Poster #32 - Supporting child behavior: Social emotional learning and coaching in early child care settings in Oregon

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

Introduction: Social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum has many benefits in early childhood education (ECE) settings for children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, and for teaching quality (Blewitt et al., 2020). A recent meta-analysis demonstrated that children participating in an SEL program showed greater gains in emotional competence, behavioral self-regulation, and early learning skills (Blewitt et al., 2018). Similarly, teachers who participated in an SEL curriculum outperformed teachers who did not on several outcomes including effective discipline, emotional communication and support, social awareness and problem solving, and behavior management (Blewitt et al., 2020). Another strategy found to improve teaching quality and child outcomes is coaching. Coaching, or individualized and ongoing professional development (Elek & Page, 2019), improves teaching quality, child learning, and behavior (Brock & Beaman-Diglia, 2018; Kraft et al., 2018). Due to the well documented beneficial impact of SEL curriculum and coaching on child outcomes and teaching quality, the present study aims to examine whether participation in an SEL curriculum impacts the odds of ECE providers in Oregon asking children to leave care for behavioral reasons. In addition, this study will examine if this association is mediated by the early educator receiving coaching.
Method: The present study utilizes data from an online survey of all licensed ECE providers in Oregon (N = 2,154), collected in March 2021. Use of an SEL curriculum was measured with one question, “Do you use a social emotional curriculum?” Child behavior was measured with three items: if providers asked children to leave their program, reasons for leaving care, and how many children were asked to leave. A logistic regression model will be used to examine the odds of asking a child to leave care for ECE programs with and without an SEL curriculum. Regression analyses will be run to examine if receiving coaching mediates the association between the use of SEL curriculum and child behavior.
Results: Based on previous literature (Blewitt et al., 2018; Blewitt et al., 2020), we expect that programs with an SEL curriculum will have lower odds of asking a child to leave the program for behavioral reasons. We also expect that receiving coaching will partially or fully mediate the association between SEL curriculum and child behavior, such that programs who have an SEL curriculum and whose educators receive coaching will have the least likelihood of asking a child to leave for behavioral reasons and will have asked the fewest number of students to leave care (Brock & Beaman-Diglia, 2018).
Implications: We expect the results from this study will provide support for the inclusion of SEL curriculum and coaching in ECE programs to improve teaching quality and child learning and behavioral outcomes. This study will expand and connect the bodies of literature on SEL curriculum and coaching in ECE by examining the impact that these two important aspects of an ECE program have together.

Authors

• Isabella Sciuto Ozenbaugh, Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
  Presenting Author

• Amara Bradetich, Oregon State University - Corvallis

• Hillary Ross Lewis, Oregon State University - Corvallis

• Jordan Moore, Oregon State University

• Bridget E Hatfield, Oregon State University - Corvallis