The Effects of CARE on Teacher Well-Being, PATHS Implementation, and Classroom Interaction Quality

• In Event: The Impact of Teacher Social and Emotional Learning (CARE) + Student Social and Emotional Learning (PATHS) on Students’ Success During COVID

Abstract

Objectives

This study examined the effects of combining an evidence-based student social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum (PATHS) with a mindfulness-based teacher support program (CARE for Teachers), as described in sections 1 and 2. We used a teacher-level quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of combining the CARE and PATHS programs versus providing PATHS training only on teachers’ classroom practices and well-being. We expected that CARE would lead to higher quality PATHS implementation, higher quality teacher-student interactions, more positive classroom environments, greater adaptive emotion regulation, greater mindfulness, less psychological distress, and less time-related stress among teachers compared to the PATHS only group. 



Theoretical Framework

The prosocial classroom theoretical model (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009) proposed that SEL competencies support teachers’ ability to cope with the demands of teaching and prevent burnout. According to the model, when teachers lack SEL competencies, their well-being erodes and leads to a deterioration of the classroom climate, triggering a “burnout cascade” (p. 492). In contrast, higher SEL competencies allow teachers to better cope with classroom demands, maintain a positive classroom climate, and build and maintain supportive relationships with their students.



Methods and Data Sources

Grade 1–4 teachers from 34 schools in an urban school district were provided with either the CARE program and PATHS training or PATHS training only. Seventy-eight teachers from 18 schools who received at least two full days of CARE composed the treatment group. Treatment group teachers were matched via propensity scores to 78 PATHS-only teachers using baseline survey data. Teacher practices and well-being were assessed in spring 2021 (baseline) and spring 2022 after receiving training and implementing PATHS during the school year (follow-up). Teachers self-reported their PATHS implementation fidelity (follow-up only) and social-emotional skills and well-being (baseline and follow-up). Trained observers also rated teachers’ emotional and instructional support and classroom organization using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). We examined intervention effects using path analyses that regressed outcomes on intervention status with baseline scores, teacher gender, and teacher years of experience included as covariates. Full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) was used to account for missing data. 



Results

Results of the path analyses indicated no significant differences between the groups in PATHS implementation, observed emotional or instructional support, emotional reappraisal or suppression, teacher mindfulness, psychological distress, or time-related stress at the end of the implementation year. Teachers in the CARE+PATHS group showed significantly better classroom organization than teachers in the PATHS only group, b = .42, SE = 0.20, β = .25, p = .036. An important limitation of this study is low survey response associated with pandemic-related school challenges.



Scientific significance

A pre-pandemic evaluation of the CARE program demonstrated positive effects on teachers’ emotional support of students and their adaptive emotion regulation, mindfulness, psychological distress, and time-related stress. In the context of teaching during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and virtual delivery of the CARE program, we did not replicate these positive program effects. We will discuss implications for teacher training and well-being, as well as for professional learning evaluations.

Authors

• Peter Rehder, American Institutes for Research

• Kimberly Trumbull Kendziora, American Institutes for Research

• Li Yibing, American Institutes for Research