Implementation Findings from a New Approach to Social-Emotional Learning: From Programs to Strategies

Introduction: High-quality social-emotional learning (SEL) programs can improve student academic performance as well as mental health and behavioral outcomes (Durlak et al, 2011). SEL programs are particularly important for low-income students, who are more likely than their affluent peers to be at risk for social, emotional, behavioral and academic problems (Evans & English, 2002). Despite emerging consensus in the scientific and policy communities about the importance of social-emotional development to children’s learning in school (Aspen Commission, 2017), a number of barriers related to implementation challenges and limited time and resources undermine efforts to bring comprehensive SEL programming to scale, and these barriers are likely exacerbated in low-income settings. As such, there is an urgent need to test less intensive strategies that are more feasible to implement while still achieving meaningful outcomes for children (Jones & Bouffard, 2012). In this study, we examine a new strategy-based approach to SEL and report implementation findings, teacher feedback, and student growth on a new measure of SEL skills.

Methods: Adapted from a comprehensive evidence-based SEL program (Jones, Bailey, & Jacob, 2014), the strategies in this study were designed to build a range of SEL skills and be easily integrated into daily routines. Strategies were embedded in an out-of-school time (OST) program during its 6-week summer session providing math and literacy support to low-income students. Participants were 20 teachers and 155 students in grades PreK-8. All data were teacher reported and include: (a) SEL training evaluation; (b) daily implementation checklists; (c) weekly classroom surveys; (d) end-of-program focus groups; and (e) baseline and end-line reports of individual student SEL skills.

Results: On average, teachers used 2 strategies per day, strategies took 7-11 minutes, and core strategies were rated high in perceived efficacy. Teachers reported using the “prescribed” strategies 83% of the time and teacher choice 17% of the time. The most common classroom SEL challenges were focusing attention, managing emotions, and resolving conflicts, although there was wide variation by grade level. From beginning to end of summer, we found positive and statistically significant growth in all SEL skill areas, with bottom quartile students showing the largest gains. Additional findings from the focus groups will be discussed.

Conclusions: We expect our findings to inform growing knowledge about the feasibility of implementing low-cost targeted SEL strategies in school and OST settings; and to inform policy discussions about how to sustainably integrate and scale evidence-based SEL practices, particularly in low-income settings.