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Enhancing Teachers' Well-Being and Classroom Quality: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial of Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education

Tue, April 12, 2:15 to 3:45pm, Convention Center, Floor: Level One, Room 143 B

Abstract

Teachers’ emotional well-being greatly impacts their ability to cultivate and maintain quality learning environments and manage occupational stressors (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Recently, a number of interventions have been developed to support teachers’ emotional awareness and regulation skills through mindfulness practices (meditation, yoga, tai chi). Investigations of mindfulness-based interventions (MBI) for teachers have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing psychological distress (Flook, Goldberg, Pinger, Bonus, & Davidson, 2013) and burnout (Roeser et al., 2013), while increasing teachers’ efficacy and well-being (Jennings, Frank, Snowberg, Coccia, & Greenberg, 2013). However, no empirical evidence exists to show MBIs have impact beyond the teacher’s personal experience. In 2012, IES funded the largest efficacy trial of a MBI to date to examine the impact of Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) for Teachers.
CARE is a mindfulness-based professional development program designed to reduce stress, promote social and emotional competence, and improve teachers’ performance and classroom learning environments through emotion skills training and mindfulness exercises specifically for teachers. The present study evaluates teacher- and classroom-level outcomes of the CARE efficacy trial. The study used a multi-site 3-level (students, teachers, schools) cluster randomized controlled trial design with treatment assignment at level 2 (teachers) and schools serving as naturally occurring blocks.
The sample consisted of 224 teachers in 36 highly diverse urban elementary schools from two cohorts. Teachers were randomly assigned within schools to CARE or wait-list control groups. CARE was delivered to teachers over 5 days over the course of 2-3 months with individual phone coaching provided between sessions. Data were collected pre- and post-intervention. At both timepoints, teachers completed a battery of self-report measures to assess mindfulness, personal distress, time urgency, efficacy, collegial trust, emotional skills, and burnout. Additionally, classroom observations were conducted to code for elements of quality using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS).
There were no significant differences at baseline between treatment and control groups. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to compare treatment impacts between intervention and control teachers. Covariates included in the model were prescore, teacher cohort, teacher minority status, classroom size, type, grade level, percent of special education students, and number of students suspended and average level of student home support. Results showed CARE had significant positive effects on mindfulness (p = .002, d = .30), personal distress (p = .048, d = .18), and feelings of time-related stress (p = .019, d = .20). CARE also improved participants’ emotion regulation, particularly a reduction in suppression (p = .027, d = .25). On classroom-level outcomes, CARE had significant positive direct effects on CLASS dimensions of positive climate (p = .022, d = .25), teacher sensitivity (p = .043, d = .24), and productivity (p = .051, d = 23). CARE also had a significant positive effect on the emotional support CLASS domain (p = .041, d = .23) and a positive trend was found for classroom organization (p = .088, d = .20). No effects were found on the instructional support domain of the CLASS. Implications for teacher preparation are addressed.

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