Research on Academic Achievement: Connecting Social-Emotional Development to Student Outcomes

Studies on academic achievement look at what actions educators can take to advance student outcomes. Lauded for its research base, the DESSA has been the subject of more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and reports.  

A joint study between Johns Hopkins and City Year followed more than 38,000 students and found that one tier of growth in a student’s DESSA skills is associated with 1 year of academic gains. 

Keep reading to understand the connection between social-emotional development, academic achievement, and on-track outcomes. 

Research Study At-A-Glance 

The study included 38,131 students in 3rd-10th grades across 326 schools in 28 cities spread across 20 different states. All students had been identified by their teacher as struggling in one or more areas (math, English, attendance, or behavior) and received supports from City Year Americorps members in their school. The supports focus on both academic and social-emotional development, and include tutoring, mentoring, and building positive relationships. The study’s findings show a significant and substantial relationship between students’ social-emotional skills and academic outcomes. 

To reach that conclusion, the team started with two research questions: 

1. Are students’ social-emotional learning skills significantly related to their academic outcomes and predictive indicators of school success? Do these relationships vary significantly across school districts or grade-level, for students who signal the need for additional support in high poverty environments? 

1. Is there any evidence that student involvement in an effort like City Year’s Whole School Whole Child program, which takes a human-centered, relationship driven approach to build students’ social-emotional and academic skills and keep them on track to school success, is related to stronger student outcomes (both social-emotional and academic)?

Key Findings

This study yielded several important findings. First, a significant moderate correlation (r = .425) was found between students’ pre- and post- DESSA scores across one school year. This indicates that as expected, scores are related to one another. However, the correlation level shows that student’s social-emotional skills are not fixed points but do vary over time and schooling. Social-emotional skills are malleable and measurable competencies that can be strengthened through instruction and intervention supports. 

Second, results found statistically significant and consistent relationships between students’ social-emotional skills as measured by the DESSA and a variety of academic outcomes, including attendance, English and math course grades, and English and math achievement scores. The DESSA Social-Emotional Composite (SEC) score showed the strongest relationship, while the DESSA competency areas of Personal Responsibility, Goal-Directed Behavior, Self-Management, and Decision Making were most strongly related to student outcomes. To put the magnitude of this relationship into context, the researchers indicated that the impact of moving the student up one tier of growth on the DESSA (i.e., from Need for Instruction to Typical, or from Typical to Strength) was equivalent to an entire school year of academic achievement growth in math or English. These effects are considered large and substantial shifts in the context of comprehensive school reform and student achievement. To put the results in another way, a student whose social-emotional skills declines over time (i.e., moves from Strength to Typical, or from Typical to a Need for Instruction) is roughly twice as likely to have low attendance, receive a low course grade, or receive a low academic test score. Furthermore, students’ DESSA scores were found to account for a substantial amount of the variation in their academic outcomes, after controlling for their grade level and previous scores on these outcomes. Taken together, these findings tell us that strengthening students’ social-emotional skills is an important and viable path to improving their academic outcomes.  

Regarding the second research question, the findings indicated that the City Year supports were effective in developing students’ social-emotional skills as well as their academic outcomes. Study data suggested that the more hours spent with a City Year AmeriCorps member, the less likely the student was to struggle with their social-emotional competence at the end of the school year. Similarly, the more hours a student spent receiving academic support, the more growth they showed in their English and math scores, and the less likely the student was to be off-track in that course or in attendance at their school. Finally, the researchers found that the students most in need of support (e.g., students with lowest attendance rates, course grades, or social-emotional skills) were the ones who benefited the most from receiving support from an AmeriCorps member. 

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What Key Findings Mean for the Connection Between Social-Emotional Skills and Academic Achievement 

In summary, the study’s findings show a significant and substantial relationship between students’ social-emotional skills and academic outcomes, and that the school-based interventions provided by City Year’s AmeriCorps members were successful in developing students’ social-emotional skills as well as their academic outcomes. This study has several important implications. First, social-emotional skills are malleable, measurable, and essential for a variety of academic outcomes including course grades, achievement tests, and school attendance – all of which are known to be predictive indicators of high school graduation. By strengthening students’ social-emotional skills, schools and districts can improve students’ academic outcomes, as well as equip students with the foundational skills necessary for success in life. The study also provides evidence of the use of the DESSA as both a measure of growth in students’ social-emotional skills, as well as a tool to enable educators to differentiate instruction and provide targeted social-emotional supports where students are most in need, such as how City Year’s AmeriCorps members use DESSA data.  

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