Young adolescents' social-emotional needs

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to investigate the current social-emotional practices and protocols in place and how to improve these procedures for students entering an urban middle school. Erik Erikson's psychosocial development theory was selected as the theoretical framework to examine adolescents' development and their ability to transition into an urban middle-school setting. The researcher advanced prior quantitative studies of research on the social-emotional development of middle school students using a qualitative research case study to ask the following questions of educators from an urban middle school: (a) How does Jones Middle School offer effective social-emotional support for middle-school students? (b) How does Jones Middle School offer effective social-emotional support to ensure a successful transition to an urban middle school? (c) What could be done differently to support students' social-emotional needs and their transition? Eleven participants provided insights into how the social-emotional challenges are addressed to incoming and current middle school students. Major findings outlined are (a) the lack of collaboration with staff members and environmental barriers impeded the ability to provide effective social-emotional support; (b) the limited opportunities to engage with the sixth-grade cohort and lack of teacher training on SEL hindered the staff's ability to ensure a successful middle-school transition; (c) developing partnerships with families, elementary staff, and a social-emotional curriculum are ways to improve current practices.