Project Activities
Researchers will use a systematic iterative user-centered development process to create Emotion Explorer. As part of the development process, they will examine the intervention's usability, pedagogical appropriateness, and demographic equivalency. They will complete both field and pilot tests in order to examine feasibility and cost efficiencies for use in K–2 classrooms as well as test the promise of this new SEL intervention for impacting student social emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes and teacher SEL self-efficacy.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The project will take place in 39 elementary school classrooms in western North Carolina.
Sample
Researchers will carry out iterative development with 60 K-2 students. Participants in the field and pilot tests will be approximately 700 K-2 students and 39 K-2 teachers.
Intervention
Emotion Explorer (EE) will be an SEL program designed for universal delivery in K–2 classrooms. EE includes digital, self-paced, and personalized student components (e.g., interactive e-books) blended with teacher-led discussions. The total time to participate in the full intervention will be approximately 40 minutes per week for 6 weeks. Teachers will have access to online training modules, administration tools, Home Connection materials, and progress monitoring tools.
Research design and methods
Researchers will create the full set of student and teacher intervention materials during the project's first 2 years following a systematic iterative development process. When the intervention is fully developed, researchers will conduct a small field test of EE using parallel research and implementation methods as those planned for the pilot test to ensure their methods are feasible and achievable in K–2 classrooms prior to pilot testing. Once feasibility is established, researchers will complete a cluster randomized pilot test of the promise of this new SEL intervention for generating beneficial student outcomes when compared to traditional SEL instruction. The researchers will also assess whether the intervention enhances teacher SEL self-efficacy. They will also assess increases program feasibility and cost-benefits via EE's SEL delivery in regular education K–2 classrooms.
Control condition
Classrooms randomized to the control condition will implement the traditional teacher-led, paper-and-pencil SEL intervention Adventures in Emotional Literacy (AEL) for an equivalent amount of time. All teacher materials will be printed.
Key measures
Researchers will measure (a) students' social emotional competence, classroom behaviors, academic engagement, and achievement; (b) teacher SEL self-efficacy; (c) software and intervention usability; (d) implementation fidelity; (e) implementation costs; and (f) intervention feasibility.
Data analytic strategy
Descriptive statistics for end user ratings and software derived indices will be examined during iterative development. Researchers will test the impact of EE for student outcomes using a three-level hierarchical linear model (HLM), overall and separately by grade, gender, and racial/ethnic sub-groups. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach will be used to understand how student outcomes may be moderated by variation in implementation fidelity. General linear models (GLM) will be used to test changes in teacher SEL self-efficacy (repeated measures) and differences in intervention usability and feasibility by condition at post-test.
Cost analysis strategy
Costs will be gathered using the “ingredients method”, including expenditures for personnel, facilities, equipment, materials, and training. Upon completion of the cost analysis, the research team will compute the cost-effectiveness ratios for each student outcome.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: The project team will create the Emotion Explorer intervention, pilot test it for evidence of promise, and provide information about the cost effectiveness of the intervention. The team will share findings from their research through conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
