Purpose: Specific social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have been found to promote a myriad of positive outcomes, but definitions of the broader concept of SEL are varied in its practice and scholarly usage. It is unclear whether recent conceptual expansions of SEL to include Systemic and Transformative approaches shape the understanding of…

Response anchoring, the tendency for respondents to provide item responses equivalent (or in close proximity) to immediately preceding responses, can reflect disengaged responding and/or cognitive challenges in comprehending test items. Using Grade 4-12 student responses to a survey measure of four social-emotional learning constructs collected…

The problem addressed in this study was that social and emotional strategies are not provided at the school level, which affects teachers' mental well-being, causing them to feel occupational burnout. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, educators have been compelled to adapt to new teaching modalities, contributing to heightened stress…

Principals lack training and understanding of social-emotional learning (SEL) to feel confident in leading SEL initiatives on their school campuses. This study's purpose was to explore elementary school principals' lived experiences in California's Central Valley. A qualitative phenomenological methodology was implemented to achieve this goal. The…

Teachers' social and emotional learning (SEL) beliefs can impact SEL implementation efforts and consistency in primary and secondary schools. The diffusion of innovations theory is a suitable framework for understanding problems with SEL implementation and diffusion within educational organizations and among teachers over time. The purpose of this…

Studies show that students are less successful in their freshman year of high school than in elementary and middle school. The causes of this decline in success range from new schedules, changing of relationships, increased rigor, and less involvement from educators. This applied study will explore the effectiveness of soft skill interventions in…

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) spent over two decades researching the importance of social and learning (SEL). CASEL's (2020b) research revealed that the implementation of evidence-based SEL programs led to an 11% gain in student achievement, fewer behavior issues, reduced dropout rates, and decreases in mental…

Mentorship in the field of service-learning has many variations. The utilization of peace circles has been on the rise as a way of bringing inclusion and cultural awareness when interacting with diverse perspectives in a group setting. Research on the impact of service-learning experiences on college students reflects that participation in these…

Undocumented students graduate from high school at 98,000 per year nationally (27,000 annually in California). School counselors are certificated campus professionals tasked with social, emotional, college, and career interventions for all students and also provide advocacy between students and any barriers interfering with school safety, mental…

This brief focuses on the Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE) and its efforts to transform schools into centers of wellness. SCOE serves 13 school districts with nearly 250,000 students, prioritizing mental health professionals in every school and creating systems for all adults to contribute to supporting a school-community continuum of…

This study examined the impact of an in-school dance curriculum on the social-emotional development of at-risk preschoolers in a southern California public preschool program. The preschoolers (N = 69) participated in dance for thirty minutes, once a week, over an entire academic year. We compared the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP)…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how high school marching band instructors described extra-musical life skills teaching strategies in Northern California within the Western Band Association (WBA) organizational circuit. Theoretical foundations of this study were social emotional learning (SEL) based on the seminal…

California will soon offer transitional kindergarten (TK) to all four-year-olds, a school-based option for early care and education (ECE). According to the state Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, universal TK for four-year-olds should enable more children age three and younger to be served in other settings like child care centers and…

This study, using a transcendental phenomenological approach, explored the perceptions and experiences of school counselor trainees participating in a self-care course grounded in mindfulness and social--emotional learning. Seven students who enrolled in a master's-level school counseling program and completed a summer self-care course shared…

The purpose of the study was to further the research of the effects of social and emotional learning (SEL) on academic achievement. Current research has identified that SEL interventions can have an impact on students' grade point average (GPA) up to 6 months post-intervention. The present research examined two factors that potentially impact…