SEL Programs

Jazmin Quintana
SCN-610
03/31/2022
Dr. Duane Johnson
Effects of Outside Factors on Students
Achievement
• Students are greatly impacted by their surrounding forces.
• The National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence found
that 60% of children have experienced some form of trauma
(TSA How Trauma Impacts Students, 2022).
• Poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence,
undiagnosed/diagnosed mental health disorders, bullying are
only some of the events students may face which impacts
their ability to focus on school.
• Increased absences.
Second Step Program
• Second step helps teachers, administration and school
counselors provide students with a universal, classroom-based
social emotional program (The Case for Holistic Approach to
Social-Emotional Learning, 2021).
• Second Step provides SEL curriculum for different grade levels
which include early learning, elementary, middle school and
are currently working on development for SEL curriculum for
High School students (What is Second Step, 2022).
• Second Step also offers lessons on Bullying prevention and
Child protection which are additional units that can be
purchased.
Second Step Topics
• Second Step focuses on promoting five social-emotional skills (Palova,
Smekalova, Faastova & Chobotska, 2017).
• Self-Awareness
• Self-Management
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills
• Responsible Decision Making
• The program also provides teachers and staff with a unit calendar with specific
topics which provide learning under the umbrella of the five social emotional skills
second step focuses on (What is Second Step, 2022).
• Topics are taught in person or online for our Elementary level, in person teachers kit
for our Early learning program, and Middle school is able to utilize online based/
teacher-instructed lessons (What is Second Step, 2022).
Family Resources
• Parents are able to utilize the second step website to
have a better understanding of what their child’s
teacher curriculum looks like.

• The program combines activities, discussions, and

resources for students and families to be able to
practice these skills at home (What is Second Step,
2022).

• Open communication with families incorporate

parents in learning, encourage families and students
to practice these skills at home.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

• The website also provides a tab called resources

which has Free SEL Resources, Free Live Webinars,
support for Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias.
Successful Implementation
• Successful implementation of this program would require the
district to determine if they will be implementing this program
at multiple sites, how many licenses they will need, as well as
the time frame they will be using this program.
• Digital program for 5 years for multiple sites for 50+ licenses
would cost $7,832 for K-8 grade level (What is Second Step,
2022).
• In person classroom kits for grade levels K,1,2,3,4 & 5 cost
$2359 per each classroom kit, there is 10% off when schools
bundle and the cost is 10,000 or more (What is Second Step,
2022).
Research on Effectiveness of Program
• Students who have an SEL program implemented in
Elementary grades are more likely to be successful
academically in later grades (Cook et al., 2018).
• Second step program implementation has led researchers to
see a significant decrease in disruptions in class lessons (Cook
et al., 2018).
• Second step demonstrated improvement in these areas'
emotional symptoms, hyperactivity, emotional management,
and skills for learning (Low, Smolkowski, Cook & Desfosses,
2019).
Positive Action Program
• The positive action program's philosophy is individuals feel good
about themselves when they do positive actions (Positive Action,
2022).
• Positive action utilizes the Thoughts-Actions-Feelings Circle (TAF)
which illustrates how individuals' thoughts, emotions lead to actions
both positive and negative reactions (Positive Action, 2022).
• The program is structured to be used across classrooms but can be
specialized or for teachers, school counselors to alter units to fit
each grade level.
• Positive action has created a curriculum which provides support for
Preschool, Elementary, Middle and High school levels.
Topics
• Positive action uses a two-part philosophy to
aide in learning social emotional skills
(Positive Action, 2022).
• 1st focus on allowing children to feel good
about their actions by learning emotional
skills.
• 2nd Shows students can implement
positive actions in any situations, which
incorporates the six-unit structure
taught by teachers, school counselors or
staff.

• Six units are, Self-concept, positive actions,

managing yourself responsibly, treating
others the way you want to be treated,
telling yourself the truth, improving yourself
continually, and Review (Positive Action,
2022).
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
Implementation in Schools/Family
Resources
• Positive action program has created an
evidence based Approved Whole-School
Reform Model that addresses the school's
entire ecosystem providing SEL support
(Positive Action, 2022).

• Provides Training, consultation and

classroom kits, counselors kits for
professionals to utilize in implementation of
the program in their classes.

• Elementary Starter bundle price $2.320.

• Positive action provides support to families

by offering family and parenting class kits
which can be conducted by different This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

professionals or family liaison to help create

SEL knowledge in the home for families to
practice (Positive Action, 2022).
Research Data
• Positive action utilizes positive youth development framework
which focuses on promoting and strengthening positive
behavior of the students (Schmitt, Flay & Lewis, 2014).
• The Positive action program has helped in improving school
readiness for incoming kindergarten students who
participated in preschool programs which utilized the
positive action program (Schmitt, Flay & Lewis, 2014).
• Research has demonstrated this program has positive
outcomes in academic achievement, which have been seen in
both long-term and short-term results.
References:
• Cook, C. R., Low, S., Buntain-Ricklefs, J., Whitaker, K., Pullmann, M. D., & Lally, J. (2018).
Evaluation of second step on early elementary students’ academic outcomes: A randomized controlled
trial. School Psychology Quarterly, 33(4), 561–572.
https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1037/spq0000233

• Kateřina Palová, Eleanora Smékalová, Dagmar Faastová, & Tereza Chobotská. (2017). The Second
Step Program as a tool for developing creativity and self-concept in primary school age childrens.
Psychology and Its Contexts, 8(2), 31–44.

• Low, S., Smolkowski, K., Cook, C., & Desfosses, D. (2019). Two-year impact of a universal social-
emotional learning curriculum: Group differences from developmentally sensitive trends over time.
Developmental Psychology, 55(2), 415–433. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000621

• Positive Action. (2022). Positive Action Curriculum & Program. https://www.positiveaction.net/

References Continued
• Schmitt, S. A., Flay, B. R., & Lewis, K. (2014). A pilot evaluation of the Positive Action
prekindergarten lessons. Early Child Development and Care, 184(12), 1978–1991.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2014.903942

• The Case for Holistic Approach to Social-Emotional Learning. (2021). Committee for Children, 1–8.
https://cfchildren.org

• TSA | How trauma impacts students. (2022). Treatment and Services Adaptation Center.
https://traumaawareschools.org/impact#:%7E:text=Symptoms%20resulting%20from%20trauma%20ca
n,decreased%20IQ%20and%20reading%20ability
.

• What is Second Step? (2022). Second Step. https://www.secondstep.org/what-is-second-step