Project Activities
In Years 1–3 of the study, 60 schools will be recruited into three cohorts (20 schools per cohort). Schools will be randomly assigned to the SELF intervention condition or business-as-usual comparison condition. A total of 360 teachers/classrooms and approximately 1,440 children at risk for EBD will participate. In the fall of each year, teachers will identify students who may be at risk for EBD. Data collection will be completed prior to and immediately after the intervention to examine the efficacy of the intervention as well as variables that may moderate or mediate intervention outcomes.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This study will take place in rural and urban elementary schools in Florida.
Sample
Approximately 360 teachers from 60 schools (approximately 6 classrooms per school) will be recruited for the study. Approximately 1,440 students (4 per participating classroom) in kindergarten (n = 720) and first grade (n = 720) who are screened as at risk for EBD and not identified as developmentally delayed will participate.
Intervention
Social-Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF), an intervention previously developed and tested through IES funding, consists of lessons that focus on age-appropriate critical social-emotional learning competencies: self-awareness (e.g., emotion recognition and identification), social awareness (e.g., perspective taking, respecting others), responsible decision making, self-management, and relationship management. Teachers receive comprehensive professional development in social-emotional learning, critical lesson components, alignment of the curriculum with literacy standards, and training in delivery of the curriculum. Each topic is introduced to the whole class using a storybook selected specifically for social-emotional concepts and related vocabulary appropriate for the respective grade level, with the remaining lessons taught through small-group instruction to the students identified as at risk for EBD. The teacher uses dialogic reading to promote discussion. Target students are encouraged to apply concepts and skills in problem-solving situations and practice using the selected vocabulary. During 20-minute lessons (taught 1–2 times per week), teachers use puppets to model a range of emotions and think aloud about feelings, choices, and consequences. They also encourage target children to relate lesson concepts to their own experiences.
Research design and methods
The research team will use a three-cohort cluster randomized trial in which schools serve as the unit of randomization, with classrooms nested within schools. Schools will be assigned to receive the SELF intervention or business-as-usual comparison condition. Data collection will be completed prior to and immediately after the intervention to examine the efficacy of the intervention as well as variables that may moderate (e.g., classroom interaction quality, baseline identification of internalizing vs. externalizing behavior, social emotional language development) or mediate (e.g., social-emotional language, self-regulation, treatment implementation quality) intervention outcomes.
Control condition
In the control condition, teachers and their students will receive business-as-usual instruction, services, and professional development.
Key measures
The Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders will be used as a student behavioral screening measure. For outcome measures, social-emotional language development will be assessed with a researcher-developed measure of children's receptive and expressive social-emotional learning vocabulary and the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts, which collects, transcribes, and codes adult-child conversations related to social-emotional learning. Student self-regulation and executive function will be assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Teacher Form and the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders. Social-emotional competence will be measured by a researcher-developed questionnaire to assess how much students know about concepts taught directly in SELF lessons, as well as by the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment and Student Knowledge Questionnaire. School adjustment will be measured by the Clinical Assessment of Behavior Teacher Rating Form as well as academic measures available from the state, including the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading and attendance data. Potential moderators will be measured through the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (measures language proficiency) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; measures classroom interaction quality). The Direct Observation of Practice Protocol will be used as a measure of intervention fidelity.
Data analytic strategy
The research team will use multilevel modeling to evaluate the impact of SELF on students' social-emotional competence and academic outcomes and to explore moderating and mediating effects. The multilevel models will account for the nesting of children in classrooms in schools.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: This project will produce evidence of the efficacy of SELF in improving social-emotional competence and school adjustment for children at risk for EBD in kindergarten and first grade, peer reviewed publications, and presentations.
Related projects
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Nancy Corbett, Stephen Smith, and James Algina
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.