Social emotional learning (SEL) practices in schools: Effects on perceptions of bullying victimization

The direct and indirect effects of student perceptions of the extent to which social emotional learning (SEL) instruction is provided on bullying at school and student victimization experiences were examined for 2832 public school students. Students in grades 4–12 completed several subscales of the Delaware School Climate Survey (Bear et al., 2016) at a single timepoint to assess their perceptions of the extent to which SEL instruction is used at their school, their own SEL skills, bullying at school, and personal victimization experiences. Structural equation modeling revealed that students' perceptions of SEL instruction were inversely related to their perceptions of bullying at school and students' personal experiences of victimization. Effects were direct and indirect, through students' self-reported perceptions of their SEL skills. Effects were stronger in late elementary and middle school than in high school. The indirect effects of student perceptions of the extent of SEL instruction on perceived bullying at school through students' SEL skills varied as a function of victimization severity. For students with low self-reported victimization, there was a negative relation between student self-reported SEL skills and perceptions of bullying at school. In contrast, for students who reported experiencing high levels of victimization, students' self-reported SEL skills related positively to perceptions of bullying at school; there was no significant relation between SEL skills and perceptions of bullying at school for students who reported moderate levels of victimization. Implications for teachers' inclusion of SEL instruction and its effects on positive youth development are discussed.     

Resolving Problems of Mainstreaming:

Evaluation results are reported about a program designed to train educational administrators in interpersonal problem solving with staff relative to problems of educating mainstreamed handicapped students. Results are reported for two instances of implmentation of this training program: an initial implementation and a replication condition. In each instance, four public high school principals were provided interpersonal problem solving training by means of three, four-hour sessions. Training involved use of behavioral specification of the interpersonal problem solving skills to be acquired, didactic persentations, role play exercises, performance feedback, and social reinforcement. Following both instances of program implementation, increases in interpersonal problem solving skills were observed for all administrators (trainees) in simulation and naturalistic settings. Ratings of videotapes of the trainees made by other high school principals who were unaware of the program indicated that quality of interpersonal probelm solving performance of trainees was greater following training than before training. Also, these raters indicated that the training program would be benefical to themselves and colleagues.     

Attitudes toward handicapped peers of mainstreamed and nonmainstreamed children in physical education

The influence of contact (mainstreamed and nonmainstreamed) and sex on attitudes of fifth- and sixth-grade students toward handicapped children was examined. 143 mainstreamed students attended an integrated school, whereas 86 nonmainstreamed students had no handicapped children in their school. Mean responses to the Children's Attitudes Toward Handicapped Scale were subjected to a 2 x 2 analysis of variance which indicated no significant differences by contact or sex. Chi 2 analysis of individual items indicated some significant differences, favoring contact, on items "are fun" and "are interesting".     

Reducing the drop-out rates of at-risk high school students: the Effective Learning Program (ELP)

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Effective Learning Program (ELP) with students who are at high risk for dropping out of high school. The intervention sought to change external control expectancies to more internal ones, improve students' skills in building relationships with peers and adults, and increase graduation rates. Thirty-eight students considered at risk for dropping out of high school received the intervention. In addition, ELP-eligible students who did not receive the ELP intervention (n = 36) and regular education students (n = 50) from the same high school were compared with the students who received the ELP. A significantly greater percentage of ELP students graduated, became more internally controlled, achieved more as shown by standardized tests, and developed greater social skills and better relationships than their ELP-eligible but nonparticipating peers. The authors suggest that researchers identify which aspects of the ELP are responsible for the improvement in retention, achievement, and personal attributes.     

Evaluation of Violence Prevention Approaches Among Early Adolescents: Moderating Effects of Disability Status and Gender

High prevalence rates of aggression during adolescence and associated adjustment difficulties for perpetrators and victims highlight the need for effective violence prevention programs. School-based prevention programs are advantageous as they occur in a key setting for youths' social and emotional development. The current study compared the efficacy of a combined universal violence prevention approach that included individual-level skill-building (i.e., lessons from Second Step) and school environment (i.e., Olweus Bullying Prevention Program; OBPP) interventions to OBPP alone. Participants were 231 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders (ages 11–15; M?=?12.6, SD?=?1.0) in middle school (48?% male, 67?% African American). A total of 14 classrooms were randomly assigned to the combined intervention (seven) or OBPP only comparison (seven) condition, split evenly across grades. Intervention effects were moderated by disability status and gender. Among students without disabilities those who received the combined intervention reported greater increases in anger regulation coping skills than those in the comparison condition. In contrast, among youth with disabilities greater increases in teacher-rated social skills were found for students in the combined intervention than students in the comparison condition at posttest. Gender-moderated effects included greater decreases in teacher ratings of externalizing problems and bullying behaviors for boys in the combined intervention versus the comparison condition at posttest. Study results inform school-based violence prevention programs and are discussed along with implications.     

Classroom environment influences on aggression, peer relations, and academic focus

Peers serve as reinforcers and models of behavior, and consequently classrooms containing high numbers of students with poor academic skills or behavior problems are likely to promote these behaviors in individual students. This study examined how variations in social and academic classroom composition as well as the larger school context affected behavior in a normative sample of children over a 2-year period. Teachers provided ratings of individual students, which were then aggregated to form teacher-based measures of classroom environment. Concurrent and longitudinal effects of classroom and school environments on individual behaviors were examined for students in 65 classrooms in 17 schools. Poorer classroom environments were associated with poorer levels of student aggression, peer relations, and academic focus. Changes in student behavior over time could be explained by the current classroom environment.     

Peer victimization and social‐emotional outcomes: The role of teacher and peer support

The relation between peer victimization, risk of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, and school‐based sources of social support for students in elementary and middle school were examined. Participants included 656 students in third to eighth grade from one school district. Results indicated that peer support mediated the relation between peer victimization and risk of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties, but teacher support did not mediate this relation. Conditional indirect effects analyses revealed that the indirect effect of peer support varied as a function of school level (i.e., intermediate and middle school). The implications and limitations of the current study are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

     

Effects of an Extracurricular Science Intervention on Science Performance, Self-Worth, Social Skills, and Sexist Attitudes of Taiwanese Adolescents from Single-Parent Families

A one group pretest-posttest design was used to investigate effects of an extracurricular science intervention on female and male junior high school students’ science performance, self-worth, social skills, and sexist attitudes. Twenty-eight 8th grade Taiwanese students (16 boys, 12 girls) from single parent families participated in this study. Student responses to a questionnaire measuring their self-worth, social skills, and sexist attitudes, and interviews and classroom observations used for triangulation and consolidation of qualitative findings revealed that girls improved significantly on several indices of science performance, and that both boys and girls decreased their sexist attitudes. Girls had significantly less sexist attitudes than boys at both pretest and posttest. Implications for practice and research are provided.     

The effects of self-regulation training on the academic productivity of secondary students with learning problems

Four self-regulation skills were taught in a series of student-teacher conferences to eight learning disabled (LD) and three non-disabled (NLD) adolescents in an alternative high school. All participants had a prior history of school failure and low lesson-completion rates. The skills taught were behavior contracting, self-recording, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement. Self-instructional materials in reading, writing, and math were used as the curriculum, and the dependent variables in the study were the number of lessons completed per student per day in the three academic areas. Multiple-baseline designs across students and across academic areas were employed to assess the effects of the self-regulation training and the students' application of the self-regulation skills on lesson completion. Results indicate that all participating LD and NLD students substantially increased their rate of lesson completion after the intervention. These increases occurred in the academic areas targeted by the students for the application of the self-regulation skills. Thus, self-regulation interventions hold promise for bringing at-risk students into contact with the school curriculum.     

Evaluation of a conflict-resolution and problem-solving programme to enhance adolescents' self-concept

The effectiveness of an intervention programme, initially designed to enhance the self-concept and motivation of gifted underachieving girls, was evaluated for students identified as having a low self-concept and social relationship difficulties. Twenty male and female secondary-school students were randomly assigned to either a treatment or a control group. The programme, called ABLE (Attribution, Behaviour, Life skills Education), incorporates problem-solving, conflict resolution, and a multidimensional framework to investigate adolescents' self-concept formation. The adolescents in the study made significant improvements in the areas of general self-concept, physical appearance self-concept, and total self-concept. Teaching conflict-resolution and problem-solving skills had a beneficial influence on self-concept. The results are discussed in terms of the relevance of the programme and its application to school and counselling interventions.     

Examining School Attachment,Social Support,and Trauma Symptomatology Among Court-Involved,Female Students

Court-involved youth (i.e., youth in the foster care and/or juvenile justice systems), and particularly those in residential placement facilities, often present with trauma histories that can impede various areas of development and functioning. These traumatic histories can negatively impact academic performance and school success, leading to poorer outcomes later in life. In particular, female youth in these systems exhibit unique responses to traumatic experiences that further complicate healthy development. This study assesses female, court-involved students (n?=?141), exploring the relationship between school attachment and school involvement, school social support (from peers, teachers, and other staff), and trauma symptomatology among a sample of residential placement students exposed to a trauma-informed teaching intervention over the course of a school year. It was hypothesized that higher school attachment/involvement and social support would be associated with lower student trauma symptomatology. As expected, findings demonstrated that students in the sample had experienced high trauma exposure, as indicated by their high trauma symptomatology. Unexpectedly, they also had high school attachment. Furthermore, higher school attachment was associated with lower trauma symptoms among students. On the other hand, students reported lower levels of social support from classmates, which was associated with significantly higher trauma symptomatology. Implications for future research are addressed.     

PROVIDING A LESS RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS BY TEACHING INDEPENDENT WALKING SKILLS

A basic right of all handicapped persons is to live in the least restrictive environment possible. In this investigation, procedures were evaluated for teaching four institutionalized males with profound retardation necessary skills to increase their individual freedom of movement. Following baseline, a travel training program with a backward chaining format was implemented to teach each person to walk independently from his living area to school. Travel training included instructions, practice, praise, feedback, verbal reprimands, prompts, and edible reinforcers. Each resident began walking the entire distance to school independently during training and also began walking back to the living area, although the latter set of skills was not specifically trained. Following termination of the formal investigation, follow-up measures of 1 to 8 weeks showed the residents continued going to school independently. A survey of residential facilities in 43 states provided social validation for the seriousness of the problems associated with transporting seriously retarded persons to school. Also, time efficiency measures indicated that training independent travel resulted in reductions of staff time required in school transportation. Results were discussed in light of the potential contributions of behavior analysis in providing less restrictive environments for seriously handicapped persons.     

Investigating Treatment Fidelity and Social Validity of a Peer-Mediated Postsecondary Reading Intervention

Reading opens many doors and students who do not comprehend well face serious barriers as they enter postsecondary academic institutions. Young people should be able to read and write when they graduate from high school. Such skills allow people to continue their education as well as increase their odds that they can earn an adequate salary. The percentage of 12th graders reading below grade level has remained remarkably stable over the years. A large number of students entering colleges and universities are unable to derive meaning from print at age-expected levels. The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment fidelity and social validity of a systematic and explicitly structured peer-mediated reading comprehension intervention on the reading performance of underprepared postsecondary students. Seven peer mentors and sixteen first-time college students participated in the study. Results indicated the peer-implemented reading program was implemented with high levels of treatment fidelity and social validity while also yielding statistically significant comprehension gains.     

Academic Achievement Probes

Academic instruction continues to be an important componenet of curriculum for students with mild mental retardation, although relatively little recent research has been reported on basic skills assessment and programming. In the current study, students in elementary EMR programs were administered a series of two academic probes in spelling and in two computational skill areas in arithmetic to determine their stability of performance and thus the reliability of the measures, indicating that these academic probes were reliable assessment tools. Implications for the use of such curriculum-based measures with handicapped students are discussed.     

Psychosocial Adaptation and School Success of Italian,Portuguese and Albanian Students in Switzerland: Disentangling Migration Background,Acculturation and the School Context

The Swiss Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) study (n?=?1,488) examined the impact of migrant students’ acculturation strategies on their psychosocial adaptation and educational success. The study focused on the comparison of students with an Italian, Portuguese and Albanian migration background, because these three groups differ in their socioeconomic living conditions, educational resources and opportunities in Switzerland according to official statistics. With respect to acculturation strategies, the results partially confirm the integration hypothesis: immigrant students who are oriented towards the heritage culture and students who align with both the heritage culture and the majority culture (integration) and who are interested in their multicultural environment have a better psychosocial adaptation than students who align with no culture (marginalisation). In relation to educational success, a multicultural orientation and a combination of a minority and multicultural orientation turned out to be the strategies of the higher-performing students. Unexpectedly, the three groups of migrants examined in this study did not differ in their life satisfaction, an indicator for psychological adaptation or in their educational success in terms of educational aspirations and German reading skills. Rather than the migration background of the students, other demographic variables such as educational resources of the family as well as factors related to school quality (type of school, quality of social relationships, achievement expectancy of teachers, multicultural education at school) turned out to be crucial for psychosocial adaptation and educational success.     

青少年学生疏离感及其发展的研究

本研究采用<青少年学生疏离感量表》对重庆市和兰州市的1502名青少年学生进行调查,结果表明:青少年学生在生活环境疏离感和压迫拘束感上的平均分相对较高;各学生群体在社会疏离感、人际疏离感和总体疏离感之间的差异,主要体现在年级和地区的交互作用上,而环境疏离感的差异主要体现在性别和片区的交互作用上。各群体疏离感的差异主要表现在年级和片区之间;青少年学生的疏离感大体呈现出三个阶段的发展趋势,即是:初中阶段发展比较平稳,没有大的起伏变化;高中和大学阶段都是从低到高,再从高到低的倒“V”字型发展变化趋势。     

Social and life skill competence in potential early school-leavers

Competencies in social and life skills of a group of students expecting to leave school at the end of Grade 10 in Australia is compared with groups expecting to continue. Academic performance and skills were also assessed. The results of the study indicated that the potential early school-leavers were disadvantaged both socio-economically and academically. But, surprisingly, the findings indicated that they were not significantly different from the other two groups of students targeted in the study in terms of their social and life skills. The results imply that potential early leavers in school populations may be unnecessarily disadvantaged because school programmes, in concentrating on a narrow range of cognitive skills, do not build on personal competency skills already possessed by students of all levels of ability. Whilst this is the case, potential early school-leavers will be likely to continue to be disaffected and disadvantaged educationally.     

对学生学习成绩与社会行为的交叉滞后分析

采用二元交叉滞后回归分析法考察小学四、五年级学生和初中一、二年级学生在21个月中的学校适应与学习成绩之间的关系。结果发现,在同时性测量中,由教师评价获得的中小学生的社交领导能力、定向耐挫能力、果敢性社交技能得分和同伴积极提名分数与他们的学习成绩之间均存在正相关关系,而他们的攻击破坏得分、学习适应不良得分以及小学生的同伴消极提名分均与他们的学习成绩有显著的负相关关系。二元交叉滞后回归分析结果表明,小学生在前测中的社交领导能力得分、攻击破坏得分、定向耐挫得分、学习适应不良得分、果敢性社交技能得分同伴积极和消极提名得分均可以预测21个月后的学习成绩。对中学生来说,这种预测关系只在攻击破坏行为、定向耐挫行为中存在。中小学生的害羞抑制得分和焦虑抑郁得分与他们的学习成绩之间既没有同时性的相关关系,也没有滞后性的预测关系。     

An intervention program for adolescents with behavior problems

Adolescents with behavior problems (aged 12 to 14) attending a regular public high school were in need of an intervention program. The purpose was to enhance their personal and interpersonal functioning as well as to structure a stimulating learning environment. In order to improve their social, educational, and psychological functioning, program objectives were established to help students develop the ability to listen to one another, respect others as well as their opinions, become aware of their own emotions and those of their peers, and recognize and minimize derogatory remarks toward one another. To attain these objectives, relaxation sessions, magic circle activities, art sessions, future planning groups, and decision-making groups were used. Meetings with teachers enabled them to examine and improve their attitudes and relationship with students. Upon completion of the program, the adolescents manifested less disruptive classroom behavior, increased their class participation, and displayed a more positive attitude toward school. The achievement of these behavioral changes indicates that a psychologically oriented intervention program is a feasible addition to a conventional curriculum. Teachers learned the basic skills of program formation, implementation, and evaluation, and most importantly, revitalized their attitude toward troubled students and their profession.     

TEACHING SOCIAL LANGUAGE TO MODERATELY HANDICAPPED STUDENTS

Three students with moderate handicaps were taught to initiate and expand on conversational topics. The teaching procedure used stimuli generated from actual conversations with nonhandicapped peers. Generalization was assessed by audiotaping conversations between the handicapped students and their peers in natural school contexts without adult supervision. Results indicated that training generalized to natural contexts. These results were socially validated by undergraduate special education students, who rated tapes of two of the students' conversations during training phases as more socially competent than during baseline. Results are discussed in terms of the evaluation of complex social behavior as multioperant behaviors.