A Case Study Approach To Exploring Social Emotional Learning Program Implementation

Abstract

Public schools in the United States are charged with meeting increasingly rigorous student accountability measures despite evidence indicating vast racial and socioeconomic disparities in student achievement across the country. To meet these standards, schools, particularly those serving high concentrations of at-risk student populations, are turning to research-based social emotional learning practices found to improve student achievement and other indicators related to student and school progress. Research to support schools with social emotional learning implementation, however, has lagged behind outcomes-based evaluations to establish program efficacy. The lack of social emotional learning program implementation support often results in poor social emotional learning program quality and fidelity of implementation at the school level. This study explores the social emotional learning implementation policies and practices at a high needs high school to determine the extent the program’s implementation adhered to the identified model. The findings indicate the study school only partially implemented the evidence-based model identified due barriers similar to those cited in peer reviewed research and, therefore, the evidence-based program was not implemented as intended.