Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an increasingly popular focus in U.S. schools as educators work to improve school settings. The researchers are using Emotional Literacy in the Classroom (ELC), an SEL program, for this randomized field experiment. They are loking at the program’s effects on classroom processes, including the number of emotionally positive and supportive interactions students have with teachers, parents, and peers. They will then determine if positive changes in the classroom translate to improved academic performance, more positive relationships, and increased emotional literacy. The study encompasses 60 schools in Brooklyn, New York, randomly assigned to the intervention or the control condition.
The investigators also received a supplemental grant to test whether demonstrated changes in student-teacher interaction in the 5th and 6th grades carries over to their 7th grade classrooms. They plan to collect both student surveys and classroom observation data in the fall of 7th grade.
Can a school-based emotional literacy intervention produce setting-level changes in social processes between students and teachers? Will these changes enhance social, emotional, and academic competence?
