Human intelligence has been identified as more than intellectual ability since the early part of the 20th century. In the 1990's, attention has been placed on the emotional intelligence of individuals. Emotional intelligence has been identified as a better indicator of success than intellectual intelligence for both children and adults (Duckworth & Seligman, 2005; Goleman, 1998; Kemper, 1999). Further research has shown there an individual's level of emotional intelligence may be related to their ability to be an effective leader (Chen & Guo, 2020; Goleman, 1998; Grobler et al., 2017; Kemper, 1999). The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to explore the relationship between the self-perceived emotional intelligence of District-wide leaders of Curriculum and Instruction and the actions they take to implement the New York State social-emotional learning benchmarks in their districts. This quantitative survey study utilized an online survey to explore the relationship between the self-perceived emotional intelligence of District-wide Leaders of Curriculum and Instruction and the actions they take to implement the social-emotional learning benchmarks in their district. This online survey allowed the researcher to gather information from 751 potential leaders across New York State which resulted in 198 respondents, or 26.4% completing the survey. The survey data provided the leaders' self-perceived emotional intelligence using the Wong & Law Emotional Intelligence Scale. Additionally, leaders were asked to rate their agreement with the implementation of social-emotional learning in their districts. Together, their responses provided the researcher with an opportunity to analyze trends in data and explore relationships that will be added to the larger body of research. The results of this study showed, overall, that District-wide Leaders of Curriculum and Instruction had a high self-perceived emotional intelligence. Additionally, the majority of the respondents were implementing the social-emotional learning benchmarks to various degrees. There were several weak positive relationships (p<0.05) between the respondents' emotional intelligence and their agreement with steps taken in the implementation of the social-emotional learning benchmarks. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]