Long-Term Effects of Social-Emotional Learning on Academic Achievement: Do Impacts Vary by Early Skills?

• In Event: 2-209 - Contextual Influences Promoting Resilience for Low-income Children: Evidence from Longitudinal and Experimental Data

Integrative Statement

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) programs are school-based preventative interventions that aim to improve children’s social-emotional functioning (Jones & Doolittle, 2017). Previous research has demonstrated short-term effects of SEL programs on both social-emotional and academic outcomes. (Durlak et al., 2011). However, few studies have considered effects four or more years after the end of an intervention and have rarely tested for impacts on children’s academic achievement in middle childhood (Taylor et al., 2017). In examining academic outcomes, it may be important to consider how effects vary depending on children’s pre-treatment skill levels. Indeed, a recent evaluation of an early intervention targeted at low-income children actually found larger impacts for children who had the highest skill levels at baseline (Mattera, Jacobs, & Morris, 2016). The current study examines impacts of the SEL program INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament (O’Connor et al., 2014) on children’s math and English-Language Arts (ELA) scores in fourth and fifth grade, and further considers how impacts vary by early academic skills.

INSIGHTS is a universal classroom-based intervention – implemented in kindergarten and first grade -- that supports teachers in using effective behavior management strategies that respond appropriately to children’s unique temperaments. An earlier study demonstrated impacts of INSIGHTS on children’s disruptive behaviors, sustained attention, and academic outcomes at the end of first grade (see O’Connor et al., 2014). Twenty-two elementary schools serving primarily low-income, racial/ethnic minority students in New York City were randomly assigned to participate in the INSIGHTS program or a control condition. The current study includes children who enrolled in the study in kindergarten and have available outcome data in fourth and fifth grade from state standardized math and ELA tests (N = 180 total). Performance on tests was measured using z-scores normed on the performance of all students enrolled in NYC schools. To estimate impacts of INSIGHTS, the research team regressed the math and ELA test scores at fourth and fifth grade on an indicator for treatment assignment and a host of baseline covariates (e.g., academic achievement, behavior problems, gender, race/ethnicity and eligibility for free/reduced-price lunch). The team used interactions between baseline achievement and the treatment dummy to examine moderated effects on test score outcomes.

Results revealed no statistically significant impacts of assignment to INSIGHTS on math and ELA scores in fourth or fifth grade. However, further examination demonstrated significant interaction effects between treatment and baseline skills in predicting grade 4 and 5 English/Language Arts standardized state test scores. Students in the treatment group with greater academic skills at baseline performed better on state standardized ELA exams in fourth and fifth grade, compared to students with similar baseline skills in the control group. Findings suggest that there are lasting impacts of INSIGHTS on standardized test scores into fifth grade for students who entered the intervention in kindergarten with higher levels of academic skills. Students who entered kindergarten with lower academic skills did not appear to benefit from the intervention in the same way in the longer-term. Implications for further intervention development and implementation will be discussed.

Authors

• Hope White, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Erin O'Connor, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meghan McCormick, MDRC
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elise Cappella, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sandee McClowry, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author