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1 – 10 of 146Rachelle Curcio, Rebecca Smith Hill and Kate Ascetta
The paper aims to examine how a professional development school-district (PDS-D) partnership, enacting an improvement science stance, collectively explored social-emotional…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to examine how a professional development school-district (PDS-D) partnership, enacting an improvement science stance, collectively explored social-emotional learning (SEL) during collaboratively designed professional learning experiences.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study, guided by an improvement science orientation, enacted an iterative research design. Data sources consisted of anecdotal field notes and artifacts from 12 professional learning sessions. Using a constant comparative method, the authors applied an inductive thematic analysis to identify salient themes across data related to teacher wonderings and identified goals.
Findings
The paper illuminates teachers' voices while highlighting information gleaned from participant wonderings, their identified goals and how this information informed the iterative development of future professional learning experiences within a district-university partnership.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the chosen research approaches and limited number of participants, the research results may lack generalizability.
Originality/value
This paper provides original insight into collaborative development of recursive professional learning experiences within partnership spaces.
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Taylor N. Allbright, Julie A. Marsh, Kate E. Kennedy, Heather J. Hough and Susan McKibben
There is a growing consensus in education that schools can and should attend to students’ social-emotional development. Emerging research and popular texts indicate that students’…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing consensus in education that schools can and should attend to students’ social-emotional development. Emerging research and popular texts indicate that students’ mindsets, beliefs, dispositions, emotions and behaviors can advance outcomes, such as college readiness, career success, mental health and relationships. Despite this growing awareness, many districts and schools are still struggling to implement strategies that develop students’ social-emotional skills. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by examining the social-emotional learning (SEL) practices in ten middle schools with strong student-reported data on SEL outcomes, particularly for African American and Latinx students.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study methods, including interviews, observations and document analysis, were employed.
Findings
The authors identify six categories of common SEL practices: strategies that promote positive school climate and relationships, supporting positive behavior, use of elective courses and extracurricular activities, SEL-specific classroom practices and curricula, personnel strategies and measurement and data use. Absence of a common definition of SEL and lack of alignment among SEL practices were two challenges cited by respondents.
Originality/value
This is the first study to analyze SEL practices in outlier schools, with a focus on successful practices with schools that have a majority of African American and/or Latinx students.
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Ben Dyson, Donal Howley and Yanhua Shen
The purpose of this paper is to study teachers’ perspectives of social and emotional learning (SEL) in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) primary schools.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study teachers’ perspectives of social and emotional learning (SEL) in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) primary schools.
Design/methodology/approach
This research was a case study design investigating the phenomenon of SEL in primary schools (elementary school level) in Aotearoa NZ (Stake, 2005).
Findings
The SEL themes that were drawn from the data were: positive interdependence, empowerment, self-management, self-awareness restorative conversations and circle time.
Research limitations/implications
The research challenges the field to work with teachers and community workers to create more in-depth qualitative research knowledge that is contextually relevant to SEL for researchers, educational policymakers and our children.
Originality/value
Based in Aotearoa NZ primary schools, this qualitative research provides a unique perspective of SEL from school-based practicing teachers.
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This research addresses a need in early childhood education for evidence-based teaching strategies that build emotional self-regulation skills in young children. The intervention…
Abstract
Purpose
This research addresses a need in early childhood education for evidence-based teaching strategies that build emotional self-regulation skills in young children. The intervention assessed in this study focused on increasing the emotion vocabulary of preschool-aged students.
Design/methodology/approach
This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study evaluated the impact a dialogic reading approach combined with direct instruction of emotion words during a shared book-reading activity had on students' emotion vocabulary knowledge. The study was conducted in a licensed daycare center in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, with ten four- and five-year-old students. Pre- and post-session surveys assessed the intervention's impact on the students' receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge, and observation notes captured the students' responses to the intervention activities.
Findings
The results showed significant increases with small to medium effect sizes between the students’ pre- and post-session survey scores for both receptive and expressive emotion vocabulary knowledge, a strong positive correlation between the level of student engagement during the intervention and their emotion vocabulary assessment scores, and the impact other variables had on the intervention’s effectiveness.
Practical implications
This research provides information on a culturally adaptable and quickly learned teaching strategy that could be used to build emotional self-regulation skills in the early childhood classroom.
Originality/value
This research uniquely applies this intervention as a universal strategy with preschool-aged children.
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Kristen E. Darling, Deborah Seok, Patti Banghart, Kerensa Nagle, Marybeth Todd and Nadia S. Orfali
The purpose of this paper is to examine Conscious Discipline’s (CD) Parenting Education Curriculum (CD PEC), the parenting component of CD’s research-based social and emotional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine Conscious Discipline’s (CD) Parenting Education Curriculum (CD PEC), the parenting component of CD’s research-based social and emotional learning program. CD aims to change child behavior by changing how adults understand and manage their own behaviors and emotions. Researchers explored CD PEC’s association with improved parenting skills, parent–child relationships and child behavior and emotion management.
Design/methodology/approach
During pre- and post-site visits, parents in four Head Start programs completed the Attentive Parenting Survey (n=25) and interviews (n=19); and 20 staff were also interviewed.
Findings
Parents reported that CD PEC shifted their perspectives and practices for managing children’s challenging behaviors, improved parent–child relationships and resulted in decreased child behavior problems.
Research limitations/implications
The study was correlational, based on self-report, and had a small sample with no comparison group.
Practical implications
This study supports CD PEC as a means of shifting parenting practices, relationships and child behavior by focusing on adult social-emotional skills and self-regulation.
Social implications
This study provides preliminary evidence that addressing the social-emotional needs of adults is a viable step to helping children improve their social skills, emotion regulation and general behavior, which have all been linked to later academic and life success.
Originality/value
The paper studies improvements in parents’ emotion recognition and self-regulation before disciplining their children.
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Dana Murano, Jason D. Way, Jonathan E. Martin, Kate E. Walton, Cristina Anguiano-Carrasco and Jeremy Burrus
Jennifer R. Morrison, Joseph M. Reilly and Steven M. Ross
The purpose of this paper is to examine how participants in diverse schools newly implement the Sanford Harmony social and emotional learning (SEL) program and perceive its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how participants in diverse schools newly implement the Sanford Harmony social and emotional learning (SEL) program and perceive its benefits for students and overall school climate.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods design with a sample of five elementary schools in the western USA. Measures included classroom observations, administrator interviews, teacher interviews and focus groups, student focus groups, and a teacher questionnaire.
Findings
Findings indicated expected variation in implementation across schools, although all participants reacted favorably to the program and, importantly, would recommend the program to others. Administrators, teachers and students all saw the value of the program, particularly in terms of student relationship building and improved school climate. Implementation challenges experienced by schools were consistent with research on diffusion of innovations.
Practical implications
The present study demonstrates the importance of effective professional development, continued support, collective decision making and intentional integration of the SEL program throughout a school to support robust implementation and ultimately achieve intended outcomes.
Originality/value
Researchers have yet to examine in-depth implementation of the Sanford Harmony program and how best to support scale-up and more intentional implementation in schools. As implementation fidelity is a key component of a program achieving intended outcomes, the findings from the present study contribute to the knowledge base of supporting SEL program implementation.
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Kristina Hulvershorn and Shaila Mulholland
An understanding of the effects of zero tolerance policies in schools has resulted in rethinking of approaches to prevent conflict and creating a healthy school climate…
Abstract
Purpose
An understanding of the effects of zero tolerance policies in schools has resulted in rethinking of approaches to prevent conflict and creating a healthy school climate. Restorative practices (RP) have been looked to as an alternative to zero tolerance policies. At the same time, social emotional learning (SEL) programming has been implemented to provide students with the skills to communicate and build relationships with peers. The purpose of this paper is to provide a look at the historical context shaping the development of RP, and explore connections between RP and SEL. Considerations for implementation and conceptual models for implementing RP are also discussed.
Design/methodology/approach
Informed by education policy analysis methods, this essay places RP in their broader context, explores RP and considers such practices important to study due to the unintended effects stemming from “traditional” obedience-oriented punitive approaches to school discipline (American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force, 2008; O’Malley and Austin, 2014).
Findings
Based on the analysis of current research, the authors explain that when RP are implemented with SEL programming, it is an opportunity for educational practitioners to address issues around race, gender, disability, and other aspects of diversity. By integrating these approaches together, RP become a vehicle to develop students’ SEL skills, which includes communication skills, kindness, empathy, and caring.
Research limitations/implications
An understanding of how zero tolerance policies have played out in the school setting has resulted in rethinking of current approaches to preventing conflict. Subsequently, educational leaders and professional associations have led a shift toward alternative models and practices in school discipline.
Practical implications
District, state, and federal policymakers have pressed for more constructive alternatives that foster a productive and healthy instructional climate without depriving large numbers of students the opportunity to learn (Skiba and Losen, 2016, p. 4). These approaches include RP, as well as integrating SEL into school practices and the curriculum.
Social implications
Several challenges and opportunities lie ahead. Based on the firsthand work with schools and districts implementing restorative and SEL practices, as well as the knowledge and insights gained from this analysis of research, one important need to consider is the need to integrate school disciplinary practices, including RP, into the school context and existing structures.
Originality/value
By conducting this study of the research evidence on RP, the authors were able to gain insights into questions, including: How have school practitioners applied RP as an alternative to zero tolerance policies?
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The contribution of children’s literature to the social-emotional development of children has been recognized across disciplines. Especially picture books, as multimodal texts…
Abstract
Purpose
The contribution of children’s literature to the social-emotional development of children has been recognized across disciplines. Especially picture books, as multimodal texts which communicate with young readers with two codes simultaneously, can be a potential means of fostering empathy in young children (Nikolajeva, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to introduce the program “My BEST friends, the books,” an empirical project (in progress) based on a Book-Based Emotional Social Thinking approach.
Design/methodology/approach
This approach is inspired by the Critical Thinking and Book Time approach (Roche, 2010, 2015). The program, based on the scales and competences of the Βar-On (2006) model of social-emotional intelligence, explores the way young readers interpret social-emotional skills when discussing about literary characters in children’s picture books. This paper examines the philosophy, the main characteristics and structure of the program, and presents the first results of the pilot phase.
Findings
The initial findings indicate that the design and implementation of such a program is a complex procedure that requires from the researcher to take into consideration various aspects that concern both the material and the participants, but also to step back and let children express their thoughts freely.
Originality/value
Moreover, such discussions allow for understanding how preschoolers interpret the social-emotional skills of literary characters in a critical manner.
Details