Dominic C. Moceri, M.S., Gwyne W. White, B.A., Jazmin A. Reyes, M.S., and Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D.

1. Explaining Gender and Racial Disparities in Academics Using Report Card Comments: Bringing to Life “The Other Side of the Report Card” with Social-Emotional Learning Dominic C. Moceri, M.S., Gwyne W. White, B.A., Jazmin A. Reyes, M.S., and Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Department of Psychology Presented at the Society for Community Research and Action 13th Biennial Conference, June 17th, 2011, Chicago, IL

2. Outline • Academic Disparities & Implementation Challenges • Social-Emotional Learning Indicators Project • Results for one academic year at one school • Conclusions, future studies and implications for education

3. The Problem of Academic Disparities • Girls outperform boys in all major subjects but perform equal to (or weaker than) boys on standardized tests • Black students receive lower standardized test scores than white students • NCLB of 2001 • National priority to close the achievement gap between • Races, Ethnicities • Income levels • Zip codes (AAUWEF, 1998; Good, et al., 2003; Pomerantz et al, 2002; Snyder & Dillow 2011; USDOE, 2005)

4. Implementation Challenges • Psychosocial intervention challenges • How to implement outside of well-controlled conditions? • How to sustain over time? • How to scale up? • School specific implementation challenges • Budget cuts! • Overburdened teachers! • Inconsistent data collection! (Elias, 2007; Elias, et al., 2003; Proctor et al., 2009)

5. Social-Emotional Learning Indicators Project (SEL-IP) • aka Bringing to Life the Other Side of the Report Card • Goals • Promote social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools to address the academic disparities • Evaluate comments on report cards to address the implementation challenges • Especially, for SEL skills

6. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) • “capacity to recognize and manage emotions, solve problems effectively, and establish positive relationships with others” with prosocial attitudes, values and judgments (Zins & Elias, 2006, p. 1) • “based on the understanding that • (1) many different kinds of problem behaviors are caused by the same or similar risk factors, and • (2) the best learning emerges from supportive relationships that make learning both challenging and meaningful” (CASEL, 2005, p. 5) • Outcomes • mastery of academic subject material • standardized achievement test scores

7. Comments on Report Cards • $$$ on academic abilities and achievements, but little on evaluating the validity of behavioral ratings • Opportunity • most parent-teacher conversations focus on students’ behaviors • natural part of a teacher’s job • no extra work • usually completed on a quarterly basis • allows for the analysis of time-lagged relationships

8. Hypotheses • Replicating Academic Discrepancies • H1: G > B and Wh > Bl for academic grades • H2a: G ≤ B for standardized test score • H2b: Wh > Bl for standardized test scores • SEL-IP Specific Hypotheses • H3a: H1 & H2 will disappear (or at least be greatly reduced) after controlling for (+) and (-) comments on the report cards. • H3b: SEL comments > other comments for H3a

9. Participants • HS in Northern NJ • High SES district • ~2000 enrollment • 34.1% White, 55.1% Black, 4.4% Hispanic, 2.7% Asian • Dataset for 2008-2009 • Classes: n = 1318 (L) & 1117 (M) • HSPA: n = 449 (L) & 477 (M) • Demographics • 50.1% female • 61.8% Black, 38.2% White (filtered) • 19.9% free/reduced lunch • 12.1% IEP

10. Materials & Coding • Normal report cards completed by teachers for 2008-2009 • Academic grades • Comments • Standardized test scores for 2008-2009 • Creating Comment Variables • Each student could receive 2 comments per class per quarter • 25 eligible comments • We created 6 key categories • 1st: what conceptually go together • 2nd: tested using Cohen’s alpha & correlations • 3rd: drop variables that fail step 2 • 4th: add # of comments for a given class across the year

11. Items for Categories

12. Frequencies & Correlations: Language + p < .10 * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

13. Frequencies & Correlations: Math + p < .10 * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

14. DV = Language/Literature GPA + p < .10 * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

15. DV = Math GPA + p < .10 * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

16. DV = Language HSPA + p < .10 * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

17. DV = Math HSPA + p < .10 * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

18. Results Summary • Both • Comments reduced disparities • GPA • Comments add to prediction • Medium to Large effect size • SEL-Type = Largest Beta for Comments • HSPA • Comments add to prediction, even after adding GPA • Small effect size • LA: Trying Hard , SEL-Type, Pos Acad; GPA not sig after comments • MA: Trying Hard & Neg Behaivor

19. Limitations & Future Studies • Limitations • Comments are not ideal measure of SEL-skills. • Some comments had low frequencies for this academic year. • Teachers are raters for both grades and comments. • Many students w/ IEPs excluded. • Future Studies • Can report card comments predictchanges in grades? • What are the ideal comments? • Expert SEL coders

20. Implications • SEL can be measured with report cards • May lead to comments being a screening tool • Parents are right to focus on comments during teacher meetings • SEL-type comments and other comments help explain academic disparities • For LA grades, MA grades and LA standardized tests

21. References American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. (1998). Gender gaps: Where schools still fail our children. Washington, DC: Author. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2005). Safe and sound: An educational leader’s guide to evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs (Illinois Edition). Retrieved from http://www.casel.org/pub/safeandsound.php Elias, M. J. (2007). From model implementation to sustainability: A multisite study of pathways to excellence in social-emotional learning and related school programs. In A. M. Blankstein, P. D. Houston, R. W. Cole (Eds.), Sustaining Professional Learning Communities: The Soul of Educational Leadership Series (pp. 59-95). Thousand Oaks, CA: Paul Chapman Publishing. Elias, M. J., Zins, J. E., Graczyk, P. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2003). Implementation, sustainability, and scaling up of social-emotional and academic innovations in public schools. School Psychology Review, 32, 303–319. Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents' standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645-662. Pomerantz, E. M., Altermatt, E. R., & Saxon, J. L. (2002). Making the grade but feeling distressed: Gender differences in academic performance and internal distress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 396-404. Proctor, E. K., Landsverk, J., Aarons, G., Chambers, D., Glisson, C., & Mittman, B. (2009). Implementation research in mental health services: an emerging science with conceptual, methodological, and training challenges. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 35, 24-34. Snyder, T.D., & Dillow, S.A. (2011). Digest of Education Statistics 2010 (NCES 2011-015). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC. United States Department of Education. (2005, August). How No Child Left Behind benefits African Americans. Retrieved April 20, 2011, from http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/achieve/nclb-aa.html Zins, J.E., & Elias, M.E. (2006). Social and Emotional Learning. In G.G. Bear & K.M. Minke (eds.) Children's needs III (pp. 1-13). National Assocation of School Psychologists.

22. Thank You Correspondence concerning this presentation should be addressed to Dominic C. Moceri, M.S., dmoceri@eden.rutgers.edu Psychology Department at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Symposium Title: Moceri, D. C., White, G. W., Reyes, J. A., Elias, M. J., & Weissberg, R. (2011, June). Breaking Barriers to Academic Success: The Role of Social-Emotional and Character Development in Creating Change. Symposium to be presented at the Society for Community Research and Action 13th Biennial Conference, Chicago, IL. Presentation Title: Moceri, D. C., White, G. W., Reyes, J. A., & Elias, M. J. (2011, June). Explaining Gender and Racial Disparities in Academics Using Report Card Comments: Bringing to Life “The Other Side of the Report Card” with Social-Emotional Learning. Paper to be presented at the Society for Community Research and Action 13th Biennial Conference, Chicago, IL. Funding provided by NoVo Foundation and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). The content of this presentation does not necessarily reflect their views, policies, or endorsements.