Project Activities
Researchers partnered with preschool programs to provide access to RULER training and implementation supports. The research team collected data from preschool directors and teachers, conducted classroom observations, and assessed children’s social-emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and academic skills. Data were used to describe variation in RULER implementation, identify factors associated with implementation, and examine links between implementation and educator and child outcomes.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study took place in 21 early childhood centers in Colorado. Forty-three percent of centers were nonprofit programs, with Quality Rating and Improvement System scores averaging 2.76 out of 5.
Sample
The final sample included 21 directors, 66 teachers, and 23 support or dual-role staff (e.g., staff serving as both administrators and educators). The study also included 181 preschool-aged children across approximately 75 classrooms.
RULER (Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating Emotions), uses a two-generational, whole-school approach to promote school leader, teacher, and child social and emotional skills. RULER Implementation Teams comprising school leaders and teachers received training and support to implement RULER practices and processes in their programs’ structured activities, ongoing professional development, and organizational shifts in leadership, policy, and school climate. Teachers received training and support to improve their own social emotional skills and implement RULER program components in their classrooms.
Research design and methods
The project employed an implementation study design with repeated measures. Data collection included fall and spring surveys of directors and teachers, classroom observations, and direct child assessments. Researchers examined variation in RULER implementation across classrooms, predictors of implementation, and associations between implementation and educator and child outcomes.
Key measures
Child-level data included executive functioning, early math skills, language and early literacy skills, emotional competence, social competence, self-regulation, and RULER implementation. English and Spanish direct child assessments included Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders, Day/Night task, Woodcock-Johnson IV, preLAS Simon Says, Emotion Matching Task, Affective Knowledge Test–Shortened, and Assessor Report. Teacher report of child behavior included Emotion Regulation Checklist, Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation – 30, Social Skills Improvement System, and Child Behavior Rating Scale. Adult-level data from directors, teachers, and other staff captures indicators of emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, wellbeing, school climate, SEL practices, and RULER implementations, including the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale – Teacher, Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale, Maslach Burnout Inventory – Educators: Emotional Exhaustion Subscale, School Climate Scale, Readiness to Implement School-Based Socio-Emotional Learning, Teacher Attitudes about Social and Emotional Learning, and Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire. Classroom observations captured teacher-child interactions and emotion-focused teaching using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System and the Emotion-focused Teaching Checklist.
Data analytic strategy
Researchers used descriptive and multilevel modeling to analyze implementation patterns and associations between RULER implementation and outcomes for educators and children.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Project website:
Study registration:
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Korucu, I., Ayturk, E., Finders, J. K., Schnur, G., Bailey, C. S., Tominey, S. L., & Schmitt, S. A. (2022). Self-regulation in preschool: Examining its factor structure and associations with pre-academic skills and social-emotional competence. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 717317.
Mazhar, A., & Bailey, C. S. (2024). Emotion-specific recognition biases and how they relate to emotion-specific recognition accuracy, family and child demographic factors, and social behaviour. Cognition and Emotion, 1-19.
Available data:
Data are publicly available at: https://doi.org/10.33009/ldbase.1680211347.20a0
Additional project information
Additional online resources and information:
More information about RULER and RULER-related research can be found at https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/services/community-and-schools-programs/center-for-emotional-intelligence
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