Strong Kids - Grades 3-5: A Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum (Strong Kids Curricula) - Softcover

Dianna Carrizales-Engelmann, Ph.D., is currently an instructor at the University of Oregon in Eugene specializing in performance assessment for teacher preparation. Over the course of her career in the field of education, Dr. Carrizales-Engelmann's has maintained a consistent focus in the development, research, and troubleshooting of educational assessments. Dr. Carrizales-Engelmann's assessment development experience includes state assessments, nationally standardized assessments, and classroom and curriculum-based assessments. In addition to her role in the field of educational assessment, Carrizales-Engelmann has had several years of policy-related experience related to education and assessment at the Oregon Department of Education.

Laura L. Feuerborn, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She received her PhD in school psychology, with an emphasis in social and emotional learning, from the University of Oregon. Since joining the faculty at the University of Washington in 2006, she has taught a wide range of graduate-level courses for educators in both general and special education. Her areas of teaching expertise include classroom management, systems of prevention and supports, collaborative consultation, and assessment and evaluation. Further, she developed and now leads a course that focuses expressly on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for classroom teachers. She is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, has served as faculty advisor for the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and serves as a reviewer for several scholarly journals. Her research focuses on the science of implementing systems change. She is a lead author of the Staff Perceptions of Behavior and Discipline (SPBD), an assessment tool that helps leadership teams understand the perceptions and needs of school staff in the implementation of PBIS. Currently, she is developing a book that provides practical guidance to teams in securing staff commitment and managing staff resistance in the implementation of both PBIS and SEL. She has published over a dozen scholarly articles in the fields of SEL and PBIS, presented in over 30 national and international conferences, and collaborated with over 50 national and international agencies to facilitate the development of sustainable, multi-tiered systems of social, emotional, and behavioral supports.

Barbara A. Gueldner, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and Nationally Certified School Psychologist who works with children and families in Steamboat Springs, CO. She obtained her doctorate in school psychology from the University of Oregon and has worked in educational, medical, and community settings for 20 years. Dr. Gueldner specializes in promoting wellness and resilience through social and emotional learning (SEL) program development and implementation, parent education and support, integrating mental health care into primary care and schools, and early detection and intervention with developmental, behavioral, social, and emotional problems. She has published in the areas of SEL and general childhood mental health issues, co-authoring journal articles, book chapters, the first edition of Strong Kids and Strong Teens, and a book on implementing SEL in schools. Dr. Gueldner is involved in a variety of public outreach and educational initiatives in her community.

Oanh K. Tran, Ph.D., teaches in the Child Clinical/ School Psychology (CCSP) Program at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB). The CCSP program is approved by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). Dr. Tran also practices as a school psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area and consults with school districts and mental health agencies. Dr. Tran's direct experience includes working with diverse and at-risk populations in public and nonpublic schools as well as residential, foster care, outpatient, and in-home settings. Her research and professional interests include psychoeducational assessments, special education, social and emotional learning, academic and behavioral consultation, response to intervention, positive behavioral supports, cognitive behavior therapy, and parent-training. She has presented locally and nationally and published articles, chapters, and prevention curricula in the area of children's mental health. Dr. Tran continues her research and mentoring of her graduate students in social-emotional development and learning for students in K–12.

Hill M. Walker Ph.D. is Director of Center on Human Development, College of Education, University of Oregon

Excerpted from Chapter 1 of Strong Kids-Grades 3–5: A Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum, by Kenneth W. Merrell, Ph.D.

Copyright© 2007 by The State of Oregon acting by and through the State Board of Higher Education on behalf of the University of Oregon. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Strong Kids™ A Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum consists of four brief and practical social and emotional learning (SEL) programs that were designed for the purpose of teaching social and emotional skills, promoting resilience, strengthening assets, and increasing the coping skills of children and adolescents. This chapter provides some background information about children's mental health and social-emotional development, as well as a comprehensive overview of Strong Kids-Grades 3–5, the second volume in the Strong Kids curriculum. It provides tips for using the curriculum effectively and with confidence. Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 is designed specifically for use with children in Grades 3–5, or approximately ages 8–12. Because Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 is designed to be both a prevention and an early intervention program, it has a wide range of applications and may be used effectively with high-functioning, typically developing, and at-risk children, as well as children with emotional disturbance. It can also be used in a variety of settings. Children in the Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 target range face some unique challenges related to social and emotional development. As they progress from the primary grades to the intermediate grades, they begin to receive more academic specialization and may feel pressure associated with specialized learning as they move into subject matter instruction at school. At the same time, they must adapt to negotiating an increased number of social situations as they begin to interact with more children, have more teachers at school, and take on more complex social tasks. As children in this age range begin to mature cognitively, they become increasingly aware of some of the challenges they face. Issues that children may have been previously unaware of or only partially aware of-such as family stresses, marital conflict of parents, acceptance or rejection by peers, and expectations at school and in their community-may become increasingly clear to them. In addition, many children in Grades 3–;5 live in communities or families where they are exposed to ineffective or inappropriate models for solving conflict and dealing with problems. Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 is designed to help teach children the skills to negotiate these issues while having fun and engaging in activities that support their academic learning.

DESIGN OF THE STRONG KIDS CURRICULUM

We designed the Strong Kids curriculum to target each of the five pathways to wellness advocated by Cowen (1994), a pioneer in the modern science of mental health prevention and wellness promotion:

• Forming wholesome early attachments
  
• Acquiring age–appropriate competencies
  
• Having exposure to settings that favor wellness outcomes
  
• Having the empowering sense of being in control of one's fate
  
• Coping effectively with stress

Furthermore, as we created this curriculum over a 5-year period and then continued to refine and research it, we envisioned Strong Kids as a carefully designed SEL program to prevent the development of certain mental health problems and promote social and emotional wellness among young people. Strong Kids is not the right SEL program for all types of problems. We especially targeted the domain of internalizing behavioral and emotional problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, social withdrawal, somatic problems) and the promotion of what we term social and emotional resiliency in designing this curriculum: We never intended Strong Kids to be a comprehensive program for preventing school violence or antisocial behavior, even though it may play a role in supporting these aims as part of a comprehensive program of effective behavior support.

In addition, we specifically designed Strong Kids as a low-cost, low-technology program that can be implemented in a school or related educational setting with minimal professional training and resources. It is not necessary to be a licensed mental health professional to learn and implement this curriculum. It can also be taught in a self-contained manner within a specific environment and does not require expensive community wrap-around services or mandatory parent training groups.

The advantage of this programming approach is that Strong Kids is brief, efficient, skill-based, portable, and focused. One disadvantage of this approach is that the program is not designed to be a complete mental health treatment package for children and youth with severe mental health problems. Although our research to date has shown that the curriculum can make a meaningful difference with such populations, it should be used as one component of a comprehensive, intensive intervention program in such cases.

As mentioned previously, the Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 program is aimed for use with children in the late primary and intermediate elementary grades. For younger or older students, the Strong Kids curriculum includes other developmentally appropriate programs for use throughout the K–12 grade span. Strong Start is for use with children in Grades K–2. Strong Kids-Grades 6–8 is for use with students in middle school, and Strong Teens is for use with high school-age students, those in Grades 9–12 or at similar age ranges.

There are several appropriate settings for use of Strong Kids-Grades 3–5, including, but not limited to, general and special education classrooms, group counseling settings, and youth treatment facilities that have an educational component. A wide range of professionals may appropriately serve as group leaders or instructors for this curriculum. General and special education teachers, speech–language pathologists, school counselors, social workers, psychologists, and other education or mental health professionals may serve as effective group leaders.

FEASIBILITY AND EASE OF IMPLEMENTATION

This curriculum was developed with both time feasibility and ease of implementation as high priorities. Even an exceptionally strong intervention program will fail to make an impact if its time requirements and difficulty of implementation result in few people being able to use it within the time and training constraints of a school system or other youth-serving agency. Thus, the maximum duration of the curriculum is 12 weeks (if lessons are taught once per week), and the average length of each lesson is approximately 45-50 minutes.

One of the advantages of the Strong Kids curriculum is that it is designed to support academic skills and to be implemented seamlessly within an instructional program. The skills needed to effectively teach students academic skills are the same skills needed to deliver this curriculum effectively. Group leaders do not need to be mental health specialists or therapists. The activities in this curriculum not only promote social and emotional learning and resiliency but also support literacy, language arts, social studies, and health.

Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 is a highly structured and partially scripted curriculum designed to cover very specific objectives and goals. We developed the objectives and goals for each lesson, as well as the implementation guidelines, based on current research findings in education and psychology, aiming for a prevention and intervention program that is built on a solid base of empirical evidence. Each lesson follows a similar format. The lessons provide optional scripts to aid concept delivery, sample situations and examples to better illustrate the concept, and opportunities for guided and independent practice. Group leaders can follow the script and examples directly or modify the lessons to utilize creativity.

We recommend teaching the Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 lessons once per week for 12 weeks, although it is possible to effectively teach the curriculum at a more accelerated tempo such as two lessons per week for 6 weeks. The one lesson per week format will allow students sufficient time to complete homework assignments, internalize the concepts taught, and practice the new skills they learn, both at school and outside of school. We recommend that teachers and group leaders look for opportunities throughout the instructional day and the school week to support the learning that takes place during the Strong Kids-Grades 3–5 lessons. Our experience, and that of many teachers and mental health professionals who have used the Strong Kids curriculum, is that it is easy to find opportunities to reinforce curriculum concepts, allow students to practice, and apply key concepts to everyday situations.

PROMOTING CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH

The primary mission of public education has traditionally been perceived as promoting the development of academic skills. There is no question that most educators, parents, students, and the general public also support and expect a broader mission for schools (Greenberg et al., 2003). Some examples of this expanded agenda include character education, development of good work habits, promotion of good citizenship, development of social and emotional competence, and promotion of healthy and productive lifestyle.

Commenting on the need for this broader agenda, Greenberg and his colleagues stated,
High-quality education should teach young people to interact in socially skilled and respectful ways; to practice positive, safe, and healthy behaviors; to contribute ethically and responsibly to their peer group, family, school, and community; and to possess basic competencies, work habits, and values as a foundation for meaningful employment and citizenship . . . . We consequently assert that school-based prevention programming-based on coordinated social, emotional, and academic learning-should be fundamental to preschool through high school education" (2003, pp. 466-467).

We emphatically agree with this statement. In addition, we propose that teaching young people positive social, emotional, and behavioral skills is not only an essential mission for educators and mental health professionals but also one of the most critical challenges facing our society in the 21st century.

As many researchers, writers, and public officials have noted, changes in the structure of society and families have resulted in an increasing percentage of children and families who are at risk for developing a variety of behavioral, social, and mental health problems (e.g., Costello & Angold, 2000; Doll & Lyon, 1998; Farmer & Farmer, 1999; Hoagwood & Erwin, 1997; Satcher, 1999). The numbers of children and youth affected by these problems are surprisingly high. Greenberg, Domitrovich, and Bumbarger (2001) have asserted that between 12% and 22% of children and adolescents younger than age 18 experience mental health problems of sufficient severity to be in need of mental health services. These percentages represent a staggering figure of up to 1 out of every 5 children and adolescents in some instances. Without question, effective responses to these problems, including mental health prevention and early intervention curricula in educational settings, must occur if these challenges are to be stemmed.

Despite sincere and well-meaning attempts to offer real solutions to social, emotional, and mental health problems of students in school settings, many of the programs or interventions that have been implemented are simply ineffective. Walker stated that "educators are notorious for embracing programs that look good but do no actual good"; (2001, p. 2). In these educators' defense, we should note that school personnel who work on the front lines of serving children and youth who have significant mental health issues are often overworked and not provided with sufficient resources with which to make the impact they desire. Furthermore, some developers and publishers of mental health prevention programs tend to overwhelm educators and clinicians with claims of effectiveness, even when there is little or no supporting evidence. Worse yet are reactionary school policies, such as the perennial "get tough" approaches that are not only ineffective in the long term but also contribute to the development of systems that are hostile, aversive, socially toxic, and incompatible with optimal development of academic skills and mental health (Hyman & Perone, 1998; Skiba & Peterson, 1999).

Despite these problems and challenges, there is reason for optimism regarding our ability to positively affect the social and emotional health and resiliency of children and adolescents, even those from very adverse life circumstances. One reason for this optimism is the accumulation of a large body of scientific evidence regarding what has been termed developmental resilience (Doll & Lyon, 1998). This notion of resilience concerns the ability of individuals to cope successfully with adversity, risk factors, and severe life stress and for young people to develop into competent and happy adults despite these problems.

Central to this notion of developmental resilience is the idea that some characteristics of resilience-the cognitive, behavioral, and affective skills that enable one to cope effectively with adversity-may be systematically taught and learned. Although some aspects of resiliency or developmental hardiness may be innate or biologically based, the evidence convinces us that learning plays a crucial role in developing the ability to cope effectively with problems and challenges. Stated simply, the ability to be resilient and to cope effectively in the face of adverse circumstances and challenges in life is something that can be acquired in great measure through systematic and effective instruction in the critical requisite skills involved.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING

Another reason for optimism regarding our ability to positively affect the social and emotional health and resiliency of young people is an impressive emerging body of literature in the area of SEL (Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg, & Walberg, 2004). SEL has been defined as systematic, cohesive, and effective instructional programming designed to teach social and emotional skills to children and adolescents, to prevent mental health problems, and to provide effective early intervention for those problems that are beginning to emerge (Greenberg et al., 2003). There are many manifestations of SEL programs, ranging from simple training in social or other life skills to expansive, multipronged efforts to prevent antisocial behavior and conduct problems. Since about the early 1990s, an impressive array of evidence-based SEL programs have been developed and made available for use in education and mental health. These programs vary substantially in mode of instruction, time and resources required, target areas, and cost.

The specific type of SEL program selected will depend on ...