Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, and Policy最新文献

When successfully implemented, social and emotional learning programs can promote a number of positive social, emotional, health, and academic outcomes for youth over time (Bierman et al., 2010; Durlak, 2022; Taylor et al., 2017). Critical to SEL programming in elementary and middle schools is planning and implementation, which involves a number of resources and stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, families, and students (Shoesmith et al., 2021). This paper contributes to SEL implementation in practice for culturally diverse communities. We 1) discuss the SEL curriculum and steps to integrate it into existing curriculum with 1st-8th grade staff, (2) describe development and continuation of university-elementary/middle school partnerships, including planning with teachers and school administrators, as well as district administrators and parents, 3) outline training sessions with university students to become SEL mentors and coordinators, 4) discuss partnership and shifts since the COVID-19 pandemic, and 5) identify implications of this work for practices to be implemented in other schools, especially best practices of SEL delivery to disadvantaged youth, and methods to address diversity and inclusion in working with youth. Through a university-elementary/middle school partnership, students can receive holistic support and growth in critical social and emotional learning skills to address a number of academic, social, and mental health issues. At the same time, such programming integrating university students can create an environment and pathways that allow them to be future leaders in social and emotional learning.

This paper makes the case for adults in children’s lives to incorporate the science of decision-making skills as a pedagogy for social emotional learning (SEL), the process through which humans acquire a set of five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2020). Choices require learners to activate the first four SEL components while being explicit about the fifth, which can be an inclusive protocol for teaching and practicing SEL. The interdisciplinary decision and behavioural sciences (Kahneman, 2003) offer many insights into why a structured decision-making process can help youth move strategically through a choice to create new opportunities and develop their social emotional development while avoiding common missteps (which decrease social emotional development). Missteps are likely in more common approaches such as pros and cons lists, vague directives to “stop and think,” and voting. In terms of collaborative decisions, the decision sciences illustrate how approaches based on understanding values and being curious about others’ perspectives can help to build choices that embrace diversity and minimize polarizing reliance on misinformation. Models of collaborative structured decision-making, in particular, help teachers encourage their students to embrace transformative SEL oriented towards social justice, positioning diversity within groups as a necessary asset in reaching a quality decision (Jagers et al., 2019). The incorporation of a plain-language, science-based framework, such as the one detailed in this paper, provides a foundation for students to responsibly make minor decisions and significant decisions, all while explicitly and implicitly developing their social emotional skills.

To facilitate social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools, assessments must be suitable for progress monitoring, which includes being sensitive to short-term changes in students’ social and emotional competence (SEC) and providing useful and timely information to educators. This paper discusses evidence criteria to help determine whether an instrument is suitable for progress monitoring of student SEC. To illustrate how action-oriented research can help further guide the development of evidence standards and inform SEL practice in schools, the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-mini (DESSA-mini) is highlighted through two empirical case studies. Data for both case studies are derived from a district-wide implementation of an evidence-based SEL program, Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS), that used the DESSA-mini to assess the SEC of 7681 students in Grades K-5 at three time points over a school year. Multilevel models estimated the growth in student SEC under different implementation conditions and by different student characteristics (i.e., grade, gender, SEC at baseline). Findings suggest significant growth in SEC with some meaningful variation. Results are interpreted to illustrate how routine-practice studies can be used to infer how much growth is typical, among which students, and under what conditions, to facilitate real-time practice decisions.

Impact Statement: To facilitate social and emotional learning in schools, educators need to monitor progress in students’ acquisition of social and emotional competence. Two case studies are presented to illustrate how studies can be used to infer how much growth is typical, among which students, and under what conditions, to facilitate real-time decisions by educators to adjust instruction.

Mental illness is a public health emergency threatening youth's social, physical, and economic vitality (Fahey & Koster, 2019). School-based mental health initiatives have been identified as a sustainable approach to this issue (World Health Organization, 2019). This study employed a qualitative case-based methodology to understand how educational leaders effectively implement mental health policies and programming. Three significant findings were identified: 1) the leadership of mental health initiatives formed a closely interconnected network of relationships with distributed responsibility across clearly identified roles and responsibilities within the school system and externally with the province and community-based supports; 2) Making network attributes and patterns of communication visible provided district and school-based leaders with discernable areas for intervention and growth serving as an impetus for system improvement; 3). Systems that effectively implement mental health policies and programming intentionally utilize multi-level, multi-institutional, and multi-disciplinary implementation teams by co-developing innovative ways to remove barriers to service.

For social and emotional learning (SEL) to be most effective, students must consistently access social and emotional knowledge and apply SEL skills across time and context. This article presents the Framework for the Pedagogies of SEL, which aims to theoretically articulate how teachers can support effective student SEL. We present an overview of how students acquire social and emotional knowledge, describe key processes of learning, and consider relations among culture, identity, and SEL to lay the foundation of the Framework for the Pedagogies of SEL. We then present the framework, which integrates three types SEL knowledge with five teaching practices or pedagogies of SEL. We then describe how the systematic application of these pedagogies of SEL might promote effective SEL and close with the need to support teachers’ SEL implementation and considerations related to SEL instruction and student variability as well as the limitations of this article and conclusions.

The present study systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed the evidence for universal school-based SEL programming within the United States to understand nation-specific trends in SEL implementation and effectiveness, and provide specific recommendations for marginalized students- particularly those with minority gender-, racial- ethnic, linguistic-, and disability identities, within SEL. Analyzing the effects of 90 universal school-based social and emotional learning studies, reflecting 47 discrete SEL programs, and 20,626 students in grades K-12 in the United States, from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2020, we report that students who participate in universal school-based SEL programs experienced significantly improved academic achievement, school functioning, social and emotional skills, attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of school climate and safety. Furthermore, programs in the United States benefited students in elementary and secondary school equally, and had the strongest outcomes for students when teachers were the program implementors. SEL programs in the United States were varied in their program features, duration, and dosage, had limited engagement with families and community, and did not show evidence of an overall follow-up effect 6 months or longer after a program ends. SEL programs were found to be equally efficacious for boys and girls meta-analytically, and systematic review of available studies revealed preliminary evidence of differential and positive effects for students with marginalized racial and ethnic identities. Limited representation of marginalized linguistic, sexual, and ability identities inhibited exploration of additional effects analytically, and descriptive results, alongside opportunities for increasing reporting and analyses are discussed.

The effectiveness of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs on child outcomes has been firmly established through student self-reporting, teacher and caregiver questionnaires, and direct assessment via performance tasks. Exploring the extent to which SEL programs can influence physiological and biological indicators may enable evaluators to shift beyond measuring what is subjectively observed or experienced, to understanding what is happening within the body, offering a valuable and objective measure of program efficacy. This systematic literature review of controlled studies examined how biological and physiological indicators have been incorporated into SEL research from Pre-K to Grade 12, the association between SEL intervention and physiological and biological indicators, and the challenges and opportunities when collecting and using these data. Fourteen studies met inclusion criteria, capturing a range of neurological, hormonal, and autonomic outcomes. Our review found preliminary evidence that SEL programs may influence students’ cortisol, cardiovascular reactivity, and brain functioning, potentially linked to an underlying reduction in stress. It offers an initial step towards deepening understanding of the connections between social-emotional health, physical health, and well-being.

Impact statement

Our understanding of how social and emotional learning programs benefit students is largely based on performance tasks and student, teacher and caregiver perspectives captured through questionnaires. Moving beyond what is subjectively observed or experienced to understanding what is happening within the body may uncover new insights into program impact. This systematic literature review captures 14 studies that explore the relationships between social and emotional learning programs and physiological and biological indicators in children from pre-K to Grade 12. It offers an initial step towards improving knowledge of the connections between social-emotional competence, physical health, and wellbeing.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is significant for providing children with adequate skills so that they can shape a supportive society. Even though children’s moral self-concept (MSC) and their prosocial behavior are critical components of SEL, research on their association and development is comparatively novel. In a longitudinal study, we investigated the associations between children’s MSC, their normative stances, and their sharing behavior. Data of N = 500 preschoolers with an average age of 61 months at t1 (SD = 4.61) were analyzed in a mixed-method design across the period of one year (t1–t3) with structural equation models. Findings revealed sharing behavior as a stable predictor for subsequent MSC across time. As children got older, their normative stances predicted sharing behavior. This connection was further moderated by their MSC. Our findings are the first to depict stable longitudinal predictive effects of prior sharing behavior on subsequent MSC, highlighting preschool age as a critical stage in the formation of MSC. Overall, they demonstrate how in the course of the preschool years, the MSC and normative stances developmentally interact in their relation to prosocial behavior.

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has been lauded as important for student success. However, little guidance is available for how educators, scholars, and policymakers can work together to improve SEL implementation in public schools across a state. Here, we describe CalHOPE Student Support – an effort to “sow the seeds” of SEL across California. Invoking the metaphor of a garden, we first discuss the historic developments in California that readied the ground for such work. Then, we lift up the voices of education leaders who have been catalysts for transforming the landscape. Next, we describe our collective vision for a “thriving garden” – the process and outcomes we aim to achieve. We then explain how we harmonized essential elements (e.g., information, support, values, and action) into a comprehensive system for statewide SEL implementation. Then, we share information about our garden’s yield – our successes and ongoing struggles, through the voices of our collaborators. We end with a synthesis of lessons learned (e.g., build capacity for change-making, differentiate support, plan for turnover) for use by other educational leaders seeking to advance SEL in their regions.

Even when high-quality, evidence-based social-emotional supports and services are available, accessing them can be challenging, confusing, or impossible for some families, especially for families experiencing homelessness. We utilized thematic analysis to explore the knowledge, skills, and networks (also known as community cultural wealth) that families experiencing homelessness use to promote their children’s social-emotional development. We also explored barriers to accessing needed services and families’ own recommendations to make the social-emotional health system more equitable and accessible. Parents reported that they were the most important people who promoted their child’s social emotional development and that their own personal strengths provided an avenue for buffering impacts of systemic challenges. Additionally, positive interactions with support people and positive experiences with programs were highly valued and impactful for families. Parents also reported barriers that interfere with receiving high quality social-emotional health services, including: (a) lack of awareness of available services and resources, (b) cost and eligibility criteria that were prohibitive, (c) negative experiences with service providers, (d) logistical barriers, and (e) personal challenges. Parents provided recommendations which guided our discussion of practice, policy, and research implications.