What Principals Should Ask Before Choosing an SEL Program

October is National Principals Month, set aside each year by NAESP, NASSP and AFSA to recognize school leaders. It also lands right as many principals start sketching the next school year. Staffing, schedules and the programs that will get a line in the 2027-28 budget all start as notes in October.

If social-emotional learning or character education is on that list, this is a good month to slow down and ask sharper questions. From the outside, a lot of SEL programs look alike: lesson slides, a student journal, a poster set. The differences show up later, in whether teachers use it, whether anyone can tell it's working, and whether it lasts past the first year.

Here are five questions we'd bring to any SEL conversation, including one with us.

1. Who trains our staff, and for how long?

A curriculum is only as strong as the adults teaching it. A teacher who has practiced a lesson and understands why it works teaches it differently than a teacher reading slides for the first time in front of a full class.

Ask: Is training included, or sold separately? Is it one PD day in August, or does it continue through the year? Is there a certification path so your own staff can lead it? Who do teachers call in November when a lesson isn't landing?

At GRiT, educator training and certification, workshops and coaching, and ongoing implementation support are part of every implementation. We built it that way because adults need the same skills we ask students to practice: staying regulated, reading the room, repairing a hard moment.

2. How will we know it's working before June?

This question separates programs fastest. In a lot of schools, SEL is measured with a spring survey and a report that arrives after the year is over. By then the students it describes have new teachers and a new grade.

Ask: What does the program measure? How often? Who sees the results, and how quickly? Could a counselor act on it this week?

We built GRiT Compass for this. Quick check-ins live inside GRiT lessons, so there's no extra testing window. Every response updates a whole-school picture across our five dynamics. A counselor can spot a dip, find the students and adjust the lesson while it still changes the outcome. A principal can bring this week's picture to a board meeting instead of last spring's. You can explore a sample dashboard, clearly labeled as sample data, at rewirededu.com/compass.

In elementary classrooms, measurement looks different on purpose. In GRiTelementary, teachers submit whole-class observations once a quarter, and no individual student data is collected.

3. What does our state ask of us?

States handle character education very differently. Our state-by-state map counts 17 states that require character education by law, 27 that recommend it or provide standards, and 7 that don't address it, as of 2026. Wisconsin, where we're based, encourages character education and provides statewide K-12 SEL competencies as guidance.

Ask: Does this program meet our state's requirement or standards? Can the provider show us how, line by line? If your state requires character education, a program that maps to the statute saves you work when it's time to explain the choice to your board. If your state recommends it, standards alignment still makes that conversation easier. Check where your state stands at rewirededu.com/character-education-by-state.

4. Who owns the data, and what does it collect?

Any program that measures student growth collects information about students. Principals should know exactly what.

Ask: What are students asked? Who in our building can see individual responses, and who at the provider can? Is there a written data privacy agreement, and who signs it? Can we export our data if we leave?

A good provider answers these plainly and puts the answers in writing before the first check-in happens. If the answers stay vague, that tells you something.

5. What does year two look like?

Many programs are built for a strong launch. Fewer are built for year three, when the novelty has worn off and the real culture work starts.

Ask: What does implementation look like in years two and three? How does the program grow with students as they move up through the grades? What does it cost over several years, beyond the first?

GRiT is designed as a multi-year climb. The curriculum follows an Everest path, from Basecamp through Camps 1 to 4 to the Summit, and the suite runs from GRiTelementary (K-5) through GRiTsel and GRiTspark (grades 6-8), GRiTedu (9-12) and GRiTuniversity. Students keep the same language as they move up, and teachers build on it instead of starting over each fall.

Why ask now

Fall is the easiest time to have these conversations. There's no contract on the table, budgets aren't set, and you have room to see a program at work before anyone asks you to vote on it. Once January arrives, many districts are deep in budget season and the conversations get shorter.

Where to start

Bring these five questions to your leadership team this month and use them with every program you're considering. If you'd like to put them to us, book a discovery call. We'll walk you through the curriculum, show you the sample Compass dashboard and talk plainly about whether GRiT fits your building.

And to every principal reading this during National Principals Month: thank you. You set the climate of your building every day, and that work deserves tools that keep up with it.