Kenneth W. Merrell

How Effective Are School Bullying Intervention Programs? A Meta-Analysis of Intervention Research.

Research on effectiveness of school bullying interventions has lagged behind descriptive studies on this topic. The literature on bullying intervention research has only recently expanded to a point that allows for synthesis of findings across studies. The authors conducted a meta-analytic study of school bullying intervention research across the 25-year period from 1980 through 2004, identifying 16 studies that met our inclusion criteria. These studies included 15,386 K through 12 student participants from European nations and the United States. Applying standard meta-analysis techniques to obtain averaged effect size estimates across similar outcomes, the authors found that the intervention studies produced meaningful and clinically important positive effects for about one-third of the variables. The majority of outcomes evidenced no meaningful change, positive or negative. The authors conclude that school bullying interventions may produce modest positive outcomes, that they are more likely to influence knowledge, attitudes, and self-perceptions rather than actual bullying behaviors; and that the majority of outcome variables in intervention studies are not meaningfully impacted.

Social and Emotional Learning as a Universal Level of Student Support: Evaluating the Follow-up Effect of Strong Kids on Social and Emotional Outcomes

The authors examined the initial and follow-up effect of Strong Kids, a social and emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, among a sample of 106 third- and fourth-grade students. Students were assigned to either the treatment or the wait-list condition and completed questionnaires on SEL knowledge and perceived use of SEL skills across 3 assessment periods (pretest, posttest, and follow-up). The classroom teachers also completed a social functioning questionnaire on each student at each assessment period. The classroom teachers implemented 12 weekly lessons from September to December, and 1 booster session in January. Generalization of SEL skills was promoted with verbal praise by treatment teachers to students outside of the lessons and by reminders to students to use the SEL skills they were learning. Fidelity of implementation was more than 85% and was measured by observing the number of components of the curriculum implemented. Analyses revealed that the treatment group had greater positive gains across all of the dependent measures from pre to posttest. These gains maintained at the 2-month follow-up period. The authors discuss the results in a schoolwide prevention framework and with implications for school psychologists.

Social and Emotional Learning in Classrooms: A Survey of Teachers’ Knowledge, Perceptions, and Practices

A survey study was conducted to examine teachers’ knowledge, perceptions, and practices regarding social and emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom. Teachers from two states (N = 263) provided a range of responses regarding how to promote SEL in their classrooms, increase the effectiveness of SEL, and reduce barriers to implementation. Results indicated that many teachers believe that SEL is important, schools should take an active role, receiving training/support from a variety of professionals would be helpful, and current academic demands decrease the opportunity for SEL. In addition to broadening the very limited research in this area, this study provides important new information regarding teachers’ knowledge and practices of SEL in classrooms. This information is useful to school psychologists, other specialists, and administrators in helping set the stage for establishing social–emotional learning practices in schools.

Validating cultural adaptations of a school-based social-emotional learning programme for use with Latino immigrant adolescents

Immigrant youth face many challenges as they adapt to a new culture and society. School-based social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions have been proposed to teach these childrens coping skills that can help them with such life-changing transitions. A growing body of research supports the need to make adaptations to any evidence-based intervention, including SEL, to ensure the interventions efficacy and cultural sensitivity. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of adapting an evidence-based SEL programme for use with a group of Latino immigrant adolescents enrolled in public schools in the USA. The ecology validity framework was adopted for the pilot/feasibility study described in this paper. A group of 40 recent-immigrant Latino adolescents participated in the study. Participants reported favourable social validity and acceptability ratings. The youth also demonstrated an increase in SEL knowledge. The results suggested that developing and implementing cultural adaptations to existing evidence-based interventions in school settings is feasible and socially valid. Implications for culturally responsive school-based interventions are presented.

Temporal Stability of Strength-Based Assessments: Test-Retest Reliability of Student and Teacher Reports.

This study focused on evaluating the temporal stability of self-reported and teacher-reported perceptions of students’ social and emotional skills and assets. We used a test–retest reliability procedure over repeated administrations of the child, adolescent, and teacher versions of the Social-Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales. Middle school students in Grades 6 through 8 reliably self-reported on their social and emotional competencies. In a similar vein, teacher ratings of students in Grades K through 5 also showed strong temporal stability. Although all samples and versions of this scale demonstrated temporal stability, multiple administrations of the child self-report version of the SEARS showed evidence of the mean score of the initial administration being significantly lower than what was obtained on later administrations. Implications for further research and development efforts are discussed.