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School Psychology Program
A Preliminary Study of the Strong Start SEL
CurriculumSara Whitcomb, Ph.D.
University of MassachusettsPresented at the Annual Meeting of the
National Association of School PsychologistsMarch 5, 2010
2School Psychology Program
Name that Emotion...
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Appreciations
For helping me to start this work:• Dr. Kenneth Merrell, University of Oregon (contributing
author)• Dr. Cynthia Anderson, University of Oregon• Dr. John Seeley, Oregon Research Institute
To The Melissa Institute For Violence Prevention and Treatment for funding this study
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Agenda
Problem Statement/Relevant Literature Research Questions Method Results Discussion Questions
5School Psychology Program (Coie, Miller-Jackson, Bagwell 2000; Merrell 2001; Rimm-Kaufman, Pianta, & Cox, 2000; Roeser & Eccles, 2000)
The Problem
12-22% of school-aged children with social-emotional difficulties significant enough to require services.
1 in 5 children get needed services. Many children enter elementary school and do
not display academic or social-emotional readiness skills.
Current national mandates make it difficult to find time and resources to address issues other than academics.
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Designing School-Wide Systems for Student SuccessAcademic
SystemsBehavioral Systems
Intensive, Individual Interventions-Individual students-Assessment-based-High Intensity
Intensive, Individual Interventions-Individual students-Assessment-based-High Intensity
Targeted Group Interventions-Some students (at-risk)-Rapid Response
Targeted Group Interventions-Some students (at-risk)-Rapid Response
Universal Interventions-All settings, all students-Preventative, proactive
Universal Interventions-All settings, all students-Preventative, proactive
1-5% 1-5%
5-10% 5-10%
80-90% 80-90%
Sugai, Horner & Gresham (2002)
7School Psychology Program(Denham & Weissberg, 2004; Elias, Zins, Greenberg, Weissberg, 2003)
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): Ensuring the health of all children
Coordinated instructional programming that focuses on individual social and emotional skill development and integration of skills across contexts
Is developmentally appropriate Spans multiple years Based on research and systematically evaluated
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The Role of the Adult in the SEL of Young Children To effectively deliver carefully-designed lessons To model appropriate self-management,
empathic response, and problem-solving To prompt students to practice skills To acknowledge students when they
spontaneously utilize skills learned
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Components of theRE-AIM Framework R each (proportion of the target population
that participates in intervention) E fficacy (success rate if implemented as in
guidelines—positive outcomes minus negative outcomes)
A doption (proportion of settings, practices, and plans that will adopt this intervention)
I mplementation (extent to which intervention is implemented as intended in “real world”)
M aintenance (extent to which a program is sustained over time)
(Glasgow; Merrell & Buchanan, 2006)
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Strong Start is…
Developmentally appropriate for younger students (grades K-2)• Emphasizes activity-based (“think-pair-share”)
and children’s literature-based components and “Henry Bear”
• Includes specific strategies for infusing skill practice throughout the day
• Emphasizes emotional education and behavioral engagement.
• Emphasizes communication with families, through newsletters developed for each lesson
Not Resource intensive
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Developing Strong Start
Year 1• Read articles on emotion development• Began with general lesson topics• Developed lessons/literature list appropriate
for k-2 (based on research, professional judgment/clinical experiences)
Year 2• Kept detailed notes from those piloting across
U.S. and Canada• Edited lessons based on feedback• Developed prototype for Content Knowledge
Measure
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Developing Strong Start (Cont.)
Year 3• Piloted Strong Start in first grade general education
classroom• Observed Strong Start implementation in k-2 Structured
Learning Center• Piloted Strong Start Content Knowledge
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Developing Strong Start (cont.)
Year 4 Recruit participants. Evaluate acceptance of intervention. Assess feasibility of intervention. Assess treatment integrity. Evaluate impact of intervention on acquisition
and application of young children’s emotion knowledge skills
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Research Questions
Does systematic implementation of Strong Start result in increased knowledge of social and emotional skills among first graders?
Does systematic implementation of Strong Start result in teachers’ perceived improvement in social behavior and affect among children in their classrooms?
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Research Questions
Do teachers infuse into their classroom routines the concepts presented in Strong Start over time?
Do teachers, students, and parents find Strong Start to be a socially valid intervention?
To what extent is student performance on an assessment of social and emotional knowledge skills correlated with teacher report of social behavior and affect?
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Participants
88 first grade students from 1 Northwestern district• School 1- (Class 1, Class 2, Class 3)• School 2- (Class 4)
5 Interventionists• School 1-(counselor and teachers from 3 classes)• School 2-(teacher)
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Participants (cont.)
Male Female Total
Classes 39 49 88
School 1 School 2
Free/Red 28% 63%
SPED 17% 24%
Title I 14% 23%
ELL 0% 16%
School 1 School 2
Caucasian 84% 58%
His/Latino 8% 32%
Asian/PI 3% 1%
African Am 1% 2%
Native Am 1% 5%
Unknown 2% 1%
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Procedures
Interventionist Training• 2.5-hour meeting in December 2007• Introduction to study’s significance, conceptual
framework of SEL, and Strong Start
Intervention• 10 Strong Start lessons implemented one time per
week during January-April 2008
Assessment• 3 waves—Pretest1 (October), Pretest 2 (January),
posttest (April)• Fidelity of implementation
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A Within-Subject, Repeated Measures Quasi-Experimental Design
Groups Baseline
1
Baseline
2
Intervention Posttest
Classroom
1-4O1 O2 X1 O3
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Measures-Intervention Monitoring
Observations of Strong Start implementation• 50% (School 1)/40% (School 2) of lessons observed• Included implementation of lesson components and
behavioral observations• IOA on lesson components and behavioral
observations ranged from 88-100%• IOA on behavioral observations (individual
behaviors) ranged from 71%-100%
Email Description of Infusion of Skills over time and across contexts
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Fidelity
Percentage of Strong Start Components Implemented
0102030405060708090
100
L 2 L 4 L 6 L 7 L 8
Lesson Number
Perc
en
tag
e
Teacher
Counselor
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Mean Behaviors Observed Across Lessons
19.521.8
3.31.8
13.315.5
5.3
2
0
5
10
15
20
25
OTR RSR PR REP
Freq
uenc
y
School 1
School 2
OTR-Opportunity to Respond RSR-Relevant Student Response
PR-Praise REP-Reprimand
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Infusion of Skills Across Lessons
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Lesson 9 Lesson10
Fre
qu
ency
of
Pro
mp
ts/W
eek
class 1 class 2 class 3 class 4
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Implementation Outcomes
Teachers required flexibility to implement lessons over multiple days (some with support of counselor).
1-2 books from literature list were read each week.
Interventionists are offered an average of 2 Opportunities to Respond (OTRs) per minute and students responded approximately 2-3 times per minute.
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A Hint of Acceptability
‘I really liked the "leanness" of this program. I find that I refer to parts of it all the time...especially during Reading time. Lots of opportunities for the kids to apply it in much of the literature I use....not to mention general life in first grade!’
–Classroom Teacher
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Measures—Dependent Variables
Social-emotional knowledge skills• Strong Start Content Knowledge• Assessment of Children’s Emotion Skills (ACES)
Teacher report of social behavior and affect• Peer Relations subscale from SSBS (Merrell,
2002)• Problem Behavior subscale from SSRS
(Gresham & Elliot, 1990) Social Validity• Teacher, Parent and student questionnaires
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Data Analyses
Descriptives Analyses of Variance Chi-Square Analysis (Problem Behavior) Difference Scores Analyses Magnitude of Effects Correlations Between Measures
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Means and Standard Deviations Across Assessment WavesVariable Pretest 1 Pretest 2 Posttest
Content Knowledge
15.61
(1.55)
16.43
(0.91)
16.81
(1.02)
ACES 7.86
(1.68)
7.58
(1.96)
8.60
(1.90)
Peer Relations
38.90
(14.07)
45.98
(14.38)
51.23
(13.55)
Problem Behavior
2.39
(3.82)
3.59
(4.14)
2.99
(3.99)
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*p < .05
ANOVAsVariable Time
F-Value
P1 vs. P2
F-Value
P2 vs. Post
F-Value
Content
Knowledge
28.10*** 22.70*** 8.35*
ACES 9.45*** 1.46 18.31***
Peer Relations
30.71*** 26.50*** 13.88***
Problem Behavior
4.80* 8.14** 3.53
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*p < .05
Patterns of Externalizing and Internalizing Behavior
1.451.45
0.99
1.41.54**
2.16**
Pretest 1 Pretest 2 Posttest
Mea
n S
core
s
Externalizing Internalizing
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*p < .05
Problem Behavior Chi-Square
Improved Posttest Total
(No)
0.00
(Yes)
1.00
Got Worse
(No)
0.00
11 3 14
Between
Pretests
(Yes)
1.00
6 21** 27
17 24 41
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*p < .05
Difference Scores Analyses
Measure Mean Difference Pretest 1-Pretest 2
vs.
Pretest 2-Posttest
t
ACES 1.30
(3.54)
-3.35**
Problem Behavior
1.81
(5.70)
2.90**
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Effect Sizes --Cohen’s dz
Measure Pretest 1-Pretest 2 Pretest 2-Posttest
Content Knowledge
0.48 0.35
ACES -0.11 0.47
Peer Relations 0.57 0.31
Problem Behavior
0.32 -0.19
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Social Validity Interventionists
• 100% thought students learned important skills, curriculum was easy to teach, would use curriculum again.
• 80% felt they had adequate time to teach and materials were easy to access.
Students• 78% liked Strong Start.• 68% learned a lot.
Parents/Guardians• 100% of respondents were aware of what children
were learning and found parent newsletters helpful• 64% tried tips provided in newsletters• Few respondents
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Intercorrelations
Content ACES Peer
Rel.
Content --
ACES .31** --
Peer
Rel.
.06 .23* --
Prob.
Beh.
-.03 -.04 -.46**
Content ACES Peer Rel.
Content ---
ACES .03 --
Peer Rel
.16 .19 --
Prob.
Beh
-.06 -.27* -.63**
Content ACES Peer
Content --
ACES .30** --
Peer .21 .03 --
Prob -.15 -.16 -.70**
Pretest1
Pretest 2
Posttest
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Discussion
Lesson components implemented with fidelity.
Teacher responsiveness in tracking infusion of skills was variable.• Prompted use of skills ~1 time per day
Curriculum perceived as useful and worth future use.
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Discussion:Behavioral Change
Strong Start may have contributed to increased emotion knowledge across varied situations.
Strong Start may have had an intervention effect for students likely to engage in problem behavior.
Strong Start may have contributed to a decrease in internalizing symptoms among a significant number of students.
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Limitations
Finding feasible, efficient, reliable methods for assessing young children
Behavioral indicators of teacher “buy in”
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Future Research Replicate study procedurally and include:
• Larger sample• Comparison group• Technically sound emotion knowledge measures/direct
observation• Varied grade levels (including pre-k)
Directly observe the extent to which teachers prompt/acknowledge use of skills across contexts and time.
Directly observe the impact of curriculum on student behavior, particularly those in need of targeted support.
Examine how consultation may improve infusion of skills and overall effectiveness
Identify outcomes to target over longer time period.• E.g. transition to school
