As a disciplinary program, dance falls between the arts and physical education. As a result, it can often be overlooked or sidelined by either program, to the determent of its great value for community college students. Dance and its attention to movement, mental focus, and physical control provide important neurological benefits that affect both…

There are a growing number of school-based interventions designed to promote children's social and emotional learning. One such intervention, PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies), was evaluated in a randomised controlled trial involving 5074 pupils aged 4-6 years at baseline in 56 primary schools across a large city in the UK. The…

Evidence shows that early childhood education leads to the development of cognitive, social and emotional skills at a young age as well as to better school performance later on. It also creates conditions for lifelong learning and better future professional achievement. Furthermore, efforts to ensure quality early childhood education programmes…

It is difficult to imagine any classroom teacher who is not concerned with helping students develop skills to recognize and address their feelings, solve conflicts appropriately, help their peers, and contribute in positive ways to the world in which they live to some degree (Elias et al., 1997; Weissberg, Durlak, Domitrovitch, & Gullotta,…

This report summarizes research about development during the first 3 years of life. It highlights research in domains that are foundational for later school readiness and success, including: (1) perceptual, motor, and physical development; (2) social and emotional development; (3) approaches to learning; (4) language and communication; and (5)…

Program administrators and policy makers have placed a priority on expanding access to inclusive, center-based early care and education (ECE) for low-income children with special needs, a "doubly vulnerable" population characterized by academic and social-emotional achievement gaps at kindergarten entry. Yet, no research has documented…

This article shows that the traditional narrative of Black-White high school graduation gaps is inverted among economically disadvantaged female students. Two nationally representative surveys and statewide administrative data demonstrate that low-income White females graduate at rates 5 to 6 percentage points lower than Black peers despite having…

The National Summer Learning Project (NSLP) examined the implementation and effectiveness of voluntary summer learning programs developed by five school districts--Boston, Massachusetts; Dallas, Texas; Duval County, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Rochester, New York--and their local community partners. The study spanned three phases. The…

The present study considered the ways in which interactional quality in the classroom and teacher--child relationships independently and synergistically shaped the early academic, social-behavioral, and executive function outcomes of 1,498 preschoolers from low-income families from a large, culturally, and linguistically diverse county. The…

"Psychoeducational Assessment of Preschool Children," Fifth Edition, provides academics and school-based practitioners such as psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and social workers with an up-to-date guide to the assessment of young children. Long recognized as the standard text and reference in its field, this comprehensive,…

Using value-added models, we find that high schools impact students' self-reported socio-emotional development (SED) by enhancing social well-being and promoting hard work. Conditional on schools' test score impacts, schools that improve SED, reduce school-based arrests, and increase high-school completion, college-going, and college persistence.…

This guidebook is designed as a reference guide on how to best support healthy growth and development of children throughout key developmental intervals and identify children who may benefit from specialized support. Early childhood program staff, service providers, health care systems, families, and communities all play important roles in…

When we measure social competence, the scores indicate that a person can become better and better just as in other school subjects such as history or geography. In general, these scores also give an actual picture of the status and/or progress of the person's social competence. However, it might be preferable to portray many of the dimensions of…

More than one in four children in Tennessee live in poverty, and in Nashville the number creeps higher to one in three (Kids Count Data Center, 2012). Nearly three out of every four children in Metro Nashville Public Schools qualify for free and reduced lunch and are considered at risk (Tennessee Department of Education, 2013). This concentration…

The primary goal of this article is to situate the findings from evidence-based studies of social emotional learning (SEL) interventions into a broader social context by reframing the discussion to consider how aspects of sociocultural competence impact the development and delivery of programs. The limitations of current SEL intervention efforts…