Does the current drive to incorporate social and emotional learning (SEL) into the K-12 curriculum represent a positive reform that will lead schools to educate the "whole student" and ultimately boost young people's academic success? Or is it a distracting fad that comes with high opportunity costs? Common sense and considerable…

This description of counseling and psychotherapy services at Amherst College begins with our heritage from the "mental hygiene" movement of the nineteenth century, the founding of the first university mental health services and the later development of a counseling center tradition. By tracing the evolution at Amherst, from a brief…

Zins and his colleagues pointed out that understanding implementation of school-based prevention programs is a critical issue as we get more sophisticated about strategies to promote children's social and emotional skill development. This commentary discusses school-based program implementation, challenges, lessons learned, and future directions…

Practices which have been proven to effectively increase cognitive and affective growth for the gifted elementary school child are discussed. These practices involve empathetic teachers, early identification, and diverse programing in programs. (Author/RH)

The promotion of evidence-based practice (EBP) has become a dominant discussion in mental health and education, and in school mental health, which reflects attempts to integrate these (and other) systems. Research in this area is advancing, and there are increasing examples of school-based programs built on scientific findings of effectiveness.…

The main purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for discussing issues associated with the process of "going to scale" with programs of early childhood development. "Going to Scale" programs are described as those that attempt to reach as many potential beneficiaries as possible at a regional, national, or even worldwide…

Aside from being an invasion of privacy, values clarification exercises are inappropriate for most elementary students who, still in the concrete operations stage of mental development, are incapable of generalizing moral principles. It would be better to teach concrete problem-solving processes until the formal operations stage is reached. (SJL)

Uses case studies to assess extent to which the "Bubble Dialogue," an application supporting role-play within a comic strip environment, helps abused, adopted, and foster children express feelings, reflect, and debate pertinent issues. Study of the application with comparison group in primary school provides baseline data. Issues arising…