Social-Emotional Learning Foundations for K–1 Students at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorder: First-Year Findings

• In Event: Crown Plaza Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Social and Emotional Competence of At-Risk Children and Youth

Abstract

Children’s social-emotional growth is inextricably connected to academic learning. We provide first-year findings from a three-year federally funded efficacy study of Social-Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF), a K-1 curriculum that merges social-emotional learning and literacy instruction to promote both social-behavioral and academic self-regulation. The study is a pretest-posttest cluster randomized efficacy trial with one fixed between-subjects factor to test treatment effects against the effects of business as usual. The first-year sample included 359 children in multiple classrooms/schools identified by teachers as at risk for EBD. We found significant positive effect sizes related to social-emotional learning, self-regulation, and general behavioral functioning, showing promise for guiding future research and informing practice to improve educational outcomes, particularly for students at risk.

Authors

• Ann P. Daunic, University of Florida

• Nancy Corbett, University of Florida

• Stephen W. Smith, University of Florida

• Emily Crews, University of Florida

• Daniel V Poling, University of Florida

• Megan Worth, University of Florida