citizenship | Perspective-taking, community contribution | Social Awareness |
The WVDE provides K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 alignment documents mapping the WVCCRDSSS to ASCA Student Success Standards, further demonstrating the social-emotional content embedded in these standards.[4] A CASEL-aligned curriculum maps directly to the WVCCRDSSS because the content is functionally identical.
Wellness Education Standards
What the Standards Include
West Virginia's College and Career Readiness Standards for Wellness Education (Policy 2520.5) combine health education and physical education into a single framework. The wellness education standards include social-emotional content across all grade levels, addressing:[5]
- •Mental and emotional health
- •Interpersonal communication and relationships
- •Decision-making skills
- •Bullying prevention and coping skills
- •Stress management
- •Self-control as a tool for avoiding health risks
For elementary schools, the wellness education standards complement the WVCCRDSSS by providing the health education context for social-emotional instruction. A student learning about emotional health in wellness education and practicing emotional regulation through WVCCRDSSS-aligned instruction is receiving consistent skill-building from two converging directions.
The Comprehensive School Counseling Program
WVCCRDSSS as Foundational Standards
The WVCCRDSSS serve as the foundational standards for every comprehensive school counseling program (CSCP) in West Virginia. School counselors deliver instruction in classrooms, large groups, small groups, and individually. The focus of this instruction is to assist students in developing the knowledge, attitudes, and skills outlined in the WVCCRDSSS, with specific emphasis on social-emotional wellbeing, achievement, attendance, and discipline.[6]
The WV School Counseling Model provides consistency across the state and includes both direct services (instruction, appraisal, advisement, counseling) and indirect services (referrals, consultation, collaboration).[6]
What This Means for Elementary Schools
Your school counselor is responsible for delivering WVCCRDSSS-aligned instruction. But the standards “require integration into all aspects of each student's educational experience,” which means the counselor cannot be the only person teaching these skills. Classroom teachers need a vehicle for delivering social-emotional instruction daily or weekly that reinforces what the counselor provides.
A 40-week curriculum that covers all five CASEL competencies serves as the classroom-based component that the counselor's programming builds on. The counselor provides depth. The curriculum provides consistency.
Advisory Systems
West Virginia requires middle and high schools to implement teacher-led student advisory systems that are evidence-based and standards-based, designed to address the WVCCRDSSS. Best practices encourage students to remain with the same advisor throughout their experience to build meaningful, supportive relationships with trusted adults.[3]
While the formal advisory system requirement applies to middle and high school, the WVCCRDSSS themselves apply K-12. Elementary schools lay the foundation for the personal and social development competencies that the advisory system builds on in later grades. Elementary students who arrive at middle school with strong self-awareness, communication skills, and relationship skills are better positioned to benefit from the advisory system.
Bullying Prevention
West Virginia law (W. Va. Code § 18-2C-2) defines harassment, intimidation, and bullying and establishes requirements for school policies and prevention. Students and school personnel have the right to a school that is safe, orderly, and free from bullying.[7]
Schools must adopt policies prohibiting bullying and implement prevention strategies. The wellness education standards also include bullying prevention content, requiring students to describe the impact of different types of bullying and identify necessary coping skills.[5]
Social-emotional instruction that teaches empathy, kindness, conflict resolution, respect, and self-control directly supports bullying prevention by teaching students the skills that prevent the behaviors the law addresses.
Suicide Prevention
The Jason Flatt Act (2012)
West Virginia passed the Jason Flatt Act in 2012, requiring all professional educators, including principals, administrators, and service personnel who have direct contact with students, to complete two hours of youth suicide awareness and prevention training each school year. This training is required for license renewal.[8]
Suicide Prevention Awareness for Students
West Virginia Code § 18-2-40(c) requires all schools to provide suicide prevention awareness information to all middle and high school students annually and to provide opportunities to discuss the information.[7]
The suicide prevention framework depends on both adult recognition of warning signs and student capacity to manage emotional distress, identify trusted adults, and seek help. Social-emotional instruction at the elementary level builds these capacities before students reach the grade levels where suicide risk increases.
WVDE Social and Emotional Resources
The WVDE maintains a dedicated Social and Emotional page that provides:[4]
- •Links to the WVCCRDSSS and the ASCA crosswalk document
- •K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 alignment documents
- •Free lessons and resources from providers including Centervention (communication, cooperation, emotion regulation, empathy, impulse control, social initiation for K-6), Common Sense Media (digital citizenship K-12), and Everfi (health, wellness, social skills, character education)
The existence of this dedicated page, the alignment documents, and the curated resource list signals that the WVDE recognizes social-emotional learning as a distinct instructional priority, even though the state frames it within the broader WVCCRDSSS structure.
How to Align Your Elementary Program With West Virginia's Requirements
Step 1: Map to the WVCCRDSSS
The Standards for Student Success are the foundational standards. Document how your curriculum addresses the personal and social development domain at the elementary level. A CASEL-aligned curriculum maps directly to these standards because the content is functionally identical.
Step 2: Embed in the School Day
Policy 2510 requires integration into all aspects of the educational experience. This means social-emotional instruction cannot live solely within school counseling sessions. Document how your classroom-based curriculum delivers WVCCRDSSS-aligned instruction during the regular school day. A comprehensive scope and sequence across 40 weeks demonstrates systematic integration.
Step 3: Coordinate With Your School Counselor
Your school counselor uses the WVCCRDSSS as foundational standards for the CSCP. Align your classroom-based instruction with the counselor's programming to ensure consistent language and complementary coverage. The counselor provides targeted support. The curriculum provides universal instruction.
Step 4: Address Wellness Education Standards
Document how your curriculum addresses the social-emotional content within the wellness education standards, including mental and emotional health, interpersonal communication, decision-making, and bullying prevention.
Step 5: Connect to Bullying Prevention
Document how your social-emotional instruction supports the bullying prevention requirements. A curriculum that teaches empathy, conflict resolution, respect, self-control, and communication skills is an evidence-based approach to preventing the harassment, intimidation, and bullying the law addresses.
Communicating With West Virginia Parents
Use the State's Language
West Virginia frames these skills as “college and career readiness dispositions” and “standards for student success.” When communicating with parents: “West Virginia has adopted Standards for Student Success that describe the skills every student needs to develop, including personal and social development. Our program teaches these skills through structured weekly lessons that build emotional regulation, communication, decision-making, and relationship skills.”
Connect to Future Success
The WVCCRDSSS are explicitly framed around college and career readiness. Parents respond to the idea that their child's social-emotional skills directly support future success: “The skills students learn in our program, managing emotions, working with others, setting goals, making responsible decisions, are the same skills West Virginia identifies as essential for college and career readiness.”
Be Specific About What Students Learn
Describe the skills in concrete terms: “Students learn to identify and manage their emotions, resolve disagreements peacefully, set and pursue goals, show empathy for others, and make responsible decisions. These are the standards West Virginia expects every student to develop.”
Choosing a Curriculum for West Virginia Schools
- ✓Aligns with the WVCCRDSSS. The personal and social development domain covers emotional identification, self-management, empathy, relationship skills, and decision-making. Your curriculum should address these at developmentally appropriate levels.
- ✓Addresses wellness education standards. Mental and emotional health, interpersonal communication, decision-making, and bullying prevention are required content. Your curriculum should cover them at every elementary grade level.
- ✓Supports the comprehensive school counseling program. Your curriculum serves as the classroom-based instructional component that complements your school counselor's CSCP. Shared language and aligned competencies prevent duplication.
- ✓Maps to CASEL competencies. The WVDE provides ASCA crosswalk documents and SEL alignment resources that use CASEL's framework. A CASEL-aligned curriculum fits directly into this structure.
- ✓Provides grade-band differentiation. The WVCCRDSSS build progressively. Programs that provide distinct content for upper elementary match this developmental progression.
- ✓Offers a full-year scope and sequence. The integration requirement means social-emotional instruction should occur consistently throughout the year. A program providing 40 weeks of sequenced instruction ensures sustained coverage.
- ✓Supports evidence-based bullying prevention. Your curriculum should teach the skills that prevent bullying: empathy, communication, respect, and self-control.
- ✓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 for multilingual students.
- ✓Requires minimal prep. West Virginia teachers navigate extensive testing and documentation demands. Programs that provide ready-to-use weekly lessons are more likely to be implemented consistently.
What to Avoid
Treating the WVCCRDSSS as counseling-only standards
The WVCCRDSSS are the foundational standards for the school counseling program, but they are not limited to counseling. They “require integration into all aspects of each student's educational experience.” A school that delivers WVCCRDSSS content only through counselor-led sessions and leaves the rest of the school day without structured social-emotional instruction is not meeting the integration requirement.[9]
Separating personal development from academic instruction
The WVCCRDSSS deliberately combine academic development, career planning, personal and social development, and global citizenship into one framework. West Virginia's approach reflects the research finding that these domains are interconnected. A student who cannot manage frustration, work cooperatively, or make responsible decisions faces barriers to academic achievement. Instruction that addresses all four domains produces stronger outcomes than instruction that treats them separately.[9]
Ignoring the K-5 foundation
The advisory system requirement for middle and high school builds on competencies that should be established in elementary school. Elementary programs that do not teach the WVCCRDSSS personal and social development standards leave students unprepared for the structured advisory experiences they will encounter later. The elementary years are when foundational skills in emotional regulation, empathy, conflict resolution, and goal setting are most effectively established.
Using free resources without a scope and sequence
The WVDE provides links to free SEL lessons and resources on its Social and Emotional page. These resources are useful supplements, but a collection of individual lessons is not a curriculum. Without a scope and sequence that ensures all competencies are covered systematically across the year, instruction becomes episodic rather than developmental.
Final Thoughts
West Virginia has built a comprehensive framework for social-emotional instruction, even though the state does not use the label “SEL standards.” The WVCCRDSSS provide K-12 standards that include personal and social development as a required domain. Policy 2510 mandates integration into all aspects of the educational experience. The comprehensive school counseling program uses these standards as its foundation. The wellness education standards include mental and emotional health content. The WVDE maintains a dedicated Social and Emotional page with alignment documents and curated resources.
The framework calls it “Standards for Student Success.” The content is social-emotional learning. The requirement to integrate it across the educational experience is not a suggestion.
For West Virginia elementary schools, the path forward is practical: choose a program that aligns with the WVCCRDSSS personal and social development domain, addresses the wellness education standards, complements the school counseling program, and provides the structured, year-long instruction that the integration requirement demands. The standards exist. The integration requirement is in policy. The students need the skills. Start there.
References
- West Virginia Department of Education. Standards for Student Success (WVCCRDSSS). https://wvde.us/academics/middle-secondary-education/standards-student-success
- West Virginia Code of Regulations, §126-67-3. Definitions: Social/Emotional Development. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/west-virginia/W-Va-C-S-R-SS-126-67-3
- West Virginia Department of Education. Policy 2510: Foundations for High-Quality Developmentally Appropriate Programming. https://wvde.us/media/7376/wvde-hs-policy-2510-best-practices-september-2025pdf
- West Virginia Department of Education. Social and Emotional Resources. https://wvde.us/student-support-wellness/mental-behavioral-physical-health/school-counselors/social-emotional
- West Virginia Board of Education. Policy 2520.5: West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Wellness Education. https://wvde.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/WVCCRS-WELLNESS-EDUCATION-2520.5.pdf
- West Virginia Department of Education. The West Virginia School Counseling Model. https://wvde.us/sites/default/files/2025-09/39615%20Update%20to%20School%20Counseling%20Model-v3.pdf
- Hopeful Futures Campaign. West Virginia: School Mental Health Policies. https://hopefulfutures.us/action-west-virginia/
- The Jason Foundation. West Virginia: Jason Flatt Act. https://jasonfoundation.com/about-us/jason-flatt-act/west-virginia/
- 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-Emotional Learning for West Virginia Schools
Be The Buffalo aligns with the WVCCRDSSS personal and social development standards and the wellness education standards. 40 weeks of K-5 curriculum covering emotional regulation, conflict resolution, decision-making, goal setting, empathy, self-awareness, and relationship skills.
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 the classroom-based instruction that the integration requirement demands.
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