Middle schools represent challenges that strongly affect how much energy and focus students bring to academic learning. Kids must develop skills to resist inappropriate sexual behaviors and analyze stressful social situations. Schools should encourage students to develop certain developmental assets: appreciation, belonging, confidence,…

With passage of several recent laws, the California State legislature intended to end social promotion, replacing it with a system of prevention, intervention, and retention. The "strategic schooling" approach depends on three elements: targets (both students and content), continuous feedback via assessments, and organizational and…

Identifies the dual development of independence and interdependence as a template for thinking about social and emotional education for children. Suggests integrating social, emotional, and academic learning to foster the child's individuality. Discusses Montessori's belief that personal freedom and responsibility are built on a foundation of…

Factor analysis of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale found three factors: (1) social impairment, (2) negative emotionality, and (3) distorted sensory response. Subjects with autism were distinguished from subjects with either pervasive or nonpervasive developmental disorders by higher scores on social impairment. Negative emotionality was most…

Asserts that students' emotions should be nurtured in the educational process to help foster positive reactions to instructional materials. States also that the relationship between the cognitive function of the mind and the affective, or feeling, dimension must be understood so that students will develop critical-thinking skills. (VWC)

Examined relationship of security of attachment to development of fear, anger, and joy over child's first 3 years. Found that attachment groups differed in trajectories of emotional development, with differences apparent at 14 months. Resistant children were most fearful and least joyful. Over the second and third years, secure children became…

This editorial comments on a study that compared the self-development of 43 typical preschool children and 155 preschool children who had been maltreated. It found sexually abused, physically abused, and neglected preschool children showed more dissociation than did the typical children. Clinically identifiable dissociation was particularly…

A study compared the self-development of 43 typical preschool children and 155 maltreated preschool children. Each group of sexually, physically abused, and neglected preschool children showed more dissociation than did the typical children. Clinically identifiable dissociation was particularly associated with physical abuse. Severity of…

Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM), like all adolescents, have the right to be able to develop emotionally and cognitively to their fullest potential in host countries (Article 6, Convention of the Rights of the Child, 1991). URM make up a very special and vulnerable population of young people under the age of 18 who have been separated from their…

To study the social-emotional development of triplets, 23 sets of triplets, 23 sets of twins, and 23 singleton infants (N=138) were followed from birth to 2 years. Maternal depression and social support were assessed in the postpartum period, mother-infant and father-infant interaction and the home environment were observed at 3 months, a…

Poor emotional competence has been identified as a precursor to later social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in children. Aspects of parenting, including modeling, reactions to and coaching of children's emotions, have been associated with the development of emotional competence in children. In this paper, a parenting program with this…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is an approach that teaches self-regulation, self-monitoring, and social skills in school settings. SEL has been shown to be an effective method of reducing negative social interactions and increasing academic achievement. This article relates the experiences of one intermediate school principal and her staff as…

Although consistent nurturing relationships with significant adults are taken for granted by most of us as a necessity for babies and young children, this commonly held belief is not often put into practice. Pioneers, such as Erik Erikson, Anna Freud, and Dorothy Burlingham, revealed that to "pass successfully through the stages of early…

Restorative practices focus on repairing the harm to relationships rather than piling on more punishment for violations. Originally popularized in formal conferences between a victim and offender in the justice system, restorative practices have been extended to educational and treatment settings. This article describes how the adversarial climate…

Following several years of negative trends in achievement and attendance in the middle grades, the Cleveland Municipal School District began phasing out middle schools by restructuring 21 of its 80 K-5 elementary schools into K-8 schools. This study examined Cleveland's restructuring initiative in light of 2 theories on early adolescent…