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As artificial intelligence rapidly changes how people access information, solve problems, and ultimately work, The Riviera Ridge School is asking an increasingly important educational question: What distinctly human capabilities will children need to thrive in the world ahead?
The independent Santa Barbara JK–8 school is expanding its answer this school year by integrating RULER, the evidence-based, whole-school approach to social and emotional learning developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence (YCEI).
After eight months of training and preparation, Riviera Ridge faculty are beginning to integrate the framework into the school’s signature ExSEL program, led by Dr. Mario Bucio, Director of Student Wellness; School Counselor Anna Forterra, LCSW; and Lower School Division Head Jenny Kustura.
RULER stands for Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions, five emotional-intelligence skills that influence how people learn, make decisions, build relationships, and respond to challenges.
For Riviera Ridge, the initiative represents more than introducing a new social-emotional learning framework. It is another layer in an educational philosophy that intentionally brings IQ and EQ together, developing what students know alongside their capacity to understand themselves, understand others, and apply their knowledge thoughtfully in the world.
“Preparing students for the future requires an intentional balance where IQ and EQ naturally come together to drive academic excellence,” Head of School Christina Broderick said. “True whole-child education means equipping students not only with a vigorous educational experience, but also with the emotional intelligence and resilience needed to apply that knowledge thoughtfully. Integrating RULER into our signature ExSEL program gives us an evidence-based framework to ensure our graduates are confident learners able to navigate complex challenges with confidence and perspective.”
That intersection between intellectual and emotional development is central to RULER, and to the learning environment Riviera Ridge is working to create.
Emotional intelligence creates the environment in which deep learning happens,” said Dr. Mario Bucio. “When students are able to practice social-emotional skills on a daily basis, they are better equipped to take intellectual risks, communicate, collaborate, and engage meaningfully with their peers and community.”
“RULER gives our entire community a shared language and practical tools for everyday situations,” added Anna Forterra, LCSW. Jenny Kustura also emphasized that “throughout the RULER training, our teachers have shown incredible dedication, carving out time to learn, practice, and reflect on these skills. Our faculty understands how much social and emotional learning matters for our students. Their commitment to this work is a testament to how deeply they care about creating classrooms where every child feels seen, supported, and ready to learn.”
Building Human Intelligence for an AI-Shaped Future
RULER joins a broader educational model at Riviera Ridge designed to cultivate capabilities once routinely characterized as “soft skills,” but increasingly recognized as essential competencies for learning, leadership and work.
As artificial intelligence assumes a greater role in generating information and automating routine tasks, human capacities including critical thinking, adaptability, emotional intelligence, collaboration, communication, perspective-taking and sound judgment take on even greater significance.
At Riviera Ridge, those capabilities are developed through interconnected academic and signature programs, not treated as an add-on to the curriculum.
Through the school’s signature Kaleidoscope program, students examine cultures, traditions, values, ethics, and beliefs from multiple perspectives, helping them expand their worldview beyond their own immediate experience. ExSEL and RULER develop greater awareness of self and others, while restorative practices provide tools for navigating conflict, accountability, relationships, and community.
Together, the approaches create a continuum:
Understand yourself. Understand others. Understand the world. Learn how to participate meaningfully in it.
At Riviera Ridge, we don’t view emotional intelligence and academic excellence as separate ideas—they actively deepen one another, Broderick said. Students certainly need foundational subject knowledge, but true learning happens when they also have the confidence to ask hard questions, the curiosity to explore unfamiliar ideas, the empathy to consider different perspectives, and the resilience to keep going when things get challenging. Those are essential capacities in our classrooms today, and they are the exact leadership strengths our children will need for the future.”
Research has increasingly reinforced that connection. Large-scale studies of school-based social-emotional learning have associated high-quality SEL with positive outcomes across academic achievement, student behavior, relationships, school functioning and school climate.
RULER takes a systemic rather than stand-alone approach to that work. Developed at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, the framework creates a shared language and set of practices intended to weave emotional intelligence into everyday school culture.
Its four foundational tools — the Charter, Mood Meter, Meta-Moment and Blueprint — help school communities establish shared expectations, build emotional vocabulary, regulate responses and approach interpersonal challenges with greater empathy and perspective.
A Whole-School and Whole-Community Approach
Riviera Ridge’s implementation begins with adults. School leadership and faculty have spent the past eight months in training and professional development, building familiarity with RULER’s principles and practices so adults can consistently model the skills before they become increasingly embedded in classroom life.
The school views implementation as a multi-year investment, emphasizing lasting cultural integration rather than a stand-alone curriculum or short-term initiative.
That work will also extend beyond students and faculty. This school year, Bucio and Forterra will launch a parent education speaker series designed to give families additional tools and perspectives on connection, relationships, emotional development, and community building.
The broader approach reflects a central Riviera Ridge philosophy: education should prepare students not simply to perform well in school, but to remain curious, capable, and connected throughout their lives.
And one of the most meaningful indications that those elements are coming together may be remarkably simple:
Happy Kids Learn, Healthy Kids Thrive.
School leaders and families regularly hear students express genuine excitement about returning to campus. At the beginning of this school year, several families shared stories of children counting down the final days of summer vacation until they could return.
“That joy is fundamental to learning,” Broderick said. “We want our students to embrace intellectual challenge and feel the genuine pride that comes from discovering what they are capable of. But that rigor that we fondly refer to as vigor, only thrives when school is also a place of belonging, curiosity, and psychological safety. When children are genuinely excited to come to campus every morning, it tells us that we’ve created an environment where they feel safe to take risks, ask big questions, and grow as whole learners.”
Schools and educators around the world use RULER, which researchers at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence developed as part of the Yale Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine.
To learn more about The Riviera Ridge School and its signature programs, visit RivieraRidge.org.
About The Riviera Ridge School
The Riviera Ridge School is an independent, coeducational day school serving students from Junior Kindergarten through eighth grade in Santa Barbara, California. Through personalized, future-ready academic and signature programs—including ExSEL, Kaleidoscope, and Restorative Practices—Riviera Ridge nurtures each student’s academic, social, ethical, and creative potential, preparing compassionate, confident leaders for tomorrow.
