This capstone project was part of a group project completed by five school and district administrators in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for teachers who are able to establish a culture of care in their classrooms that support students academically but transform their learning through experiences that enable them to be more highly engaged and productive students, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, perceived academic abilities, and backgrounds. My focus in this group project looked at social emotional learning, student behavior, and student achievement in high needs schools. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and its related activities and lessons were once a foundational piece of the middle school program. Over the years, increased accountability and legislative mandates have made it very challenging to include dedicated time in a student’s daily schedule for SEL lessons and activities. In Hillsborough County Public Schools, a summer program for retained sixth graders served as a launching ground for the re-introduction of SEL activities. The positive impact of the SEL activities were immediate and the SEL lessons, delivered through daily Community Building Sessions (CBS), were received well by teachers and students. How can the overwhelmingly positive results of the use of SEL activities with students in a summer program be replicated during the regular school year? Literature supported the growing need for social emotional learning, positive impacts of SEL on student behavior and academic learning, the importance of positive classroom climates as a school-wide strategy, and the importance of leadership support.

This dissertation describes the results of two studies that examined preservice and inservice teachers' knowledge of social and emotional learning (SEL) and its impact on academic achievement. Components of SEL, such as self-efficacy and self-regulation, play an important role in academic attainment and can be especially beneficial to young readers. One hundred and seventy inservice and 155 preservice teachers completed surveys that measured their overall knowledge of SEL concepts and perceptions regarding their preparedness for teaching SEL, its importance, and implementation. The descriptive results indicated both inservice and preservice teachers had some underlying knowledge regarding SEL, but performed poorly in identifying definitions of fundamental SEL terms. The large majority of preservice and inservice teachers felt SEL was important to academic achievement, but seemed conflicted about the role of SEL in classroom instruction. Responses from inservice and preservice teachers indicate they may feel underprepared for teaching SEL in their classrooms. Multiple regression analyses revealed preservice teachers' responses to items on the perceptions scales predicted overall knowledge scores. Analysis of Variance results indicated there were no differences by demographic variables on overall teacher knowledge scores and responses to perceptions scales. The results are consistent with previous findings on teachers' perceptions of SEL's importance. Implications for teacher preparation programs and classroom instruction are discussed along with directions for future research.

Outcomes related to academic and social engagement for boys identified by their teachers as being disengaged and requiring tier two instructional supports were investigated when the Three Block Model of Universal Design for Learning (Katz, 2012a) was implemented. The mixed-methods study involved twelve grade 3 boys and their teachers in a rural school division in Manitoba, who were divided into treatment and control groups. Students were assessed pre and post intervention for the development of general self-esteem, academic self-esteem, liking of school, enjoyment of school, and engaged behaviour. Ecobehavioral measures of task assigned, groupings, and interactions were also taken. Data were collected and analyzed using both thematic analysis for qualitative data and a MANCOVA for quantitative analysis. The intervention significantly increased students’ engaged behaviour, particularly active engagement and promoted social engagement through increased peer interactions, student autonomy, and inclusivity.

Outcomes related to academic and social engagement for boys identified by their teachers as being disengaged and requiring tier two instructional supports were investigated when the Three Block Model of Universal Design for Learning (Katz, 2012a) was implemented. The mixed-methods study involved twelve grade 3 boys and their teachers in a rural school division in Manitoba, who were divided into treatment and control groups. Students were assessed pre and post intervention for the development of general self-esteem, academic self-esteem, liking of school, enjoyment of school, and engaged behaviour. Ecobehavioral measures of task assigned, groupings, and interactions were also taken. Data were collected and analyzed using both thematic analysis for qualitative data and a MANCOVA for quantitative analysis. The intervention significantly increased students’ engaged behaviour, particularly active engagement and promoted social engagement through increased peer interactions, student autonomy, and inclusivity.

This thesis examines the effects of a Bibliotherapy based intervention on literacy, behaviour, and self-efficacy of disaffected adolescents. This exploratory study sought to understand how the intervention was experienced by disaffected adolescents (RQ1/RQ2) and whether it revealed any changes in their responses to the texts (RQ3). It contributes to the existing knowledge and literature by demonstrating how Bibliotherapy, implemented in an educational context, can be a useful tool in designing an intervention for disaffected students at the secondary level by linking emotional development to development in literacy and overall learning. To begin, the purpose and study aims were to develop an intervention based on the principles of Bibliotherapy in order to address the challenges of literacy and behaviour among disaffected adolescents; to evaluate the various outcomes, which may influence the design or effective implementation of the programme; to revise and make changes based on the evaluation to produce a usable programme. From this, the study aimed to answer the following research questions: how useful is Bibliotherapy and/or its principles as a tool in designing a literacy programme for re-engaging disaffected adolescents? What is the perspective of the students in undertaking the programme in means of the process involved? What changes follow this programme in regards to the improvement of literacy and enhancement of attitude and interest in reading amongst disaffected adolescents? This study used a longitudinal mixed methods approach, taking place over three cohorts (school terms), and involving thirty two Year 9 students from five secondary schools in the United Kingdom. The design and evaluation of the Bibliotherapy intervention was underpinned by both a concurrent triangulation model and action research. The evaluation of the programme involved the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data; therefore, a pragmatic stance to the research was adopted that was positioned as mixed-methods. Qualitative data was analysed using a thematic approach and merged to complement the Quantitative findings offering a more thorough and valid interpretation. The qualitative analysis revealed four overarching themes from the participation in the programme: positive developments in Power Over Learning, Emotional Intelligence, Peer Impact to Learning, and New Reader Identities. The quantitative findings, for the most part, did not reveal any statistically significant changes in reading, self-efficacy, or behaviour; however, there were isolated cases among individual cohorts where the findings did reveal significant changes in fluency, reading, reading difficulty perception, behaviour, and with personal resiliency such as increased optimism, tolerance, and adaptability. This study supports findings from earlier studies suggesting that disaffected adolescents at secondary school levels can benefit from reading and behavioural intervention. It offers new knowledge regarding the effectiveness and use of Bibliotherapy as a tool to design an intervention for re-engagement, social and emotional growth through peer support, development of a deeper understanding of self, and reinforcement of reading skills necessary to achieve literacy.

The problem in a suburban school district in a northwestern state is that fewer socioeconomic disadvantaged and minority students are graduating high school and attending post-secondary education than their White and economic middle-class counterparts. The disparity continues to expand the achievement gap between minorities and Whites within the education system and continues a cycle of poverty for the poorest and minority students. Bandura’s self-efficacy theory guided the study. The purpose of this bounded qualitative exploratory case study was to explore the advancement via individual determination (AVID) instructional strategies high school graduates used in their transition to post-secondary education. The research questions addressed which instructional strategies the AVID graduates learned and how they used the strategies in post-secondary education. The participants were 13 AVID high school graduates from a suburban northwestern school district who entered post-secondary education in 2014–2018. Data collected through one-on-one interviews were analyzed thematically using descriptive and axial coding to allow themes to emerge using the constructs of the framework. AVID students suggested that focused notetaking, collaboration, and self-regulatory behaviors assisted them in their academic success. Based on the findings, a 3-day professional development was created for high school teachers to design content area lessons featuring student collaborative groups, self-reflection, and notetaking strategies. This endeavor may contribute to positive social change when administrators provide teachers with grouping, social emotional, and instructional strategies for AVID enrollees, which may result in increased AVID graduates and post-secondary students.

Ninth grade year is the most important challenging year of high school. Many students struggle adjusting to the transition to high school. If supports are not in place, many ninth-grade students are at-risk of dropping out of school. The purpose of this study was to identify and examine the social emotional learning supports in Freshman Academy that assist in the transition to High School. A qualitative investigation was conducted to explore these social emotional supports. This study used a phenomenological methodology, enabling the researcher to gather information from a purposeful selection of educators directly identified by their Academy Principals. This study employed processes of data collection that included the use of individual interviews found in qualitative design. Analysis of data happened in several steps: (a) transcribing all interviews that were recorded, (b) coding, (c) examining the themes of the codes, and (d) relating the themes to the research questions. The credibility of the analysis was supported by triangulation, member checks, and thick descriptions. The results revealed that seven themes emerged as identified supports which included: (a) Freshman Seminar programming, (b) personnel supports to include Dean of Students and the School Counselor, (c) Restorative Practices programming, (d) building relationships with students, (e)advisory, (f) informal SEL practices, and (g) teaming. Based on the research the following conclusions were presented: (a) schools use restorative practices as a means to provide SEL, (b) relationship building is a central focus, (c) and the Freshman Seminar course and content provide meaningful social emotional learning experiences.

A suburban district in the southwestern region of the United States created a choice-based program in which students have the opportunity to address their social, emotional, and academic needs through a mid-day period where they have the ability to attend tutorials or engage in a variety of club and social activities. Each day, students choose the activity that best serves their needs, be those academic, social, or emotional. In order to determine students' attitudes, opinions, and uses of the program in an effort to improve its effectiveness for student success, this qualitative study was planned to respond to the research questions: (1) how do students spend the emPower period? and (2) what are students' thoughts, attitudes, and opinions with regards to emPower? The research began by examining student responses to a previous principal survey asking their opinions on the program. Following the analysis of the survey, focus group sessions of five students from each high school grade were held to discuss student perceptions, choices, and uses of the program. The discussions were audiotaped and transcribed. Thematic data analysis resulted in themes of stress, social life, environment, regulations, choice and tutorials. Findings included a continuum of maturity evident with students' choices as they progressed in grade level; enhanced student decision making and self-reflection; cultivating positive student-teacher relationships. Student suggestions for the program involved extending the time length of the period, teaching younger students to use the program effectively, and updating the way the advisory class is taught to be more beneficial to students.

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