The critical assumption not met in this analysis, however, is the exclusion restriction. It is still notable that INSIGHTS improved classroom emotional support in first grade, in turn improving student math achievement. Children were shown a page with pictures of a variety of objects scattered throughout and a target object at the top. There were no missing classroom-level data in this study. Contact us if you experience any difficulty logging in. There was previous evidence for effects of INSIGHTS on classroom emotional support and organization (Cappella et al., in press), as well as student math and reading skills (O’Connor et al., 2014). The mean of each scale was taken to calculate a dimension score. Below, we provide details about the outcomes and hypothesized mechanisms, as well as classroom- and child-level covariates. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. The rich data from this larger study provide the opportunity to refine results by examining potential pathways through which INSIGHTS improved student achievement outcomes. She received a PhD in family nursing theory from the University of California, San Francisco. In the first stage, separate ordinary least squares regressions with robust standard errors were used to predict classroom emotional support and organization from exogenous instruments (random assignment to INSIGHTS or control condition), adjusting for pretreatment covariates. Two subscales of the Academic Competence Evaluation Scale (DiPerna & Elliott, 2000) measured teacher perceptions of children’s achievement-related behaviors in reading and mathematics. Some society journals require you to create a personal profile, then activate your society account, You are adding the following journals to your email alerts, Did you struggle to get access to this article? In answering these two questions, we use a series of rigorous quantitative methods (multilevel regression, instrumental variables estimation, inverse probability of treatment weighting) that aim to maintain a high level of internal validity when assessing mechanisms in the context of a randomized trial. Child temperament was measured with the School-Age Temperament Inventory (SATI; McClowry, 2002). As noted above, students enrolled in the study were similar to the students at the schools who chose not to participate in the study. However, using school fixed effects to account for group differences may address some concern related to the analysis meeting this assumption. In practice, there should be the same number of instruments as there are mediators to address the exclusion restriction. Professionally produced vignettes guide the children in problem solving daily dilemmas with the help of the puppets and their classmates. The IPTW method revealed that the program impact on reading achievement in first grade was partially explained through an improvement in classroom organization. Social learning theorists Bandura and Walters describe social learning theory as follows: Learning is not purely behavioural, but instead a cognitive process that takes place in a social context. Such implementation is often manualized in the curriculum and can be embedded into instruction or stand alone as its own program. Parents received a $20 gift card to thank them for their time. To build familiarity and reduce reactivity, data collectors introduced themselves to teachers before observing and sat in a location suggested by the teacher for an unobstructed view of the classroom with minimal impact on instruction. That is a positive outlook and reciprocal. They were asked to cross out as many of the objects matching the target as possible without accidentally crossing out any other objects in a limited time frame. Yet few studies have empirically examined whether improvements in domains of classroom quality are pathways through which SEL programs enhance student academic outcomes in low-income urban schools. If the coefficient for classroom emotional support and/or organization shrank after accounting for assignment to INSIGHTS, there would be correlational mediation evidence (O’Connor & McCartney, 2007). Dimensions were coded during each 15-minute shorter observation and values were averaged for a dimension score. A Word From Verywell In addition to influencing other psychologists, Bandura's social learning theory has had important implications in the field of education. Next, we used regression analyses and the Baron and Kenny (1986) mediation approach to determine whether there was correlational evidence for the hypothesized mechanisms. In addition, practitioners can learn from these findings when developing or implementing SEL programs in urban elementary schools. We did not test for mediated impacts in kindergarten using IPTW given nonsignificant effects for both regression and IVE analyses. Sharing links are not available for this article. Sign in here to access free tools such as favourites and alerts, or to access personal subscriptions, If you have access to journal content via a university, library or employer, sign in here, Research off-campus without worrying about access issues. Participants are encouraged to reframe their perceptions with the understanding that every temperament has strengths and challenges. Future mixed methods studies examining changes in teacher practice both quantitatively and qualitatively can further inform SEL programs on the active ingredients important for inducing changes for students and classrooms. This study also found evidence of mediation in first grade but not in kindergarten. Understanding the explanatory mechanisms linking SEL intervention to student achievement will provide crucial information for further program research, development, implementation, and scale-up. Classroom organization includes three dimensions: productivity, behavior management, and instructional learning formats. You can be signed in via any or all of the methods shown below at the same time. Then, we tested for mediation by regressing math and reading achievement on the hypothesized mediators and assignment to INSIGHTS, adjusting for confounding covariates (Path C’). Additional work suggests that these SEL programs also improved low-income urban students’ academic skills and achievement (4Rs: Jones et al., 2011; Responsive Classroom: Abry et al., 2013; PATHS: Bierman et al., 2014; Incredible Years: Webster-Stratton et al., 2008; RULER: Brackett et al., 2012). The standard errors for regression and IVE, however, were larger, and the effects were thus nonsignificant. Meghan P. Mccormick is a research associate in the families and children policy area at MDRC. 1.The F statistics for treatment predicting classroom emotional support and organization are as follows: kindergarten emotional support: 5.51, p = .28; kindergarten organization: 4.31, p = .61; first grade emotional support: 13.41, p < .01; first grade organization: 11.92, p < .05. As such, after examining IVE mediation estimates, we will run additional models using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to examine classroom emotional support and organization as mediators linking INSIGHTS and students’ academic outcomes. Social Learning Theory, theorized by Albert Bandura, posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and modeling. Lean Library can solve it. Kindergarten teachers are thus challenged to help new students learn about how to conduct themselves, manage behaviors, and engage in productive routines, perhaps making it more difficult for an SEL program to show a significant impact on classroom organization across the kindergarten year. INSIGHTS included (a) teacher sessions, (b) parent sessions, and (c) universal classroom sessions. The methodologies used can serve as examples for future researchers interested in examining mechanisms in randomized trials of school-based programs. These behaviors will likely support positive academic outcomes. Hamagami, A. There were no statistically significant differences between treatment and control for classroom emotional support and organization in first grade or for classroom organization in either grade. Vygotsky’s social development theory and Bandura’s social learning theory provided the framework for this cross-sectional survey study that addressed the relationships between adolescent girls’ drug use and their academic performance and social development. Participating schools had high percentages of students who were racial/ethnic minorities (Black, M = 0.77, SD = 0.13; Hispanic, M = 0.40, SD = 0.27) and eligible for free/reduced lunch (M = 0.80, SD = 0.16). First, the assumption that there is a nonzero correlation between the instrument and the mechanisms has been established in a previous study (see Cappella et al., in press).1 Second, the assumption that there is ignorability of the instrument is tenable because the instrument was manually randomized. Classrooms with high levels of organization show effective strategies for behavior management, maximization of learning time, and engagement in successful implementation of academic activities (Pianta, La Paro, et al., 2008). Sixty-three percent of heavy users received high grades, compared to 65 percent of light users. Appendix B provides a brief overview of the INSIGHTS curriculum. This is the effect of classroom organization on math achievement for those students who would have experienced higher organization if their classroom was assigned to INSIGHTS and would have experienced lower organization if their classroom was not assigned to INSIGHTS. However, technology allows us to provide plenty of opportunities to implement a social learning … The Closeness subscale consists of 8 items and measures the amount of warmth and communication present in the relationship. . The Conflict subscale consists of 7 items and measures the extent to which the relationship is marked by disharmonious interactions. However, it is important to remember that there were no main effects of INSIGHTS on classroom organization in kindergarten. Constructivists see the learner as a constructor of knowledge. Child behavior problems were measured with the 36-item Sutter–Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory, the teacher version of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (Eyberg & Pincus, 1999). For classroom-level variables, ICCs were .16 and .18 for kindergarten classroom emotional support and organization, and .18 and .21 for first grade classroom emotional support and organization. The study indicates that social media is being integrated with rather than interfering with students’ academic lives. Given research suggesting the importance of early intervention (Barnett, 2011; Leak et al., 2010), this result was somewhat unexpected. The overall goal of IPTW is to reweight the control group so it looks comparable to the treatment group in terms of confounding characteristics. Keywords : Students performance, communication, learning facilities, proper guidance and family stress. This measure was included as a covariate given correlations between parent involvement and academic achievement in elementary school (Jeynes, 2012). Other findings include short-term effects on classroom emotional support in kindergarten and first grade, and on classroom organization in first grade (Cappella et al., in press). Children are introduced to four puppets that represent the four temperament profiles. A qualitative case study was utilized to examine the lived educational experiences of seven incarcerated students through semi-structured interviews. Collins (1982) demonstrated in a clear way the importance of self-efficacy beliefs and skill application on academic performance. The instrument has four dimensions derived from principal factor analysis: Negative Reactivity (12 items; intensity/frequency of negative affect), Task Persistence (11 items; self-direction in fulfilling task responsibilities), Withdrawal (9 items; child’s initial response to new situations), and Activity (6 items; large motor activity). Supervision focused on challenges related to conducting sessions, implementation logistics, and participant concerns. Most states will grant licenses to preservice elementary school teachers even if they fail the math section of the licensure exam (Epstein & Miller, 2011). The facilitator and participating teacher engage the children in the content using the puppets. Schools not assigned to INSIGHTS participated in a 10-week supplemental reading program after school for children whose parents consented. “Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1997) analyzed the content of 179 handbook chapters and reviews and 91 research syntheses and surveyed educational researchers in … Using indices of fidelity to intervention core components to identify program active ingredients, The influence of fidelity of implementation on teacher–student interaction quality in the context of a randomized controlled trial of the Responsive Classroom approach, Identification of causal effects using instrumental variables, Effectiveness of early educational intervention, The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations, Effects of Head Start REDI on children’s outcomes 1 year later in different kindergarten contexts, School readiness. In this vein, researchers have developed measures of classroom social processes, in part to determine whether programs do improve classroom interactions (see Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008). At the same time, most SEL programs are either explicitly designed to be delivered in concert with literacy instruction (e.g., 4Rs, RULER) or implemented during literacy instruction given more potential overlap between relevant lessons and themes. Thus, we regressed math and reading achievement (outcomes) on classroom emotional support and classroom organization (mediators), adjusting for confounding covariates (Path B in Baron and Kenny model). The regression and IVE approach operationalized the mediators continuously while the IPTW method binarized the mediators according to thresholds identified as valid in previous work. A consensus brief from the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development shows a wide range of scientists agree: SEL matters, is doable, and has an impact. The call now is to examine data on extant SEL program evaluations, identify which programs improved children’s academic skills, and find evidence for how these programs worked. The scripted manual for the parent and teacher programs is 178 pages and includes objectives, activities for each session, and participant handouts. Thus, as expected, in Stage 2 (Table 7), there were no significant mediated effects of either mediator on math or reading achievement in kindergarten. We argue that if we do find consistent results across these three different modeling approaches—multilevel regression, IVE and IPTW—we will be able to improve the empirical understanding of classroom level mechanisms linking INSIGHTS to student achievement. In addition, there are no data to determine the exact number of SEL programs being implemented across the country. B., Taylor, R. D., Schellinger, K. B. For example, SEL programs’ theories of change hypothesize distal effects on academic outcomes. Create a link to share a read only version of this article with your colleagues and friends. I have read and accept the terms and conditions. Parents reported on demographic characteristics. By improving behavior management and productivity in the classroom, it is possible that there was more time available to allocate to math instruction. Given evidence that children raised in poverty are more likely to start school with lower levels of social-emotional skills (Ursache, Blair, & Raver, 2012), numerous SEL program models have been implemented in underresourced elementary schools. SEL programs broadly aim to enhance an interrelated set of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral skills regarded as foundational for academic performance. Reading program facilitators had weekly meetings with the project director to ensure that all components were implemented. Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. It only means that when a student gets too involve with the use of Social Media it effects his performance in class activities and overall academic performance. Failing to test program mechanisms limits the field’s ability to understand variation in the efficacy of SEL interventions and truly unpack the key ingredients that are critical for promoting longer term impacts on achievement. This measure was included as a covariate given correlations between dimensions of temperament and academic achievement in elementary school (Valiente et al., 2013). Did the INSIGHTS program improve classroom organization, thus leading to improvements in student math and reading achievement in kindergarten and first grade? During the first live classroom observation, data collectors observed with a master coder to ensure agreement in live coding. Policy makers may consider assessing classroom-level outcomes in determining accountability criteria for SEL programs in public schools. In the second stage, the regression-predicted estimates from the first stage are used to estimate the effect of the mediator on the outcome. As discussed in a future section, random assignment was largely successful in creating comparable treatment and comparison groups (O’Connor et al., 2014). Primarily, with increased calls from state and federal governments for funding on SEL programs and teacher training (CASEL, 2014), there is a need to determine how to assess the immediate success of such programs. Yet several rigorously evaluated SEL programs, tested in low-income pre-K and elementary schools, have been successful in improving low-income children’s social-emotional skills (e.g., 4Rs: Jones et al., 2011; CSRP: Raver et al., 2011; Incredible Years: Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Stoolmiller, 2008) and academic outcomes (e.g., Brackett, Rivers, Reyes, & Salovey, 2012; Jones et al., 2011; Raver et al., 2011; Webster-Stratton et al., 2008). You might be thinking that eLearning is counterintuitive to this theory because it is presented to the individual rather than a group of learners. An F statistic greater than 10 typically is thought to describe a strong instrument. For more information view the SAGE Journals Sharing page. Indeed, it is unclear which aspects of the comprehensive INSIGHTS program were critical factors in inducing the changes in classroom interactions that led to improvements in math achievement in first grade. Table 8 First-Stage Results for Instrumental Variables Model: Assignment to INSIGHTS on Classroom Emotional Support and Organization in Kindergarten, Table 9 Second-Stage Results for Instrumental Variables Model: Classroom Emotional Support and Organization Mediating the Effect of INSIGHTS Assignment on Math and Reading Achievement in First Grade. A. M., Lonczak, H. S., Hawkins, J. D. (, Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning . After baseline data were collected in kindergarten, a random numbers table was used to randomly assign schools to INSIGHTS or a supplemental reading program (i.e., comparison group). The instrument in this article is strong—school-based random assignment to INSIGHTS versus the attention-control. Using data from the evaluation of the SEL program INSIGHTS, this article tests whether assignment to INSIGHTS improved low-income kindergarten and first grade students’ math and reading achievement by first enhancing classroom emotional support and organization. First grade teachers were recruited from the same schools. IVE uses a two-stage least squares regression with the ivregress command in Stata 12 to estimate (a) the within-grade posttest effect of INSIGHTS on classroom emotional support and organization (Stage 1) and (b) the within-grade effect of classroom emotional support and organization on kindergarten and first grade students’ academic outcomes posttest for those classrooms in which emotional support and organization improved as a result of INSIGHTS (Stage 2; Angrist, Imbens, & Rubin, 1996; Gelman & Hill, 2007). This finding builds on previous work demonstrating impacts of SEL programs on emotionally supportive teaching practices—safety, warmth, sensitivity, and regard for teacher practices (e.g., Brown et al., 2010; Cappella et al., 2012; Raver et al., 2011). Cronbach’s alphas for the SATI (completed at enrollment) were .77 for Activity, .81 for Withdrawal, .85 for Task Persistence, and .87 for Negative Reactivity. Similarly, high classroom organization (>4.7) in first grade attributed to INSIGHTS resulted in a higher math score of 1.84 points, relative to students who experienced lower levels of classroom organization (<4.7), B = 1.84, SE = 0.73, p = .04. Parent and teacher sessions were videotaped and reviewed for coverage of content and effective facilitation. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. academic performance as refl ected in more positive social behaviors, fewer conduct problems, less emotional distress, and better grades and achievement test scores (Col-laborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2005; Zins et al., 2004). In Part 1, “The 3 Rs of Child Management: Recognize, Reframe, and Respond,” participants are taught to recognize the unique qualities that children exhibit as an expression of their temperament. New learning … (, Raver, C. C., Jones, S., Li-Grining, C., Zhai, F., Bub, K., Pressler, E. (, Razza, R. A., Martin, A., Brooks-Gunn, J. Pretreatment differences on other covariates and outcomes were nonsignificant. Although some parents did consent to participate early in the recruitment period, all possible efforts were made to recruit additional parents until data collection was scheduled to begin. (, Pianta, R. C., La Paro, K., Hamre, B. K. (, Ponitz, C. C., McClelland, M. M., Matthews, J. S., Morrison, F. J. All classrooms were classified as regular education, with an average of 16.57 students (SD = 3.54). This chapter focuses on Bandura's social cognitive theory, which postulates reciprocal interactions among personal, behavioral, and social/environmental factors. Student assent was then acquired. β1 is a vector of the predicted probabilities for all covariates. As such, it may be that longer term follow-up is needed to examine impacts on academic outcomes. Login failed. When replicating or scaling up INSIGHTS and other SEL programs with similar theories of change, it will be important to consider how classroom emotional support and organization operate as key factors promoting student achievement. Teachers were mainly female (94.2%) and identified as Hispanic or Latino (11.9%), Black or African American (56.4%), White (24.3%), or mixed race/other (7%). the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. 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