This qualitative study used responses to a large-scale survey on school experiences to identify schools where the students themselves reported above average scores on constructs of social emotional learning. The study looked at schools where the students reported above average results for several years in an attempt to answer the following questions: 1.What are the policies and practices of these schools specifically related to providing social emotional supports to students? 2.How do leaders in these schools describe their approach to providing social emotional support for their students? How do leaders assess their own perspectives, attitudes, decision-making and actions toward diverse student populations? To what do they attribute their schools' higher than average SEL scores? 3.What does an analysis of student responses in these schools show in terms of social emotional support provided by their schools? What do students report of their experience? The study looked at schools where students reported above average positive responses to survey questions on four social emotional learning (SEL) constructs for 4 years. Of the 10 schools that qualified, four agreed to participate. In order to examine the policies and practices of these schools, the researcher analyzed public documents from each school and conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with teachers and school leaders. The findings show that the administrators and teachers at the schools supported students' social emotional development by leveraging resources and acknowledging the need to promote equity. They incorporated SEL into the school culture through ongoing professional development, school wide practices, and intentional instruction in the competencies.
A Mixed-Method Examination of Preschool Teacher Beliefs About Social-Emotional Learning and Relations to Observed Emotional Support
