TY - JOUR
T1 - Promoting social-emotional competence
T2 - An evaluation of the elementary version of Second Step®
AU - Low, Sabina
AU - Cook, Clayton R.
AU - Smolkowski, Keith
AU - Buntain-Ricklefs, Jodie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Research has consistently linked social-emotional skills to important educational and life outcomes. Many children begin their school careers, however, without the requisite social and emotional skills that facilitate learning, which has prompted schools nationwide to adopt specific curricula to teach students the social-emotional skills that enable them to maintain optimal engagement in the learning process. Second Step® is one of the most widely disseminated social-emotional learning (SEL) programs; however, its newly revised version has never been empirically evaluated. The purpose of this study was to conduct a randomized controlled trial investigating the impact of the 4th Edition Second Step® on social-behavioral outcomes over a 1-year period when combined with a brief training on proactive classroom management. Participants were kindergarten to 2nd grade students in 61 schools (321 teachers, 7300 students) across six school districts. Hierarchical models (time×condition) suggest that the program had few main effects from teacher-reported social and behavioral indices, with small effect sizes. The majority of significant findings were moderated effects, with 8 out of 11 outcome variables indicating the intervention-produced significant improvements in social-emotional competence and behavior for children who started the school year with skill deficits relative to their peers. All the significant findings were based on teacher-report data highlighting a need for replication using other informants and sources of data. Findings provide program validation and have implications for understanding the reach of SEL programs.
AB - Research has consistently linked social-emotional skills to important educational and life outcomes. Many children begin their school careers, however, without the requisite social and emotional skills that facilitate learning, which has prompted schools nationwide to adopt specific curricula to teach students the social-emotional skills that enable them to maintain optimal engagement in the learning process. Second Step® is one of the most widely disseminated social-emotional learning (SEL) programs; however, its newly revised version has never been empirically evaluated. The purpose of this study was to conduct a randomized controlled trial investigating the impact of the 4th Edition Second Step® on social-behavioral outcomes over a 1-year period when combined with a brief training on proactive classroom management. Participants were kindergarten to 2nd grade students in 61 schools (321 teachers, 7300 students) across six school districts. Hierarchical models (time×condition) suggest that the program had few main effects from teacher-reported social and behavioral indices, with small effect sizes. The majority of significant findings were moderated effects, with 8 out of 11 outcome variables indicating the intervention-produced significant improvements in social-emotional competence and behavior for children who started the school year with skill deficits relative to their peers. All the significant findings were based on teacher-report data highlighting a need for replication using other informants and sources of data. Findings provide program validation and have implications for understanding the reach of SEL programs.
KW - Efficacy trial
KW - Second Step®
KW - Social skills
KW - Social-emotional learning
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jsp.2015.09.002
DO - 10.1016/j.jsp.2015.09.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 26563599
AN - SCOPUS:84955054615
SN - 0022-4405
VL - 53
SP - 463
EP - 477
JO - Journal of School Psychology
JF - Journal of School Psychology
IS - 6
ER -