Social and Emotional Learning Research: Evidence-Based Programs

• Classroom sessions over a twenty-seven-week program involve nine family visits with a baby (ages 6-12 months). The trainer facilitates the curriculum, and can be anyone except the teacher who participates in a training program with Roots of Empathy.

• Decreased aggression (approximately half as many youth getting into fights each year)
• Increased prosocial behavior
• Immediate and long-term effects, lasting up to three years after intervention

(Schonert-Reichl, Smith, Zaidman-Zait & Hertzman, 2012; Santos, Chartier, Whalen, Chateau & Boyd, 2011; Cain & Carnellor, 2008)

• Thinking and doing positive actions
• Based on the premise that you feel good about yourself when you think and do positive actions, and that there is always a positive way to do things.

• Academic achievement gains, averaging 14 percentile points
• Decreased violent behaviors, averaging 19 percentile points

(U.S. Department of Education, 2007)

• Morning meetings
• Three to five positively stated school rules (developmentally and individually relevant to the child) for the whole school or classroom
• Responding to misbehavior with positive redirecting language and logical consequences
• Problem-solving strategies in class or small-groups; written agreements with individual students
• Modeling, role-playing and positive teacher language to teach expected behaviors
• Continuous evaluation of implementation and impact

• Increased math and reading test scores
• Improved student attitudes about schools, teachers, and peers
• Decreased misbehavior and improved social skills
• Teachers felt more effective and positive about teaching, offered higher-quality instruction, and collaborated more frequently with other teachers

(Brock, Nishida, Chiong, Grimm & Rimm-Kaufman, 2008; Sawyer & Rimm-Kaufman, 2007; Rimm-Kauffman & Chiu, 2007; Rimm-Kaufman, Fan, Chiu & You, 2007)

• Skills in impulse control, (e.g. using self-talk), showing empathy, anger and emotional management, and problem-solving
• Brain Builder Games to develop self-regulation skills

• Increased cooperative behavior
• Reduced aggression in the classroom, lasting up to six months.

(Cooke, Ford, Levin, Bourke, Newell & Lapidus, 2007; Grossman, Neckerman, Koepsell, Liu, Asher, Beland, Frey & Rivara, 1997; Frey, Nolen, Van Schioack, Edstrom & Hirschstein, 2005)

• Continual training of teachers
• Problem solving by using perspective-taking, decision-making, and negotiation techniques
• Peer mediation
• Parent training and coaching

• Decreased hostility and aggression
• Increased reading and math test scores among high-risk students

(Jones, Brown & Aber, 2011; Aber, Brown & Jones, 2003; Aber, Jones, Brown, Cahudry & Samples, 1998)

• Mindfulness, or open-monitoring meditation, involves observing thoughts and emotions without reacting to them.
• Focused-attention meditation involves focusing on a single object.
• School-based meditation practices ranged from 10 to 40 minutes, daily to bi-weekly, over three to six months.

• Decreased aggression and rule infractions
• Improved academic functioning on attention-skills tests
• Decreased anxiety

(Schonert-Reichl & Lawlor, 2010; Black, Milam & Sussman, 2009; Barnes, Bauza & Treiber, 2003; Napoli, Krech, & Holley, 2005; Zylowska, Auckerman, Yang, Futrell, Horton, Hale, Pataki & Smalley, 2008; Semple, Reid & Miller, 2005)

• Involving students in designing, implementing, and evaluating service projects
• Community partnerships that provide real-world context for service, communication, and interaction
• Projects have clear educational goals and meet genuine community needs

• Can protect from negative life stresses
• Can improve relationships with peers and adults
• Can increase civic engagement

(Hamilton & Fenzel, 1988; Yates & Youniss, 1996; Markus et al, 1993; cited in Stukas, Clary & Snyder, 1999; Scales et al., 2000; Billig, 2002)