“Giant Leap 1”: A Social and Emotional Learning program's effects on the transition to first grade

This study analyzed how student characteristics influenced the effects of a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program implemented in the first grade. A total of 14 teachers and 228 children participated in the study: 144 children participated in the SEL intervention program (including 65 pre-school children, group II), and 84 children composed the control group. The pre- and post-test assessments involved hetero- (teacher) and self-reporting (child) scales. The SEL intervention produced significant gains in the children's relationships with their peers, academic behavior, social skills, emotional knowledge, school learning skills, and school, behavioral, and social adjustment, independent of their previous skill level or gender. The SEL intervention was effective at improving the interpersonal strength of children with previously low skill levels, the intrapersonal and total strength of children of parents with a secondary level of education (groups I and II), and preventing the disruption of school functioning in children with parents with a higher education level (group II).     

The impact of the positive action program on substance use,aggression, and psychological functioning: Is school climate a mechanism of change?

The social emotional learning (SEL) conceptual model posits that SEL programs lead to increased knowledge and skills, improved attitudes about self, others, and school, and supportive learning environments, which in turn improve student emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes. Positive Action (PA) is an SEL program for elementary-, middle-, and high-school students. Extensive research documents the effectiveness of PA in decreasing adolescent risk factors and enhancing protective factors, however, minimal research has examined the mechanisms of change responsible for these effects. The current study examined whether PA was associated with SEL outcomes (i.e., alcohol use, aggression, depression, and anxiety) through school hassles (a proxy for school climate). The analytic sample consisted of 8333 ethnically/racially diverse, rural adolescents (51% female) in grades 6 through 12. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze the data. Engagement in PA was significantly associated with decreased school hassles, indicating an improvement in school climate. Subsequently, decreases in school hassles were significantly associated with decreased alcohol use, aggression, depression, and anxiety. Thus, there was an indirect effect between PA, decreased school hassles, and improved adolescent outcomes. Implications were discussed.     

Promoting children's ethical development through social and emotional learning

In today's climate of increased emphasis on measuring achievement through high-stakes testing, academic subjects are too often divorced from the social context in which they are taught. We know that learning is a social process. In fact, many educators and other youth development practitioners recognize that social, emotional, and ethical development cannot be ignored in the name of better academic preparation, especially in the face of data showing that students are more disengaged than ever before. Social and emotional learning (SEL) offers educators and other youth development personnel a framework for addressing students' social and emotional needs in systematic way. SEL is the process of acquiring the skills to recognize and manage emotions, develop caring and concern for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and handle challenging situations effectively. Research has shown that SEL has an impact on every aspect of children's development: their health, ethical development, citizenship, academic learning, and motivation to achieve. This chapter profiles one school in Illinois that has been implementing SEL programming for a number of years. The authors provide evidence of the impact of SEL on school climate, student behavior, and attitudes. Ultimately the authors see this as fostering the kind of understanding of the larger world that leads young people to make ethical choices. They propose that the lessons learned are applicable to a wide variety of settings, including other schools, after-school programs, and summer camps.     

The Trajectories of Adolescents' Perceptions of School Climate, Deviant Peer Affiliation, and Behavioral Problems During the Middle School Years

This longitudinal study examined trajectories of change in adolescents' perceptions of four dimensions of school climate (academic support, behavior management, teacher social support, peer social support) and the effects of such trajectories on adolescent problem behaviors. We also tested whether school climate moderated the associations between deviant peer affiliation and adolescent problem behaviors. The 1,030 participating adolescents from 8 schools were followed from 6th through 8th grades (54% female; 76% European American). Findings indicated that all the dimensions of school climate declined and behavioral problems and deviant peer affiliation increased. Declines in each of the dimensions were associated with increases in behavioral problems. The prediction of problem behavior from peer affiliation was moderated by adolescents' perceptions of school climate.     

Academic Engagement and Achievement Predict Career Adaptability

Abundant evidence indicates that personality, social, cultural, and contextual factors predict career adaptability. However, little research attends to the roles of academic engagement and achievement in career adaptability, especially in non‐Western cultural contexts. We examined the associations of perceived academic engagement dimensions (i.e., behavioral and emotional engagement) and academic achievement with facets of career adaptability among 324 Filipino high school students. Results of hierarchical regression analyses demonstrate that, after controlling for age and gender, behavioral engagement served as the strongest predictor of concern, curiosity, confidence, and control. In addition, perceived academic achievement was the weakest predictor of career adaptability dimensions. Our findings underscore the benefits of integrating active involvement in school‐related tasks to foster career adaptability in high school student populations.     

Social and emotional learning services and child outcomes in third grade: Evidence from a cohort of Head Start participants

A variety of universal school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have been designed in the past decades to help children improve social–emotional and academic skills. Evidence on the effectiveness of SEL programs has been mixed in the literature. Using data from a longitudinal follow-up study of children (n = 414) originally enrolled in a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT) when they were in Head Start, we examined whether universal SEL services in third grade were associated with the development of children from disadvantaged families. We took advantage of pairwise matching in the RCT design to compare children who had similar family background and preschool experiences but received different doses of SEL services in third grade. The results showed that the frequent (i.e., weekly to daily) exposure to SEL opportunities was associated with favorable social–emotional and academic development in third grade, including increased social skills, student–teacher relationship, and academic skills, as well as reduced impulsiveness.     

General C. L. Chennault

Because of recent legislation, many students with mild disabilities enroll in high school social studies courses in general education rather than special education settings. Therefore, teachers may have students with learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, communication disorders, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in their history, geography, economics, and political science courses. Typical characteristics of these students include lowlevel reading and writing skills, processing problems, memory disorders, language problems, organizational deficits, and behavioral problems. These characteristics present challenges for the students and social studies teachers; however, there are strategies that will help the students succeed. The author summarizes the disability categories and related characteristics and describes textbook, writing, memory, organizational, and instructional modifications to address the challenges.     

Drinking, socioemotional functioning, and academic progress in secondary school

Secondary schools are sites of academic instruction but also contexts of socioemotional development, and the intertwining of these two functions has consequences for adolescents' future health and education. Drawing on nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 8,271), this study explored the bidirectional associations among indicators of adolescents' alcohol use and their feelings of social integration at school. Socioemotional problems did not predict increased drinking over time, but drinking predicted declining socioemotional functioning, with negative implications for adolescents' academic grades by the end of high school. These associations, however, were conditioned by aspects of school context, with drinkers feeling more marginalized in schools characterized by dense networks with low rates of drinking.     

Mitigating the effect of family poverty on academic and behavioral outcomes: The role of school climate in middle and high school

The persistent achievement gap between students from poor families and their peers calls for research that examines risk factors associated with poverty and strategies for promoting resilience. Research demonstrates the impact of school climate on behavior and academic achievement, especially in high-poverty schools. The present study examines associations between family poverty, social supports, students' perceptions of school climate, behavior, and grades. Poverty is associated with poor grades and behavior, while positive perceptions of school climate are associated with positive grades and behavior. Perceptions of school climate moderate the association between poverty and behavior, such that students from poor families who perceive a positive school climate exhibit similar behaviors to their peers from higher income families. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.     

War Traumas and Community Violence

SUMMARY

This cross-sectional survey study examined the relationship between exposure to war traumas and community violence and academic, behavioral, and psychological well-being among Khmer refugee adolescents. The 144 adolescents studied were exposed to high rates of violence. One third had symptoms indicative of PTSD and two thirds had symptoms indicative of clinical depression. The number of violent events they were exposed to significantly predicted their level of PTSD, personal risk behaviors, and GPA, but not their level of depression or behavior problems reported at school. Perceived social support made a difference in the lives of these youth and predicted better outcomes. The implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Supporting systemic social and emotional learning with a schoolwide implementation model

A strong body of research indicates that evidence-based programs designed to promote social and emotional learning (SEL) can lead to positive developmental outcomes for children and youth. Although these evidence-based programs have demonstrated benefits for students, it is also well-established that programs must be implemented with quality and sustained to maximize positive outcomes. To support schools in implementing SEL that is integrated into all aspects of a school community, the CASEL School Guide implementation model was developed to guide school leadership teams in establishing a vision; selecting, implementing, and sustaining evidence-based programs; and integrating SEL schoolwide. The School Guide model is based on CASEL’s School Theory of Action which includes planning, implementing, and monitoring schoolwide SEL. This paper describes findings about the feasibility and degree of implementation of this model as carried out by 14 school leadership teams who were supported by SEL coaches. The participating schools implemented an evidence-based SEL program as the foundation of their efforts to promote schoolwide SEL. Findings demonstrate the feasibility of implementing this model in urban schools that primarily serve students of color, as all teams successfully carried out the implementation model and demonstrated increased levels of capacity related to supporting schoolwide SEL.     

Managing Threat: Do Social‐Cognitive Processes Mediate the Link Between Peer Victimization and Adjustment Problems in Early Adolescence?

Peer victimization has been linked concurrently and over time with multiple adjustment problems. However, the reasons for this multi‐finality in victimization are not well understood. The current study examines social‐cognitive processes (hostile attributions, social perspective awareness, and interpersonal skills) as mediators of the relations between subtypes of peer victimization (relational, physical) and depression and anxiety, social withdrawal, and physical aggression in early adolescence. The overall pattern of associations among subtypes of victimization, social‐cognitive processes, and adjustment converged with expectations that victimization biases adolescents' cognitions about peers in conflict situations and skills relating to peers. In turn, these cognitions and skills differentially compromised their ability to regulate diverse emotions or limit reticent behaviors in response to peer threats. Modest gender differences in these associations were found.     

Socioeconomic Context and Emotional‐Behavioral Achievement Links: Concurrent and Prospective Associations Among Low‐ and High‐Income Youth

Temporal associations in the relationship between emotional‐behavioral difficulty and academic achievement were explored in 2 samples followed from 6th through 8th grade. The first sample comprised 280 students entering an economically disadvantaged urban middle school and the second comprised 318 students entering an affluent suburban middle school. Among disadvantaged youth, emotional indices were concurrently associated with poorer achievement while prospective associations between substance use and achievement were evident. For privileged adolescents, only a significant concurrent relationship emerged between social anxiety and achievement, although nonsignificant trends in the data suggest other, albeit weak, associations. The findings are discussed in terms of similarities and differences in these temporal associations across 2 samples representing extremes of the socioeconomic continuum.     

What does self-esteem have to do with behavioral health among low-income youth in Chicago?

Many studies have examined risk factors associated with poorer behavioral health among low-income African American youth, such as low school engagement, delinquency, mental health problems, drug use, and risky sex. However, fewer studies have examined protective factors for such behavioral health risk behaviors. This study sought to address this gap by examining whether high levels of self-esteem were associated with better behavioral health factors for this population. A survey was administered to a sample of 638 low-income African American adolescents in Chicago to examine the degree to which high self-esteem was associated with less delinquency, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors, and more school engagement, and whether such associations varied by gender. Stepwise linear and logistic regression models were estimated to assess the influence of self-esteem. Higher self-esteem for this sample of low-income African American adolescents was associated with lower rates of delinquency, drug use, and risky sexual behaviors and increased rates of school engagement. Gender moderated only a few of these relationships. These findings suggest that programs that promote high self–esteem alone or in combination with other resilience factors may promote better behavioral health factors for African American adolescents.     

Academic achievement of Vietnamese American adolescents: A community perspective

This article investigates influences on academic achievement among Vietnamese American high school students. Theorists have offered a variety of explanations for Asian American academic success, and characteristics of individual families have received particular attention in many of these explanations. Here, it is argued that the academic success of Vietnamese American students may be understood as the product of “social capital,” or tightly integrated sets of associations, within Vietnamese American communities. If this is the case, it is further argued, high levels of scholastic performance among Vietnamese American youth should be proportionate to their involvement with an ethnic community. The article uses data from a specific Vietnamese American community to find whether community involvement by adolescents and their families is in fact associated with academic achievement. Participation in an ethnic church, proportion of friends who are Vietnamese, and attendance at after‐school Vietnamese classes are used as indicators of adolescents’ community involvement. Membership in ethnic community organizations is used as an indicator of parental community involvement. Findings support the contention that the involvement of Vietnamese American adolescents and of their parents in the ethnic community are strong predictors of academic achievement and that the structure of individual families promotes scholastic performance primarily by promoting community involvement.     

The early home environment and developmental outcomes for young children in the child welfare system

The quality of the early home environment is predictive of young children's subsequent cognitive, academic, and behavioral functioning. Limited research has focused on the effects of the early caregiving environment on the functioning of young children involved with the child welfare system. This study investigated the influence of children's home environments (i.e., number of children in the home, number of moves the child experienced, level of cognitive stimulation, and level of emotional support) during the first 2 years of life on their preschool developmental outcomes (i.e., cognition, language, social skills, and behavior problems).As anticipated, a high-quality early home environment promoted the well-being of preschool children who had entered the child welfare system as infants. Children who lived with greater numbers of children incurred more compromised cognitive, language, behavioral, and social outcomes. No significant associations emerged between the total number of placements and developmental outcomes; children who remained in the same home during infancy (typically the birth family home) had more compromised developmental outcomes in every domain except behavioral problems.Both cognitive stimulation and emotional support in the home predicted higher cognitive and language scores, decreased behavioral problems, and increased social skills. Early out-of-home placement and lack of emotional support interacted to predict children's behavioral problems. These findings are considered in the context of extant research and policy relevant to young children in the child welfare system.     

The Relationship between High School Sector and Educational Success: Focusing on the Social Background of Private High School Students

This study investigates the influence of high school sector on educational success in Japan. A range of previous research on disparities among high schools has revealed that high school rank (based on the academic ability of pupils, etc.) originated from the democratization of high school. However, given that the democratization of high school is supported by private high schools, high school sector may become a factor for high school ranking. The data used for the analysis are the 2005 National Survey of Social Stratification and Social Mobility (SSM) in Japan. The results indicate that students who enter private high schools have lower academic ability than students who enter public high schools. By contrast, private high school students have greater educational success than public high school students. Moreover, this study reveals that private high school students are generally from a higher social class than public high school students. Given that the use of entrance examinations for private junior high schools has been increasing since the 1990s, in the future, the effect of private schools on educational success may become stronger in not only high schools but also junior high schools. This study thus emphasizes the importance of paying greater attention to the relationship between educational success and the private and public school sectors.     

Parent training to reduce problem behaviors over the transition to high school: Tests of indirect effects through improved emotion regulation skills

Adolescent problem behaviors are costly for individuals and society. Promoting the self-regulatory functioning of youth may help prevent the development of such behaviors. Parent-training and family intervention programs have been shown to improve child and adolescent self-regulation. This study helps fill gaps in knowledge by testing for indirect effects of the Common Sense Parenting® (CSP) program on reduced substance use, conduct problems, and school suspensions through previously identified short-term improvements in parents' reports of their children's emotion regulation skills. Over two cohorts, 321 low income families of 8th graders were enrolled and randomly assigned to either the standard CSP program, an adapted CSP Plus program, or a minimal-contact control condition. Pretest, posttest, 1-year follow-up, and 2-year follow-up survey assessments were completed by parents and students with 94% retention. Intent-to-treat multivariate path analyses were conducted. Neither intervention had statistically significant total effects on the three targeted adolescent outcomes. CSP, but not CSP Plus, had statistically significant indirect effects on reduced substance use and school suspensions at the 1-year follow-up as well as conduct problems and school suspensions at the 2-year follow-up through increased child emotion regulation skills at posttest. Findings provide some support for emotion regulation as one pathway through which the intervention was associated, indirectly, with reduced substance use, conduct problems, and school suspensions among at-risk students over the high school transition.     

Reconnecting Youth: Promoting emotional competence and social support to improve academic achievement

Previous research indicates that students who drop out of high school are at risk for a number of negative outcomes. Both ecological and individual risk factors contribute to students' propensity for dropout. This study examined the effectiveness of a targeted dropout prevention program at improving academic achievement and investigated whether improved social support and emotional competencies partially mediated the association between intervention participation and student outcomes. A sample of 110 middle and high school students (55 intervention participants and 55 students in a matched control group) completed surveys investigating their social-emotional assets and schools provided academic data for participants. Structural equation modeling revealed that students who participated in the program had higher academic achievement compared to the control group. Prior levels of academic achievement moderated the effectiveness of the program with students with low initial levels of academic achievement benefiting more. Emotional competencies and social support did not mediate the relation between participation and achievement. The intervention was related to improved academic achievement among participants; however, the means by which it was effective was unclear. Given the evidence that the program was more effective for some students than others, targeting interventions to meet specific needs of students may be advantageous.     

Literature as the Guide to History

The author presents a content integration that focuses on social studies and science knowledge and skills. The idea of using folk crafts to help elementary students learn social studies extends from John Dewey's laboratory school to the twenty-first century. Meaningful content is applied to skills, such as blacksmithing, found in the community, and students make connections between school knowledge and their lives outside of school. In this activity, blacksmithing helped students integrate ideas from multiple academic subjects, incorporating content from the social sciences and humanities. The guest content expert with a specialized knowledge base played a large role in making this experience occur for the students and teachers.