Second Step

The Second Step curriculum, focused on developing students' social-emotional skills, is being evaluated in Maryland. The program targets the development of empathy, social problem solving, impulse control, and anger management through lessons, discussions, role-play exercises, decision-making practice sessions, and behavioral skill rehearsal. The curriculum is being evaluated in the context of schools in which character development planning teams are utilized to plan specific strategies or activities in the school, set implementation standards, review feedback on program implementation, and engage in group planning.

In their complementary study, the researchers are examining the effects of the program on school personnel's modeling of civility and social competence, rewards conferred for student displays of civility and social competence, and opportunities made available to display helping behavior and cooperation. In the primary grades, the researchers are also examining the reliability and validity of student, teacher, and parent surveys of social-emotional competence and classroom observations.