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Evidence Supporting Social Skills...

Evidence Supporting Social Skills Training

Social skills learning programs have yielded significant benefits in many studies conducted to date.

In one important meta-analysis by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an analysis was performed of 213 positive youth development, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), character education, and preventative interventions. The CASEL review represents the largest, and most scientifically rigorous consideration of controlled outcome research on interventions that promote children’s social and emotional development to date.

The CASEL review identified specific qualities of the programs it reviewed as being critical to success, all of which are components of the POWER-Solving® Curriculum.

CASEL’s review included school, family, and community interventions designed to promote personal and social skills in children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 18, and looked at the impact of the programs on students’ social and emotional skills, attitudes toward self and others, positive social behavior, conduct problems, emotional distress, and academic performance.

CASEL’s review indicates that social and emotional programs:

Are effective in both school and after-school settings and for students with and without behavioral and emotional problems.
Are effective for racially and ethnically diverse students from urban, rural, and suburban settings across the K-12 grade range.
Improve students’ social-emotional skills, attitudes about self and others, connection to school, and positive social behavior; and reduce conduct problems and emotional distress.
Improve students’ achievement test scores by 11 percentile points.

CASEL’s review also indicates that school-based programs are most effectively conducted by school staff (e.g., teachers, student support staff) and suggest that they can be effectively be incorporated into routine educational practice.

Effective programs and approaches are typically sequenced, active, focused, and explicit (S.A.F.E.):

S:
A:
F:

use a Sequenced set of activities to achieve skill objectives
use Active forms of learning
include at least one program component Focused on developing personal or social skills
Explicitly target particular personal or social skills for development

In light of CASEL’s positive findings, it has recommend that federal, state, and local policies and practices encourage the broad implementation of well-designed, evidence-based social and emotional programs in schools.

Additional Facts on Social Emotional Learning Emerging from Studies:

Students who participate in social and emotional learning programs have grade point averages that are 11 percent higher than their peers (Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg, 2004).
Students who participate in social and emotional learning programs score higher on standardized tests (Payton et al., 2008).
Students who participate in social and emotional learning programs are less likely to engage in high-risk behaviors that interfere with learning, such as violence and drug and alcohol use (Hawkins et al., 1997).
Schools that teach SEL have fewer suspensions and expulsions and better student attendance (Dymnicki, 2007).

Citations:

Dymnicki, A. (2007). The impact of school-based social and emotional development programs on academic performance. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois at Chicago.
Hawkins, J. D., Graham, J. W., Maguin, E., Abbott, R., Hill, K. G., & Catalano, R. F. (1997). Exploring the effects of age of alcohol use initiation and psychosocial risk factors on subsequent alcohol misuse. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 58(3), 280–290.
Payton, J. W., Weissberg, R. P., Durlak, J.A., Dymnicki, A.B., Taylor, R.D., Schellinger, K.B., & Pachan, M. (2008). The positive impact of social and emotional learning for kindergarten to eighth-grade students: Findings from three scientific reviews. Chicago, IL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
Zins, J. E., Weissberg, R. P., Wang, M. C., & Walberg, H. J. (Eds.) (2004). Building academic success on social and emotional learning: What does the research say? New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

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Stepping Stones to Solving Life’s Everyday Social Problems

POWER-Solving®: Stepping Stones to Solving Life’s Everyday Social Problems is designed to teach children and adolescents to become independent problem-solvers via a hands-on, user-friendly, positive-practice, interactive approach.
Through the use of child- and adolescent-friendly, engaging materials, which rely heavily on visual cues and supports, participants gain the “tools” necessary to successfully problem-solve – tools they can use to solve various challenging social situations at school, home and in the community.
POWER-Solving® is a carefully thought-out and tested tool for teaching students the critical skills they need. It has been applied successfully in classrooms, summer programs, clinical settings and home environments.