Social And Emotional Learning Programs Research Articles

Social and Emotional Learning and Academic Achievement in Portuguese Schools: A Bibliometric Study.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is an educational movement that is gaining ground throughout the world. We can define SEL as the capacity to recognize and manage emotions, solve problems effectively, and establish positive relationships with others. Research has demonstrated the significant role of SEL in promoting healthy student development and academic achievement. Extensive research confirms that SEL competencies: can be taught, that they promote positive development and reduce problem behaviors, and that they improve students' academic achievement and citizenship. At the international level, several rigorous studies have identified programs and practices that promote SEL. In Portugal, however, no review has yet been published regarding the implementation of SEL programs. Such a study would elucidate the current panorama of SEL programs in Portugal. This study aims to identify research on SEL programs implemented in Portuguese schools and the relationship of those programs with academic achievement. To this end, we have consulted the following databases: Scientific Repository of Open Access of Portugal (RCAAP), Online Knowledge Library (b-on), and Web of Science (WoS). The criteria were: (a) all time frames; (b) publications in either Portuguese or English; (c) programs that developed socio-emotional competencies in Portuguese schools; (d) academic levels including elementary, middle, and high school and (e) students of regular education. Few publications on SEL programs implemented in Portugal were found, although the recent decade has witnessed an upsurge of interest in the topic, principally that arising from academic research.

Nuancing the critique of commercialisation in schools: recognising teacher agency

This paper investigates the commercialisation of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in Australian schools. Specifically, it focuses on understanding why teachers value commercial resources, and how they enact these in their classrooms. Theorising around teacher agency suggests teachers are now choosing to use a range of commercial resources and view these as important additions to their pedagogical toolbox. Teachers want high quality resources, and they prefer resources that are easy to import, scaffold and modify according to their specific needs. Teachers did not readily see the benefit of a prescriptive SEL program. Instead, they wanted multiple resources that they could pick and choose the best bits from. Our data suggests that teachers are not being seduced by commercialisation and the ‘easy fix’ it promises, but are in fact presenting as agentic professionals who care deeply about students’ social and emotional wellbeing and are working to tailor bespoke learning experiences to meet the needs of their students within their specific school contexts. We argue that it is worth nuancing the critique about commercialisation offered in the literature to date, and suggest that commercialisation is not inherently bad, rather it is the ‘intensity’ of commercialisation that needs to be regulated and further investigated.

Student Diversity Representation and Reporting in Universal School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Programs: Implications for Generalizability

This paper addresses two major and potentially conflicting movements: the importance of diversity as both a conceptual and political issue and the rise of the evidence-based practice movement in education. This tension is particularly important when evaluating and reporting universal interventions because of their intended applicability across diverse groups of children and adolescents. This study contributes to this discussion through an analysis of published school-based universal social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention evaluations in terms of their theoretical and empirical attention to student diversity characteristics. We defined student diversity in terms of five characteristics: gender, race/ethnicity, SES, disability status, and sexual orientation/gender identity. We assessed how and when demographic characteristics were reported, how these characteristics were analyzed as moderators of program outcomes, and how differential effects based on diversity were incorporated into reported intervention generalizability discussions. Results showed that diversity characteristics were inconsistently reported across articles. Most studies did not test for moderating effects, but those that did found inconsistent effects across diversity characteristics. Further, conceptual and/or empirical support for conducting the moderation analyses was often not provided or sufficiently supported by previous literature or a hypothesis. This research highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of how SEL program effects may be moderated by student demographic characteristics and suggests caution about the generalizability of the reviewed SEL programs across diverse groups of children and adolescents.

Social and Emotional Learning Programs for Adolescents

Summary Adolescents may especially need social and emotional help. They're learning how to handle new demands in school and social life while dealing with new, intense emotions (both positive and negative), and they're increasingly feeling that they should do so without adult guidance. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are one way to help them navigate these difficulties. SEL programs try to help adolescents cope with their difficulties more successfully by improving skills and mindsets, and they try to create respectful school environments that young people want to be a part of by changing the school's climate. In this article, David Yeager defines those terms and explains the changes that adolescents experience with the onset of puberty. Then he reviews a variety of SEL programs to see what works best with this age group. On the positive side, Yeager finds that effective universal SEL can transform adolescents' lives for the better. Less encouragingly, typical SEL programs--which directly teach skills and invite participants to rehearse those skills over the course of many classroom lessons--have a poor track record with middle adolescents (roughly age 14 to 17), even though they work well with children. But some programs stand out for their effectiveness with adolescents. Rather than teaching them skills, Yeager finds, effective programs for adolescents focus on mindsets and climate. Harnessing adolescents' developmental motivations, such programs aim to make them feel respected by adults and peers and offer them the chance to gain status and admiration in the eyes of people whose opinions they value. www. futureofchildren. org Adolescence is a period of tremendous learning, exploration, and opportunity. Yet it's also a time when behavioral and health problems can emerge or worsen, with negative consequences that last long into adulthood. For instance, people who are victimized or bullied during adolescence can later become more aggressive and more depressed. (1) Extreme school-discipline policies can push young people toward delinquency as adolescents and toward criminal behavior as young adults, even if they weren't inclined to be delinquent before (a phenomenon called the school-to-prison pipeline). (2) And failing to complete high school on time predicts lower health, wealth, and happiness over the lifespan, even for people who later earn a GED. (3) Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs for adolescents are appealing in part because they may prevent such problems. SEL programs try to help adolescents cope with their difficulties more successfully by improving skills and mindsets, and they try to create respectful school environments that young people want to be a part of by changing the school's climate. Adolescents may especially need this kind of social and emotional help, fust when academic work becomes more difficult and friendships become less stable, the brain's method of processing emotions undergoes a dramatic transformation. (4) The onset of puberty--which marks the beginning of adolescence--causes changes in brain structure and hormone activity that can make even minor social difficulties like peer rejection extremely painful and hard to deal with. (5) Those biological changes also create a more intense thrill from risky behavior, especially when it may win peers' admiration. (6) Last, adolescents expect more autonomy and independence in personal choices such as whom to be friends with. (7) In sum, adolescents are learning how to handle new demands in school and social life while learning to deal with new, intense emotions, and increasingly feeling like they should do so without adult guidance. SEL programs are one way to help them navigate these difficulties. But do SEL programs work for adolescents? If so, how well and under what conditions? And how can they be improved? This article reviews these questions. …

Social and Emotional Learning and Teachers

Summary Teachers are the engine that drives social and emotional learning (SEL) programs and practices in schools and classrooms, and their own social-emotional competence and wellbeing strongly influence their students. Classrooms with warm teacher-child relationships support deep learning and positive social and emotional development among students, writes Kimberly Schonert-Reichl. But when teachers poorly manage the social and emotional demands of teaching, students' academic achievement and behavior both suffer. If we don't accurately understand teachers' own social-emotional wellbeing and how teachers influence students' SEL, says Schonert-Reichl, we can never fully know how to promote SEL in the classroom. How can we boost teachers' social-emotional competence, and how can we help them create the kind of classroom environment that promotes students' SEL? Teachers are certainly at risk for poor social-emotional wellbeing. Research shows that teaching is one of the most stressful occupations; moreover, stress in the classroom is contagious--simply put, stressed-out teachers tend to have stressed-out students. In the past few years, several interventions have specifically sought to improve teachers' social-emotional competence and stress management in school, and Schonert-Reichly reviews the results, many of which are promising. She also shows how teachers' beliefs--about their own teaching efficacy, or about whether they receive adequate support, for example--influence the fidelity with which they implement SEL programs in the classroom. When fidelity is low, SEL programs are less successful. Finally, she examines the extent to which US teacher education programs prepare teacher candidates to promote their own and their students' social-emotional competence, and she argues that we can and should do much more. As the articles in this issue attest, research in the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) has grown dramatically in recent years. We've learned that we can promote students' social and emotional competence, and that doing so increases not only their SEL skills but also their academic achievement. (1) In other words, for our children and youth to achieve their full potential as productive adult citizens, parents, and volunteers in a pluralistic society, educators must focus explicitly on promoting social and emotional competence. Teachers are the engine that drives SEL programs and practices in schools and classrooms. Yet until recently, their role in promoting SEL and their own social and emotional competence and wellbeing have received scant attention. What do we know about teachers and SEL? Do they buy in to integrating SEL in their classrooms? What about their own social and emotional competence and wellbeing? How does teachers' social-emotional competence influence students' SEL, and how can we promote it? How do teachers' beliefs about SEL influence their implementation of SEL programs? And do prospective teachers receive any information about SEL and their own social and emotional competence in their teacher preparation programs? The importance of these questions should not be underestimated. If we don't accurately understand teachers' own wellbeing and how teachers influence students' SEL, we can never fully know whether and how to promote SEL in the classroom. Such knowledge could not only guide theory, it could also give us practical information about how teachers can steer students toward becoming socially skilled and well-rounded individuals, ready to responsibly navigate their personal and professional paths to adulthood. SEL and Teachers: A Framework Extensive research evidence now confirms that SEL skills can be taught and measured, that they promote positive development and reduce problem behaviors, and that they improve students' academic performance, citizenship, and health-related behaviors. (2) Moreover, these skills predict such important life outcomes as completing high school on time, obtaining a college degree, and securing stable employment. …

A Review of the Provision of Social and Emotional Learning in Australia, the United States, Poland, and Portugal

The aim of this research is to gather preliminary information from a range of countries to develop an international perspective on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Currently, there is no cohesive international statement on the minimum requirements to provide SEL in schools. By bringing together a range of international perspectives it is intended that clarity will be provided from which new approaches and initiatives can be developed and researched. International researchers familiar with SEL programs in their country were asked to answer five questions about the context and processes used to teach SEL in specific countries to begin an understanding and synthesis of best practice. These questions relate to: (1) sociocultural contexts of school systems, (2) the range of SEL programs presented in each country and what is common about these programs, (3) the effectiveness of prominent SEL programs, (4) the facilitators and barriers that exist to effectively present SEL programs within the country, and (5) recommendations for the future of SEL programs. A synthesis is followed by a discussion of the future of SEL and how the SEL Interest Group may make a contribution to the current state of the literature, curriculum, pedagogy, and research that informs SEL in schools.

Promoting Social and Emotional Competencies in Elementary School

Summary There's a strong case for making social and emotional learning (SEL) skills and competencies a central feature of elementary school. Children who master SEL skills get along better with others, do better in school, and have more successful careers and better mental and physical health as adults. But evidence from the most rigorous studies of elementary-school SEL programs is ambiguous. Some studies find few or no effects, while others find important and meaningful effects. Or studies find effects for some groups of students but not for others. What causes such variation isn't clear, making it hard to interpret and act on the evidence. What are the sources of variation in the impacts of SEL programs designed for the elementary years? To find out, Stephanie Jones, Sophie Barnes, Rebecca Bailey, and Emily Doolittle examine how the theories of change behind 11 widely used school-based SEL interventions align with the way those interventions measure outcomes. Their central conclusion is that what appears to be variation in impacts may instead stem from imprecise program targets misaligned with too-general measures of outcomes. That is to say, program evaluations often fail to measure whether students have mastered the precise skills the programs seek to impart. The authors make three recommendations for policy makers, practitioners, and researchers. The first is that we should focus more on outcomes at the teacher and classroom level, because teachers' own social-emotional competency and the quality of the classroom environment can have a huge effect on students' SEL. Second, because the elementary years span a great many developmental and environmental transitions, SEL programs should take care to focus on the skills appropriate to each grade and age, rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Third, they write, measurement of SEL skills among children in this age range should grow narrower in focus but broader in context and depth. www.futureofchildren.org Research has shown that during the elementary school years, social and emotional skills are related to positive academic, social, and mental health outcomes. For example, correlational studies show that classrooms function more effectively and student learning increases when children can focus their attention, manage negative emotions, navigate relationships with peers and adults, and persist in the face of difficulty. (1) Children who effectively manage their thinking, attention, and behavior are also more likely to have better grades and higher standardized test scores. (2) Children with strong social skills are more likely to make and sustain friendships, initiate positive relationships with teachers, participate in classroom activities, and be positively engaged in learning. (3) Indeed, social and emotional skills in childhood have been tied to important life outcomes 20 to 30 years later, including job and financial security, as well as physical and mental health. (4) This compelling evidence suggests that there's a strong case for making such non-academic skills and competencies a central feature of schooling, both because of their intrinsic value to society and, from a pragmatic standpoint, because they may help to reduce achievement and behavior gaps and mitigate exposure to stress. (5) But what do we know about efforts designed to improve and support social and emotional skills in the elementary years? The evidence from gold-standard studies--in which one group is randomly assigned to receive an intervention while another is not--is ambiguous. What works, for whom it works, and under what conditions often varies. For example, we've seen largescale national studies that find small or no effects from interventions designed for the elementary school years, and many individual studies that find important and meaningful effects. (6) What causes such variation isn't clear, making it hard to interpret and act on the evidence. …

Social-Emotional Assessment, Performance, and Standards

Summary In the push to boost young peoples social and emotional learning (SEL), assessment has lagged behind policy and practice. We have few usable, feasible, and scalable tools to assess children's SEL. And without good assessments, teachers, administrators, parents, and policymakers can't get the data they need to make informed decisions about SEL. Some existing SEL assessments, writes Clark McKown, are appropriate for some purposes, such as keeping teachers abreast of their students' progress or evaluating SEL interventions. But too few high-quality SEL assessments are able to serve a growing range of purposes--from formative assessment to accountability, and from prekindergarten through high school. McKown recommends proceeding along two paths. First, he writes, educators should become familiar with existing SEL assessments so that they can learn their appropriate uses and limits in a low-stakes context. At the same, we need to invest money and talent to create assessment systems that can be used to meet important assessment goals at all grade levels. McKown walks us through definitions of SEL, identifying three broad areas of SEL skills--thinking, behavior, and self-control. Each area encompasses skills that are associated with important life and academic outcomes, that are feasible to assess, and that can be influenced by children's experiences. Such meaningful, measurable, and malleable skills, McKown argues, should form the basis of SEL assessments. The next generation of SEL assessments should follow six principles, he concludes. First, assessments should meet the highest ethical and scientific standards. Second, developers should design SEL assessment systems specifically for educational use. Third, assessments should measure dimensions of SEL that span the three categories of thinking, behavioral, and self-control skills. Fourth, assessment methods should be matched to what's being measured. Fifth, assessments should be developmentally appropriate--in other words, children of different ages will need different sorts of assessments. Last, to discourage inappropriate uses, developers should clearly specify the intended purpose of any SEL assessment system, beginning from the design stage. Social and emotional learning, or SEL, includes a broad range of mental, behavioral, and selfcontrol skills that people use in social interactions to achieve social goals. Although scholars haven't reached consensus on its definition, SEL includes skills such as the ability to infer others' thoughts and feelings (thinking skills), the ability to initiate a positive interaction (behavioral skills), and the ability to stay calm when upset (self-control skills). Labeled variously as soft or noncognitive skills, SEL skills are highly consequential. Decades' worth of research has consistently found that the better developed their SEL skills, the better children do in school and life. (1) Parents, educators, and policymakers increasingly recognize the importance of SEL. In the past three decades, prevention scientists and others have developed and rigorously evaluated a number of comprehensive, evidence-based SEL programs. These programs are widely used: In a 2015 nationwide survey of 562 teachers and administrators, 59 percent of respondents reported using a program called School Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (SWPBIS), and 32 percent of respondents reported using an SEL program such as PATHS[R] or Second Step. (2) Furthermore, a growing number of states now include SEL in their educational standards. (3) Purposes of SEL Assessment and Lack of Appropriate Tools Although policy and practice are moving forward, one area lags. We have few usable, feasible, and scalable tools for educators to assess children's SEL, creating a conundrum for policymakers and practitioners. Just like good academic assessment, good SEL assessment could help educators achieve many goals. …

Can Universal SEL Programs Benefit Universally? Effects of the Positive Action Program on Multiple Trajectories of Social-Emotional and Misconduct Behaviors.

Behavioral trajectories during middle childhood are predictive of consequential outcomes later in life (e.g., substance abuse, violence). Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are designed to promote trajectories that reflect both growth in positive behaviors and inhibited development of negative behaviors. The current study used growth mixture models to examine effects of the Positive Action (PA) program on behavioral trajectories of social-emotional and character development (SECD) and misconduct using data from a cluster-randomized trial that involved 14 schools and a sample of predominately low-income, urban youth followed from 3rd through 8th grade. For SECD, findings indicated that PA was similarly effective at improving trajectories within latent classes characterized as "high/declining" and "low/stable". Favorable program effects were likewise evident to a comparable degree for misconduct across observed latent classes that reflected "low/rising" and "high/rising" trajectories. These findings suggest that PA and perhaps other school-based universal SEL programs have the potential to yield comparable benefits across subgroups of youth with differing trajectories of positive and negative behaviors, making them promising strategies for achieving the intended goal of school-wide improvements in student outcomes.

Establishing systemic social and emotional learning approaches in schools: a framework for schoolwide implementation

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a fundamental part of education. Incorporating high-quality SEL programming into day-to-day classroom and school practices has emerged as a main goal for many practitioners over the past decade. The present article overviews the current state of SEL research and practice, with a particular focus on the United States. The need for a model of SEL that goes beyond the classroom is illustrated, and a systemic approach to implementing SEL school-wide is introduced. It is argued that school-wide SEL maximises the benefits of SEL programming by becoming the organising framework for fostering students’ potential as scholars, community members, and citizens. Further, a Theory of Action (ToA) developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is presented that serves as a blueprint for implementing systemic SEL in schools. Potential challenges and barriers involved in moving toward school-wide SEL implementation are considered and discussed.

Preventive Interventions for Children and Adolescents

Abstract. This systematic review examines the meta-analytic evidence on four broad categories of preventive interventions for children and adolescents, including: mentoring, service learning, outdoor adventure, and social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. There were 15 meta-analytic studies that fit the criteria for inclusion. For each intervention type, the target population, main implementation strategies, and meta-analytic evidence are reported. The review considers the effectiveness of these preventive interventions across various content areas and populations, providing an indication of which type of intervention has the strongest effects on what outcomes, where they are most beneficial, and for whom they are most promising. Experimental evidence has demonstrated that mentoring, service learning, outdoor adventure, and SEL programs can all promote positive development and prevent problematic behaviors. Overall, service learning, outdoor adventure, and SEL programs have shown small to large effects on a variety of outcomes, while mentoring has shown small but significant effects. The review concludes with a discussion of key criteria that should be considered when choosing a particular program type.

Cluster-randomized trial demonstrating impact on academic achievement of elementary social-emotional learning.

This study evaluated the results of a social and emotional learning (SEL) program on academic achievement among students attending a large, urban, high-risk school district. Using a cluster-randomized design, 24 elementary schools were assigned to receive either the intervention curriculum (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies, or PATHS) or a curriculum that delivered few if any SEL topics (i.e., the control group). In addition to state mastery test scores, demographic data, school attendance, and dosage information were obtained from 705 students who remained in the same group from the 3rd to the 6th grade. Analyses of odds ratios revealed that students enrolled in the intervention schools demonstrated higher levels of basic proficiency in reading, writing, and math at some grade levels. Although these between-groups differences held for race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, significant within-group differences also were noted across these variables. Collectively, these findings indicated that social development instruction may be a promising approach to promote acquisition of academic proficiency, especially among youth attending high-risk school settings. Implications of these findings with respect to SEL programs conclude the article.

Integrating Mindfulness-based Practices into Social and Emotional Learning: a Case Application

Mindfulness-based practices (MBP) are being applied in school settings with growing interest and increasing frequency. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a paradigm in which schools are planning and implementing prevention and intervention programming to mitigate risk factors and positively affect the well-being of all students. MBP can be used with SEL programming as a novel adjunctive approach to fostering resilience. This article reviews SEL and highlights the theoretical basis for and the practical integration of MBP into existing SEL curricula, Strong Kids and Strong Teens. Recommendations for the continued use of MBP in school settings and within a SEL framework are discussed.

Enhancing cognitive and social-emotional development through a simple-to-administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children: a randomized controlled trial.

The authors hypothesized that a social and emotional learning (SEL) program involving mindfulness and caring for others, designed for elementary school students, would enhance cognitive control, reduce stress, promote well-being and prosociality, and produce positive school outcomes. To test this hypothesis, 4 classes of combined 4th and 5th graders (N = 99) were randomly assigned to receive the SEL with mindfulness program versus a regular social responsibility program. Measures assessed executive functions (EFs), stress physiology via salivary cortisol, well-being (self-reports), prosociality and peer acceptance (peer reports), and math grades. Relative to children in the social responsibility program, children who received the SEL program with mindfulness (a) improved more in their cognitive control and stress physiology; (b) reported greater empathy, perspective-taking, emotional control, optimism, school self-concept, and mindfulness, (c) showed greater decreases in self-reported symptoms of depression and peer-rated aggression, (d) were rated by peers as more prosocial, and (e) increased in peer acceptance (or sociometric popularity). The results of this investigation suggest the promise of this SEL intervention and address a lacuna in the scientific literature-identifying strategies not only to ameliorate children's problems but also to cultivate their well-being and thriving. Directions for future research are discussed.

Mindfulness in practice: considerations for implementation of mindfulness-based programming for adolescents in school contexts.

Schools are considered one of the primary settings in which prevention and intervention initiatives can be implemented successfully, reaching a large number of young people. Especially when promoting social and emotional learning (SEL), many adolescents benefit from universal programs implemented in the school context. This chapter embeds mindfulness programs within the context of SEL. The author formulates initial recommendations for successful school-based implementation of mindfulness, drawing from previous empirical evidence for successful SEL programming. Practical resources and recommendations for finding, choosing, and successfully implementing and sustaining a mindfulness program in an educational context are provided.

Implementing Strong Kids School-Wide to Reduce Internalizing Behaviors and Increase Prosocial Behaviors

Instruction and training in social and emotional learning (SEL) is an important component in addressing the emotional and behavioral needs of students. This study is the first to examine whether Strong Kids , an SEL program, delivered school-wide in all classrooms, could result in decreased internalizing behaviors and increased prosocial behaviors for both at-risk and general education students. This study also evaluated whether teachers could implement Strong Kids as designed and whether they viewed it as socially valid. A non-equivalent control group design was used. The treatment school consisted of 348 student participants and 17 teacher participants in grades K–6. The control school consisted of 266 student participants and 11 teacher participants in grades K–6. Pretest and posttest teacher ratings revealed significant decreases in students’ internalizing behaviors at the treatment school, while these behaviors increased at the control school. Students at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders improved significantly more than those not at risk on ratings of internalizing symptoms and prosocial behaviors, even when the intervention was delivered school-wide in all classrooms. Teachers were able to implement Strong Kids with a high level of fidelity and they held moderately favorable views of the program.

Does a Preschool Social and Emotional Learning Intervention Pay Off for Classroom Instruction and Children's Behavior and Academic Skills? Evidence From the Foundations of Learning Project

This article tests the hypothesis that children's learning environment will improve through a social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention that provides preschool teachers with new skills to manage children's disruptive behavior by reporting results from the Foundations of Learning (FOL) Demonstration, a place-randomized, experimental evaluation conducted by MDRC. Research Findings: Findings demonstrate that the FOL intervention improved teachers' ability to address children's behavior problems and to provide a positive emotional climate in their classrooms. Importantly, the FOL intervention also improved the number of minutes of instructional time, although the quality of teachers' instruction was not improved. Finally, FOL benefited children's observed behavior in classrooms, with lower levels of conflictual interactions and, at the trend level, higher levels of engagement in classrooms activities, relative to similar students randomly assigned to control classrooms. Practice or Policy: This study is one of an emerging body of research on the efficacy of SEL programs for preschool children living in poverty. Understanding the value-added of these programs (e.g., in increased instructional time and increased classroom engagement) as well as their limitations (e.g., in teachers' instructional quality and children's academic skills) will help us design the next set of more effective interventions for low-income children.

Enhancing Teacher Effectiveness in Spain: A Pilot Study of The RULER Approach to Social and Emotional Learning

This study examined the effects of an evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program, The RULER Approach to Social and Emotional Learning (RULER), on teacher self reports of engagement, teacher-student interactions, and burnout. Participants were 47 teachers from 19 public schools in Spain who either volunteered for training on RULER (n = 24) or eLearning (n = 23). Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted separately for each outcome. Teachers in the RULER as compared to eLearning group had significantly higher scores on many outcomes even after controlling for gender, age, trait affect, and personality, as well as pre-test scores on all outcomes. These findings extend the literature on the effectiveness of SEL programs for the improvement of teacher practices; they also advance our understanding of possible mechanisms for promoting high-quality professional development.

Locating Social and Emotional Learning in Schooled Environments: A Vygotskian Perspective on Learning as Unified

This article contributes to the emerging literature on social and emotional learning (SEL) from a Vygotskian perspective. A critical perspective on SEL in the context of schooling in the United States situates current interest in SEL programs. Vygotsky's foundational work from the 1920s and 1930s is used to clarify learning as unified, and the concept of feeling is elaborated with literature relevant to learning in school environments and across the life course. Potential next steps for research are noted, in particular given the unity of speech, thinking, and feeling and the literature on the role of social speech and dialogue in learning and development.

Assessing Teachers’ Beliefs About Social and Emotional Learning

Teachers are the primary implementers of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. Their beliefs about SEL likely influence program delivery, evaluation, and outcomes. A simple tool for measuring these beliefs could be used by school administrators to determine school readiness for SEL programming and by researchers to better understand teacher variables that impact implementation fidelity and program outcomes. In a two-phase study, we developed and then validated a parsimonious measure of teachers’ beliefs about SEL. In Phase 1, survey items were administered to 935 teachers and subjected to both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, resulting in three reliable scales pertaining to teachers’ comfort with teaching SEL, commitment to learning about SEL, and perceptions about whether their school culture supports SEL. Phase 2 provided evidence for the concurrent and predictive validity of the scales with a subsample of teachers implementing an SEL program as part of a randomized controlled trial. The discussion focuses on the value of measuring teachers’ beliefs about SEL from both researcher and practitioner perspectives.