Evidence Synthesis

The Innovation

What we do: We are continuing to complete the most comprehensive and complete articulation of universal school-based social and emotional learning interventions serving students K-12th grade worldwide. Using exhaustive inclusion criteria and meticulous attending to moving the goal posts out to encompass a burgeoning field in a way never articulated before.

How we do it: We advance open science practices and pre-registration in evidence synthesis. To date, we have completed the first fully transparent and replicable Registered Report of a meta-analysis to be published by Child Development. This work now stands as the precedence for HOW to conduct an evidence synthesis and is the new best practice.

Contemporary K-12 USB SEL Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Child Development

The State of Evidence for Social and Emotional Learning: A Contemporary Meta-Analysis of Universal School-Based SEL Interventions

This paper provides an update of the evidence available for universal school-based (USB) social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions SB SEL programs from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2020. We present a systematic review and meta-analysis of the current evidence for USB SEL interventions for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The sample includes 424 studies from 53 countries, reflecting 252 discrete USB SEL interventions, involving 575,361 students. Results endorsed that, compared to control conditions, students who participate in USB SEL interventions experienced significantly improved skills, attitudes, behaviors, school climate and safety, peer relationships, school functioning, and academic achievement. Significant heterogeneity in SEL content, intervention features, context, and implementation quality moderated student experiences and outcomes. Strengths and limitations of this evidence and implications for future SEL research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Some key findings are listed below and you can learn more on Open Science Framework (OSF).

• There is robust evidence for the impact of USB SEL interventions on the social, emotional, and academic outcomes of student K-12 worldwide.
• Students who participated in USB SEL interventions demonstrated significant improvements in school climate and safety, civic attitudes, and behaviors, SEL skills, peer relationships, attitudes and beliefs, prosocial behaviors, school functioning, and academic achievement. Students also demonstrated significant reductions in emotional distress and externalizing behaviors after participating in a USB SEL intervention.
• The positive effects of USB SEL interventions last. Students who participated in USB SEL Interventions had improved SEL skills, attitudes/beliefs, peer relationships, reductions in emotional distress and externalizing behaviors 6 months or more after the intervention ended.
• Program features matter for the effectiveness of SEL interventions. Programs delivered by teachers, those that meet all SAFE criteria, and those that teach intrapersonal skills first have the strongest effects for students.
• Quality matters when implementing an USB SEL intervention.
• Country and Cultural adaptation matters when implementing an USB SEL intervention.
• There was evidence of publication bias in our results.

View the pre-print of the study.

Disability and Race Representation in Elementary School Universal School-Based SEL Interventions in the United States, Review of Educational Research

The authors present a systematic review of elementary school universal school-based (USB) social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions from 2008 through 2020 for two groups of minoritized students in education research and practice: students with disabilities and/or minoritized racial identities. Completed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses standards, in this review the authors identified 269 studies for inclusion, which reflected 107 USB SEL interventions. Eleven studies explicitly excluded students with disabilities. Studies varied widely in how disability and racial identity were categorized within and across studies and provided limited evidence of effectiveness through the use of subgroup analyses to support meaningful assessment of how students with disabilities and racially minoritized elementary school age students are benefiting from USB SEL interventions. The authors discuss the limitations of findings, education research best practices, and the minimum reporting standards necessary to ensure ability and racially minoritized youth representation in future USB SEL research.

An update of the Contemporary K-12 USB SEL Meta-Analysis (from 2020 onward) is currently underway in collaboration with the Methods of Synthesis and Integration Center (MOSAIC) at American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Dr. Dorothy L. Espelage, William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of North Carolina. For additional information and to participate please email selmeta@yale.edu.

A Meta-analysis of the effects of USB SEL Programs for Marginalized Students in the United States, Social and Emotional Learning: Research, Practice, Policy