In recent years, leaders in school divisions across the nation have begun to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula and programs explicitly within the academic day (DePaoli et al., 2017; Graczyk et al., 2013; Oberle et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of their role, as well as the role of school leadership, in the implementation and sustainability of an SEL curriculum. To conduct the study, all elementary teachers in one school division, approximately 220 teachers, were invited to participate by completing a survey regarding their beliefs and perceptions of implementation. Respondents supplied data for the study by providing demographic information, responding to four open-ended questions, and answering 42 questions by indicating their perception on a 5-point scale. The survey received a 27% response rate. The collected data were analyzed using statistics of responses to generate response category means, compile the response rate of data for each question, and code emerging themes to inform findings. Findings indicated the teachers felt it was the responsibility of all stakeholders to teach and model SEL for students. Most respondents, 85%, highly agreed with the belief that SEL practices promoted academic success by selecting almost always or always on the scaled response. Findings also indicated the teachers felt their building leadership did nothing to support SEL implementation, and further stipulated that more time and training were necessary to implement SEL successfully. The findings led to three implications for school leadership. First, teachers should partner with all other staff members and adults in the learning community to model and deliver SEL instruction. Second, data analysis revealed school leadership should identify one SEL curriculum for the school to ensure consistency in training, monitoring, and implementation. Finally, school leaders should dedicate time in the school day for explicit SEL instruction. / Doctor of Education / In recent years, leaders in school divisions across the nation have begun to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula and programs explicitly within the academic day (DePaoli et al., 2017; Graczyk et al., 2013; Oberle et al., 2019). The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' perceptions of their role, as well as the role of school leadership, in the implementation and sustainability of an SEL curriculum. To conduct the study, all elementary teachers in one school division, approximately 220 teachers, were invited to participate by completing a survey regarding their beliefs and perceptions of implementation. Respondents supplied data for the study by providing demographic information, responding to four open-ended questions, and answering 42 questions by indicating their perception on a 5-point scale. The survey received a 27% response rate. The collected data were analyzed using statistics of responses to generate response category means, compile the response rate of data for each question, and code emerging themes to inform findings. Findings indicated the teachers felt it was the responsibility of all stakeholders to teach and model SEL for students. Most respondents, 85%, highly agreed with the belief that SEL practices promoted academic success by selecting almost always or always on the scaled response. Findings also indicated the teachers felt their building leadership did nothing to support SEL implementation, and further stipulated that more time and training were necessary to implement SEL successfully. The findings led to three implications for school leadership. First, teachers should partner with all other staff members and adults in the learning community to model and deliver SEL instruction. Second, data analysis revealed school leadership should identify one SEL curriculum for the school to ensure consistency in training, monitoring, and implementation. Finally, school leaders should dedicate time in the school day for explicit SEL instruction.

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School leaders are increasingly being required to support students beyond academic metrics. The Covid-19 pandemic caused unanticipated closures in schools throughout the country forcing many students to an unfamiliar online environment. In the months that followed, anxiety and loneliness rose dramatically, requiring staff to re-think how to best support the social emotional needs of students. The purpose of this study was to identify how principals perceive their role in providing social emotional learning (SEL) support for all students in high-achieving schools (HAS) in both in-person and virtual learning environments. Using a phenomenological research design, principals from high achieving schools were interviewed to identify their perceived role in providing SEL for all students. This research suggests that relationships are essential in providing SEL in a meaningful way and principals rely on a variety of staff to ensure students are receiving SEL in traditional (in-person) and virtual environments. Principals expressed a deepened urgency for SEL needs due to the global pandemic of Covid-19. The role of the principals is uniquely positioned to support both the structural and interpersonal supports needed to develop SEL for all students. As the growing evidence supports the inclusion of SEL-related activities, principal and teacher preparation programs should include SEL training as part of the curriculum as part of pre-service training. Additionally, school divisions should provide in-service opportunities for those already in the field. The findings from this research underscore the important role that principals have in promoting a SEL-supportive culture. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also shared. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this study was to identify how principals perceive their role in providing SEL support for all students in high-achieving schools (HAS) in both in-person and virtual learning environments. Due to the widespread closure of in-person schooling across the country in the fall of 2020, school leaders have been forced to think differently on implementing support for the whole child. Using a phenomenological research design, principals from high achieving schools were interviewed to identify their perceived role in providing SEL for all students. A review of the literature shows SEL can be delivered at both the classroom and whole-school level and has academic, behavioral, and societal benefits. Findings showed that principals are uniquely positioned to develop SEL-supportive cultures by providing a common vision, structural supports, and opportunities to increase long-term relationships. Principals utilized a variety of people and places to provide SEL for all students, with a strong emphasis on building relationships. The capacity of both school leaders and teachers plays an important role in providing SEL with fidelity. Principal's expressed a deepened understanding of the urgency of SEL. In light of limited pre-service training at both the teacher and administrative level, additional professional development is needed in this area as schools seek to address the whole child.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) (2018) specified that "integrating SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) with instructional practices and academic content has become a growing priority" (p. 1). This priority originates from research that suggests SEL promotes positive student and long-term community outcomes, particularly in secondary schools. This canon of research, however, only reviews the outcomes of implementing purchasable curricula, not content-embedded SEL. The effectiveness of content-embedded SEL instruction, which comprises a large portion of how SEL is implemented at the secondary level (CASEL, 2018; Hart et al., 2013), cannot be effectively measured or predicted because there is little to no identified research regarding three essential factors: how teachers embed SEL, how teachers assess content-embedded SEL, and teachers' perceived readiness to embed SEL. The purpose of this research was to identify the methods secondary teachers indicate they use to implement and assess content-embedded SEL instruction and their perceived preparedness to do so. Educational leaders may be better able to evaluate the effectiveness of content-embedded SEL instruction and improve its implementation with this knowledge. Using a qualitative design, secondary teachers were interviewed to identify how they embed SEL into their instruction, how they assess SEL, and how prepared they perceive they are to deliver content-embedded SEL instruction. This research suggests that expectations for embedding and documenting SEL vary, but teachers appear to be implementing content-embedded SEL nevertheless. Furthermore, teachers recognize that pre-curated resources or lessons are provided to assist them in embedding SEL but appear to rely heavily upon their own teacher-created resources. Among these activities, teachers rely upon opportunities for reflection and choice and voice activities, but no one instructional strategy or manipulative was preferred overall. Teachers perceive student progress in SEL via observation of student behaviors, interactions, and responses both formally and informally. Regarding their preparedness to teach SEL, teachers perceive that their personal SEL proficiencies directly affect their abilities to teach them. Finally, teachers prefer experiential professional learning situations for SEL, and perceive that time to revisit and reflect in smaller, collaborative settings is an effective process for learning to implement SEL, including the use of specialists. / Doctor of Education / Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is an improvement strategy that has gained popularity in the past decade. Results from research that suggest SEL develops beneficial student and long-term community effects have led to substantial efforts to spread SEL instruction, especially in middle and high schools. However, the research upon which these efforts are based only reviews the benefits of using purchasable programming, not SEL that teachers embed into their content. The success of content-embedded SEL, which makes up a large percentage of how SEL is employed in middle and high schools (CASEL, 2018; Hart et al., 2013), cannot be accurately measured or predicted because there is little to no identified information about three important factors: how teachers embed SEL, how teachers measure content-embedded SEL, and teachers' perceived readiness to embed SEL. The purpose of this research was to identify the methods middle and high school teachers indicate they use to embed and measure SEL and their perceived preparedness to do so. Educational leaders may be better able to measure the success of content-embedded SEL and improve its use with this knowledge. Middle and high school teachers were interviewed to identify how they embed SEL, how they measure SEL, and how prepared they perceive they are to embed SEL. This research suggests that expectations for embedding and recording SEL vary, but teachers still appear to be embedding SEL. Additionally, teachers understand that pre-curated resources or lessons are provided to assist them in embedding SEL but appear to rely more heavily upon their own resources. Among these activities, teachers rely upon opportunities for reflection and choice and voice activities, but no one teaching strategy was preferred overall. Teachers recognize student development in SEL via observation of their behaviors, interactions, and responses; they grade this development about half of the time. Teachers believe their personal SEL proficiencies directly affect their abilities to teach them. Finally, teachers prefer hands-on situations for learning how to embed SEL, and perceive that time to revisit and reflect in smaller, collaborative settings to be an effective process for learning to implement SEL, including the use of specialists.

Pour développer le capital émotionnel, le domaine de l'éducation a besoin des programmes globaux qui pourraient former des individus sains, équilibrés, compétitifs, et capables à apporter le progrès, la paix et la prospérité à la société. Il y a aujourd’hui un besoin urgent de former des individus sains, équilibrés et équipés de compétences émotionnelles, personnelles et sociales pour faire face, dans un premier temps à des problèmes émotionnels, personnels, psychologiques, et socio-économiques, et afin de répondre, dans un deuxième temps, aux exigences du contexte social tout en prenant en compte les futurs défis. Le but de cette recherche était d'étudier les effets d'un programme de formation des compétences émotionnelles sur le développement du capital émotionnel des enfants des écoles primaires au Pakistan. / The purpose of this research was to study the effects of an Emotional Competency Training Program, based on two conceptual models of Mayer & Salovey Model of EI and Goleman model of EI and one action model of Six Seconds Model of EI, on the development of emotional capital of primary school children in Pakistan. The sample of the study was the 4th class students from Amanat Memorial High School in Lahore, Pakistan. The class of 32 students was randomly divided into 16 students for experimental group and 16 for the control group. Different students from both groups could not participate in post-test or follow up and finally the 9 students for each group were included in the final data analysis of this research. The research had a pretest-posttest design with a control group and a follow up after the two month from posttest phase. The data was analyzed statistically by using the multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance technique with SPSS software. The results of the research demonstrate that the experimental group significantly increased the emotional capital scores at post-test phase as compared to the control group’s mean scores. While the experimental group, compared to control group, sustained this development up to the follow-up phase two months after the post-program phase.

Universal school-wide social-emotional screeners identify at-risk students with social-emotional behavior problems (Romer et al., 2020). Identifying such students alone cannot prevent these social, emotional, and behavioral concerns from becoming problematic. However, data gathered from social-emotional screening can guide the development of strategies, supports, interventions, and progress monitoring students at risk across all tiers (Yates et al., 2008), leading to the prevention of social-emotional and behavioral problems from turning maladaptive (Humphrey & Wigelsworth, 2016; Walker et al., 2004). A school district in the Mountain West area of the United States developed a screening survey that addresses school climate, culture, and connectedness to administer to their student body. Their survey aims to identify students' needs in the following character social-emotional learning (SEL) skills that contribute to student well-being: self-awareness, compassion, resilience, and respect. Their screening survey can potentially identify the general student body's social-emotional behavioral needs. The data gathered may be used to create tiered supports that address students' needs. In this study, we conducted two focus groups that provided a forum for school psychologists in this Mountain West school district who work in an elementary school to discuss what tiered supports may be appropriate to implement in response to needs identified by the survey. The discussion also included professional development topics the participants perceived necessary for school teams responding to the survey data. The findings from this study contribute to the existing literature by recognizing that school psychologists may understand implementation science and can help lay the needed groundwork before implementing social-emotional screeners so that the process can be more efficient and effective. The findings emphasize the understanding that from the perspective of school psychologists, social-emotional learning should be applied universally and collaboratively at school and at home. School teams need to allocate time to teach social-emotional learning at school. The findings also suggest that school psychologists can determine appropriate interventions if screening data suggest a weakness in social-emotional and behavioral areas and that data collected from the screener can be used to guide topics for professional development.

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A large pool of reviewed literature and studies suggest that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) provides a multitude of developmental benefits to early childhood-aged children. The focus of this study was to assess whether SEL techniques were utilized within early care and education programs throughout the East Tennessee region and to investigate the relationship between SEL techniques and teacher self-efficacy. Sixteen early childhood teachers in the East Tennessee region completed a survey that gauged both their exposure and usage of SEL techniques in the classroom and their teacher self-efficacy. Findings showed that teachers primarily implemented self-studied SEL techniques in the classroom with the majority having not received any professional training. This project also found that teachers had high teacher self-efficacy, relating to their willingness and ability to efficiently implement SEL techniques. Results support the hypothesis that early childhood teachers are knowledgeable and capable of implementing SEL techniques within the classroom. However, a lack of professional training and direct SEL program implementation may affect the guarantee of efficiency and effectiveness within the implementation to students.

The purpose of this study was to expand upon the research with high school principals and leaders of school divisions as they seek to implement the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework. Though a significant number of studies have been conducted at the elementary and middle school levels, research at the high school level has lagged (Choi et al., 2019). This study consisted of a survey sent to 251 principals in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The survey return rate was 17%, with a fully completed survey return rate of 10%. The survey consisted of a principal self-assessment of the MTSS framework and of the four elements necessary for the implementation of MTSS: collaborative culture, Response to Intervention (RtI), Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and social-emotional learning (SEL). The self-assessment section of the survey was followed by a series of Likert scale statements addressing collaborative culture, RtI, PBIS, and SEL. These statements went into specific detail to create a deeper reflection on the school culture by principals. The statements were divided into two parts. The first part addressed potential obstacles within the school culture and the second addressed potential principal actions. The first phase of analysis consisted of a two-tailed t test to compare the mean of the MTSS framework self-assessment to the means of the self-assessments for collaborative culture, RtI, PBIS, and SEL. The second phase was a series of two-tailed t tests to compare the means of collaborative culture, RtI, PBIS, and SEL to the means of the Likert scale statements. The p-value for all but one two-tailed t test performed in the study exceeded the accepted 0.05. The one exception was the mean of the principal self-assessment for SEL compared to the mean of the Likert statements for SEL at 0.03 and N = 25. Beyond conducting the mean analysis, Likert scale ratings for each statement were examined to identify trends and outliers. The implications of the results are that the data from the survey or similar surveys can be useful to principals and leaders of other school divisions to inform professional development, prioritize resources, and implement strategies to improve student performance in both academic and social-emotional learning. / Doctor of Education / Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) was part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015. Originally focused on literacy, MTSS has evolved into a framework designed to eliminate achievement gaps in academics and in social-emotional learning (SEL) for students. This study was designed to add to the research as it applies to the implementation of MTSS at the high school level. The research at the elementary level, and to a lesser degree at the middle school level, is much more robust than at the high school level. The survey used in this study was based on a literature review that showed there are four elements necessary for the implementation of MTSS: collaborative culture, Response to Intervention (RtI), Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS), and SEL. The survey was sent to high school principals in the Commonwealth of Virginia and consisted of five sections. The first section was a principal self-assessment of the readiness of the culture of their school to support the MTSS framework, as well as for collaborative culture, RtI, PBIS, and SEL. The following four sections of the survey included a series of Likert scale statements for each element of implementation (i.e., collaborative culture, RtI, PBIS, and SEL) that addressed obstacles to implementation as well as principal actions to overcome those obstacles. A two-tailed t test was performed to determine whether any of the comparisons of the means were statistically significant. Only one t test, the mean comparison of SEL self-assessment to the mean of the Likert scale statements, was statistically significant with a p-value of 0.03, with the mean of the self-assessment rating higher than the mean of the Likert scale statements. The analysis of the Likert scale statements did show trends and outliers for specific statements for all four elements necessary for the implementation of the MTSS framework (i.e., collaborative culture, RtI, PBIS, and SEL). The data collected along with the literature review, adds to the research on MTSS for high school principals and school division leaders. The data point to implications for principals and leaders of school divisions in terms of professional development, allocation of resources, and areas of focus for closing academic and social-emotional gaps for students.