The Development and Validation of the Social and Emotional Learning Classroom Checklist for Elementary School Classrooms (SELOC-ES)

We are recruiting elementary (K-5) schools who represent the diversity of U.S. schools and who are interested in assessing and improving how Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is implemented at their school. Because we are recruiting a representative sample of schools and our sample is limited to 50 schools, we may not be able to accommodate every interested school.

Schools must have an SEL School Leader who can conduct observations and one classroom teacher in Years 1 and 2 and 6 Classroom Teachers in Year 3, who will allow the SEL School Leader to observe them and video-record their instruction.

“SEL School Leaders” are typically mental health professionals, curricular leaders, or sometimes administrators on the school campus. SEL School Leaders should have some familiarity with and commitment to SEL.

“Classroom Teachers” are those teaching full-time in a K-5 classroom and who consent to participate in the study. Classroom teachers DO NOT have to have experience with SEL.

To participate in this project, schools must agree to support a variety of research activities. These activities include supporting the designated SEL School Leader to coordinate data collection and conduct observations. School participation also includes supporting classroom teacher and student participation and data collection.

SEL School Leaders can participate in this study for up to three years of data collection beginning in the 2021-2022 school year.

In the 2021-2022 school year, the SEL School Leader will commit about 10 hours of their time to:

• Help a classroom teacher get guardian permission and student assent for video recording.
• Observe and video record the classroom for four hours once between November 2021 and March 2022.
• Participate in one virtual debrief interview (2 hours) in Summer 2022.

In the 2022-23 school year the SEL School Leader will commit about 15 hours of their time to:

• Help a classroom teacher get guardian permission and student assent for video recording.
• Observe and video record the classroom for twice (for 3 to 4 hours) with the in-progress SELOC-ES measure once in Fall 2022 and once in Spring 2023.
• Participate in two virtual interviews following each observation.

in the 2023-24 school year the SEL School Leader will commit about 10 hours of their time to:

• Participate in a 2 to 4-hour virtual coder training and debrief session to learn how to use the SELOC-ES measure.
• Recruit 6 teachers/classrooms for piloting of the SELOC-ES and help the teacher get guardian permission and student assent for video recording.
• Video record 6 classrooms twice (once in Fall 2023 and once in Spring 2024).
• Code the SELOC-ES measure twice (once in Fall 2023 and once in Spring 2024) in each of the 6 classrooms for 2 to 3 short observation windows.

Classroom teachers can participate in this study for up to three years, depending on their enrollment year.

In the 2021-2022 school year the classroom teacher will commit about 3 hours of their time to:

• Complete a one-time demographic survey.
• Get guardian permission and student assent for video recording.
• Allow the SEL School Leader to observe and video record them once.
• Participate in one virtual debrief interview (2 hours) in Summer 2022.

In the 2022-23 school year the classroom teacher will commit about 3 hours of their time to:

• Get guardian permission and student assent for video recording.
• Allow the SEL school leader to observe and video record them twice (once in Fall and once in Spring).
• Participate in one feedback meeting with a researcher (1 hour).

In the 2023-24 school year the classroom teachers will commit about 4 hours of their time to:

• Allow the SEL school leader to observe and video record them twice (once in Fall and once in Spring).
• Engage in up to two feedback sessions with the SEL school leader after the observation.
• Complete two surveys on the social-emotional skills of five students.
• Complete four self-report surveys related to emotions and classroom demographics.
• Give permission to the research team to code video footage for SEL activities and pedagogy.
• Give permission for an independent consultant to score video footage for classroom quality.
• Participate in one feedback meeting with a researcher (1/2 hour).

All the school, classroom teacher, and student data will be kept private. Data will only be shared with members of the research team, in aggregate, or in a de-identified format where individuals and schools cannot be identified.

We are recruiting schools on a rolling basis so that we will have 12 schools participating in 2021-22, 24 schools participating in 2022-23, and 50 schools participating in 2023-24. Thus schools that start the project in the first year will participate in three years of data collection, those that start in 2021-22 will participate in two year sof data collection, and those that start in the third year will participate in one year of data collection. All schools will be invited to participate in dissemination and implementation activities in the 2024-25 school year.

The goal of the project is to create a useful tool for informing and improving SEL instruction. The tool benefits from school educators being involved in the process of its development and schools can benefit from learning how such a tool can support educators’ professional development.

If you would like to be involved, contact us to set up a time to discuss participation. After meeting with our team to discuss participation, school leadership will need to complete a school agreement form and the SEL School Leader will need to complete a consent form. Once prospective classroom teachers have been identified by the school, they will be invited to participate in an information session and to provide consent electronically. We will then support the SEL School Leader in gathering student assent and permission forms from parents/guardians.

SEL School Leaders will receive $500 in 2021-22, $750 in 2022-23, and $1,000 in 2023-24 for supporting the project. Classroom teachers will receive a $200 gift card for classroom resources each year they participate.

We are open to having other schools in your district or network participate in this project. However, we are recruiting schools that represent the demographics of schools across the U.S., so it is possible your or another school will not be eligible to participate.

Of course! We’d be happy to talk with you. Please reach out to us with any questions.