Refinement and Evaluation of the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education for Teachers Program

• In Event: Teachers’ Growth During Targeted SEL (Social and Emotional Learning) Professional Development and SEL Program Implementation: An International Perspective

Abstract

Objectives:
The goal of the project was to complete the development and evaluation of the Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) professional development program. Based upon the Prosocial Classroom Model (see Jennings & Greenberg, 2009), CARE is unique in its emphasis on the development of teachers’ social and emotional competencies to promote well-being and improve classroom learning environments. The CARE training involves the integration of awareness and reflection practices with emotion skills techniques drawn from psychological science designed to promote the understanding and regulation of emotions.

Methods:
50 teachers (Control N = 27, CARE N = 23) from high poverty areas were recruited to participate in the study. Teachers were randomly assigned to receive the CARE intervention or a wait-list control group. Each completed an online survey before and after the intervention was presented to the CARE group.

Comparisons between the CARE treatment group and control group were made during the post-intervention period using covariance adjusted means. Mean comparisons were made on each self-report instrument after controlling for its baseline measurement collected upon recruitment into the study, during the pre-intervention period. Significant treatment effects were found on most self-reports, including self-efficacy, mindfulness, time related stress, burnout, emotion recognition reappraisal, and physical symptoms. Positive trends were found in teachers’ ratings of their negative affect, depressive symptoms, emotion recognition suppression, and their ability to promote intrinsic motivation. Additional to self-reported data, teachers in CARE and control groups were observed at post in their classroom settings for coding in CLASS scales of Emotional Support and Classroom Organization. We employed an alternative to the baseline ANCOVA model. Least-Square mean estimates of Emotional Support suggest modest though not statistically significant positive treatment effect (d = .22; p = .40) (Emotional Support M = 5.52 for treatment group and M = 5.40 for controls). Scores of Classroom Organization were not different between CARE and control groups (d = .04; p = .88).

Qualitative data collected from evaluation surveys and focus groups indicated that CARE was well-received by the teachers. A large majority reported that this type of program should be integrated into preparation and in-service training for all teachers and that CARE improved their self-awareness and well-being. Teachers reported that after CARE they were better able to manage classroom behaviors and better able to establish and maintain supportive relationships with their students.

Significance:
CARE fills an important professional development need long ignored by education research. CARE may reduce teacher stress and burnout, which may reduce school district costs in terms of personnel health care costs, absenteeism and early resignation; CARE emphasizes the teacher’s own development which needs further attention in educational policy and research; and CARE may help teachers establish supportive relationships with students at risk of school failure, thereby promoting school attachment and school climate. Finally, CARE may improve classroom climate which may result in improvements in students’ academic achievement, thus supporting initiatives and policy aimed at these outcomes.

Authors

• Patricia A. Jennings, The Pennsylvania State University

• Karin Snowberg, The Pennsylvania State University

• Michael Coccia, The Pennsylvania State University

• Mark T. Greenberg, The Pennsylvania State University