Improving Developmental Trajectories for Students at Risk for School Failure through Social and Emotional Learning

Over the past decade social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have received increasing attention from prevention scientists and policy makers alike. Individual-level outcomes highlighted in the SEL literature include shifts in student achievement, behavior, and psychosocial functioning. The potential for individual growth from a SEL intervention is high, and though this growth is often measured by significant variation in student achievement and conduct, a student’s specific classroom experience plays a significant role in these outcomes.  The present paper examines the impact of RULER, a setting-level SEL intervention, on developmental pathways to school success for students at risk for school failure. Using longitudinal data from a randomized control trial of the RULER intervention, we identified students (n = 318) within a larger sample of fifth graders (N = 1,352) who were academically below grade level in three or more subjects at baseline (“at risk”).  We estimated multigroup (control v. RULER) path models using LISREL 9.10 software to assess developmental pathways for students. Developmental pathways assessed included differences among student engagement in school, , academic performance, prosocial behaviors, and overall school performance. as the students moved from fifth to seventh grade.  Model fit was examined using multiple indices, including the root mean square error of approximations (RMSEA, values of <.06) along with the change in chi square across varying nested model, as it is the conventional test of improved model fit regardless of sample size.  Separate models were run for each outcome and due to attrition, full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation was used to impute missing values. Initial models estimated lagged associations, autoregressive pathways, and correlated errors for contemporaneous measures across time. Student and school-level covariates were specified as predictors at baseline, including: school size, student to teacher ratio, student gender, and student ethnicity. Analyses revealed that participation in RULER mediates the relationship between student engagement and prosocial behaviors for students at risk for school failure:  students who experienced RULER demonstrated increased engagement a year later (at sixth grade) and stronger prosocial behaviors the following year (in seventh grade).  These trajectories, however,failed to be significant for students when considering academic achievement and overall school performance. The potential for and limitations of setting-level social and emotional learning programs on developmental trajectories for at-risk students are discussed.