Impact of a schoolwide social and emotional learning implementation model on student outcomes: The importance of social-emotional leadership

Abstract

The present study examined the impact of the CASEL School Guide, an innovative model of implementation support for systemic SEL, on the social, emotional, and academic development of elementary grade students in schools implementing the evidence-based PATHS® Program. The study tested a 2-year intervention model in a cluster randomized design with 28 low-performing, urban, high-poverty elementary schools. We expected that the School Guide model of support would promote greater fidelity of PATHS implementation by teachers and improvement in students' social-emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes compared to schools delivering PATHS with the standard model of support. We examined whether staff perceptions of administrative social-emotional leadership at baseline had a direct effect on outcomes and moderated the effect of the School Guide. The analytic approach included 3-level growth curve models and hierarchical linear modeling. A consistent 3-way interaction of time, condition, and baseline leadership level emerged for most outcomes. Specifically, students in schools with low levels of social-emotional leadership at the beginning of the study were more likely to be rated as gaining social-emotional competence and attentional skills over time if the school was receiving the School Guide model of support compared to the standard support for PATHS. A similar pattern was true for teacher ratings of aggression, which decreased over time at a more rapid rate for students in School Guide schools where the administration had lower baseline levels of social-emotional leadership. PATHS implementation was similar regardless of support condition so other mechanisms must be driving the improvements in student outcomes. Implications for practice and research are discussed.