This powerpoint presentation was put together by Stephanie Jones and presented on June 24 at our Georgia Children's Advocacy Network (GA-CAN!) Forum. This month we looked at Learning Differences and Obstacles: What gets in the way of reading?
Stephanie Jones is an affiliated faculty member at the Center on the Developing Child and the Marie and Max Kargman Associate Professor in Human Development and Urban Education Advancement at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Her basic developmental research focuses on the longitudinal effects of poverty and exposure to violence on social and emotional development in early childhood and adolescence. In addition, she conducts evaluation research focusing on the developmental impact of school-based interventions targeting children's social-emotional skills and aggressive behavior, as well as their basic academic skills.
1. Stephanie M. Jones
Harvard University
Learning Differences and Obstacles:
What Gets in the Way of Reading?
June 24, 2014
Georgia Children’s Advocacy Network (GA-CAN!)
Social-Emotional Learning
(What does research in social and emotional development
tell us about the most important knowledge and skills to
learn for impacting school success?)
2. Outline
• What is Social-Emotional Learning and why is
it important?
• What do we know about links between S-E
skills and other outcomes?
• What are S-E skills?
– Over development?
– Links to CCSS?
• Summary
5. • Social and emotional skills are universal and
developmental.
– They are essential to the tasks facing children in preschool and
school settings.
• Effective instruction reaches its limits when children
face substantial social and emotional problems.
– Addressing SEL could enhance the effect of an academic
intervention.
– Programs that intentionally target both are likely to maximize
positive outcomes.
• Does SEL programming work?
YES: Social-emotional skills=.57; Academic outcomes=.27
(Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011)
Why Social-Emotional Learning?
6. Cognitive Domain
Emotional
Domain
Social Domain
setting goals, planning &
organizing, transitioning,
memory, attention
understanding social cues,
resolving conflict, cooperating
expressing & identifying
emotions, regulating
emotions & behavior,
perspective-taking
Regulation
An Organizing Framework for Social-
Emotional Learning (SEL)
8. What do we know about links
between S-E and other outcomes?
9. Self & Social
Regulation
Academic
Skills and
Behavior
Social-
Emotional
Skills and
Behavior
Moffitt et al. (2011): Self-control measured with observer, parent, teacher, and self-report ratings
during the first decade of life predicts income, savings behavior, financial security, occupational
prestige, physical and mental health, substance use, and (lack of) criminal convictions.
What do we know?
10. • Working memory and inhibitory control contribute
substantially to math knowledge in PreK (Epsy et al, 2004)
• Early PreK measures of behavior regulation (inhibitory control,
attention control, and working memory) predict growth in
literacy, vocabulary, and math scores over the PreK year
(McClelland et al, 2007)
• Aspects of self-regulation in PreK are associated with K reading
and math ability, above and beyond IQ; particularly inhibitory
control (Blair & Razza, 2007)
• PreK measures of executive function predict academic
achievement at end of 1st and 3rd grades (Bull et al, 2008)
EF/SR Academic Outcomes
11. • Study of the ability to delay gratification (self-control)
• 4 year olds
• Eat 1 marshmallow now, or wait 20 minutes and get 2
marshmallows later
• Ability to wait in early childhood predicted later
behavior problems, drug addiction, obesity, and SAT
scores
– More important to academic
success than IQ (Duckworth, 2005)
• Strategies that kids use to successfully wait:
– Focus on non-arousing characteristics of reward
– Meta-cognitive strategies like pretending it’s a picture or
cloud, singing a song, looking away
– Strategies that “lower the emotional temperature”
(Mischel, 1972; 1989)
Self-Control & Marshmallows
12. • Deficits in emotion knowledge and emotion/ behavior
regulation can lead to problems in school adjustment and
academic outcomes (Raver, 2002; Denham, 2006)
• Children unable to inhibit problematic behaviors pay less
attention in class, spend less time on-task, have poorer
school adjustment and academic outcomes (Alexander,
Entwistle & Dauber, 1993)
• K children with poor self-regulation skills are at greater risk
for peer rejection and low levels of academic
achievement (Ladd, Birch & Buhs, 1999)
Emotions, Behavior & School
13. 1 in 5 children growing up in poverty have increased risk for
social-emotional difficulty (Evans & English, 2002; Evans, 2004)
Children who experience early adversity are more likely to
exhibit challenges with executive functioning and self-
regulation (Gunnar, 2000; Bos et al, 2009)
– The chronic fear, anxiety, and stress associated with unpredictable
or chaotic environments can disrupt brain architecture, particularly
those involved with executive function and emotion management
Poverty, Stress, and Regulation
Neural Development Toxic Stress & Neural Development
(Center on the Developing Child, 2013)
15. What are S-E skills, concretely (and
over development)?
16. Working Memory
Pro-social &
Cooperation
Conflict Resolution
Understanding
Social Cues
Empathy &
Perspective-Taking
Emotion & Behavior
Management
Emotion Knowledge
& Expression
Cognitive Flexibility
Response Inhibition
EF & Cognitive
Domain
Emotion Domain Social Domain
Significant Growth in PreK and K – provide foundation for cognitive, emotion and
social regulation skills; continue to grow throughout childhood and adolescence.
Emerge in K and 1 – then become more sophisticated in
grades 2-3 to support academic and social goals.
Gain ascendance in grades 2+
Basic Social
Engagement
Attention Control
Planning, Organizing,
Setting Goals
3-6 yrs
5-8 yrs
7+ yrs
(Jones & Bailey, 2012)
A Developmental Sequence
of SEL Skills
17. Preschool Years
(Center on the Developing Child, 2011)
Executive Functions improve dramatically in
preschool/preK years coinciding with growth in
the prefrontal cortex
18. Domain/Skill: Cognitive Regulation, Planning
Example Benchmarks:
Following a prompt, child thinks about and says aloud what
he/she will do or where he/she will play next
Under direction of teacher, child draws a picture or writes 2-3
steps or materials that are needed to accomplish a task
Mentally or verbally outlines the steps needed to solve a math
problem or a conflict situation
As a small group, children share and discuss plans for an
upcoming project, presentation, or parent day
For example, …
19. Domain/Skill: Emotion Regulation, Emotion
Knowledge and Expression
Example Benchmarks:
Uses basic feelings words appropriate to the situation (basic
feelings include: happy, sad, mad, scared)
Uses increasingly sophisticated vocabulary to describe complex
feelings and situations (i.e., disappointed, bored, lonely, jealous,
generous, proud, curious; or multiple feelings at once)
Uses a range of feelings words of varying intensity (i.e., angry,
irritated, furious)
For example, …
20. Domain/Skill: Social Regulation, Social Problem
Solving
Example Benchmarks:
Effectively enters and engages in variety of social situations
Uses “I Messages” or other strategy to describe own feelings in
conflict situation
Uses basic strategies to wait, take turns, share, or get help from
adult in conflict situation with peer (i.e., struggle over objects)
Engages in more complex conflict resolution strategies (i.e., listens
to the feelings of others, chooses win-win solution)
For example, …
22. Concept Key Classroom Skills and
Behaviors
Stop and Think wait, reflect
Focus pay attention, listen, ignore
distractions
Be Flexible transition, switch, take
other perspectives
Manage Emotions motivate self, cope with
negative feelings, respond
appropriately
Notice and Respect
Others
pay attention to others,
cooperate and collaborate,
negotiate
Communicate label, model and imitate;
Plan and Set Goals organize, following through
Applied Concepts and relevant
Classroom/School Behaviors
that are…
(1) grounded in theory/research
on EF and social, emotional,
and cognitive regulation,
(2) translations of
theory/research for practice
and practitioners,
(3) necessary to successful
learning across PreK-5th grade
and across content areas.
SEL Skills Fundamental to Learning
23. • Integration
• It’s Universal, Developmental & Contextual
– And we should focus (e.g., developmental pinpointing) – doesn’t need to
be (and shouldn’t be) everything at once
– Requires common experience, language, and practice (across age and
place)
• It’s not whether we focus on SEL, because we are already (haphazard,
unplanned OR intentional, explicit)
– In relationships, environment (climate)
– Necessary to support CCSS: deeper understanding of subject matter, learn
how to think critically, and apply what they are learning to the real world
• We can (and should) support it in the way we do other things:
– Exposure (and modeling); Instruction; Practice; Adults need supports
My take on all this…
24. END, thank you!
Stephanie Jones:
jonesst@gse.harvard.edu
See briefs describing the Rigorous &
Regulated Learning Environment
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=l
esaux&pageid=icb.page660137
25. • Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) examples:
– Emotion knowledge, emotion vocabulary
– Conflict resolution, cooperation
– Empathy
• Approaches To Learning (ATL) examples:
– Filtering (ignoring distractions), attentiveness
– Flexible problem-solving, initiative and curiosity
– Understanding of and compliance with classroom rules
• Executive Function (EF) examples:
– Inhibitory control, working memory, attention control/shifting
– Cognitive control
– Self-control, self-discipline, delay of gratification
– Self-regulation, behavior regulation
Defining SEL Can Be A Challenge
26. Jones & Bailey, 2012
Executive Function: a
foundation of core brain
capacities and processes
that support regulatory
functioning across
multiple domains and
contexts.
Each Regulatory Domain has specific
knowledge, skills, and
experiences/practice that support
regulation in that domain.
Regulatory Gestalt:
over time, skills across domains
are integrated into coherent
system of regulatory functioning
An Organizing SEL Model for Intervention/Practice
28. Attention Control (AC)
Pays attention to task on hand and ignores
distractions
Uses strategies to maintain attention
Uses listening skills
Working Memory (and Planning Skills;
WMPS)
Use strategies to make a plan (under direction
of teacher)
Carries out complex tasks
Engages in goal-directed behavior
Remembers and follows a series of commands
Uses strategies to remember and follow
commands
Remembers and recalls information
Response Inhibition (RI)
Inhibits inappropriate responses
Uses self-control techniques
Waits
Uses strategies to wait
Cognitive Flexibility (CF)
Easily transitions to new tasks
Shifts from one part of a problem to another
Compares and contrasts ideas
Generates and updates hypotheses
Downplays less relevant information when
solving problems
Approaches problems in new and flexible ways
EF & Cognitive Domain
29. Emotional Knowledge and Expression
(EKE)
Identifies emotions in self and others
Uses feeling words appropriate to the situation
Appropriately uses a range of feeling words of
varying intensity
Uses “I messages”
Emotional and Behavior Management
(EBM)
Uses the “Stop and Stay Cool” process when
upset
Uses other effective regulatory strategies when
upset
Uses feeling words to explain one’s behavior
Empathy / Perspective Taking (EPT)
Verbally acknowledges others’ experiences and
feelings
Verbally offers examples of times when one
had similar emotions or experiences
Uses active interpersonal listening strategies
including asking probing questions, making eye
contact, paraphrasing and reflecting, nodding
and leaning forward
Verbally acknowledges how another’s feelings
differ from one’s own
Emotion Domain
30. Literacy Instruction PRINCIPLES
Social-Emotional
Instruction
…in meaning-based and
code-based skills
Provide direct
instruction…
…in emotion
management, social skills,
and attention
… for discussing
academic concepts and
questions
Use rich texts as
a platform...
… for promoting emotion
language development,
self reflection, and
empathy
…of words and how they
work
Cultivate
Consciousness…
…of our own feelings and
the feelings of others
…to build language and
reading skills
Increase
classroom talk…
…to build cooperation and
conflict resolution skills
…to support instructional
cohesion across
classrooms and grades
Use consistent
routines and
language…
…to reduce chaos and
minimize anxiety, create
common social norms
Integrated Instruction, e.g.…
31. Rigorous
- Engaging, stimulating
content that builds
over time for
accumulated
knowledge
- Social-emotional &
academic skills are
promoted
simultaneously
Regulated
- Consistent use of
routines, appropriate
limit setting, & rich
language
- Emphasis on
relationship-building
& emotional calm
R2
Learning
Environment
A new approach: The R2 Learning
Environment
Hinweis der Redaktion
CSEFEL says…
social-emotional development is the
developing capacity of the child from birth through
five years of age to:
form close, secure adult and peer relationships;
experience, regulate, and express emotions in socially and culturally appropriate ways; and
explore the environment and learn — all in the context of family, community, and culture
What is SECURe?
To succeed in school and life, students need to master reading, math, and other academic skills. Developing those skills requires that students learn how to learn, both independently and with others. SECURe is a school-wide program that helps students build these skills and apply them both in and outside of the classroom.
We have referred to SECURe as a program to build a community of self-regulated learners, but we don’t use this language with school staff and families
It teaches students strategies to focus their thinking, manage their behavior, build positive social relationships, and understand and deal with their feelings -- all in ways that support learning and life success.
All students come to school with different strengths and experiences in these areas. SECURe is provided to all students for two reasons: 1) every student has something to learn and something to share in these areas, and 2) when all students know and use the same strategies, those strategies are more useful and effective. SECURe is designed to help each student and the school community as a whole.
What are Social-Emotional skills?
We organize them into three primary domains including.
CR means
ER means
SR means
What is common and central to all three is basic regulation of self and in social interaction, which is what I am going to talk about next.
Social and emotional development is thought to underlie children’s behaviors, especially in two areas considered to be central to longer-term success: (1) learning behaviors, which refer to children’s ability to focus their attention and behavior during classroom activities; and (2) social behaviors, children’s positive interactions with peers and teachers.
Each of these behavioral outcomes is comprised of a smaller set of discrete skills, which are the “building blocks” that are the prerequisites to behaviors. Learning behaviors, for example, are supported by children’s skills in regulating their behavior (and have resulting lower levels of behavior problems). Learning behaviors are also supported by children’s executive function skills, which consist of: (1) the ability to flexibly shift attention; (2) the ability to control one’s immediate or automatic response in favor of a planned response; and (3) working (or short-term) memory.
Social behaviors are supported by children’s ability to read and effectively interpret others’ emotions, express their own emotions, engage in cooperative play, generate competent solutions to social problems when they arise, and negotiate with peers when there are disagreements.
While learning behaviors and social behaviors each depend on the development of a distinct set of skills, they are also clearly interdependent. For example, children must be able to regulate their behaviors in order to engage in both learning activities and in social interactions. Thus, even interventions that target a relatively narrow range of skills may ultimately affect a broad range of outcomes, in part through interactions between the skills that are directly affected and other skills that the child possesses.
For us, regulation = organizing construct for social-emotional development.
Regulation is defined in many different ways, different terminology in different literatures:
--executive function
--effortful control
--delay of gratification
--emotion regulation, self-control … ability to wait, take turns, etc.
(HIT BUTTON) Using Karoly’s (1993) definition, we conceptualize regulation as the “Management and modulation of thoughts, feelings, attention, and behavior … in the service of goals.”
Show videos.
Recent study: parent reports of self-control at age 3-5y a strong predictor of academics, mental and physical health, adult earnings and savings, and criminal behavior (Moffitt et al, 2011; PNAS)
The toxic stress associated with poverty can disrupt the body’s stress response system (Boyce, 2011; Center on the Developing Child, 2005; McEwan, 2011)
Decreases pre-frontal cortex activity, and minimizes the role of executive function in decision-making and behavior
Increases reliance on reactive/ arousal systems (“fight or flight”); which may increase aggressive and impulsive behavior
Experience Shapes Brain Architecture by Over-Production of Connections Followed by Pruning
Neural proliferation and pruning is a normal, healthy part of brain development: connections that are not used are pruned away.
The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood. During the first few years of life, 700 new synapses (neural connections) are formed every second. After a period of rapid proliferation, connections are reduced through a process called pruning, so that brain circuits can become more efficient. Early experiences affect the nature and quality of the brain’s developing architecture by determining which circuits are reinforced and which are pruned through lack of use. Some people refer to this as “use it or lose it.”
Scientists now know that chronic, unrelenting stress in early childhood, perhaps caused by extreme poverty, neglect, repeated abuse, or severe maternal depression, for example, can be toxic to the developing brain. While positive stress (moderate, short-lived physiological responses to uncomfortable experiences) is an important and necessary aspect of healthy development, toxic stress is the strong, unrelieved activation of the body’s stress management system in the absence of the buffering protection of adult support. This image depicts the structure of neurons in the areas of the brain that are most important for successful learning and behavior in school and the workplace—the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The neuron on the right, which has been subjected to toxic stress, clearly displays underdeveloped neural connections, or weaker brain architecture.
Differences show up as early as 5 yrs of age (Noble, Norman & Farah, 2005)
Fig. 1 – Effect sizes, measured in standard deviations of
separation between low and middle SES group performance,
on the composite measures of the seven different
neurocognitive systems assessed in this study. Black bars
represent effect sizes for statistically significant effects; gray
bars represent effect sizes for nonsignificant effects.
We organize the skills across development, PreK-5
What skills serve as foundations for later ones?
What skills must be mastered before moving to the next stage?
Two or three main points = key principles of developmental theory
The idea of stage salience; some skills are in ascendance while others are just emerging; some skills are especially salient to kids at a particular age… what matters most for PreK is different than what matters most for 2nd grade
The idea that simple skills emerge first and lay the foundation for later skills, which are more complex
Development is a process of “weaving ropes” (Frameworks Institute) … domains are inter-related and over-lapping. Over time, skills in one domain get integrated with processes and skills in another domain, produce increasingly complex behavior.
(2 min)
--general pattern; different trajectories for different kids
--key “window” for intervention
--lots of observable, behavioral changes
Mathematical Practices:
1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
From the Grade 1 literature CCSS:
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
Describe characters, settings, and major ev
From the Grade 1 speaking/listening CCSS:
Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.
Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
From the Grade 1 literature CCSS:
Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
From the Grade 1 speaking/listening CCSS:
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
Part of the challenge (lack of clarity / lack of consensus) is that terminology and assessment of skills originate in different research traditions.
For example, developmental and clinical psychologists = social-emotional learning (e.g., emotion regulation, cooperation, prosocial). Typically use observation-based assessments, in natural settings (parent and teacher reports of behavior).
In contrast, cognitive neuroscientists = executive functions (e.g., working memory, response inhibition, set shifting). Typically use lab-based tasks that are individually administered, independent (without classroom/ peer distractions).
Translating these diverse traditions of research into an applied set of definitions, standards, assessments, and teaching strategies that work well in schools is a complicated task for policy-makers.
We have used this idea of regulation to build an integrated model of Regulation for school-based interventions and applied settings.
Executive function sit at the base – are a foundation of skills and processes that support regulatory functioning across multiple domains and contexts
Each domain has specific knowledge, skills, and experiences that support self-regulation in that domain
Cognitive Regulation: managing and modulating thoughts and attention
Related Knowledge and Skills:
Setting Goals
Planning and Organizing
Transitioning
Emotion Regulation: Managing and modulating internal feeling states (arousal, excitement, fear, anger, frustration, motivation, etc.) and related behaviors
Related Knowledge and Skills
Emotion Knowledge and Expression
Emotion and Behavior Regulation
Empathy and Perspective-Taking
Social Regulation: Managing and modulating thoughts, feelings, and actions in social/ interpersonal situations
Related Knowledge and Skills
Understanding Social Cues
Conflict Resolution and Social Problem-Solving
Prosocial and Cooperative Behavior
Creating our benchmarks involved a process of translating technical definitions found in the literature base into applied definitions, or behaviors that you can actually observe in children and in classrooms. Descriptions of behaviors in benchmarks are developmentally-appropriate and contextually-relevant, so they look different at different ages and look different in a school setting than in a lab or other research setting.
(HIT BUTTON) For example, working memory…
(1 min)
high-quality teacher and classroom practices (positive praise, reflection & documentation, routines and structures, behavior management)