Psychosocial and Academic Wellbeing
This area of research focuses on understanding the links between education and the psychological and social development of children and youth. We’re interested in how social-emotional skills develop, how home and school environments promote them, and how they relate to academic, behavioral, and psychosocial outcomes. A core area of focus is on social and emotional learning (SEL), or the process by which students acquire social-emotional skills. Our attention has primarily been directed toward assessing effectiveness and developing assessment tools for examining SEL implementation and effectiveness.
Current Projects
Development of a Social and Emotional Learning Observational Measure
In collaboration with Drs. Christina Cipriano, Craig Bailey, and Almut Zieher from the Yale Child Study Center, we are developing the Social and Emotional Learning Observational Checklist (SELOC-E), an observational measure for elementary schools focused on SEL practices. It is designed to be program-agnostic and practical to train for, use, and score. This project is supported by a federal grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
Synthesis on Effectiveness of Social and Emotional Learning Programming
In collaboration with Drs. Christina Cipriano from the Education Collaborative and Joshua Polanin from AIR, we are conducting the first living systematic review (LSR) of social and emotional learning. Building on our earlier meta-analysis, we will update the evidence on SEL effectiveness every six months and design an online interactive dashboard for public use. This project is supported by a federal Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grant.
SEL Kernels
This project, in collaboration with Drs. Elizabeth Connors, Rachel Ouellette, and 7-Dippity, involves implementing and evaluating SEL Kernels in elementary schools. SEL kernels are evidence-based strategies designed to be practical, low-burden, low-cost, and adaptable to schools’ needs.