Annotated Bibliography

Arianna Shami
Advanced Seminar Special Education
SPED 5401
Caron Westland
University of Colorado - Denver

This annotated bibliography includes 10 articles that focus on the benefit

of providing Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curricula in the educational
setting. Some of the articles specifically address SEL applications within the
Special Education setting, while others pertain to general education settings. This
paper aims to explore the impact SEL coursework could have on the Special
Education population in regards to research on the theory, application, and
implementation of SEL within a public education setting.

Carroll, A., Houghton, S., Forrest, K., McCarthy, M., & Sanders-O’Connor,
E. (2020). Who benefits most? Predicting the effectiveness of a social
and emotional learning intervention according to children’s emotional
and behavioural difficulties. School Psychology International, 41(3),
197-217. doi:10.1177/0143034319898741

This study utilized a sample of 524, 8-12 year old Australian Catholic
School students (across 6 schools) in order to test the potential certain factors
have on predicting student improvement in social and emotional competencies
after participating in the KooL KIDS Whole of Class SEL program, which uses a
universal whole-class setting to deliver instruction on the five core SEL
competencies. The article addresses that current research supports the claim that
SEL programs provide a practical method of improving the social and emotional
well being of students, but fails to provide insight on how these programs may be
more effective for some students over others. To provide expansion on this topic,
the study utilized pre and post program assessments (completed by each teacher)
to determine the programs impact on students who fall within a range of
borderline/abnormal social-emotional competency after completion.

Using a Hierarchical Linear Model, the data analysis measures the impact
factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, and pretest behavioral scores
have on predicting improvements of a students ability to internalize/externalize
emotions, and improvements in self-awareness, self-management, social
awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. The results
concluded that the only characteristic associated with positive changes in
emotional and behavioral difficulties was their classification of behavioral
difficulty before enduring the 13 session SEL program. This highlights the
takeaway that regardless of age, gender or socioeconomic status, students who
suffer from behavioral deficits benefit the most from SEL instruction even when
that instruction is delivered in a setting surrounded by peers who do not fall into
the borderline/abnormal classification.

I found this study to be beneficial in its ability to provide further insight on

existing SEL research. It addresses several longitudinal studies that have explored
the effectiveness of SEL overall, but maintains its dedication to examining the
impact SEL content has on improving the social-emotional well being of students
who currently exemplify behavioral deficits. While the sample size is relatively
small, and consists of students attending institutions that require enrollment fees
(not public), this study acknowledges its limitations and calls for expansion upon
its findings. Regardless, the conclusions of this study have provided new
perspectives for implementation of SEL practices. As a special education teacher,
I find it common that many students within the special education classification
display behavioral deficits and the best approach to making improvements may be
to provide SEL instruction alongside their general education peer group. This not
only allows for all children to receive education on managing behaviors and
emotions but also eliminates the stigma associated with being removed from
classes to receive targeted SEL instruction.

Rivers, S. E., Tominey, S. L., O'Bryon, E. C., & Brackett, M. A. (2013).

Introduction to the special issue on social and emotional learning in
early education. Early Education and Development, 24(7), 953-959.
doi:10.1080/10409289.2013.825364

This article contains a synthesis of several other articles and studies that
highlight the importance of implementing effective SEL practices at the preschool
level. The research examined focuses on social and emotional skills being a
critical component of early learning and development in the short-term and the
benefits that persist into young adulthood. By cross-referencing several studies,
the impact of pre-school level SEL instruction is observed through three main
lenses. The first being the conditions of a students homelife (familial
relationships, socioeconomic status, parental stress/turmoil), the second being
differences in SEL curriculum approaches (focus on student social-emotional skill
development, focus on teacher social-emotional skill development, and a
combination of the two), and the third being results in children’s academic and
behavioral outcomes.

Overall, this collection of research supports the necessity of SEL

curriculum being introduced at the pre-school level, especially for children in
low-income socioeconomic demographics. A relationship appears to exist
between a child’s development of social-emotional skills early on and their ability
to avoid facing achievement gaps throughout the remainder of their academic
career. The expulsion rate of children in preschool is three times higher than that
in the K-12 demographic, suggesting that SEL implementation is critical in this
stage of development. However, this article also suggests there is a correlation
between the social-emotional skill development of both students and teachers in
order to support the most effective outcomes, with one study mentioned finding
that higher quality teacher-student relationships result in improvement in a child’s
ability to self-regulate their behaviors.

Due to this article's use of several different source studies, I find it to make
valid conclusions based on supporting evidence. The understanding of these
conclusions highlights the importance of utilizing SEL instruction with a
community based approach. Results in student social-emotional improvement can
not simply be expected to form out of SEL instructional delivery. It is fostered by
contextualizing the conditions of a students environment, furthering school-wide
relationships amongst students and teachers, and implementing a curriculum
approach that is tailored to the specific needs of the student community. The
combination of developing these factors is key to creating a higher quality
education that sets students on a path to lifelong success.
McCormick, M. P., Neuhaus, R., Horn, E. P., O’Connor, E. E., White, H. I.,
Harding, S., . . . McClowry, S. (2019). Long-term effects of social–
emotional learning on receipt of special education and grade
retention: Evidence from a randomized trial of insights. AERA Open,
5(3), 233285841986729. doi:10.1177/2332858419867290

This study’s approach aimed to address the lack of SEL research that
exists in examining the long term-impacts early administration of SEL has on
receiving special education services and grade retention. The study utilized school
records of those who received INSIGHT SEL intervention instruction in
Kindergarten or First grade to examine receipt of SPED services and grade
retention when those students reached the Fifth grade against a control group that
did not attend INSIGHT sponsored institutions. The source data comes from a
sample of 22 elementary schools based in NYC that participated in the
INSIGHTS SEL intervention program between 2008 and 2012, with 77% of those
student’s data still being accessible.

The results of this study found that students who received INSIGHT
instruction were significantly less likely to receive SPED services by Fifth grade
as opposed to the control group. This held to be true regardless of income
demographic (high or low). Prior research from longitudinal studies is referenced
to illustrate that low-income students who display behavioral problems are more
likely to be placed in SPED classrooms than higher income students with similar
behavior problems. No significant impact was found to prevent grade retention as
opposed to the control group.

This study suffers from similar limitations as others addressed in this

annotated bibliography. The source data includes results from the trial period of
the INSIGHTS program and the conclusions appear to fail to hold up when
replicated in different statistical models. While this does hinder the validity of
results, the study still provides a necessary and useful step in the progression of
SEL research, specifically in reference to the impact of special education student
populations. Expansion of this research will hopefully indicate practices that
allow for more students in low-income demographics to benefit from full-
inclusion instruction and develop sustainable behavioral practices that enhance
their academic growth over the long-term.

Ashdown, D. M., & Bernard, M. E. (2011). Can explicit instruction in social

and emotional learning skills benefit the social-emotional
development, well-being, and academic achievement of young
children? Early Childhood Education Journal, 39(6), 397-405.
doi:10.1007/s10643-011-0481-x

This study essentially mirrors that of Carroll, et al. in that it tested a small
group of Catholic School students (99 total, 42 preparatory, 57 grade 1) utilizing
teacher completed surveys (based on the five core competencies of SEL) of
student behavioral metrics before and after completing the You Can Do It! Early
Childhood Education Program. There are a couple distinct differences between
the studies, first both the test group and control group came from one school, and
secondly the survey results were also analyzed alongside teacher-reported
reading levels in order to test for academic improvement. Lastly, this study also
allowed for teachers to modify the YCDI curriculum.

The results of this study are similar to that of Carroll, et al. as well.
Multivariate analysis found YCDI classes to make significant gains in scores on
social-emotional behavior metrics than the control group, regardless of gender or
first spoken language. The student population was considered to be low-income
and very diverse, with many students being English language learners. Analysis
did not find YCDI to have a significant impact on reading levels in comparison to
the control group (both increased).

This research once again supports the idea that SEL instruction can be
incorporated with positive effects being achieved in both social-emotional
competence and academic achievement. While this data is still very much
constrained to the Australian Catholic School population, this study provides
useful insight on the potential benefits of SEL instruction to diverse populations
as students appear to benefit regardless of age, gender or ethnicity. Also, the fact
that teachers were able to make lesson modifications and still received similar
results to other research highlights the importance of strong teacher-student
relationships in the classroom to increase overall student well-being. I would like
to see a similar study conducted where teachers receive more than one day of
program training with follow up support and observation provided by the
researchers as opposed to the curriculum manufacturer.

Nathanson, L., Rivers, S. E., Flynn, L. M., & Brackett, M. A. (2016).

Creating emotionally intelligent schools with ruler. Emotion Review,
8(4), 305-310. doi:10.1177/1754073916650495

The authors of this article provide a comprehensive evaluation of existing

research pertaining to RULER, a Pre-12 SEL program that has been implemented
in hundreds of public, charter and independent schools across the US.

The article details the philosophy of the program, which begins with
preliminary and continued educator training on emotional intelligence and utilizes
a Bronfenbrenner ecological systems approach to implementation. Longitudinal
research implies the program’s approach is effective as educator training increases
the social-emotional skill set of teachers, which improves the quality of the
learning environment. Implementation of the program then creates increased
emotional intelligence amongst students, which ultimately expands to multiple
proximal and distal outcomes. Proximal outcomes being mainly an improved
emotional climate amongst the entire community, as well as improved academic
achievement. Distal outcomes being increased attention and memory, relationship
management, well being, and employment attainment.
 In my opinion, RULER appears to be the most developed, researched, and
implemented SEL program thus far. The vision of the program extends beyond
early education, with the intent of the benefits of increaseing emotional
intelligence in students trickling into lifelong sustainable impacts on the entire
community. This source could be particularly useful in providing information to
educators who currently do not have access to an SEL curriculum, as the evidence
shows the impact created by implementing social-emotional practices in the
classroom.

Panayiotou, M., Humphrey, N., & Wigelsworth, M. (2019). An empirical

basis for linking social and emotional learning to academic
performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 56, 193-204.
doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.01.009

This study provides further statistical analyses of a major longitudinal

sample of 1,626 elementary school students in England (ages 9-12, 51% male)
measuring the effectiveness of the PATHS SEL program. Using a longitudinal
latent variable model, the secondary data was tested in an attempt to gain a deeper
understanding of the relationship between social-emotional competence, school
connectedness, mental health issues and academic attainment.

Findings indicate that increased social-emotional competence leads to a

reduction in reported mental health difficulties which ultimately has a significant
impact on predicting higher academic attainment. This implies that social-
emotional competence works as a protective factor, buffering the adverse impact
mental health disorders have on academic attainment.

Speaking for the school I teach at, our Special Education population has a
higher amount of reported mental health difficulties than the general population.
This research would support that at the very least, targeting at-risk students with
SEL intervention programs may provide them with skills necessary to improve
the state of their mental health, paving a way to heightened academic attainment
for this demographic. This study is the first to work towards a model that further
explains why SEL is generally shown to be effective, more studies of this nature
could help to identify other key variables that ultimately lead to increased
academic performance and community improvement.

Casciano, R., Cherfas, L., & Jobson-Ahmed, L. (2019). Connecting arts

integration to social-emotional learning among special education
students. Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal
on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities, 15(1).
doi:10.21977/d915139672

The authors of this article provide a subjective analysis of the Everyday

Arts for Special Education program and the ways in which their art integrated
classroom practices promote social-emotional learning amongst special education
students. Data is based on observations of the EASE program over two academic
years across, 17 schools based in New York City and Los Angeles.

The article highlights a bulk of research that outlines that the benefits of
an art-integrated approach in learning has on overall academic performance, but
specifically inquires about the connection between art-integration and SEL. The
EASE program provides extensive professional development over a four year
period to train special education teachers on strategies to implement art based
activities and tailor them to the specific needs of their students.

While no statistical analysis was performed, the article instead focuses on

outlining the ways in which this program specifically promotes SEL among
special education students. By implementing collaborative art-based activities,
lessons simultaneously work to develop student engagement, self-control,
leadership and interpersonal skills. The benefits of this program are subjectively
evaluated by tying them to previous research illustrating the statistically
significant benefits of arts integration to general education classrooms.
Ultimately, this analysis has paved the way for additional research to be
conducted, giving specific inquiries to be tested. On a theorized level, it seems
apparent that arts integration closely aligns with enhancing the skills taught by
other SEL programs and may be a legitimate link between furthering research for
neurodiverse populations.

Hoffmann, J. D., Brackett, M. A., Bailey, C. S., & Willner, C. J. (2020).

Teaching emotion regulation in schools: Translating research into
practice with the ruler approach to social and emotional learning.
Emotion, 20(1), 105-109. doi:10.1037/emo0000649

The authors of this article stem form Yale University’s Center for
Emotional Intelligence, which also developed the SEL program RULER. Rather
than expanding on current data to further support RULER’s effectiveness, the
authors utilize previous findings to further explain rigid practices educators can
utilize to support social-emotional learning in their classrooms.

The authors maintain that the cornerstone to incorporating effective social-

emotional growth is for educators to be highly trained in their ability to both
deliver SEL instruction and build up their own social-emotional skill levels. The
Meta-Moment practice provides a four step process for educators to develop their
ability to regulate their own emotions, which can then be practiced with students
as well. Once preliminary practices in emotion regulation are established,
educators can expand upon student emotion regulation with direct instruction in
emotion vocabulary and providing practices to help students appropriately
internalize/externalize their feelings, and take advantage of strategies such as
positive self-talk or mindful breathing to develop an ability to shift emotional
states.
 The article calls on several sources in order to support the proposed
strategies, therefore I find the processes to be well researched and validly
supported by a wealth of existing literature. Despite the authors playing a role in
developing the RULER program, their integrity is maintained in the publication of
their research. By making the theory, research and glimpse into concrete practices
of RULER accessible to public educators, RULER evades simply coming off as
an “education product” and provides useful, evidence-based strategies that can be
incorporated into any classroom regardless of whether the school has adopted the
RULER program.