CASEL Research Updates

1. CASEL Research Updates Roger P. Weissberg Linda Dusenbury Jessy Newman October 11, 2011 CASEL Collaborating Districts Initiative Cross-District Meeting, Anchorage, AK

2. Overview of Today’s Presentation • Background on SEL standards • Process and criteria for the SEL Program Review • Program design • Professional development • Evidence base • Current status • Next steps

3. Four Components for Promoting Students’ Social and Emotional Learning Clear and developmentally appropriate preK-12 educational standards and benchmarks Evidence-based SEL curricula and instruction to achieve those goals Professional development for educators to support high-quality programming Assessment that allows teachers to monitor and promote student progress.

4. Preschool State Learning Standards

5. Alaska Standards for Social and Emotional Development (Birth-5 years) Social Development Interactions with adults Interactions with peers Adaptive social behavior Appreciating diversity Emotional Development Self-concept Self-efficacy Self-control Emotional expression

6. K-12 State Learning Standards

7. Illinois Social & Emotional Learning Standards Other Decision-making Self SEL Goal 32 Use social-awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships. SEL Goal 31 Develop self-awareness and self-management skills to achieve school and life success. SEL Goal 33 Demonstrate decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community contexts.

8. Anchorage SEL Standards

9. Collaborating Districts Initiative: SEL Standards Anchorage has implemented PreK–12 SEL and cultural responsiveness standards and has developed a Six-Year SEL Instructional and Evaluation Plan. Austin has a completed SEL scope and sequence for elementary school grade levels that will be implemented in the coming school year. Cleveland has started to develop a PreK–12 SEL scope and sequence and has SEL goals reflected in the school improvement process.  

10. Safe & Sound: An Educational Leader’s Guide to Evidence-based SEL Programs • 80 multiyear SEL classroom-based programs • 22 CASEL Select SEL Programs • Reviewed program design, professional development, and evidence of effectiveness • Over 150,000 downloads

11. Since 2003, the field of social and emotional learning has developed and matured • 2004 • Publication of Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning. What Does the Research Say? (Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg) • 2005 • Illinois establishes K-12 student learning standards in social and emotional learning • 2006 • Publication of Sustainable Schoolwide Social and Emotional Learning: Implementation Guide and Toolkit (Devaney, O’Brien, Resnik, Keister, & Weissberg) • 2010 • CASEL commits to advancing a national implementation of evidence-based preschool to high school social and emotional learning programming • 2011 • Publication of The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger) • Introduction of the Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act (H.R. 2437)

12. Goals for the SEL Program Review • Establish a common framework for evaluating evidence-based SEL • Communicate clear messages to program providers, researchers, and educators about quality programming and implementation • Review SEL programs and offer guidance for identifying, selecting, implementing, integrating, and sustaining appropriate strategies

13. Search Processes for Identifying Effective SEL Programs • Various search methods for identifying programs • Publishing “call for evaluations” • Consulting major national reviews (NREPP, WWC, OJJPD) • Contacting researchers from CASEL’s meta-analysis • Contacting developers or marketers • Contacted 170 Pre-K – 12 programs • 100 programs submitted evaluations

14. Program Design: Approaches that Foster Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning Explicit instruction in social and emotional competencies that can be broadly applied Domain-specific problem-prevention or promotion programming Integration of SEL with academic content Engaging pedagogies and supportive learning environments

15. Program Design: Social and Emotional Skill Emphases • Self-awareness • Self-management • Social awareness • Relationship skills • Responsible decision-making

16. Program Design: Opportunities for Practice and Generalization • Practice • Information only? • Practice within the lesson only? • Practice beyond the lesson? • Generalization beyond the lesson • Classroom-wide • School-wide • School-family partnerships • School-community partnerships

17. Evidence of Effectiveness • Uses an experimental-control group design • Has significant positive student outcomes in one or more of the following categories: • Positive social behavior • Conduct problems • Emotional distress • Academic performance

18. The Importance of Evaluation: Available Assessment Tools • Implementation Tools • General implementation guidelines or procedures • Teacher self-monitoring tools • Classroom observation tools • Student Outcomes Measurement Tools • Summative • Formative

19. Professional Development & Training • Does the program provide quality training and support for teachers and administrators? • Initial training • On-site coaching • In what formats? • Onsite • Distance learning • Are train-the-trainer approaches available? • What is the average cost of training and materials?

20. Current Status of the Review Evaluation and program design reviews are almost complete for 28 programs

21. Currently Being Used in Collaborating and Affiliated Districts 4Rs (Youngstown) Caring School Community (DuPage) PATHS (Cleveland) Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (Anchorage) Responsive Classroom (DuPage) Ripple Effects (Cleveland) RULER Program (Cleveland, adopted not yet implemented) Second Step (Austin)

22. Program Characteristics

23. Coverage of Social and Emotional Competencies

24. Evaluation Tools

25. Next Steps • Continue reviewing additional programs • Identify new programs that should be in the review • Disseminate findings • Continue to refine and expand the review to meet the needs of program providers, researchers, and educators going forward