November 19, 2003  

For more information about CASEL, SEL, and this listserv, including how to subscribe or unsubscribe, please see the end of this message. We encourage you to share this information with others on your e-mail list. If your e-mail does not support HTML formatting, you can read this issue on our web site at: www.CASEL.org/e-news-nov03.htm or request a text-only version from Cynthia Coleman at: colemanc@uic.edu.

In This Issue: A Focus on Implementation

  • Spotlight on Research: IES director praises prevention research; article analyzes factorsaffecting program implementation; new PowerPoint links SEL and academic learning

  • Spotlight on Practice: Leaders speak on implementation and sustainability at national conference—new resources available online

  • CASEL Up-close: A new family-friendly kit on SEL for parents; more on a major new resource for building successful SEL school leadership

From the Executive Director’s Desk

In the past decade researchers have found substantial evidence of the effectiveness of school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs to promote positive development and reduce or prevent problem behavior in children and adolescents. Effective SEL programs have directly benefited young people’s academic performance, improved their relationship skills, and helped them to make responsible choices and resist harmful influences. In addition, as a result of such programs, young people have shown less aggressive and disruptive behavior, reduced substance use, and lower rates of class cutting and dropping out. 

Today the critical issue facing the field is not whether school-based SEL programs are available and effective. We know that is so. Now the major challenge is how, outside the rarefied world of scientific research, schools serving a wide range of students can implement these programs so that all students reap their full benefits. Even the most effective programs can be seriously compromised if they are not implemented with integrity, or if the conditions for implementation differ substantially from those in which their effects were originally documented. Despite the clear connection between key aspects of program implementation and student outcomes, research into this relationship is not plentiful. Nor is much research-based guidance available to inform school administrators about the most important aspects of program implementation.

We at CASEL are increasingly aware of the need for reliable information as educators seek effective approaches to coordinated, school-wide SEL program implementation. Even as we were completing our extensive three-year review of 80 nationally available SEL programs (Safe and Sound: An Educational Leader s Guide to Evidence-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs) we were asking educational leaders and practitioners about ways to move the field “from programs to programming.” In the fall of 2001, for example, CASEL played a key role in a meeting at Penn State University hosted by CASEL Leadership Team member Mark Greenberg titled “The Future of Implementation Research in Social-Emotional Learning Programs.” Findings from that meeting have guided us in gathering and analyzing available information and served as the background for the major new article by Elias et al. described in this issue.

Our next major project, to be completed by the fall of 2004, will be development of a Tool Kit for Coordinated School-Wide SEL Implementation. The Tool Kit will address four key components of implementation that the available research has shown to be critically important: (a) coordination and integration of SEL with core content curricula and other school activities; (b) leadership and infrastructure supports necessary for high-quality SEL implementation and sustainability; (c) training and staff development; and (d) assessment and evaluation. The CASEL Tool Kit will draw from the best research literature on what works in program implementation and school-wide change, as well as the best ideas from educators, social scientists, and program developers from across the country.

Several items in this issue focus on key themes that will inform our work on the Tool Kit. We’re eager to learn about your own experiences with program implementation as we move forward with this exciting new phase of CASEL’s work. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your suggestions and feedback at: casel@uic.edu.

—Roger P. Weissberg, Ph.D.

Spotlight on Research

IES Director Praises Prevention Research

Dr. Russ Whitehurst, Director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, gave high praise to prevention program research in his keynote address at the opening session of the annual technical assistance conference of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools in October. Dr. Whitehurst noted that he had prepared four other similar presentations in which he summarized the state of education research in each (including mathematics education and staff development). Compared to those other four, the research base for school-based  prevention studies was "way ahead," he said. "I was very impressed at the strength of the research," he said. For example, he found 60 randomized trials examining prevention intervention impacts, substantially more than in any other area of education he'd yet examined. He also noted that implementation is a key issue in prevention research. He cited three implementation “musts” if evidence-based programs are to work when applied in a variety of settings: (1) sufficient organizational support, such as adequate training, supervision, and principal support and leadership; (2) adequate program structure, such as written manuals and materials; and (3) integration of the program with normal school operations. These observations were reflected and reinforced throughout the meeting by a variety of researchers and practitioners (see below).    

Article Analyzes Factors Affecting Program Implementation

A recently published article titled “Implementation, Sustainability, and Scaling Up of Social-Emotional and Academic Innovations in Public Schools” synthesizes a wide body of research on program implementation. A compelling portrayal of key issues in this area, the article is accompanied by informative reactions from leaders in the field. The article was published in the November issue of the School Psychology Review. The authors are CASEL Leadership Team members Maurice J. Elias and Joseph E. Zins, Patricia A. Graczyk, and CASEL Executive Director Roger P. Weissberg.

The article begins with the premise that many attempts at bringing successful educational programs and products “to scale” as part of school reform, particularly in urban districts, have been disappointing. It identifies several factors in failures to “scale up.” They include:

  • Fragmentation of programs in school settings;

  • Poor management of time and other resources;

  • Inadequate attention to the needs of those who must carry out planned reforms, e.g., teachers.

The authors also describe key ingredients of successful implementation. They include:

  • The importance of integrating planning for SEL programming with academics;

  • The need to take account of the ever-changing context as schools adapt to demographic shifts and other factors that affect implementation;

  • The need for professional preparation for educational leaders who are responsible for innovation and reform;

  • An emphasis on continuing action research to learn from the implementation process;

  • The need for better ways to document the stories of educational reform efforts in order to develop a deeper understanding of the elements of success

You can read and download the article at: http://www.casel.org/eliasscalingup.pdf (School Psychology Review, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 303-319)

New PowerPoint links SEL and Academic Learning

At the October 2003 Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools conference described in more detail below (see “Spotlight on Practice”), CASEL Executive Director Roger P. Weissberg, Deputy Director Mary Utne O’Brien, and Leadership Team member Joseph E. Zins presented a highly rated workshop on research linking SEL and academic learning. You can download their PowerPoint presentation from the CASEL homepage at: http://www.casel.org/.

Spotlight on Practice

Leaders Speak on Implementation and Sustainability at National Conference—New Resources Available Online

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) is the single largest source of funding and technical assistance for schools’ use of evidence-based SEL prevention programs. From Oct. 26-29, OSDFS held its annual Drug Prevention and School Safety Coordinators national conference, designed to provide prevention coordinators from around the country with information on the latest advances in the science and practice of prevention. (Go to http://www.osdfsnationalconference.org/presentations.htm to view and download copies of conference presentations.)

An audience of several hundred attended a featured session titled “Effective Prevention Programs: Design, Implementation, and Sustainability,” organized by CASEL Leadership Team Co-Chair Maurice Elias and introduced by OSDFS Program Officer Amalia Cuervo. The session included CASEL Leadership Team member Mark Greenberg, program developer Eric Schaps of the Developmental Studies Center (Child Development Project and Caring School Community), and school leaders with whom each presenter had worked closely to implement and sustain school-based SEL programming.

The speakers identified a variety of interrelated issues as crucial to effective and sustained program implementation. Maurice Elias’ and colleague Patricia Kamarinos’ recent and still-unpublished research for CASEL found that eight factors characterized schools in which SEL programs, supported by their program developers, persisted in a high-quality way over time:

  1. Active administrative support and follow-through;

  2. Intervention by program developers to engage new administrators;

  3. Program consultation offered to school staff;

  4. Ongoing training and technical assistance;

  5. Deep involvement of teams of teachers;

  6. Initial and continued involvement of “role model” teachers;

  7. Integration of the program into the school-wide scope and sequence;

  8. District-level capacity to assume some of the cost.

Mark Greenberg described five findings on implementation from his research with the PATHS curriculum:

  1. Change requires pre-planning to develop awareness and buy-in, create incentives to change, and incorporate understandings of the setting’s past history of implementation efforts.

  2.  Administrative support is key.

  3. Start small, with high-quality implementation.

  4. Provide supports for teachers, to introduce and reinforce behavior change, and to bridge the SEL curriculum to academics and support academic goals.

  5. Sustainability is a 3-5 year process, and planning for training and support must take that into account.

Eric Schaps described the implementation process as one of both culture change and changes in pedagogy. To accomplish culture change requires principal leadership, involvement of the whole faculty, professional development that “walks the talk,” and clear program implementation materials. To go the extra step to change pedagogy, which is harder, requires aligned curricular materials, ongoing assistance from experienced practitioners, and time—“years and years,” Schaps said. Schaps stated that a program is never fully or permanently established. It must be championed, monitored, assessed, and budgeted for, from the top down (district level) and the bottom up (school level), with ongoing staff development for new personnel. Schaps concluded that paradoxically, although it must be championed as a distinct entity, SEL programming is most effective when it is fully embedded in school operations and planning.

  Sound Bite

The main reason that change fails to occur…on any scale, and does not get sustained when it does, is that the infrastructure is weak, unhelpful, or working at cross purposes. By the infrastructure I mean the next layers above whatever unit we are focusing on. In terms of successive levels, for example, a teacher cannot sustain change if he or she is working in a negative school culture; similarly, a school can initiate and implement successful change, but cannot sustain it if it is operating in a less than helpful district; a district cannot keep going if it works in a state which is not helping to sustain reform. In other words, we have our work cut out.

—Michael Fullan, The New Meaning of Educational Change (Third Edition). New York: Teachers College Press, 2001.

CASEL Up-Close—Work and Projects  

A New Family-Friendly Kit on SEL for Parents

A new packet developed specifically for an audience of parents is now available for downloading on CASEL’s web site. The packet is titled “Schools, Parents, and Social and Emotional Learning.” Developed by consultant Linda Fredericks, CASEL staff, and a variety of expert consultants, it includes four separate pieces and is intended for display on a family’s refrigerator or bulletin board. Included in the packet are:

  • Ten Things You Can Do at Home

  • Ten Things You Can Do with Your School

  • Tips for Parents (an overview of SEL)

  •  Books for Parents

Here’s an excerpt from “Tips for Parents” titled “Some Key Points to Consider”:

  • Children learn important lessons about emotions from their parents. When parents threaten or punish children for a display of emotion, children learn emotions are dangerous, to be held inside. This can lead in later life to depression or unchecked rage. When parents do not teach their children acceptable ways to express anger, the children may think it’s okay to strike out at others or have tantrums.

  • Parents should think of themselves as “emotion coaches.” They can encourage theit children to use feeling words, such as “I feel sad” or “That made me really angry” to express emotions.

  • When children learn to express feelings and respect others, they become happier and healthier. Such children are less likely to have problems with depression, violence, or other mental health issues as they grow older.

  •  Many SEL programs for schools include activities for parents. When parents and students practice SEL skills at home, the effects are even greater. Children also come to see learning as a lifelong process, not something that stops when they leave school.

  • Children want their parents to guide and teach them. A recent poll found that 86% of young people 10-17 years old said their parents were very important influences on their lives. Only 22% said television, movies, and popular music were so important. No one can take the place of parents in raising caring, confident, capable children.

Go to: http://www.casel.org/Packet%20final%2010-20-03.pdf to view the entire packet—and please feel free to distribute it widely.

More on a Major New Resource for Building Successful SEL School Leadership

In last month’s issue we briefly noted that CASEL Leadership Team member Janet Patti, Coordinator of the Education Administration and Supervision Program at Hunter College in New York City, is co-author (with James Tobin) of a new book titled Smart School Leaders: Leading with Emotional Intelligence. Since then, we’ve received a copy of the book hot off the presses.

And what a book! Smart School Leaders contains 401 pages of some of the most useful information and ideas about SEL you’re likely to find in a single volume anywhere today. Chapter and section titles include (partial list):

  • Developing Our EQ

  • Preparing “New Leaders”

  • Emotional Competency Inventory

  • The Art of Reflection

  • Principal as Learner

  • Leadership Competencies

  • Self-Awareness: The Cornerstone of Emotional Competency

  • Emotional Awareness and Accurate Self-Assessment

  • The School Leader as a Model

  •   “Off” Switches to Open Communication

  • Responses to Conflict

  • Ground Rules for Working Groups

  • Leader as Champion of Cooperation

  • SEL Teaching and Coaching

  • SEL, Safety, and Sound Discipline

  • The People Side of Change

  • Planning and Implementing School Wide Change

  • Leaders as Motivators

  • Teaching and Learning for Democracy

  • Facilitative Leadership

  •  Leading the School of the Future

  • Change and Renewal: The Leader’s Journey

Throughout the book you’ll find fascinating anecdotes and case studies based on the actual experiences of school principals and superintendents, plus practical worksheets and self-assessment guides. Read more about this excellent resource, including ordering information, at http://www.kendallhunt.com/cgi-bin/detail.cmd?product=general&isbn=0-7575-0515-5

What Is CASEL?  

CASEL—the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning—is dedicated to the development of children’s social-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, 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 that fall under the umbrella of school-based SEL programming.

About This Listserv

The FCASEL listserv is intended to keep you up-to-date on some of the latest SEL research and best practices. To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to: www.CASEL.org/mail.htm, or send an e-mail to Cynthia Coleman at  colemanc@uic.edu with “subscribe FCASEL” or “unsubscribe FCASEL” in the subject line. To receive this bulletin in text format only, please send a message to Cynthia Coleman at colemanc@uic.edu with “e-news text format” in the subject line. We respect your privacy, and will not share or sell your email address with others.

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
312-413-1008
Fax 312-355-4480 
CASEL@uic.edu 
www.CASEL.org