Mechanisms for change: A theoretical pathway for a school-wide social-emotional learning initiative in an urban middle school.

Introduction: Investment in academic instruction without complementary attention to the social-emotional environment of students may lead to a failure of both. The current study evaluates a proposed mechanism for change, whereby academic achievement occurs as a result of the social-emotional learning environment impacting behavioral (discipline) outcomes.

Methods: We tested the hypothesized model during each year of a 3-year intervention to determine whether the relations among these constructs held potential as a pathway for targeted improvement.

The impact of school climate in social-normative expectations in low and high SES schools.

This study examined the associations among race/ethnicity, school climate, and social-normative expectations (expectations about peers' future achievement) in high and low socioeconomic status (SES) schools, with a particular focus on school climate as a process that might influence social-normative expectations. Results showed that more positive perceptions of school climate were significantly associated with higher levels of social-normative expectations in both low and high SES settings. Additionally, identifying as Black was negatively associated with social-normative expectations in both high and low SES schools.

Exploring social-emotional learning, school climate, and social network analysis.

There is currently limited research on student peer leadership in the social-emotional literature. This paper used exploratory methods of social network analysis to understand the structure of school peer relationships, peer leadership, and school climate. Self-report measures of perceptions of peer leadership and climate were given to students during the 2016-2017 school year.

Life satisfaction in emerging adults: The role of emotional and spiritual intelligences.

The present research had two main objectives. The first was to examine the impact of emotional intelligence and aspects of spiritual intelligence on life satisfaction among emerging adults in high-income countries. The second objective was to study the interactions between the variables.

Student Self-Reported Positive Purpose Over Two Years in Urban Middle Schools.

We used Developmental Systems Theory as a framework for understanding the role of contextual factors in the development of purpose in urban adolescents. The sample included primarily low-socioeconomic students of color attending urban middle schools (n = 2,629; 10-16 years of age). Longitudinal data were collected at four time points across two years.

The increasing impact of socioeconomics and race on standardized academic test scores across elementary, middle, and high school.

For students and schools, the current policy is to measure success via standardized testing. Yet the immutable factors of socioeconomic status (SES) and race have, consistently, been implicated in fostering an achievement gap. The current study explores, at the school-level, the impact of these factors on test scores.

Emotional Awareness: A Transdiagnostic Predictor of Depression and Anxiety for Children and Adolescents.

Research increasingly suggests that low emotional awareness may be associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety among children and adolescents. However, because most studies have been cross-sectional, it has remained unclear whether low emotional awareness predicts subsequent internalizing symptoms. The current study used longitudinal data to examine the role of emotional awareness as a transdiagnostic predictor of subsequent symptoms of depression and anxiety.

School violence, adjustment, and the influence of hope on low-income, African American youth.

The current study investigated the prevalence and impact of exposure to school violence using a cross-sectional design with a sample of 132 low-income, African American fifth graders (mean age = 10.20). Additionally, hope was examined in relation to adjustment and as a potential resilience factor in the context of school violence.

How expressions of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity relate to emotional intelligence and self-concept in urban fifth-grade students.

This study investigated how the tendency to express forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity in a free-response essay relates to emotional intelligence and self-concept in 89 5th-graders (mean age = 10.84 years) from an urban public school district in New Jersey. Readers coded essays for expressions of forgiveness, purpose, and religiosity using originally developed rubrics.

Dosage effects of a preventive social-emotional learning intervention on achievement loss associated with middle school transition.

A number of studies have documented a normative decline in academic achievement across the transition from elementary school to middle or junior high school. The current study examined the effectiveness of varying levels of a social-emotional learning intervention, Talking with TJ, in limiting achievement loss across transition. Data were gathered on 154 students during their fifth and sixth grade years in an urban, low socio-economic school district.

Enhancing school-based prevention and youth development through coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning.

A comprehensive mission for schools is to educate students to be knowledgeable, responsible, socially skilled, healthy, caring, and contributing citizens. This mission is supported by the growing number of school-based prevention and youth development programs. Yet, the current impact of these programs is limited because of insufficient coordination with other components of school operations and inattention to implementation and evaluation factors necessary for strong program impact and sustainability.