I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 850 
To support evidence-based social and emotional learning programming. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 10, 2015 
Mr. RYAN of Ohio (for himself, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. 
YARMUTH, and Mr. CARTWRIGHT) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To support evidence-based social and emotional learning 
programming. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Academic, Social, and 
Emotional Learning Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) To succeed in school, students need to be 
engaged. They need to know how to maintain focus 
and effort in the face of setbacks, work effectively 
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with others, and be good communicators and prob-
lem-solvers. 
(2) Social and emotional skills form a founda-
tion for young people’s success not just in school, 
but as healthy and caring adults, productive work-
ers, and engaged citizens. 
(3) Not only can these skills be taught, they 
can be taught by regular classroom teachers in 
schools of every type to students of every back-
ground. 
(4) Academic outcomes resulting from social 
and emotional learning include greater motivation to 
learn and commitment to school, increased time de-
voted to schoolwork and mastery of subject matter, 
improved attendance, graduation rates, grades, and 
test scores. 
(5) These positive outcomes increase in stu-
dents who are involved in social and emotional learn-
ing programming by an average of 11 percentile 
points over students who are not involved in such 
programming. 
(6) Social and emotional learning programming 
also results in reduced problem behavior, improved 
health outcomes, a lower rate of violent delinquency, 
and a lower rate of heavy alcohol use. 
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SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE ELEMENTARY AND SEC-
ONDARY EDUCATION ACT. 
(a) TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL TRAINING AND RE-
CRUITING FUND.—Part A of title II of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 
et seq.) is amended— 
(1) in section 2113(c)(2)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (A); 
(B) by striking the period at the end of 
subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) train teachers and principals in prac-
tices that have demonstrated effectiveness in 
improving student achievement, attainment, 
and behavior through addressing the social and 
emotional development needs of students, such 
as through social and emotional learning pro-
gramming.’’; and 
(2) in section 2123(a)(3)(B)(iii)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of (I); 
(B) by redesignating subclause (II) as sub-
clause (III); and 
(C) by inserting after subclause (I) the fol-
lowing: 
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‘‘(II) addressing the social and 
emotional development needs of stu-
dents to improve student achievement 
and attainment, such as through so-
cial and emotional learning program-
ming; and’’. 
(b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 9101 of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(44) SOCIAL
AND
EMOTIONAL
LEARNING.— 
The term ‘social and emotional learning’ means the 
process through which children and adults acquire 
the knowledge, attitudes, and skills associated with 
the core areas of social and emotional competency, 
including— 
‘‘(A) self-awareness and self-management 
to achieve school and life success, such as iden-
tifying and recognizing strengths, needs, emo-
tions, values and self-efficacy, impulse control 
and stress management, self-motivation and 
discipline, and goal setting and organizational 
skills; 
‘‘(B) social awareness and interpersonal 
skills to establish and maintain positive rela-
tionships, such as perspective taking and re-
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