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In This Issue:    

• Spotlight on Research: SEL and academic achievement: Peer relationships affect academic performance; mentors matter; strong practices = demanding curriculum + strong social support; success in urban schools – promoting a positive culture
• Spotlight on Practice:  Connecting the dots; learning about service-learning: a report, an article, a guide, and a support organization; SEL and depression
• Spotlight on Policy: Policy brief on standards and public perceptions points out parents' desire to educate the whole child; zero-tolerance policies add up and score low
• Resources You Can Use: 2005 Index of child well-being project research; truancy prevention website

From CASEL's Leadership  

SEL and Academics: Have We Reached a Tipping Point?

For several years a major theme in CASEL's work has been the connection between social and emotional learning (SEL) and academic achievement. Understanding and acceptance of the SEL-academics link, which is supported by a growing body of solid research, are essential if SEL is to play a central role in schools.

At CASEL we are aware that more and more educators understand that connection and embrace SEL as essential to accomplishing their educational goals. Several recent events have led us to think about a “tipping point” regarding SEL's role in mainstream education. They include workshops sponsored by the Minnesota State Department of Education on SEL and academics based on materials from the CASEL web site, requests for CASEL consultation on SEL standards from leaders of numerous large school districts (e.g., Milwaukee, Chicago, and Anchorage), and a high demand for CASEL's workshops on our new SEL Implementation Guide .

All of this follows on the heels of the Illinois State Board of Education's adoption in Dec. 2004 of SEL learning standards (http://www.isbe.net/ils/social_emotional/standards.htm) that parallel those in the other academic areas. Not only do these standards establish the need for schools in Illinois to actively implement social emotional learning, but they are also a model for other states to follow in developing policy, standards, guidelines, and practices.

Another illuminating aspect the SEL-academics link struck us as we attended a session at the 2005 ASCD national conference. Its focus was a major literacy initiative in York Region, Canada. The region includes almost 200 schools and a highly diverse student population. For several years the region has been working on improving student literacy at all levels. Working with education reformer Michael Fullan, York's schools have made significant gains using innovative strategies at all levels.

The presentation highlighted the nuts-and-bolts of York's literacy reform work. One video showed a debriefing between a teacher who had just taught a literacy lesson and a peer observer. Their discussion was rich and animated, and on the video it was impossible to distinguish observer from observed, so free and non-defensive was the exchange.

After the presentation we thanked the York educators for their excellent and informative session. We told them how impressed we were also with York's Character Education and SEL activities and mentioned that colleagues of theirs from York Region were scheduled to attend a forthcoming CASEL Administrator Academy on SEL. “Well,” they responded, “we couldn't go into all the details of our literacy successes here today, but please know that without SEL we could not have succeeded as we have. SEL created the climate and culture of safety and support among staff necessary for our professional growth and effectiveness.”

In Zins et al. (2004) (Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning: What Does the Research Say?) and elsewhere, CASEL has described the ways in which SEL enhances individual students' capacities to perform well academically. The York example illustrates another important aspect of the SEL-academics link. SEL provides systematic approaches for creating trusting environments that support adult development, peer-to-peer learning, engaged and engaging instruction—i.e., peak staff performance. This may prove to be one of SEL's greatest benefits--the structured support it creates for school improvement to take hold and have maximum impact on both school professionals and their students. York's experience in building literacy on a solid base of SEL programming is good news for educators everywhere.

We wish all of our readers a wonderful end to the school year. For those who will still be on email this summer, watch for a July update. And all of you can look forward to a chock-full back-to-school issue of CASEL Connections in August. Happy Summer!

Roger P. Weissberg                                          Mary Utne O’Brien
President                                                          Executive Director  

Spotlight on Research 

SEL and Academic Achievement

The interrelationship between academic achievement and social and emotional learning has been a continual focus of this publication. It is substantiated by a steadily accumulating body of empirical research. This section highlights several important recent contributions.

Peer Relationships Affect Academic Performance

Not being accepted by one's peers is among the worst traumas of childhood, and the effects can have a devastating impact on academic achievement. The linkage between peer acceptance and academic performance is examined in a new study published in Developmental Psychology that tracked the phenomenon over time. The study revealed that a lack of peer acceptance in fourth grade predicted declines in academic performance for the next three years. In explaining how poor peer relationships might affect academic performance, the authors found their data supported a model of “social, emotional, and cognitive development as fundamentally interrelated.” Lack of acceptance by peers affected students' perceptions of their own strengths and weaknesses. As self-perceived strengths declined, so did academic performance.

The study underscores the importance of both primary mechanisms of SEL's impact on academic performance: (1) the development of specific social-emotional skills, such a realistic awareness of one's own positive attributes, and (2) promoting a safe, supportive climate for learning.

Source: Flook, L., Repetti, R., Ullman, J. (2005). Classroom Social Experiences as Predictors of Academic Performance. Developmental Psychology , 41(2), 319-327.

Mentors Matter

Student-teacher relationships also have important effects on academic performance. A study that emphasized teachers as mentors of their students in a high-poverty urban high school in the U.S. Midwest found that supportive teacher-student relationships had a significant positive impact on school performance.

As described in the Journal of School Psychology , the design of the program included weekly meetings between students and their mentor-teachers, the use of consistent positive feedback, and monthly telephone contacts with the students' families to discuss the students' progress. The teachers were also given substantial support and tools, such as academic and personal goal sheets, to aid in their mentoring.

The grade-point averages of the 48 students in the program improved over the course of the five-month intervention, in contrast to those in a control group.

Read more about this study at PDF (138 K) .

Source: Murray, C., and Malmgren, K. (2005). Implementing a teacher-student relationship in a high-poverty urban school: Effects on social, emotional, and academic adjustment and lessons learned. Journal of School Psychology, 43 (2005), 137-152.

Strong Practices = Demanding Curriculum + Strong Social Support

The “achievement gap” affecting low-income students of color remains one of the major challenges facing educators today. A new study of successful programs that address the problem emphasizes the importance of the high expectations of a demanding curriculum combined with a strong social support system.

The study, “Closing the Gap: High Achievement for Students of Color,” recommends several specific programs that have documented successful practices in reducing the achievement gap. All share a rigorous, standards-based curriculum and a strong social support system that surrounds students with people who value their learning. For more information about the study go to www.aera.net/uploadedFiles/Journals_and_Publications/Research_Points/RP_Fall-04.pdf

Source: Edmund W. Gordon, American Educational Research Association, “Closing the Gap: High Achievement for Students of Color,” Research Points , Fall, 2004, Vol. 2 (3).

Success in Urban Schools—Promoting a Positive Culture

One highlight of the March 2005 issue of Educational Leadership , which centered on the theme of “Learning from Urban Schools,” is a research review by David Osher and Steve Fleischman titled “Research Matters/ Positive Culture in Urban Schools.” The article identifies three essential evidence-based elements in the culture of a school:

• Caring connections : Relationships provide connections and alternatives to gangs.
• Positive behavioral supports : Harsh discipline breaks connections. Frequent positive reinforcement can be more effective.
• Social and emotional skills : Internal assets can be nurtured and developed to prevent problem behavior and promote academic success. By modeling social-emotional skills, teachers can also easily connect more easily with students.

Together these strategies can support a positive school culture that promotes greater academic achievement. To read about the underlying research, go to www.ascd.org and click on “Publications.”

Source: Osher, D. and Fleischman, S. “Research Matters/Positive Culture in Urban Schools,” Educational Leadership , March 2005, Vol. 62(6), 84-85.

Spotlight on Practice

Connecting the Dots

The importance of students' feeling connected to their schools as a factor in their academic success is well-established. But what does school connectedness look like? According to another recent article in ASCD's Educational Leadership (“A Case for School Connectedness,” by Robert W. Blum, April 2005) the three characteristics that help students feel connected to their schools are:

• High academic expectations coupled with support for learning
• Positive adult/student relationships
• Physical and emotional safety

A national leader in research on school connectedness, Blum notes that schools and teachers can promote it by focusing on the school's culture as well as academics. Teachers can encourage it by making learning meaningful and relevant, creating a classroom with consistent expectations, and encouraging collaborative learning. Administrators can increase it by avoiding the separation of students into tracks and providing mentorship programs, service-learning activities, and advisors for every student, among other examples.

The article also includes the Wingspread Declaration on School Connections. This major policy statement, based on both research and experience in the field, provides recommendations for positive strategies to encourage school connectedness.

The Blum article is part of an issue focusing on the “ Adolescent Learner.” The entire issue (April 2005) is an important resource on engaging students, understanding adolescents, and creating a community of learners. For more information go to http://www.ascd.org and click on “Publications.”

Learning about Service-Learning: A Report, an Article, a Guide, and a Support Organization

At a time when the No Child Left Behind legislation is placing increased emphasis on the core subjects, educating children so they become engaged with their communities as responsible citizens provides an important and necessary balance. The value of service-learning and its role in the teaching of civic engagement and citizenship are increasingly recognized and based on research. Long recognized as an element of social and emotional learning, service-learning provides opportunities for students to practice SEL skills such as problem solving and relationship building in real-life situations (http://ecs.org/clearinghouse/44/04/4404.pdf ).

Several recent publications from leading organizations offer valuable resources and ideas for promoting service-learning.

“Restoring the Balance between Academics and Civic Engagement in Public Schools,” by Bruce O. Boston, is a report from a meeting of the American Youth Policy Forum and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. It offers a rationale, guidelines, and resources for educators working to integrate civic knowledge and responsibility in education. To read the report, go to http://www.aypf.org/pdf/Restoring%20the%20Balance%20Report.pdf .

The “Learning that Lasts Field Guide,” from the Education Commission of the States, provides specific guidelines and worksheets with helpful self-assessment questions intended to support schools in implementing high-quality service-learning programs. The guide focuses on policy, practices, and capacity building. Click on www.ecs.org/00CN2498 to access the guide.

“A Civic Mission to do What's Right,” a guest column by William J. Cirone for the American Association of School Administrators, describes ways in which citizenship and service-learning have been put into practice in Santa Barbara County, California, School District. To read the article, go to http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/2005_03/col_cirone.htm .

Membership in the National Service-Learning Partnership is free and provides access to tools, resources, best practices, news, and ideas for those working to engage young people in their communities. Go to http://nslp.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage.

SEL and Depression

Increasingly, depression is recognized as a serious problem among children and adolescents. According to the National Institute on Mental Health, suicide, which is closely connected with depression, is a leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. Although most schools are not set up to address their students' clinical needs, the presence of children in school who are depressed demands responsiveness and sensitivity on the part of teachers, counselors, and other school personnel.

Depressed children struggle in school. Their grades drop, their participation declines, and they sometimes display anger and violence toward themselves and others. In “Prescription for Health: How Schools are Meeting Medical Challenges—Depression,” published in the March 2005 American School Board Journal , Kathleen Vail describes the continuum of mental health services that schools provide or interact with, from prevention to intervention to clinical services. Screening, prevention, and awareness are the three areas that school professionals are more frequently incorporating into their services. SEL is part of this picture, primarily as a means of prevention. It provides students with the coping skills -- and schools with the climate-enhancing strategies -- to avoid more serious problems. To read the article in its entirety, go to http://www.asbj.com/specialreports/0305SpecialReports/S3.html .

Spotlight on Policy  

Policy Brief on Standards and Public Perceptions Points out Parents' Desire to Educate the Whole Child

In “Fulfilling the Promise of the Standards Movement,” writers Laura Lefkowits and Kirsten Miller of the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) regional education laboratory identify significant differences in the views of policy makers and parents regarding ways to ensure accountability in today's schools. This policy brief reports on one of a continuing series of McREL-sponsored “dialogues” on public education.

Although academic success is on the minds of many, parent participants in the dialogue expressed deep concern about students' civic-mindedness and sense of caring for others. Parents were also more tolerant than educators of variations in academic outcomes for their own children.

The article suggests that the contrast between the views of policy makers and the public may be widening the gap between the public and the public schools. To read the policy brief go to www.mcrel.org/topics/productDetail.asp?productID=204.

Zero-Tolerance Policies Add Up and Score Low

As the list of infractions in schools that morph into juvenile justice cases grows, more attention is being given to increasingly stringent “zero-tolerance” policies. Such policies have sparked a debate centered on their impact on disadvantaged and special needs students, who, many say, are unfairly affected. Others argue that no data exist to support zero-tolerance as a means to improve school climate or student behavior and that more research and careful thought is needed.

Alternatives to the rigid, “no-win” effect of zero-tolerance policies may be found in the tenets of social and emotional learning. Soon after the Columbine tragedy ignited widespread concern about school safety, Edelman and Taylor at UCLA (http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/Enews/jan99.pdf) postulated that other ways to create safe schools are:

• To create positive, engaging school environments
• Include a provision of positive behavioral supports to students 
• Provide appropriate pre- and in-service development for teachers
• Incorporate social problem solving skills into the curriculum for all students

A recent discussion of events and policies can be found in “Schools Rethink Post-Columbine Discipline” at www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&1languageId=1&contentId=18518 .

Another valuable resource on the history and ramifications of zero-tolerance policies in three large school districts (Denver, Chicago, Palm Beach County) can be found in “Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track” (The Advancement Project, March 2005). The report recommends policy changes, such as the use of peer juries and review committees, as alternatives to law enforcement. To read the entire report, go to http://www.advancementproject.org//reports/FINALEOLrep.pdf.

Resources You Can Use

2005 Index of Child Well-Being Project Report

Since 1975, researchers at Duke University have compiled the Child Development Index. This composite measure includes seven domains: economic measures, health, safety/behavior, education, community connectedness, social, and emotional/spiritual. After declines overall from 1985-1995, the index has shown substantial improvement each year, including the projections for 2004. Nevertheless, several areas stand out as needing improvement. The economy in the last several years has affected the economic well-being of many children. Childhood obesity is a growing and serious problem. Most measures in the Safety/Behavior domain have shown improvement, but binge drinking is increasing. Community connectedness has been affected by growing numbers of single parents. The rate of educational attainment as measured by test scores in reading and math remains stagnant, despite years of national focus on the need for improvement. Read details and data in http://www.fcd-us.org/PDFs/2005CWI-Report-Final.pdf.

Truancy Prevention Website

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) in the U.S. Department of Education have partnered to provide this web site as a resource for keeping youth engaged in school. As the site puts it, “Truancy costs students more than their education. It costs them their future. “ Go to http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/truancy.

This material complements an outstanding on-line course on truancy offered by Office of Safe ad Drug-Free Schools, at http://www.k12coordinator.org/events_online.cfm#truancy. This course permits you to:

• Examine the nature, causes, and consequences of truancy
• Explore prevention, early intervention and legal intervention strategies
• Review key elements of a comprehensive approach to truancy, assess your school's truancy prevention plan, and explore additional resources

What Is CASEL?  

CASEL—the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning—is dedicated to the development of children’s social and emotional competencies and the capacity of schools, parents, and communities to support that development. Based at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), CASEL is working to create a world in which young people will have the academic knowledge and skills they need to achieve their goals and will also be caring, engaged citizens prepared to participate fully in society. CASEL’s mission is to establish integrated, evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) from preschool through high school.

What Is SEL?

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process of developing fundamental social and emotional competencies or skills in children and creating a caring and supportive school climate. A large number of school-based programs and practices are designed to do this. Many evidence-based school programs that focus on positive youth development, problem prevention, service-learning, and character education can be considered SEL. They work to develop students’ social and emotional competencies and create ways to nurture and support students. The resources in this e-newsletter cover a wide range of topics under the umbrella of school-based SEL programming.

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Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
Department of Psychology (M/C 285)
University of Illinois at Chicago
1007 West Harrison St.
Chicago, IL 60607
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CASEL@uic.edu 
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