As we prepare for the 2026–2027 school year, we’re excited to share a set of meaningful product updates across the Second Step portfolio. These updates are grounded in educator and leader feedback and reflect a continued commitment to helping schools support students’ human skills development in ways that feel practical, integrated, and sustainable.
This year’s updates focus on three core priorities:
- Supporting students as they navigate an increasingly digital world
- Making it easier for educators to teach human skills beyond a single weekly lesson
- Supporting leaders in focusing on the actions that drive strong implementation and outcomes
Together, these updates move Second Step programming from a collection of lessons toward a more connected, yearlong system for supporting behavior, belonging, and well-being.
K–12 Digital Well-Being Unit
Supporting students’ human skills in a digital world
For the 2026–2027 school year, Second Step digital programs are introducing a new Digital Well-Being specialized unit for every grade level, from Kindergarten through Grade 12.
As technology continues to shape how students learn, connect, and express themselves, schools are increasingly asking how to support students not just with digital rules but with the thinking, reflection, and decision-making skills required to thrive in digital spaces. The Digital Well-Being specialized unit was designed to meet that need.
Rather than focusing on specific apps, platforms, or technical skills, this unit helps students explore how technology intersects with accountability, relationships, emotions, responsibility, and community, all through the lens of the Second Step human skills framework.
Each grade level includes:
- A clear digital well-being focus
- A connected human skills focus
- A unit essential question that anchors learning
- Lesson essential questions that deepen thinking
- Specific learning objectives for each lesson
Across Grades K–12, lessons are developmentally sequenced, so students build understanding over time, from early concepts of kindness and safety to complex questions around influence, ethics, leadership, and artificial intelligence.
Value:
This unit helps schools address digital challenges proactively by strengthening the underlying human skills students need to make thoughtful, responsible decisions, both online and offline. Educators gain age-appropriate, values-driven instruction without needing to become technology experts.
How learning progresses across grade levels
Digital well-being instruction is developmentally appropriate and grows alongside students.
- Grades K–2 focus on safety, kindness, feelings, and understanding digital spaces.
- Grades 3–5 explore digital self, credibility of information, communication, and responsibility.
- Grades 6–8 examine balance, influence, online communities, and decision-making.
- Grades 9–12 engage with advanced topics like AI, ethics, fairness, leadership, and civic responsibility in digital spaces.
The unit follows a consistent instructional flow to help students build awareness, explore real-world scenarios, reflect on impact, and apply learning in meaningful ways.
Value:
This vertical alignment gives schools confidence that digital well-being instruction is not fragmented or repetitive but intentionally built year over year to support long-term growth.
How educators access the Digital Well-Being unit
- In Second Step K–8 digital programs, Digital Well-Being appears as a specialized unit, similar to the middle school Recognizing Bullying & Harassment unit.
- In Second Step® High School, the unit is also available as a specialized unit within the program.
Lessons are accessed and taught using the same familiar Second Step experience educators already know. Grades 6–12 include optional, student-facing, interactive experiences that encourage reflection, discussion, and student voice.
How leaders monitor progress in the Digital Well-Being unit
Grounded in familiar design and reporting patterns from the core program, the experience allows leaders to move seamlessly from insight to action without the friction of learning something new. For Grades K–8, leaders see summaries of progress by grade, with the ability to drill into individual grades and ultimately class progress. For high school, leaders see the count of lessons completed by grade, similar to the core curriculum’s student activities. Leaders can drill in to see progress by individual educators as well.
Value:
Designed around the easy-to-use and trusted Second Step experience, the Digital Well-Being unit lets educators step in without learning something new. Familiar patterns, intuitive navigation, and consistent grade-level views make it effortless to adopt this meaningful unit.
Will the Digital Well-Being specialized unit be automatically included in my Second Step® K–12 digital license?
No, the Digital Well-Being specialized unit is offered as an additional specialized unit and is available for purchase alongside a district’s Second Step digital license. Speak with a Second Step representative for pricing details.
Learn more about the Digital Well-Being specialized unit.
Updated Teaching Experience (Grades K–8)
Moving beyond “one lesson a week”
Educators have consistently shared that while Second Step programs provide a rich set of resources, those materials are not offered at the point of teaching, so they’re not considered during the planning process.
Currently, teachers will teach a 20- to 30-minute lesson, and then they’ll need to leave the lesson experience to search for:
- Family communications
- Extension activities and Class Challenges
- Small group lessons
- Songs, announcements, vocabulary, or posters
Even when resources are available, educators are left to figure out what’s aligned and how everything fits together.
For the 2026–2027 school year, we’re addressing this challenge with an updated teaching experience for the Second Step K–8 digital programs.
A clearer, more connected teaching experience
With this update, the teaching experience becomes the command center for the week.
When educators open a lesson, they can now see:
- What to use before, during, and after the lesson
- How skills can be reinforced throughout the week
- Which resources are intentionally aligned to that lesson
- Easier access to family communication and extension options
Instead of navigating multiple parts of the platform, teachers are supported right where teaching happens.
Value:
Educators spend less time searching and more time teaching. The experience reduces cognitive load, increases confidence, and helps teachers see how Second Step programs support daily classroom life, not just a single lesson block.
What this unlocks for schools
This update helps reinforce a powerful message through the product experience itself:
- Teachers are not expected to stitch resources together on their own.
- Human skills are reinforced across routines, not taught in isolation.
- Second Step K–8 digital programs support both universal instruction and deeper student needs.
Value:
Schools experience greater consistency, stronger implementation, and increased perceived value that support retention, engagement, and outcomes.
Learn more about the teaching experience for Grades K–8.
Outcomes Reporting (Select Districts)
Making impact more visible
This spring, approximately 90 districts will receive customized Outcomes Reports.
These reports are designed to help district leaders see a connection between their district priorities and program usage. Using publicly available data, we’ll summarize changes in outcomes grouped by lesson completion to emphasize that when Second Step programs are used with higher fidelity, outcomes improve.
Reports may include:
- Attendance and absenteeism trends
- School climate measures
- Highlights or anecdotes related to using the program
Value:
District leaders gain clearer evidence of impact, supporting data-informed decision-making and reinforcing the value of sustained investment in human skills instruction.
Updated K–8 Leader Dashboard Experience
Making our growing capabilities feel seamless and easy for leaders to act on
Over the past three years, the K–8 Leader Dashboard has grown to support all the tools leaders need to plan, launch, and monitor Second Step programs at their schools. This spring, we’re evolving the experience so leaders can clearly see and use the full value of all that we’ve added to the program. The result is an intuitive experience that makes the K–8 Leader Dashboard’s expanding capabilities feel supportive, not burdensome, and easier to rely on for planning, launching, and monitoring the program.
What’s changing for the K–8 Leader Dashboard
- The Guided Playbook has 3 simple steps to create an implementation plan.
- Actionable insights will surface key data front and center on the page.
- The layout has been streamlined to support the breadth of reporting across the core curriculum and Tiered Interventions.
Value:
Leaders can focus their time where it has the greatest impact. Simplified navigation and elevated data make it easy to spot where support is needed so they can act with clarity and drive stronger outcomes without digging through reports.
Looking Ahead
Together, these updates reflect an important evolution of Second Step programs.
They strengthen our ability to support:
- Students navigating an increasingly complex digital world
- Educators managing real classroom demands
- Leaders responsible for outcomes, implementation, and impact
As we move into the 2026–2027 school year, Second Step programs continue to grow as an integrated system that supports human skills instruction not as a single moment but as an ongoing, connected experience throughout the year.