Displaying 1 - 10 of 10
This article introduces The RULER Approach ("RULER") to social and emotional learning, with a particular focus on its Feeling Words Curriculum. Through this curriculum, RULER contributes to the ultimate goals of an English language arts education--preparing students to achieve personal, social, and academic goals and to be engaged and contributing citizens. RULER complements the English language arts curriculum and draws on national learning standards to develop language skills in reading, writing, listening, speaking, and visually representing information. This article describes how RULER simultaneously reinforces student learning in the English language arts and develops 5 critical emotion skills--recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotion. (Contains 1 figure, 1 footnote, and 2 tables.)
This chapter summarizes the results of nearly 100 years of research on school-based social and emotional learning (SEL). The SEL field has grown out of research in many fields and subfields with which educators, researchers, and policymakers are familiar, including the promotion of social competence, bullying prevention, prevention of drug use and abuse, civic and character education, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, social skills training, and 21st-century skills. The chapter begins with a historical summary of theoretical movements and research trends that have led to today's inclusion of SEL as part of many schools' curricula, policies, and practices. Contemporary approaches that represent current policy and societal concerns are discussed in comparative terms. Based on the converging research evidence, this chapter identifies design elements and implementation quality characteristics of effective approaches to SEL. Recommendations for future practice, policy, and research are provided.
Teachers are the primary implementers of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. Their beliefs about SEL likely influence program delivery, evaluation, and outcomes. A simple tool for measuring these beliefs could be used by school administrators to determine school readiness for SEL programming and by researchers to better understand teacher variables that impact implementation fidelity and program outcomes. In a two-phase study, we developed and then validated a parsimonious measure of teachers' beliefs about SEL. In Phase 1, survey items were administered to 935 teachers and subjected to both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, resulting in three reliable scales pertaining to teachers' "comfort" with teaching SEL, "commitment" to learning about SEL, and perceptions about whether their school "culture" supports SEL. Phase 2 provided evidence for the concurrent and predictive validity of the scales with a subsample of teachers implementing an SEL program as part of a randomized controlled trial. The discussion focuses on the value of measuring teachers' beliefs about SEL from both researcher and practitioner perspectives. (Contains 1 note, 3 tables, and 1 figure.)
In this article, students were asked to describe in their own words via the Emotion Revolution study, the three emotions they felt most often each day at school. The top three feelings were: tired, bored, and stressed. Next, students were asked to describe in their own words how they wanted to feel at school each day. The top three emotions listed were happy, excited, and energized. The students also said they wanted to feel respected, supported, and inspired. Abundant research shows that emotions influence how and what students learn, the soundness of their decisions, their relationships with peers and teachers, their mental and physical health, and their overall effectiveness. How can schools address the social and emotional needs of students for effective teaching and learning to take place, for positive relationships to form, to decrease stress, and to enhance student performance and well-being? The author introduces SEL--the knowledge and skills associated with self-awareness, social awareness, self-regulation, responsible decision- making and problem-solving, and relationship management integration--into both the curriculum and practices to enhance the climate of the school. Two processes are described: (1) RULER, the evidence-based approach grounded in both emotional intelligence and systems theories. It is built upon research showing that the skills associated with recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating emotion are essential to effective teaching, learning, parenting, and leading. (2) Bringing SEL to high schools through inspirED, a new resource center developed in collaboration with Facebook. This online community focuses on helping students feel the emotions they reported they wanted to feel in the Emotion Revolution study. For youth to succeed, schools must be places where SEL is integrated into how leaders lead, teachers teach, and students learn.
A pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design was used to test the impact of a 30-week, theoretically-based social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, The RULER Feeling Words Curriculum ("RULER"), on the academic performance and social and emotional competence of 5th and 6th grade students (N = 273) in fifteen classrooms in three schools. Academic performance was assessed by report card grades. Social and emotional competence was assessed with teacher reports of student behavior. Students in classrooms integrating RULER had higher year-end grades and higher teacher ratings of social and emotional competence (e.g., leadership, social skills, and study skills) compared to students in the comparison group. This study provides preliminary empirical evidence that SEL programs like RULER improve important student outcomes. (Contains 4 tables.)
This study examined the effects of an evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program, The RULER Approach to Social and Emotional Learning (RULER), on teacher self reports of engagement, teacher-student interactions, and burnout. Participants were 47 teachers from 19 public schools in Spain who either volunteered for training on RULER (n = 24) or eLearning (n = 23). Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted separately for each outcome. Teachers in the RULER as compared to eLearning group had significantly higher scores on many outcomes even after controlling for gender, age, trait affect, and personality, as well as pre-test scores on all outcomes. These findings extend the literature on the effectiveness of SEL programs for the improvement of teacher practices; they also advance our understanding of possible mechanisms for promoting high-quality professional development.
This study examined how training, dosage, and implementation quality of a social and emotional learning program, The RULER Approach, were related to students' social and emotional competencies. There were no main effects for any of the variables on student outcomes, but students had more positive outcomes when their teachers (a) attended more trainings and taught more lessons, and (b) were classified as either moderate- or high-quality program implementers. Student outcomes were more negative when their teachers were classified as low-quality implementers who also attended more trainings and taught more lessons. Post hoc analyses revealed that low-quality implementers felt less efficacious about their overall teaching than high-quality implementers. The discussion focuses on the importance of assessing the interaction of training and implementation variables when examining the effect of social and emotional learning programs. (Contains 3 tables.)
Introduction: The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a socio-emotional learning program, RULER, on enhancing both the emotional intelligence and work-related outcomes in Spanish teachers. Measures included: Ability emotional intelligence, assessed by the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and work-related outcomes, such as engagement and burnout. Method: Two private schools from the Autonomous Community of Madrid participated in the study. Once the schools were assigned to experimental or control condition randomly, a total of fifty-four teachers served in the present research, n = 32 teachers participated in the SEL program, n = 22 teachers remained as control group. Results: Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) revealed that the SEL group obtained significantly better results in the areas of emotional perception, understanding, and regulation, as also in those related to satisfaction, and commitment to their work, after twenty-four hours of SEL training, across three months, compared with control group. Discussion and Conclusion: These findings expand the literature on the impact of scientific-based programs in the development of personal resources and social and emotional competence in adult population. The paper also discusses practical implications and future research of socio-emotional interventions among adult population, for the development of personal and professional skills, as key factors for an optimal teaching practice.