RULER is for Everyone – RULER Approach

Navigating Emotions Effectively

How we feel affects our ability to focus, learn, and remember. Our emotions influence the decisions we make and the relationships we build and maintain. And our ability to manage feelings contributes to our mental and physical health. Therefore, to perform at our best and enhance our well-being, we must learn to navigate our emotions effectively. This requires clear guiding principles, refined skills, and practical tools to better recognize, understand, label, express, and regulate these emotions.

Building Emotional Intelligence

Designed for everyone, RULER empowers us all to build emotional intelligence and thrive. Emotions are a universal experience, yet how we feel and manage them is shaped by our unique backgrounds, life experiences, and personalities. That’s why RULER doesn’t prescribe a “correct” way to express or manage feelings, nor does it promote a one-size-fits-all approach to behavior. Instead, RULER empowers individuals to explore and develop strategies that work best for them—helping people to enhance their well-being, build and sustain positive relationships, and achieve their goals, all while considering the impact of their actions on themselves and others. RULER also fosters as sense of belonging with lessons and activities that highlight both shared experiences and individual differences.

Specifically, RULER focuses on:

building awareness of our own and other people’s emotions
managing our own emotions and supporting others in managing theirs
acting in accordance with our best selves
enhancing empathy and perspective-taking skills
resolving conflict and restoring communities, and
developing skills for productive communication, healthy relationships, and positive and inclusive school and classroom climates

Supporting Teaching & Learning

RULER instruction and resources are designed to be flexible and adaptable to all settings and communities. To make RULER a lasting part of a school’s culture, leaders are encouraged to assess their community’s needs, set specific goals, and implement RULER in ways that align with their unique contexts. For example, when teaching and practicing emotional intelligence, schools choose reading material, current events, real-life examples, and other learning content that resonate with their staff and students. Students also create scenarios that reflect their own experiences, allowing them to apply emotion skills in meaningful, real-world ways. This approach ensures that RULER supports and strengthens culturally responsive practices.

Fostering Family Engagement

RULER’s family content is designed to support parents and caregivers in understanding and managing both their own emotions and their children’s. Through engaging activities, caregivers build confidence in navigating the full range of emotions and learn strategies that foster warm, secure relationships. Like in the classroom, RULER offers adaptable resources that can be tailored to fit each family’s unique context. Additionally, select RULER classroom and family engagement materials are available in Spanish and Mandarin, ensuring greater accessibility and inclusivity.

Adapting to a Global Community

At present, RULER has been adopted by over 5,000 public and private schools both nationally (in 48 states) and internationally in countries including Australia, China, England, Italy, Mexico, and Spain. As we scale RULER, we are continuously learning ways to adapt it to serve learners of all backgrounds and needs. This includes research on RULER implementation among diverse learners, a collaboration with Scholastic to broaden our recommended book lists, and a review of our content by Connecticut’s Special Education Resource Center to ensure it is accessible, inclusive, and culturally responsive.