Considering the Social Side of Learning: Evidence Linking SocialEmotional Competence to Students Sch

1
Considering the Social Side of Learning Evidence
Linking Social-Emotional Competence to Students
School Success

• Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, Ph.D.
• Dept. of Educational Counselling Psych., Sp.
  Ed.
• University of British Columbia
• kimberly.schonert-reichl_at_ubc.ca
• Social Justice Conference, Kelowna, BC
• April 2, 2004

2
Overview Importance of Attending to the
Social-Emotional Side of Learning

• Social emotional variables are integral rather
  than incidental to learning.
• In predicting students school success the
  research evidence points to the importance of
  three interrelated factors
• Social-emotional competencies
• Peer relationships
• Teachers and school belonging

3
The Essential Ingredients
Social Emotional Competencies
Teachers
School Success
Peers
4
Three Guiding Principles

• Development of the whole child
• School as community
• Relationships as central
• "Human beings of all ages are happiest and able
  to deploy their talents to best advantage" when
  they experience trusted others as "standing
  behind them." (p.25, Bowlby, 1973)

5
Why should we be concerned . . . ?

• There is a growing concern about childrens
  social and emotional adjustment and mental
  health
• 15 to 30 of school-age children are at risk
  for successful development and require support
  and assistance (OECD, 1995).
• 1 in 5 children (20) identified with mental
  health problems (Offord et al., 1991 Romano et
  al., 2001).
• 75 - 80 of children and youth do not receive
  the services they need (National Advisory Mental
  Health Council, 1990).

6
Why should we be concerned . . .?

• Childhood aggression is one particular type of
  problem that has been gaining increasing
  attention as a target for intervention.
• Hymel et al. (2002)
• 10 - 12 of adolescents report being victimized
  weekly
• 8 - 10 report bullying peers
• Pepler Craig (2001)
• Peers are present in 85 of bullying episodes on
  the playground and in class

7
Rationale 1 The Aim of Education is Student
Growth and Development

• Human and Social Development is one of the goals
  of the BC school system.
• A comprehensive mission for schools is to
  educate students to be knowledgeable,
  responsible, socially skilled, healthy, caring,
  and contributing citizens. (Greenberg et al.,
  2003)
• Academic achievement is not the sole predictor of
  success in life.

8
Rationale 2 The Social Side of Learning

• There exists an inextricable link between
  students social-emotional adjustment and their
  academic achievement.
• These variables are not just relevant to academic
  achievement they are central to it.

9
The Social Side of Learning The relation to
academic achievement . . .

• Socio-moral behaviours (such as, sharing,
  helping, cooperating) exhibited by students in
  the classroom are better predictors of academic
  achievement than are standardized test scores
  (Wentzel, 1993).
• School interventions that increase social and
  emotional competence result in higher achievement
  levels, although the reverse is not true (i.e.,
  academic enrichment does not increase social
  responsibility) (Coie Krebhiel, 1984).

10
The Social Side of Learning The relation to
academic achievement . . .

• Changes in academic achievement in Grade 8 could
  be better predicted from knowing childrens
  social competence 5 years earlier than from
  knowing grade 3 academic achievement (Caprara et
  al., 2000).
• School interventions that promote students
  social and emotional competencies, lead to
• Decreased aggression
• Increased prosocial behaviors
• Improved academic motivation and achievement

11
Five Components of Social Emotional Learning
(www.casel.org)

• Self-Awareness awareness of feelings and our
  own abilities sense of self-confidence.
• Social Awareness ability to take others
  perspectives appreciating and interacting with
  diverse groups.
• Self-Management being able to regulate ones
  own emotions conscientious perseverance.
• Relationship Skills Establishing and
  maintaining healthy relationships negotiating
  conflict seeking help when needed.
• Responsible Decision-Making Assessing risks and
  making good decisions respecting others taking
  personal responsibility for ones decisions.

12
The Importance of Evidence-Based Practice

• Resolving Conflicts Creatively Program (RCCP)
• An evaluation of 5,000 children in grades 2 to 6
  found that in high-implementation classrooms,
• hostility and aggressiveness significantly
  declined
• prosocial behavior, emotion regulation and
  reading and math scores on standardized tests
  significantly increased.

13
The Roots of Empathy An example of a
school-based social-emotional competence
promotion program

• ROE is a universal primary preventive
  classroom-based social emotional competence
  promotion program (Kindergarten grade 8)
  developed by Mary Gordon.
• The cornerstone of the program is a class visits
  by an infant, his/her parent and the instructor.
  It is during these visits that children learn
  about the babys growth and development via
  interactions and observations with the baby.
• In the current school year, 20,000 children in
  classrooms across Canada are receiving the
  program. The program is being piloted in Japan
  and Australia.

14
What are the Goals and Theoretical Framework of
ROE?

• Overall, the ROE program is designed
• To promote the development of childrens
  emotional and social understanding,
• To foster childrens prosocial qualities (concern
  for others, helpfulness, and cooperation),
• To reduce childrens aggression.
• Theoretical Framework
• View of empathy as multidimensional (Feshbach,
  1979)
• Identification of emotions,
• Understanding emotions,
• Emotional regulation.
• Ecological Focus -- creation of a positive social
  milieu that is, a caring community in the
  classroom.

15
Theoretical Model of Social-Emotional Competence
Development
16
Why focus on empathy?

• Empathy is crucial in determining childrens
  social functioning in both academic and
  interpersonal domains.
• Empathy has been identified by some as the most
  important of all personality
• helps individuals desist aggressive behaviors
  and,
• fosters prosocial behaviors (e.g., sharing,
  helping).

17
Description of 2000-2001 Evaluation Methodology

• Participants
• 132 primary grade children drawn from 10
  classrooms participated
• (ROE, n 74 Comparison, n 58).
• 61 ESL (majority Chinese, 21 languages)
• Constructs Measured
• Emotion Knowledge
• Social Understanding (e.g., perspective-taking)
• Social Behaviors prosocial, proactive,
  reactive, and relational aggression
  (teacher-ratings)

18
Example Evaluating the Effectiveness of the
Roots of Empathy Program

• Findings from 2000-2001 Evaluation
• ROE children, relative to comparison children,
  demonstrated significant improvements in the
  following areas
• Increased emotion knowledge
• Increased social understanding
• Increased prosocial behaviors with peers
• Decreased aggression with peers
• Decreased proactive aggression (e.g., bullying)

19
Finding of 2000-2001 Evaluation
20
Of those children who evidenced some form of
proactive aggression (bullying) at pre-test ROE
children 88 decreased Comparison children
50 increased
21
The Importance of Peer Relationships

• Children who are neglected/rejected by their
  peers are more likely to have both short-term
  and long-term adjustment problems
• Drop out of school
• Experience depression/loneliness (neglect)
• Become engaged in delinquent and criminal
  behaviors in adolescence and adulthood
  (rejection).

22
Peers Have a Positive Influence

• Predicting childrens early school adjustment
  (Ladd, 1990)
• Children who began kindergarten with a larger
  number of classroom friends during school
  entrance developed more favorable school
  perceptions by the second month.
• Making new friends in school were associated with
  gains in school performance.

23
The Importance of Teachers Research Findings

• Positive teacher-student relationships predict
  (Roeser et al., 1996)
• Positive feelings about school
• Positive academic motivation
• Increased academic achievement
• Student perceptions of teacher warmth and
  supportiveness is a significant predictor of
  student motivation and school engagement (Ryan
  Patrick, 2001).

24
School Belonging Research Findings

• Student voice
• Students who feel that they have a voice in
  school decisions report a greater sense of school
  belonging (Roeser et al., 1996).
• Students who experience a sense of belongingness
  at school have higher levels of academic
  performance (Osterman, 2000)
• Participation fosters belonging

25
The Benefits of Participation in Extracurricular
Activities

• Positive Peer Relationships (Connor
  Schonert-Reichl, 2001)
• 6th 7th grade children who participated in
  extracurricular activities, in contrast to those
  who did not participate, reported
• Higher feelings of belonging to peers
• Lower feelings of loneliness
• Higher feelings of intimacy (boys only)
• Better Mental Health (Mahoney et al., 2002)

26
The Benefits of Participation (contd)

• Higher academic achievement and lower dropout
  (e.g., Cooper et al., 1999)
• Lower delinquency (e.g., Mahoney, 2000)
• Better long-term adjustment
• Adolescents who participated in extracurricular
  activities, in contrast to those who did not
  (Schonert-Reichl Elliott, 2001),
• more likely to both attend and graduate from
  postsecondary schools,
• reported higher levels of community/civic
  involvement 10 years after high school graduation

27
The Need for a Strengths-Based Approach

• Resiliency -- successful adaptation despite
  adversity, or overcoming the odds.
• Resiliency Factors
• Individual characteristics
• Intelligence
• Personality (e.g., temperament, empathy, hope)
• Family and Peers (e.g., social support, cohesion)
• Schools (e.g., school belonging, significant
  adult)

28
Fostering Resiliency The Role of Significant
Non-Related Adults

• Previous research has linked significant adults
  to at risk childrens resilience
• There is very little research that has examined
  this relation in the school context, especially
  elementary school.
• Almost no research has asked children to describe
  the characteristics of the adults whom children
  identify as significant.

29
The Hastings Community School Study Research
Questions

• Participation in school-related activities
• Do children who participate in school-related
  activities differ from those children who do not
  on dimensions of school, socio-emotional, and
  behavioral adjustment?
• The role of the significant non-related adult
• Do children identify a significant non-related
  adult, and if so, does it matter?
• What is the relation between involvement in
  school-related activities and significant adults?

30
Hastings StudyMethod

• Participants
• 236 students from the 4th-6th grades.
• 52 female,
• 48 first language English, 31 Chinese, and 21
  other,
• 98 of children participated in the study

31
Measures

• School/Academic Dimensions
• School Self-Concept (SDQ Marsh, 1998)
• Sense of Classroom as a Community Scale
  (Battistich et al., 1997)
• Academic Self-Efficacy (Wentzel, 1998)
• Academic Achievement (teacher rating)
• Behavioral Dimensions
• Self-ratings of Prosocial Behaviors (Bandura et
  al., 1996)
• Teacher Ratings of Social Competence (TCRS
  Hightower et al., 1986)

32
Measures (contd)

• Socio-Emotional Dimensions
• General Self-Concept (SDQ Marsh, 1998)
• Prosocial Goals (Wentzel, 1994)
• Social Responsibility (Wentzel, 1994)
• Perspective-Taking (Davis, 1983)
• Empathy (Davis, 1983)
• Participation in School Related Activities
• Activity checklist to indicate all activities
  registered in during the 2002-2003 school year

33
Important Adults from Hastings Community School
Questionnaire

• Make a list of the adults from Hastings Community
  School who are important in your life.
• Now choose one of the people from above.
• Person _______________________
• List all the ways in which this person is
  important in your life.

34
Results

• Academic Achievement was related to higher levels
  of students
• Self-Concept
• Social Responsibility
• Prosocial Behaviour (sharing, helping,
  cooperating)
• Academic Motivation
• Teacher-rated Social Competence and Behavioral
  Adjustment

35
Results Participation in School Activities

• Findings revealed that those students who
  reported participating in school activities, were
  higher than nonparticipating students on
• General self-concept
• School self-concept
• Prosocial behaviors (sharing, helping, etc.)
• Perspective-taking
• Teacher-rated social competence
• School Belonging

36
School Participation and Self Concept
37
School Participation and Social Competence
38
School Participation and Reports of School
Belonging
39
Results Significant Adults

• Adults listed as significant
• Teachers 57
• Other 43
• Taking the childs perspective What are the
  characteristics of significant adults in schools?
  (kappa .85)
• Supportive teaching (adult is actively involved
  in promoting positive learning experiences for
  the child).
• Nurturant/supportive (adult supports the child
  with managing emotions demonstrates warmth and
  caring)
• Positive personality traits (adult possesses
  personality traits that are positive, such as
  humor, trustworthiness)
• Other

40
Response Categories

• Supportive teaching 45 27
• Nurturant/Supportive 69 42
• Positive personality traits 37 22
• Other 14 8

41
Significant Adults and Adjustment
42
Significant Adults and Social Adjustment
43
The link between involvement in school activities
and sig. adults?

• Number of Significant Adults

• Participation in School Activities

44
Activity Participation and Mean Number of
Significant Adults Reported
45
Why Does Participation Matter?

• Time Use
• Skill Acquisition
• Engagement in school and community
• Positive relationships with adults and peers

46
How Evidence-Based ProgramsWork to Produce
Greater Student Success in School and Life
47
Implications

• Foster the development of students SEL in
  different academic content areas and use academic
  content to teach SEL.
• Promote students school belonging.
• Remember that learning is relationship-centered.

48
Conclusions

• It is critical to the future of our society that
  we identify the factors that assist children to
  become competent, caring adults and productive
  citizens.
• We all share a stake in the development of
  childrens emotional and social competence and in
  identifying the processes that facilitate or
  undermine it.
• The research supports the need for coordinated
  efforts that attend to the promotion of
  childrens positive academic and social-emotional
  development in schools.

49
Conclusions

• Thank You!!
• Questions

50
Effective School Community Partner Websites

• The Search Institute
• http//www.search-institute.org/
• (From the description on the web)
• Search Institute is an independent, nonprofit,
  nonsectarian organization whose mission is to
  advance the well-being of adolescents and
  children by generating knowledge and promoting
  its application. Search Institute conducts
  research and evaluation, develops publications
  and practical tools, and provides training and
  technical assistance. The institute collaborates
  with others to promote long-term organizational,
  and cultural change that supports the healthy
  development of all children and adolescents.