Out-of-school time programs have long created the conditions necessary for positive youth development and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). 

The Forum for Youth Investment partnered with four out-of-school time networks (including After School All Stars in Los Angeles) to learn more about integrating social and emotional measures and improvement supports into a continuous quality improvement process. Lessons learned are highlighted in a newly released report SEL Demonstration Initiative: Measuring Social and Emotional Learning in Out-of-School Time. The findings include:

• Establishing common language is important.  
• A lower stakes-approach to quality improvement fosters staff buy-in.
• A focus on adults’ social emotional learning helped staff support SEL in program settings. 
• Engaging in an SEL focused quality improvement process produced shifts in how staff understood and responded to youth behavior. 
• Staff perceived and were motivated by changes in youth behavior.