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Author: Mandelin, Katherine, A Title: Social Emotional Competence and Curriculums in Early Childhood The accompanying research report is submitted to the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Graduate School in partial

completion of the requirements for the

Graduate Degree/ Major: MS School Psychology

Research Advisor: Ann Brand, Ph.D.

Submission Term/Year: Summer, 2013

Number of Pages: 52

Style Manual Used: American Psychological Association, 6th edition

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My research advisor has approved the content and quality of this paper. STUDENT:

NAME Katherine Mandelin DATE: 7/30/2013

ADVISOR: (Committee Chair if MS Plan A or EdS Thesis or Field Project/Problem):

NAME Dr. Ann Brand DATE: 7/30/2013

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This section for MS Plan A Thesis or EdS Thesis/Field Project papers only Committee members (other than your advisor who is listed in the section above) 1. CMTE MEMBER’S NAME: DATE:

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Mandelin, Katherine, A. Social Emotional Competence and Curriculums in Early Childhood

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of social emotional competence in early childhood. Students in

school face multiple challenges such as school violence, school bullying, school dropout, and

mental illness. When students have high social emotional competence there is an increase in

prosocial behaviors, decrease in problem behaviors, and higher academic achievement. Research

supports the implementation of evidence based social emotional curriculums in early childhood.

The Strong Start, MindUP, and Second Step curriculums all support the teaching of social

emotional competence. Recommendations support the implementation of these evidence based

programs for improving the outcomes of all students from early childhood and later into

adulthood.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. Ann Brand for support and guidance during my

writing process. She gave prompt feedback and met with me on a regularly basis, which was

incredibly helpful in the completion of this thesis. She was extremely knowledgeable on the

topic of social emotional competence and provided me with helpful research. I would also like to

thank my parents for their continuous support throughout my life, I would not be where I am

today without them.

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Table of Contents

............................................................................................................................................. Page

Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2

Chapter I: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 7

Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................... 13

Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................................... 13

Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................... 13

Assumptions of the Study .............................................................................................. 14

Chapter II: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 16

Emergence of Human Emotions .................................................................................... 16

Development of Emotions in Early Childhood ............................................................... 17

.......... Emotional Competence…………………………………………………………………..19

Social Competence……………………………………………………………………….22

Social Emotional Competence and Social Emotional Learning……………………...….22

Strong Kids………………………………………………………………………………27

Second Step………………………………………………………………………………31

MindUP Curriculum……………………………………………………………………..34

Summary…………………………………………………………………………………37 Chapter III: Discussion.............................................................................................................. 39

Summary ...................................................................................................................... 39

Critical Analysis ............................................................................................................ 40

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Recommendations for Future Research .......................................................................... 44

Recommendations for training and Practices…………………………………………....45 References ................................................................................................................................ 47

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Chapter I: Introduction

Students in school face many challenges such as school violence, school bullying, school

dropout, and mental illness. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES; 2011a) has

compiled information on the many challenges students face in school. Bullying is a particularly

prevalent problem in today’s schools. The NCES examined the percentages of student’s (ages

12-18) reported being bullied during school and found the total number of students who were

teased or called names was 18.8 percent. The total number of students who were pushed, shoved,

tripped, or spit on was 21.6 percent.

Violence in the schools has been an important topic in the media Based on data collected

between the years of 1992 to 2006, the number of homicides of total students, staff, and non-

students were on average 44 deaths per year. (NCES, 2011c). Drug abuse is another important

topic for students. The NCES (2011d) has found that about 25 percent of students in grades 9-12

reported that drugs were made available to them on school grounds and this number has only

slightly varied over the course of 12 years.

Mental health issues also significantly impact today’s students. Research conducted by

Merikangas et al. (2010) has found that students with Major Depressive Disorder, defined as

severely depressed mood and activity level for 2 weeks, affects 11.2 percent of students, ages 13

to 18 at some point in his or her lives. Students with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

experience excessive worry about everyday problems for about 6 months. Students aged 13 to

18 with GAD have a lifetime prevalence of 1%. In 1992, the NCES (2011c) reported 1,680

students ages 5 to 18 committed suicide. The reported number of suicides has dropped slightly

over the past 13 years to 1,471 in one year. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is

defined as having difficulty focusing, paying attention, controlling behavior, and hyperactivity.

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Students ages 13 to 18 have a 9 % chance of having lifetime prevalence of ADHD.

While dropout rates have declined, the numbers still continue to be an issue. According to

the NCES (2012), the drop-out rates for students ages 16-24 who have not obtained a diploma or

received their general education development degree (GED) was found to be decreasing from

12.1 percent to 7.4 percent over the course of 1990 to 2010 for all White, Blacks, Hispanics,

Asian/ Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska native students. White students have the

lowest dropout rate starting at 9 percent in 1990 dropping down to 5.1 percent in 2010. Black

students dropout rate decreased from 13.2 percent in 1990 to 8 percent in 2010. Hispanic

students’ dropout rates were higher at 32.4 percent in 1990 decreasing to 15.1 percent in 2010.

Asian and Pacific Islander student’s dropout rates were estimated around 4.9 percent and stayed

roughly the same at 4.2 percent in 2010. American Indian and Alaska native dropout rates were

estimated around 16.4 percent to 12.4 percent in 2010.

The statistics of bullying, dropout rates, violence, drug use and mental illness are all

factors students may face in schools. In order for students to be successful academically, they

need strategies to help them cope with these issues. The research has found that social emotional

competence is crucial for students to succeed and by creating a school system around social-

emotional learning many of these factors can be prevented.

Social emotional curriculums can provide strategies and ideas for coping with

challenging emotions. When students learn methods to better understand their own emotions and

the emotions of others, they will be able to better facilitate friendships and peer interactions.

Students who learn these skills in early childhood can understand their own emotions, providing

them with strategies to be less violent and happier, which decreases depression and anxiety.

Preventing mental illness and violence during early childhood gives students a better opportunity

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to be successful in school.

Preventing Behavior Problems and Mental Illness

The goal of education is to educate students and prevent undesirable behaviors from

distracting students and teachers to ensure students are successful. Research has found students

with strong social emotional skills have higher academic success and effectively perform well in

school (Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg, 2004). The three components for student academic

success include school attitudes, school behavior, and school performance. School attitudes

include motivation, responsibility, and attachment. School behavior includes student

engagement, attendance, and study habits. School performance includes grades, subject mastery,

and test performance.

There is strong research to support the importance of social emotional learning, attitudes,

and positive social behaviors. According to Durlak, Weissberg, & Pachan (2011) through

intervention, students demonstrated fewer discipline problems and had lower levels of distress.

Academic success was significantly improved among students in the social emotional learning

intervention. Students reported a higher sense of self-efficacy and improved ability to cope with

school stressors. Students behaviors were improved based on fewer absences, decreases in

aggressive behavior, fewer classroom disruptions, and less drug use (Durlak, Weissberg, &

Pachan, 2011).

Teachers also play an important role in teaching social emotional skills. A study

conducted in Seattle found that teachers trained in social development create an environment for

students to have a strong bonding to school and facilitate pro-social behavior between students

and peers (Abbot et al. 1998). These students are less likely to engage in violent behavior,

dropping out of school, and using drugs. With teacher support in social emotional learning there

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is an increase in the areas of school bonding, improved behavior and health skills, and increased

academic achievement. Research in the field of mental health has determined that teaching

strategies to cope with depression and anxiety increase a student’s success rate (Whitecomb &

Merrell, 2011). Students with social emotional competence have fewer mental and behavioral

problems. Social emotional learning programs provide classroom instruction that enhances

students’ capabilities to recognize and manage their own emotions, appreciate the perspectives of

others, establish pro-social goals and solve problems and use a variety of interpersonal skills to

effectively and efficiently handle developmentally relevant tasks (Payton, 2000). The benefits of

social emotional learning improve students’ lives in many areas of development including,

personal, social, and academic. Research in the field has found that students with social

emotional competence score 11 percent higher than students who do not have social emotional

competence skills (Durlak, Weissberg, & Pachan, 2010). Students are required to control

emotional outbursts in the classroom, and social emotional strategies assist them to control these

outbursts. Emotion-regulation skills enable students to control his or her attention and develop

intrinsic motivation for doing well in the classroom setting (Zins et al., 2004).

Early childhood is a critical period where many developmental domains such as social

emotional competence develop. Deficits acquired in early childhood may lead to future

difficulties such as failure to be accepted by peers and others; it can also impact a child’s

cognitive, physical, and language development. Children who learn positive social emotional

strategies in early childhood are better equipped for future interactions and cognitive

development (Ahola & Kovacok, 2007).

Social Emotional Competence

Social emotional competence (SEC) is the ability to regulate one’s own emotions and be

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able to understand the emotions of others. Research in the field of social emotional competence

has been conducted and collaborated upon from the organization known as the Collaborative for

Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). This organization researches social

emotional learning by providing evidenced-based programs and studies related to academics,

mental illness, and behavioral disturbances. CASEL has five core social-emotional skills,

consisting of self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relational skills, and

responsible decision-making (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning

[CASEL], 2003). Teachers who implement evidenced-based social emotional learning programs

in their classrooms are able to support each student’s social emotional competence. These skills

lead to academic success in school for all students. Research in the area of social emotional

competence has found positive academic performance, benefits of physical health, improved

citizenship, and reduced violence and substance abuse (Zins & Elias, 2007).

Social Emotional Learning Curriculums

Research in the field of social emotional learning has found that curriculums specifically

tailored to teach social emotional skills can help improve a student’s social emotional

competence. Curriculums such as Second Steps, Strong Start, and MindUP are all evidence-

based programs to promote social-emotional learning. Second Step is a violence prevention

program. The Strong Start curriculum focuses on the prevention of mental health related

disorders. The MindUP curriculum was created with research from CASEL through the approach

of mindfulness. The programs’ goals are for students to achieve positive, social, emotional,

behavioral, and achievement outcomes (Ashdown & Bernard, 2012). For example, research

conducted on the Second Step curriculum found students experienced decreased aggression,

decrease in anti-social behaviors, increased prosocial behavior, increase in social competence,

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and an increase in the knowledge of social skills (Frey, Nolen, Van Schoiack Edstrom,

Hirschsteim, 2005;Taub, 2001; McMahon, Washburn, Felix, Yakin, & Childrey, 2000). Social

emotional curriculums provide educational professionals with tools to improve every student’s

social and emotional competence. School psychologists help to support teachers and other

schools professionals with evidence based programs to better facilitate the teaching of social

emotional skills. Early childhood is an essential period to learn social emotional competence.

Curriculums provide instructions and strategies for students to learn the components on social

emotional competence.

Role of the School Psychologist

The school psychologist plays a crucial role supporting and implementing social emotional

curriculums and assessments. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP, 2010)

addressed the need for school psychologists to have adequate knowledge of multiple assessment

tools, such as interventions to further develop academic skills combined with social interests to

improve academic skills. School psychologists understand how to improve social emotional

functioning to promote social emotional competence.

A school psychologist is knowledgeable on how genetics, culture, development, and

mental health affect a student’s ability to learn and function into adulthood. School psychologists

implement evidence based measurements to facilitate social emotional competence. Through

collaboration with other professionals a school psychologist demonstrates the ability to use

appropriate assessments and collect data to plan and assess support systems for socialization,

learning, and mental health (NASP Domain 4, 2010).

Statement of the Problem

There is a lack of evidence based social emotional curriculums in early childhood

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programs to teach students how to regulate and understand their own emotions. Research has

shown that incorporating evidence based social emotional curriculums teaches social emotional

skills and increases emotional and social competence. Students with high social emotional

competence have higher academic ability and fewer discipline problems. Therefore, this

literature review will assess social emotional curriculums in early childhood and the assessment

of social emotional competence as it pertains to academic functioning. More explicitly the

literature review will research the following questions:

Research questions

The following questions will be addressed in this literature review.

1. What are the stages of emotional development in early childhood?

2. What are the skills of emotional competence and how do these skills relate to social

competence?

2. How is social emotional competence related to school outcomes, academic success,

mental health and school violence?

3. What social-emotional curriculums are available for early childhood education?

4. What are the most valid, reliable, and empirically supported social emotional

curriculums used in early childhood education?

6. What is the relation between academic success and social emotional curriculums?

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to research evidence based social emotional learning

curriculums in early childhood and assessments to increase students’ social emotional

competence for the benefit of increasing academic achievement in school and reducing mental

health problems.

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Definitions

Self-Awareness. “Knowing what we are feeling in the moment; having a realistic

assessment of our own abilities and a well grounded sense of self-confidence” (CASEL, 2003,

p.5).

Social Awareness. “Understanding what others are feeling; being able to take their

perspective; appreciating and interacting positively with diverse groups” (, 2003).

Self-Management. “Handling our emotions so they facilitate rather than interfere with

the task at hand; being conscientious and delaying gratification to pursue goals; preserving in the

face of setbacks and frustrations” (CASEL, 2003,p.5).

Relationship Skills. “Handling our emotions in relationships effectively; establishing

and maintaining healthy and rewarding relationships based on cooperation, resistance to

inappropriate social pressure, negotiating solutions to conflict, and seeking help when needed”

(CASEL, 2003,p.5).

Responsible Decision-Making. “Making decisions based on an accurate consideration of

all relevant factors and the likely consequence of alternate courses of action, respecting others,

and taking responsibility for one’s decisions” (CASEL, 2003, p.5).

Social Competence. “a construct involving variety of qualities and traits such as

positive self- image, social assertion, frequency of interaction, social cognitive skills,

popularity with peers, etc” (Vahedi, Farrokhi, & Farajian, 2012, p.126).

Emotional Competence. “It is the demonstration of self-efficacy in emotion-eliciting

social transactions. Elsewhere one of us has extensively reviewed the developmental contributors

to emotional competence; briefly, they include the self or ego identity, a moral sense or

character, and a person's developmental history” (Saarni, Campos, Camras, & Witherington,

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2008, p.376).

Mindful Attention. “conscious awareness of the present moment: by focusing our

attention and controlling our breath, we can learn to reduce stress and optimize the learning

capacity of the brain” (Hawn Foundation, 2011, pg.8).

Assumptions and Limitations

It is assumed that there is current research to support the topic of social emotional

competence. It can further be assumed that there is current research to support social emotional

curriculums and social emotional curriculums are capable of teaching such skills. A limitation of

this study is the limited research to support social emotional competence due to the research field

being new. In summary, this study will review current research related to early childhood social

emotional competence and curriculums that teach social emotional competence. The thesis will

give the reader a better understanding of social emotional competence and ways to promote the

curriculums in the classroom setting.

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Chapter II: Literature Review

The chapter will address the following topics related to social emotional competence: 1)

the emergence and development of human emotions; 2) the components of social and emotional

competence; 3) curriculums that teach social emotional competence in early childhood.

The Emergence of Human Emotions

The emergence of human emotions begins at birth and develops during the first three

years of a child’s life. Furthermore, understanding emotions and learning to regulate emotions

develops throughout a person’s life. There are many aspects to the development of emotion,

including class of elicitors, behaviors, states, and experiences (Lewis, 2000). Emotional elicitors

occur when paired with an emotion and an event, leading to a triggering event that is either

external or internal. External elicitors can be a loud noise or social in nature, such as separation

from a loved one. Internal elicitors are a change in a specific psychological state linked to

complex emotions. The development of elicitors can be separated into negative elicitors such as

hearing a loud noise and positive elicitors are seeing food when hungry. Tracking the

development of elicitors is difficult due to changes in cognitive processes in early childhood

(Lewis, 2000).

A child’s cognitive ability plays a role in producing certain emotions. For instance,

before children can compare themselves to other children, failure to achieve a goal could

produce sadness; whereas children with a more developed cognition, when comparing

themselves to peers, failure to achieve a goal could produce the emotion of shame or guilt. In

order to experience self-conscious emotion such as shame or guilt, a child needs to be able

compare his behavior to another person’s behavior (Lewis, 2000).

Human emotions have an adaptive quality and play a crucial role in the development of

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personality and individuality (Izard & Ackerman, 2000). Discrete emotions develop during early

childhood and include happiness, anger, and sadness. Each discrete emotion has a unique

function by providing methods to organize human perception, cognition, and behavior. The

function of happiness or joy opens a person to new experiences and in a social setting joy can

increase the social bond. Joy also has the functional role of reducing stress. The function of the

discrete emotion of sadness plays an important role of strengthening a social group. For

instance, when a death occurs in the family, it brings the family together to remember the

importance of family. Sadness slows down a person’s motor and cognitive processes allowing

them to assess for potential danger or gain new insights. The facial expression of sadness allows

others to be empathetic and offer help and support to the sad person. The function of anger can

lead to aggression, but also other behaviors. Anger also has the ability to increase a person’s

level of energy (Izard & Ackerman, 2000).

The function of shame has a social conformity component, meaning when parents or

peers criticize a person’s behavior, the behavior elicits the feeling of shame and a person is less

likely to replicate the same behavior. Shame plays a part in highlighting a person’s failures and

weaknesses contributing to the development of the self. All discrete emotions play an important

role in how a person copes and adapts to their environment, illustrating the importance of the

development of all emotions (Izard & Ackerman, 2000).

Development of Emotion in Early Childhood

The development of emotional competence begins during early childhood from infancy

to around age three, when children have the capacity to convey emotions similar to an adult.

Emotions developing during this period can be separated into the positive emotions of happiness,

joy, and love. Negative emotions can be described as anxiety, anger, guilt, and sadness (Lewis,

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1990). Saarni et al. (2008) has divided the development of emotions into four phases ranging

from social smiles to expressing a full range of adult emotions in phase four.

Phase 1. Phase 1 (birth to 4 to 6 weeks) is known as the neonatal phase. During this phase

newborns begin to react to emotional signals from caregivers. Dondi, Simion, & Caltran et

(1999) studied the importance of an infant’s ability to distinguish their own cry and the cry of

another infant by eliciting a distress response. Results from this study show the infant’s ability to

show distress as an important component of survival for infants as a method to gain the attention

of the caregiver.

Phase 2. In phase 2, (6 weeks to 9 months) children have some understanding of when

their caregiver is directing emotions towards them through vocal expressions. Typically infants

develop the ability of a social smile around 6 weeks of age. The social smile shows joy and

interest in regards to engagement of the caregiver, allowing the child to meet his or her needs and

develop language and emotional understanding. Infants who are 5 months of age are able to

demonstrate approval response to positive affect and negative affect to negative prohibitions.

Infants also respond differently to positive and negative vocal expressions presented with

different facial expressions. At 5 months of age infants were able to elicit the correct feedback to

the different vocalizations (Saarni et al., 2008). But at 7 months, infants have difficulty

understanding happy and sad facial expressions without the corresponding happy or sad

vocalization. Meaning that the facial expression and the vocal expression need to be paired

together for 7 month-old infants to understand the adults meaning, furthermore, at 7 months

infants are more attuned to voices and facial expressions (Fernald, 1993). Infants typically begin

to develop the primary emotions of joy, distress, and interest during the first 6 months of life.

Anger typically develops between 4 and 6 months when an infant is displaying frustration

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(Thomson, 2006; Saarni, Campos, Camras, & Witherington, 2006).

Phase 3. During phase 3 (9 months to 18 months) children change cognitively, socially,

emotionally, and perceptually. This is a period of many changes for the emerging toddler. These

changes impact the child’s emotional communication. Research has shown that children are able

to react to social situations where their mother engages in a conversation with a third party. An

infant’s response to a stranger depends on how the mother responds either with a stern or a

happy greeting with a paired facial expression (Saarni et al., 2008; Boccia and Campos, 1989).

Phase 4. Lastly, during phase 4 (18 months and beyond), children acquire language skills

to express their thoughts and feelings into words. Language plays a crucial role in the

development of emotions when interacting with others. Before a child uses language to express

emotions, researchers rely on emotional expressions to understand how children are feeling

(Lewis, 2000). Around the age of three, new cognitive capacity leads to the emergence of self-

conscious or secondary emotions, known as as shame, guilt, and pride. Self-conscious emotions

require a child to compare him or herself to a particular standard in order to experience an

emotion such as guilt (Saarni et al., 2008). During this phase children can display a full range of

emotions and learn to read the emotions of others in order to express primary and secondary

emotions when interacting with parents, peers, and caregivers (Lewis, 2000).

Emotional Competence

Emotional competence is the ability to understand the self through the awareness of one’s

own emotional states, understanding the emotions of others, coping with difficult emotions, and

showing concern and empathy for others (Saarni et al., 2008). Saarni et al. (2008) outlines six

distinct skills of emotional competence. Awareness of one’s emotions is the ability to understand

how one feels in order to effectively converse with others about different conflicts and needs.

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Furthermore, awareness of the self includes self-conscious emotions which require the cognitive

ability to compare one self’s behavior to another person’s behavior. Examples include guilt,

pride, and embarrassment. Knowledge about multiple emotions allows a child to be socially

skilled.

The ability to differentiate and understand the emotions of others, understanding the

emotional cues during different situations, and realizing that others have different thoughts are

critical skills of emotional competence. Also, understanding that other people experience

different feelings is associated to the level of cognitive development. Insight into how one

understands another person’s emotions is linked to the amount of knowledge about one self’s

emotions (Saarni et al., 2008).

The ability to label emotions allows children to understand and communicate the

emotions of others based on situational and expressive cues. When a child shares how he or she

feels with others it is an important method to better understand one’s emotional wellbeing. The

ability to formulate one’s feelings into words tells people our wants and needs. The use of

language to express one’s emotions is a key component to emotional competence and is

necessary for a person to get their needs and wants met (Saarni et al., 2008).

Empathy and sympathy allow children the ability to connect with others and promote

positive interactions with peers. Sympathy differs from empathy in regards to it can be

experienced when hearing a story about something sad for instance, whereas, empathy is

experienced when witnessing another person’s emotional state. Researchers are unclear as to

whether empathy is linked to altruistic and pro-social behavior (Saarni et al., 2008). A study by

Carolo (1991) found that when students heard a sad story about another student, they were in

turn more likely to help that sad student.

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During the pre-school years, students learn to differentiate their internal emotions from

their external emotions. They learn the necessary skills of when it is appropriate to express

different emotions in different settings. Children regulate their emotions by monitoring their

expressive behaviors. Children begin to learn when, where, and to whom it is appropriate to

express different behaviors. Children need to be motivated to manage their emotions during

different situations. The level of cognitive ability distinguishes the difference between how one

feels on the inside and how he or she expresses an emotion outwardly (Saarni et al., 2008).

The skill of coping with aversive emotions requires three components, emotion regulation,

understanding the situation, and resolving the conflict skills. The ability to regulate ones own

emotions in either a social or nonsocial setting attributes to how a person copes with stressful

events. When people are able to shift attention from something distressing or tempting decreases

their arousal, it allows them to regulate their emotions. Mischel’s (1999) study of delay for

gratification, children had to choose between a small treat or wait for a larger treat. Results found

children in this study who tried to distract themselves by talking or singing were better able to

resist the tempting treat, than children who focused their attention on the reward and were unable

to resist the treat. Children who shifted attention away from the treat were better able to delay

gratification (Metcalfe & Mischel, 1999). Self-regulation skills begin to develop in early

childhood throughout adulthood. Self-regulation skills predict aspects of social competence and

maladjustment (Eisenberg & Sulik, 2012; Saarni et al., 2008).

Social Competence

Social competence develops from birth into adulthood; the most growth occurs between the

ages of three to six. During this time students learn to react and interact with peers. Social

competence is defined as behaviors and traits such as positive self-image, social assertion, and

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popularity with peers, social skills, and positive peer interactions (Vahedi, Farrokhi, & Farajian,

2012). Research has found that children who have high social competence show high levels of

positive affect and low levels of negative affect and are well liked by teachers and peers

(LaFreneire, & Dumas, 1996). Pollak, Cicchetti, Hornung, & Reed (2000) found that children

who were neglected had more difficulty distinguishing facial expressions than abused children.

Distinguishing variance of facial expressions is a key competent to social competence, because it

is how people interact well in social situations. Empathy and sympathy require a connection to

interacting with others in order for an individual to understand the emotions of others, without

this connection people have a difficult time feeling empathetic and sympathetic.

Research examining Iranian children’s social competence and behavior problems found

few children exhibit problem behaviors frequently. Vahedi et al. (2012) found a decrease in

problem behaviors and an increase in social competence, as the children grew older. The study

found gender differences; boys were rated to have more behavior problems and score lower on

the social competence scale than girls. The reason girls scored higher on social competence is

because teachers rated the girls as more friendly and sociable then boys. Researchers believe this

is due to boys being more active and taking more risks. Furthermore, the reason for fewer

problems with girls can be due to more emotion control (Vahedi, et al., 2012).

Social Emotional Competence & Social Emotional Learning

CASEL promotes the education of social emotional learning (SEL) to develop all students’

social and emotional competence. Social and emotional competencies are best learned over the

course of several school years in order to effectively develop social and emotional skills. CASEL

has five core SEL skills: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills,

and responsible decision-making. Self-awareness is the ability to understand and acknowledge

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feelings and display self-confidence in one’s own abilities. Social awareness is the ability to take

perspective by understanding the feelings of others who come from different cultures and

backgrounds. Self-management is the ability to control our own emotions to be able to complete

the task at hand. Others skills of self-management include impulse control, motivation,

determination to achieve personal and academic goals. Relationship skills are the ability to

create and maintain healthy relationships with diverse people. Other relationship skills include

communication, active listening, cooperation, resistance of inappropriate behavior, conflict

resolution, and seek and offer help to others. Responsible decision-making is the ability to make

decisions based upon surrounding factors and by respecting others and being responsible for

one’s own actions (CASEL, 2013). Results from social emotional curriculums such as the You

can do it program found a significant effect on positive social-emotional well-being, total social

emotional competence, and social skills (Ashdown & Bernard, 2012).

Social emotional competence and academic achievement. The core components of

social emotional competence are important and necessary for high academic achievement

(Beland, 2002; Zins et al., 2004, CASEL, 2013). Abbott’s (1998) experiment modified teacher

instruction for grades 5 and 6. Teachers attended a teacher workshop where they received

instruction in practice classroom and social competence training. Proactive classroom

management creates a conducive learning environment and minimizes classroom disruption.

Principals were trained to observe teachers to provide feedback. The students in the

experimental group performed higher on academic tests than the control group. Research has

found that explicit instruction in social emotional learning has shown gains in the students

academic achievement compared to the control group (Ashdown & Bernard, 2012). Caprara,

Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, Bandura, & Zimbardo (2000) studied prosocial behavior, which includes

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cooperating, helping, sharing, and consoling and antisocial behavior included verbal and physical

aggression. A longitudinal study examined students in the 3rd grade, who were selected and

completed self-reports and teachers completed self-reports on each student. Results found that

early prosocial behaviors strongly predict later academic achievement. Students who are better

able to recognize and understand emotional cues in others have shown to predict positive and

negative social behavior and academic competence (Izard et al., 2001).

Social emotional competence and mental health. Early childhood is a critical time for

not only pre-academic skills and socializing, but also preventing mental illnesses such as

depression, anxiety, withdrawal, and somatic problems, known as internalizing behaviors.

Depression is characterized as depressed mood or excessive sadness including loss of interest in

activities, too much or too little sleep, lack of energy, feelings of worthlessness, and difficulty

concentrating. The prevalence of depression in children is about 4 to 6 percent with more

occurrences in females. Anxiety is characterized by negative and unrealistic thoughts,

misinterpretation of symptoms, panic attacks, obsession and/ or compulsive behavior, fears

regarding events, and excessive worry. The prevalence of students with diagnosed anxiety is

about 3 to 4 percent. Social withdrawal can be characterized as unrealistic self-appraisal of social

performance, lack of interest in social situations, and can include excessive fear. Social

withdrawal is often not thought of as a distinct disorder, but many students suffer from these

characteristics. Somatic problems can be characterized by oversensitivity to physiological cues

and common complaints from children are stomachaches, nausea, headaches, and pain. Students

with mental illness may struggle in school academically and socially. Somatic problems are also

not thought of as a distinct disorder, but these systems can be very common in children (Merrell,

2008).

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Students with mental illnesses lack the appropriate skills to cope and manage their

emotions (Merrell, 2009). Social emotional competence instruction is an important method to

decrease internalizing behaviors in students. Social emotional skills can be used as prevention or

an intervention model. Students who are taught these skills have shown significant positive

effects on social emotional competencies and attitudes about self, others, and school. In order to

prevent mental health problems children can learn strategies beginning in early childhood to help

children develop strong emotional competence. Students experienced improved behavioral

adjustment with increased pro-social behaviors and reduced conduct and internalizing behaviors.

Research was consistent regarding success rates for students of all ages and demographic

locations (Durlak, Weissberg, & Pachan, 2010; Merrell, 2008). Students with social emotional

competence do not just display fewer internalizing behaviors, but can also be less violent.

Social emotional competence and violence. Students who exhibit violence and

aggression lack methods to cope and manage their own emotions. Aggression found in children

can take two distinct forms, overt aggression and relational aggression (Crick, Casas, & Mosher,

1997). Overtly aggressive behaviors are behaviors such as hitting, pushing, and punching and

tend to be behaviors exhibited predominantly by boys. Relationally aggressive behaviors are

forms of aggression that damage a peer relationship by using social exclusion or rumors to

destroy relationships. This type of behavior tends to be exhibited in girls and can be observed as

early as 3 to 5 years of age. Results from the students illustrated the gender differences between

relationally and overly aggressive behaviors and found that this behavior is related to social and

psychological maladjustment and related to peer-rejection.

Students who are social emotionally competent are better able to cope with strong

emotions and express their emotion in an appropriate manner. Furthermore, students who are

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able to label and recognize their own emotions and the emotions of others tend to be less

aggressive, better liked by peers, and have strong social skills. Students with social emotional

competence are better able to get along with others. They have good communications skills.

They are able to cooperate with others and find ways to effectively solve problems. Because

students have appropriate methods for coping with emotions they are less violent (Beland, 2000;

Arsenio, Cooperman, & Lover 2000).

Social Emotional Curriculums

Social emotional curriculums provide teachers, professionals, and counselors evidence

based curriculums to teach and support every student’s social emotional competence. A meta-

analysis of multiple programs on the market provides professionals with the tools to select the

most beneficial program for his or her population (Durlak et al., 2010). The following

curriculums were chosen from the meta-analysis for their emphasis assisting students with

different needs and their focus on early childhood education. The Strong Start curriculum was

developed to help students with mental health concerns (Merrell, 2009). The Second Step

program was developed to prevent violence in the schools (Beland, 2000; Beland, 2011).

MindUP curriculum provides stress reduction and increased happiness through lessons and

mindfulness practices (Hawn Foundation, 2011).

A meta-analysis of multiple social emotional curriculums found SEL programs compared

to the control group found enhanced self-perception and bonding to school, positive social

behaviors, better grades, and reduction in problem behaviors. Academic success was

significantly improved on achievement tests and student’s grades had an 11 percent gain in

academic performance. SEL programs reported significant positive effects on social emotional

competencies and attitudes about self, others, and school. Students experienced improved

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behavioral adjustment with increased pro-social behaviors and reduced conduct and internalizing

problems. Research was consistent regarding success rates for students of all ages and

demographic locations (Durlak et al., 2010). Results from the implementation of a social skills

curriculum in Early Childhood have found an increase in prosocial behaviors and a decrease in

disruptive behaviors. Learning social emotional skills in early childhood allows students to

practice and learn strategies to effectively promote social emotional competence throughout their

lifetime (Shultz et al, 2011).

Strong Kids Curriculum. The Strong Kids curriculum’s main focus is to provide

effective social emotional learning skills and mental health support to students from pre-school

to 12th grade (Merrell, 2009). The program is split into four age groups with age appropriate

lessons for every age group. For this review, the primary focus will be the Strong Start program

for student’s ages 3 to 8. The program targets students with emotional and mental health

problems such as depression, anxiety, withdrawal, and somatic problems. The program can be

implemented in the school setting, in the general education classroom, special education

classroom, or a group counseling setting as whole group lessons or a small group for students

with severe mental health problems. The program can also be used in related educational

settings or youth treatment facilities. There is minimal training required to apply the program.

The lessons provided in the curriculum book are about 25 to 30 minutes in length over the course

of 10 weeks. The book contains all the resources a teacher or a professional may need. The use

of this program supports academic skills in the areas of literacy, language development, and

listening skills. Other improvements for students are an increase in memory skills, resiliency,

and self-expression (Merrell, 2009).

Strong start components. Strong Start can be adapted for a Response to Intervention

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approach to prevent behavior and emotional problems through three tiers. Primary prevention is

for students who are not experiencing learning and social or behavior difficulties, but may

benefit from social emotional instruction. The secondary prevention model is for students who

are at risk for developing learning and social behavior difficulties. Tertiary prevention is for

students who are experiencing significant learning and social-behavior difficulties. The program

supports cultural adaptations for students from diverse backgrounds to better support every

student. Strategies include getting to know your students by asking about their cultural identit ies,

activities, and rituals. In order for the students to better understand the lesson’s message, the

method of delivery is crucial. Modifying the language or using examples from the students’ lives

helps to increase students’ understanding. Teachers encourage tolerance by teaching students

how to show respect to other cultural groups and encouraging respect during peer interactions

(Merrell, 2009).

Strong start lessons. The Strong Start pre-school curriculum consists of 10 lessons. The

first lesson is the Feelings Exercise Group; in this lesson students are introduced to the program

and learn the programs goals and objectives. Henry is a puppet and the program’s mascot. He is

used to introduce each concept. Students learn the importance of the curriculum in order to

understand the importance of being a good listener, having a calm body, friendship, and the

importance of confidentiality amongst friends. The Understanding Your Feelings lessons (lesson

2 and 3) teach students to improve their emotional vocabulary, awareness, and resiliency

(Merrell, 2009).

When You Are Angry is lesson 4, in this lesson students learn that all people experience

anger, but some people have difficulty coping and understanding anger. Trouble understanding

and coping with the feeling of anger can lead to inappropriate behavior such as fights, sadness,

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and frustration. In this lesson students develop and practice effective ways to cope with anger

(Merrell, 2009). The fifth lesson is called When You Are Happy; in this lessons students learn to

understand and express happiness. Students learn to identify the physical body sensations of

happiness. Students further learn about “Happy Talk” a method to help them cope with

unfavorable situations in a positive way as to not lead to negative feelings like anger or sadness.

The 6th lesson, when you are worried teaches students to manage stress, anxiety, and

common worries as an effective way to promote emotional resilience to prevent physical and

emotional problems. Understanding Other People’s Feelings teaches students to better

understand the feelings of others. This skill is an introduction to empathy, but may be difficult

because not all students have the ability of perspective taking which is crucial to understand

empathy. Being A Good Friend is an introduction to social skills and interpersonal training. The

skills taught in this lesson are using a nice voice, being a good listener, and making appropriate

eye contact and body language. These skills assist students to make friends and be better friends

with fellow students.

The lesson Solving People Problems helps students learn and use strategies to effectively

resolve conflicts with peers. The final lesson, Finishing Up addresses the accomplishments

made throughout the curriculum. Students review the content used in previous lessons and Henry

the mascot is used as a reminder of what was learned during the past weeks. The curriculum

provides additional lessons called booster lessons to be used later in the school year to re-address

previous lessons learned and make sure students remember the important lessons (Merrell,

2009).

Empirical research. Kramer et al. (2009) conducted a study to evaluate the effects of the

Strong Start curriculum. In the study there were 67 preschool students. Results from the study

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found that students had gains in students’ prosocial behaviors and a decrease in internalizing

behaviors. The Gunter, Caldarella, Korth, & Young (2012) study found a significant decrease in

internalizing behavior and improvement in student and teacher relationships for children in pre-

school. Whitecomb and Merrell (2011) results found significant increases in the student’s

knowledge of emotions and significant decreases in student internalizing behaviors when

implementing the program to the kindergarteners. Research has been conducted on different age

groups in the Strong Start curriculum and shows promising results that the program increases

prosocial behaviors throughout the age groups (Caldarella, Christensen, Kramer, & Kronmiller,

2009).

Program strengths and weaknesses. The Strong Start curriculum provides students in

early childhood with tools and strategies for the prevention and intervention for students with

depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, and somatic problems. The program is inexpensive,

comprehensive, and easy to use. Each program is separated into different age groups and cost

roughly 30 dollars each. The curriculum comes with a resource compact disc to assist with

instruction. Henry the Mascot is not included with the curriculum book, but can be bought

separately. Each curriculum book describes how the book can be used for RtI, either as a Tier 1

instruction model or more intensive intervention in Tier 2 and Tier 3. The lessons are well laid

out and the Strong Kids website provides professionals with research illustrating the

effectiveness of the program. Besides lessons to teach SEL skills the curriculum includes

literature corresponding to each lesson and scripted parent letters to send home for families to

practice each lesson at home. Although the program and research does not state a reduction in

school violence, because of the nature of learning SEL skills, violence reduction may be an

outcome (Merrell, 2009). The CASEL guide for effective social and emotional programs has not

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examined the Strong Kids program for its design and effectiveness.

Second Step Curriculum. The Second Step curriculum is a violence prevention program.

The Second Step program was created to decrease aggressive behavior and increase social

competence in students. The curriculum utilizes age appropriate pictures to teach children about

empathy, emotion management, social problem solving, and friendship. There are helpful

puppets that teach important lessons, such as Be Kind Bunny and Impulsive Puppy. There are

four levels for different age groups from pre-school to junior high school students. Although

there are many components or levels to the Second Step program the focus will be upon the pre-

school program. The classroom teacher teaches the lessons and the manual provides helpful

strategies for incorporating and scheduling the lessons during the school day. The program

includes letters to send home to parents to assist with teaching social emotional skills at home

(Beland, 2000).

Second Step components. The new revised fourth edition of the Second Step program

published in 2011 has five units taught over the course of 28 weeks. The units consist of skills

for learning, empathy, emotion management, friendship and problem solving, and transitioning

to kindergarten. The Second Step program focuses mainly on identifying feelings of the self and

others through photo cards, practicing how to identify different nonverbal or verbal cues with

common emotions. Students further learn how to identify different feelings experienced through

various situations and through bodily sensations such as muscle tension and breathing (Beland,

2000).

The first unit covers multiple different themes about how to effectively listen, focus, and

follow directions. Students learn to appropriately greet people by saying their name, and

demonstrate how to welcome someone in the classroom. Students learn good listening skills in

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order to improve learning in the large group setting.

The unit on empathy covers multiple topics including identifying different feelings,

accidents, and caring and sharing. During this unit, students explore how to identify feelings

from facial cues and situational cues surrounding different feelings. The next weekly theme is

identifying anger where students learn that everyone feels angry sometimes and they learn that it

is okay for people to feel different about the same thing. Students learn about what an accident is

and how important it is to tell another person that what just happened was an accident and not on

purpose. During the caring and helping week, students learn in order to feel empathy for

someone; you are showing that you care. To show someone you care you say or do something

kind and helpful (Beland, 2011).

Emotion management, which can also be known as emotion regulation, is the ability to

manage one’s emotions such as anger in an appropriate manner. Emotion management pertains

to both positive emotions and negative emotions. For example, when experiencing the emotion

of happiness running around the room is inappropriate, as well as hitting other children when

angry. Students need to understand how to manage their own emotions in an appropriate

manner. Strong emotion management skills are related to a decrease in aggressive behavior and

an increase in social competence (Beland, 2000). Emotion management is effectively taught by

teaching students to think calm thoughts, take deep breaths, do calming exercises, and stay away

from stressful situations. These skills are taught when students can think rationally, not when the

students are experiencing a strong emotion. The weekly lessons target, Feelings Are Felt in our

Bodies, Some Feelings are Strong, The Importance of Naming Feelings, and Managing

Disappointment, Anger, and How to Wait (Beland, 2000; Beland, 2011).

The fourth unit focuses on problem solving and friendship skills, the ability to solve

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problems in a logical manner instead of inappropriately or aggressively acting out. Students are

expected to use multiple processes in order to best interact with their peers; students must use his

or her thought processes, emotion processes and behavior skills. Students need to correctly read a

social situation by being friendly with other students. Students who use aggression to solve

problems are using social cues differently than other children. They perceive more threats from

their environment and believe that others are behaving in a hostile manner. When social

competent students are asked to solve problems, they do so using prosocial solutions. Weekly

themes include fair ways to play together, appropriate ways to have fun with friends, inviting

someone to play, and joining in with play. When a problem arises it is important to use the three

step problem solving method. The three step model; to calm down and use your words to say the

problem, brainstorm possible solutions, and lastly to speak assertively when someone treats you

in an unsafe or mean way (Beland, 2000; Beland, 2011).

Empirical literature. Research on the effectiveness of the Second Step program has

found that students who have received instruction required less adult intervention and displayed

fewer aggressive behaviors. Additional findings from this study, found that girls behaved more

cooperatively with peers (Frey et al. 2005). Taub (2001) evaluated the Second Step program in a

rural elementary school in New England. Taub found through teachers reports students

improved in the area of social competence. Teachers reported an increase in prosocial behaviors

in the area of appropriately engaging with other students. Evidence compiled from CASEL’s

guide on the effectiveness of the program was conducted on ages pre-school to grade 8 with a

diverse population and found the program increased positive social behavior, reduced conduct

problems, and reduced emotional distress (CASEL, 2013).

Program strengths and weaknesses. The Second Step program is evidence based and

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designed to prevent and reduce violence. The program for preschoolers has interesting

components such as puppets, pictures, and music to go along with each lesson. The program has

explicit instructions and has academic integration strategies for teachers to incorporate the

material in the general education curriculum, but the program does not include teacher

instructional practices. Second Step extensively promotes and reinforces SEL in the classroom,

adequately promotes SEL school-wide and in the family setting. The program minimally

promotes SEL in the community, meaning there are few components to support SEL in the

community setting. The assessment tools included in the program for monitoring program

administration and student behavior is conducted through self-report and through observation

and there are also ways to measure student behavior (CASEL, 2012).

MindUP Curriculum. According to the Hawn foundation (2011), the MindUP curriculum

is an evidence based curriculum created from the research from CASEL. There are 15 lessons

promoting social and emotional awareness, enhancing psychological wellbeing, and promoting

academic success by teaching mindful attention. Mindful attention can be defined as conscious

awareness in the moment through focusing on attention and controlling the breath. The program

is designed for students from Pre-school to grade 8. The primary focus will address the

curriculum for students in grades pre-school to grade 2. The MindUP curriculum seeks to help

students by improving a students self-awareness, focus attention, self-regulation, and reduce

stress. Through the core practices of mindful breathing and attentive listening, people can learn

to reduce stress and increase the capacity to learn. Research base from CASEL include Self-

awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship, and responsible decision-making.

The core practice of MindUP can be taught throughout the school day, during transitions, before

and after lunch, and at the closing of the school day. The curriculum was created based on

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neuroscientific research in regards to a stressed, neglected or abused brain and how it impacts a

child’s brain development interfering with emotional development.

MindUP curriculum components. The MindUP curriculum is separated into 15 lessons

which are grouped into four units. Unit 1 is called Getting Focused. During the first three

lessons students learn about the basics of mindful attention. The first lesson teaches students

about their brain and how it works through a brain diagram. The next lesson has students

describe the difference between mindful and unmindful and apply mindfulness awareness to their

own lives. In the third lesson, students learn the importance of focusing the mind daily through

listening and breathing to calm and focus their own minds (Hawn Foundation, 2011).

Sharpening your Senses is the second unit, this unit teaches students mindful listening,

mindful seeing, mindful smelling, and mindful tasting. Mindful listening helps students attend to

the sounds around them and to become more thoughtful about sounds through attending to

different sounds to help students improve their communication skills. Mindful seeing helps

students to better observe themselves, others, and the environment. Students learn to focus their

attention by focusing on an object and describing what they see. Mindful smelling helps students

to be more aware of their surroundings and improve memory through attending to different

smells, which can trigger different thoughts and feelings. Mindful tasting requires students to

slow down when eating to may attention to the different flavors, textures, and temperature of

different foods. Students improve mindful tasting by focusing on each bite and describing the

experience has a way to help them eat healthier. Mindful movement increases a persons mindful

awareness by becoming more attentive to our body’s sensations through active and relaxing

activities. Further lessons on movement seek to make movement more challenging to assist the

brain to better focus its attention (Hawn Foundation, 2011).

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The third unit is called It’s All About Attitude and students learn to take different

perspectives, be optimistic, and learn to appreciate happy experiences. During the perspective-

taking lesson, students learn to understand different points of view through the characters in

stories. Later students apply what was taught into their own social experiences in the classroom.

The Choosing Optimism lesson teaches students to define optimism and pessimism in order to

better understand a situation. Students practice strategies to use optimism in their own lives.

Lastly, the Lesson Appreciating Happy Experiences has students describe and imagine their

thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations during happy situations. This lesson uses happy

experiences to improve their level of optimism (Hawn Foundation, 2011).

Taking Action Mindfully is the fourth unit. This unit has students express gratitude,

perform acts of kindness, and take mindful actions into the world. The lesson Expressing

Gratitude teaches the meaning of gratitude and the importance of conveying gratitude to others.

Students label aspects of their life that are gratifying. Performing Acts of Kindness has students

perform acts of kindness on three occasions to learn the benefits of performing and receiving acts

of Kindness. The last lesson, Mindful Action in the World assists students in performing an act

of kindness in their school or community. Students reflect their feelings about performing these

acts of kindness and how they can each make a positive difference.

Empirical literature. The MindUP curriculum is based on empirical research from the

CASEL foundation and on brain research. Research has been conducted on older students

finding that student’s achievement scores have improved in math. Students reported being more

helpful, had a more positive outlook, and teachers believed the classroom culture had improved.

The program increased positive social behavior, reduced conduct problems, and reduced

emotional distress (Schonert-Reich, 2010; CASEL, 2013).

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Program strengths and weaknesses. The MindUP curriculum is an evidenced-based

program that teaches social and emotional competence to students in early childhood. The

program was developed from research from CASEL (2013) on social emotional learning, teaches

mindfulness awareness techniques, and reflects brain research. The program has explicit

instruction and has academic integration strategies for teachers to incorporate the material in the

general education program, but the program does not include teacher instructional practices.

MindUP extensively promotes and reinforces SEL in the classroom, but minimally promotes

SEL school wide, family, and community. The assessment tools included in the program are to

monitor implementation and student behavior has a self-report aspect, but does not include an

observation component. The MindUP curriculum is a new program and there is limited research

on how effective the program can be for students to reduce stress, increase happiness, and

improve student’s mindfulness (CASEL, 2012). A weakness of the program is there is little

empirical research that supports the effectiveness of the program for multiple age groups.

Summary The development of social and emotional competence requires the cognitive development

of emotions, which typically develops from birth to age 3, when children are able to express all

adult emotions. After acquiring all human emotions, children learn to understand and regulate

their own emotions. The more a child is able to regulate and manage their multiple emotions the

greater the level of emotional and social competence. There are multiple curriculums that teach

the skills to acquire social and emotional competence. These curriculums address different key

issues that students will face when they are in school. The Strong Kids curriculum provides

instruction for students with mental health needs as either a prevention program or an

intervention program. The MindUP curriculum teaches social emotional competence by

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introducing mindfulness to reduce stress and increase happiness. The Second Step program

teaches the skills of emotion management, empathy, and problem solving as a method to

decrease violence in schools (Saarni et al., 2008; Beland, 2002; Merrell, 2009 & Hawn

Foundation, 2011).

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Chapter III: Summary, Critical Analysis, and Recommendation

The following chapter will begin with a summary of the literature, including information

regarding the definition of social emotional competence, the importance of implementing social

emotional curriculums to improve academic achievement, decrease mental illness needs, and

decrease violence in the schools. The chapter will also address information from the literature on

supporting and promoting social emotional curriculums in early childhood. Finally, this chapter

will propose recommendations for future research, recommendations for future policy, and best

practices to support educators to implement evidenced-based social emotional curriculums in

their early childhood classrooms.

Summary of the Literature

Students in school face many challenges such as school violence, school bullying, school

dropout, and mental illness. School violence can encompass school shootings, chronic bullying,

name-calling, sexual harassment or social exclusions. Mental health issues also significantly

impact today’s students for example many students suffer from depression, anxiety, and ADHD.

Schools are required to provide support and strategies to decrease these issues. Educators need to

be well educated on the issues and be provided with methods to support their students.

Addressing these issues early in the educational process is vital for prevention and intervention.

Social emotional competence is a key component in combating the many challenges a

student may undergo when in school. Social emotional competence includes the ability to

understand one’s own emotions and the emotions of others. Other components of social

emotional competence include perceptive taking, controlling one’s own emotion in order to

complete tasks, and the ability to create and maintain positive relationships. Social emotional

competence requires the knowledge of emotions, which develops from birth to age three. After

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the age of three, children learn to regulate and manage their own emotions (Saarni et al., 2008;

LaFreneire, & Dumas, 1996; CASEL, 2013).

Social emotional competence can be taught in early childhood through many different

curriculums. The Second Step curriculum teaches the skills of empathy, emotion management,

and problem solving, friendship skills, and good learning strategies in order to prevent violence

in the schools. The MindUP curriculum teaches mindfulness and informs students about the

brain as a way to improve a student’s neuron pathways to enhance psychological well-being, and

promote academic success. The Strong Start curriculum teaches social and emotional skills to

assist students with emotional and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety,

withdrawal, and somatic problems. All of these programs support students to be successful in

school.

The research on Strong Start curriculum, found pre-school students had gains in prosocial

behaviors and a decrease in internalizing behaviors (Kramer et al., 2009). Empirical evidence

supporting the Second Step curriculum, found students who have received instruction required

less adult intervention, displayed fewer aggressive behaviors, and girls behaved more

cooperatively with peers (Frey, Nolen, Van Schoiack Edstrom, & Hirschstein, 2005). The

research on the MindUP curriculum, found older students reported being more helpful, had a

more positive outlook, and teachers believed the classroom culture had improved. The program

increased positive social behavior, reduced conduct problems, and reduced emotional distress

(Schonert-Reich, 2010, CASEL, 2013).

Critical Analysis

There is significant research on the effectiveness of teaching social emotional

competence to students, in regards to a student’s success in school. Students can learn important

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skills to improve empathy, social awareness, and self-awareness in order to increase more

prosocial behaviors and decrease violence, mental illness, and improve academic achievement

(Zins et al., 2004). As a lack of social emotional competence could contribute to mental illness,

such as anxiety, depression, withdrawal, and somatic problems, it is important to improve

student’s social emotional competence (Merrell, 2008). Although social emotional curriculums

are not major subjects such as reading, writing, and math, these programs are crucial for

improving a student’s performance. Research supports the relation between social emotional

competence and academic success (citation). Social emotional curriculums can enhance student

success through teaching these critical social-emotional skills.

There is sufficient evidence supporting the implementation of social emotional

curriculums, but not all schools implement the programs school wide. It is important to

understand why these programs are not integrated in all schools nationwide. School

psychologists and school counselors need to be familiar with the components of social emotional

competence and how to select evidenced-based curriculums in their schools. The reason teachers

are not utilizing these programs could be due to lack of knowledge about curriculums as well as

the lack of knowledge regarding the link be social emotional skills and outcomes like academic

success and mental health. In addition to teaching about the curriculums, teachers also need to be

taught the link between these constructs. In order for teachers to better utilize social emotional

curriculums, workshops need to occur to better facilitate the usage of said programs.

Strengths of research. There are many strengths in the current research including

multiple curriculums in social emotional competence, constructive interventions, and research on

how important social emotional competence is to children in early childhood. Studies have found

that curriculums can improve prosocial behaviors and decrease problem behaviors in students.

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Studies have also shown that programs have success rates for students of all ages and

demographic locations illustrating that the programs can be used for all social and ethnic groups

(Durlak et al., 2010). Many developmental researchers have studied the factors of social and

emotional competence which has influenced the creation of evidenced-based social emotional

curriculums (Saarni et al., 2008; Vahedi et al., 2012; LaFreneire & Dumas, 1996; Pollak et al,

2000). Current research also illustrates the importance of implementing programs to decrease

internalizing behaviors such as depression and decreasing violence (Merrell, 2008, Beland,

2000). Even though there are strengths in the current research there are also areas for

improvement.

Weaknesses in research. There are many weaknesses in the current research such as

implementation of programs, lack of time, clear link between social emotional competence and

academic achievement, and treatment outcome research. The research lacks the effectiveness of

implementing programs in a pre-school setting. Most of the current research addresses older

children and there is limited research for students in early childhood. The research does not show

a clear relationship between social emotional curriculums and academic achievement. This

research would prove beneficial in a nationwide implementation of social emotional curriculums

in all schools. There is also a lack of research in treatment outcome data showing that

implementing social emotional programs have a long lasting effect on improving a students

social emotional competence into adulthood by decreasing student drop-out rates, decreasing

school violence, and decreasing mental health illnesses.

School Psychologist’s Role

School psychologists are knowledgeable about the risk factors a student faces when in

school and in order to assist a student’s educational performance a school psychologist addresses

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the importance of utilizing different social emotional curriculums. School psychologists need to

lead and promote professional development sessions on the importance of social emotional

curriculums. School psychologists need to have vast knowledge on the multiple social emotional

curriculums in order to provide this support to teachers and other professionals. School

psychologists are knowledgeable about how to conduct pre and post intervention data to ensure

that the programs the teachers are using are effective. School psychologists are also

knowledgeable about social emotional development.

According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) (2013) the school

system provides support for students with mental illnesses by educating teachers on when to seek

help from school psychologists and school counselors, who will then obtain help from mental

health professionals. The school can develop procedures to address potential problems. Basic

procedures include first working with teachers to create a basic classroom intervention, meet

regularly with teachers to discuss students with difficulties, and inform and include parents in

meetings to evaluate potential strategies and additional recourses (Whelley, P., Cash, G., &

Bryson, D. 2003).

NASP supports the reduction of school violence by increasing safety procedures and

social emotional interventions. School psychologists take a leadership role in reducing school

violence by providing support and resources. The school psychologist helps to select an

evidenced-based social emotional curriculum with the necessary components to ensure that

schools are safe. The curriculum should include ideas for creating school community safety

partnerships to ensure victims receive support to feel safe and engaged in school. Some

curriculums only discuss violent behavior and leave out tolerance instruction, so it is important

to select a curriculum that integrates ethnicity components to improve the school climate. When

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curriculums enhance the classroom and school climate it will promote positive school discipline

procedures to improve relationships between students and staff. School psychologists need to

remember that students who exhibit warning signs of violence need to receive the appropriate

social emotional support. By making sure that these components are included in the school’s

social emotional curriculum will help to decrease violence in the school system and promote

prosocial behaviors.

Recommendations For Future Research

Future research to decrease risk factors. Future research should address the

relationship between social emotional curriculums and student dropout rates to determine if by

implementing evidenced-based social emotional curriculums in early childhood could improve

high school graduation rates. Other research could address the relationship between

implementing social emotional programs during early childhood in order to reduce drug use for

older students. Additional research could also illustrate a link between teaching social emotional

competence to decrease crime rates, gun violence, and incarceration for all ethnic groups and

adults of different socioeconomic statuses.

Future research for school implementation. Future research should address a lack of

social emotional curriculum implementation in schools nation-wide to better understand why

professionals and schools are reluctant to implement these evidenced-based programs.

Furthermore, research could also highlight potential gaps such as no instruction in social

emotional development and assessment for students in undergraduate and graduate level courses.

Other research could provide insight into a lack of professional development and training for

social emotional competence, and lack of time and funding for educators to learn about these

programs.

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Recommendations for Training and Practices

Training for all educators. NASP understands that teachers need proper instruction in

the effectiveness and promotion of social emotional learning for their students. Professionals

need to understand the link between social emotional competence and reduction in school risk

factors such as mental illness and violence. Teachers need to make sure that they make time in

their schedule to incorporate these curriculums every year. School psychologists and school

counselors support teachers to incorporate these effective programs in their classroom.

Training for school psychologists. In order for students to be successful and have fewer

risk factors, school psychologists need to be well trained at the graduate level and through

professional development. During graduate training, future school psychologists can learn about

the current research supporting social emotional competence by implementing evidenced-based

curriculums and how they can advocate for these programs for when they enter the field.

Current school psychologists can also learn about the current research and find ways to

implement the curriculums school-wide and district wide. In order for these curriculums to be

implemented, school psychologists need to advocate for social emotional curriculums to

educators and other professionals.

Recommendations for practice and policy. Social emotional curriculums need to be put

into practice in every school. All social emotional curriculums need to be implemented with

high fidelity, otherwise the curriculums will be ineffective and be unable to promote student

success in schools. In order for educators to implement these curriculums with high fidelity, they

need adequate training. For the school to provide the necessary training and support, there needs

to be adequate funds. At the state and federal level there needs to be legislation that emphasizes

the importance for implementing social emotional curriculums. Through legislation, funds can

45

become available for schools to use to implement social emotional curriculums in every grade,

but especially in early childhood programs. The current legislation is altering the previous bill

No Child Left Behind and currently Congress is altering the Elementary and Secondary

Education Act (ESCA), which will support professional development in schools. This act needs

to be debated and put to a vote. The new act does not allocate new funds to schools to purchase

curriculums, but will re-allocate funding form other sources (Second Step, 2013). Funding needs

to be provided to schools to create more positions for school counselors, who are critical in

implementing social emotional curriculums in schools, which will provide the school with

necessary professionals to support social emotional competence. Additional funding will be able

to support training for school counselors. School counselors, administers, school psychologists,

and other school personnel need to advocate for social emotional curriculums and the research

supporting these curriculums.

46

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