Co-Principal Investigator: Greenberg, Mark

Purpose: In this study, the research team completed the development of the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) professional development program to enhance teachers' capacity to provide a supportive and engaging social and emotional context for academic learning. Teachers must provide their students with effective instruction in academic content while simultaneously dealing with the emotions, behaviors, and social exchanges of their students through effective classroom management practices. These types of challenges in the classroom can lead to dissatisfaction and teacher burnout and, in some instances, subsequent departure from the teaching profession. Teachers' social-emotional competence—broadly defined here as consisting of self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, self-management, and relationship management—is an important factor in teachers' ability to manage the challenges and stressors of the classroom. The need to promote and support teachers' social-emotional competence is critical, not just for the teachers experiencing stress and burnout, but also for their students who are affected in many important ways by their teacher's ability to deliver effective instruction and simultaneously manage behavior in the classroom.

Project Activities: This study was completed in two phases. In the first phase, the researchers tested the original CARE model iteratively with two cohorts of 74 teachers to determine its feasibility and attractiveness to teachers. In the second phase of the project, the researchers completed a randomized controlled trial (CARE or wait-list control) with 50 teachers to determine the promise of CARE for improving teacher and student outcomes.

Key Outcomes: The main features of the intervention and findings of the project's pilot RCT are as follows:

• In both the field tests and final pilot test of promise, teachers viewed CARE as a feasible, acceptable, and effective method for reducing stress and improving classroom instruction.
• Participation in the CARE program resulted in significant improvements in teacher well-being, efficacy, burnout/time-related stress, and mindfulness compared with controls.
• There is some evidence to suggest that the CARE program may be particularly beneficial for teachers working in more challenging settings (urban versus rural/suburban).

Structured Abstract

Setting: The research took place in an urban school district and a rural/suburban school district in central Pennsylvania.

Population: Participants in the study were 124 teachers (74 in Phase I and 50 in Phase II) of kindergarten through fifth grade.

Intervention: The Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) professional development model consists of monthly 2-day sessions of professional development focused on social-emotional awareness, and weekly 30- to 60-minute follow up distal coaching sessions during the school year. CARE is based upon the Prosocial Classroom mediational model that conceptualizes teachers' well-being and social-emotional competence as fostering supportive teacher-student relationships, effective classroom management skills, and instructional support, which in turn should lead to a healthy and prosocial classroom environment and positive social, emotional, and academic outcomes for students.

Research Design and Methods: This development project took place in two phases. In Phase I, three successive iterations of the intervention were piloted, evaluated, and refined over the course of one school year as an in-service training/professional development opportunity for 74 K–5 teachers. In Phase II, the final version of CARE was pilot tested with 50 K–5 teachers. At the end of the project a final intervention manual and materials, as well as measures of program fidelity and quality, were created in preparation for testing the initial efficacy of CARE.

Control Condition: Teachers randomly assigned to the control condition were offered the opportunity to receive CARE training after the pilot RCT was completed.

Key Measures: A variety of process measures and observational and self-report measures were used in Phase I, including the PANAS Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the BDI Beck Depression Inventory, the MAAS Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale, the MBI Maslach Burnout Inventory (Educators' Survey), the Problems in Schools Questionnaire, the TSES Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale, and the Stressful Occurrences and Support Questionnaire. In Phase II, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) was used to assess classrooms pre- and post-intervention.

Data Analytic Strategy: Qualitative process evaluation data was analyzed using interim analysis. Interview and focus group data was transcribed, segmented, and coded using a priori and inductive codes. Data was organized and summarized using a hierarchical and networked category system that explored teachers' impressions of program effectiveness. Quantitative data was analyzed using mixed-effects models with repeated measures (pre- and post-intervention) and changes in psychological variables were determined. Regression (partial correlation) analyses were performed to validate the Prosocial Classroom mediational model. Paired t-tests were used to examine change over time in the relevant constructs. Exploratory "dose-response" multiple regression analyses were done that related attendance at training sessions with amount of independent practice to the proximal outcomes. Finally, teachers' perception of the effectiveness of CARE was correlated with outcomes. For all self-report measures, comparisons between the CARE treatment group and control group were made during the post-intervention period using covariance adjusted means.

Related Projects: Improving Classroom Learning Environments by Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE): A Cluster Randomized Controlled Efficacy Trial (R305A140692|R305A120180); Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) for Special Educators: Supporting Educator Capacity and Well-Being to Promote Positive Student Outcomes (R324R210020)

Products and Publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Book chapter

Jennings, P.A., and DeMauro, A.A. (2017). Individual-Level Interventions: Mindfulness-Based Approaches to Reducing Stress and Improving Performance Among Teachers. In T. McIntyre, S. McIntyre, and D. Francis, Educator Stress: Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being (pp. 319–346). Springer, Cham.

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

Jennings, P.A., Frank, J.L., Snowberg, K.E., Coccia, M A., and Greenberg, M.T. (2013). Improving Classroom Learning Environments by Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE): Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial. School Psychology Quarterly, 28(4): 374–390.

Jennings, P.A., Snowberg, K.E., Coccia, M.A., and Greenberg, M.T. (2011). Improving Classroom Learning Environments by Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE): Results of Two Pilot Studies. Journal of Classroom Interaction, 46(1): 37–48.

Schussler, D.L., Jennings, P.A., Sharp, J.E., and Frank, J.L. (2016). Improving Teacher Awareness and Well-Being Through CARE: A Qualitative Analysis of the Underlying Mechanisms. Mindfulness, 7(1): 130–142.

Sharp, J.E., and Jennings. P.A. (2016). Strengthening Teacher Presence Through Mindfulness: What Educators Say About the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) Program. Mindfulness, 7(1): 209–218.