Implementation of Social and Emotional Learning Interventions in Applied Settings: Approaches to Definition, Measurement, and Analysis

The measurement of social and emotional learning (SEL) implementation is a critical part of enhancing and understanding the effects of SEL programming. Research has shown that high-quality SEL implementation is associated with social, emotional, and academic outcomes. Schools achieve these outcomes in part through organizational practices that emphasize ongoing communication, collaboration, coordination, shared decision making, and strategic planning, processes that are ideally informed by evidence. The application of implementation science to SEL has advanced our understanding of the role of implementation in achieving student outcomes. However, the development of practical approaches for measuring and supporting SEL implementation have lagged behind work on measuring student SEL outcomes. Research-practitioner partnerships (RPP), long-term, mutually-beneficial collaborations geared toward identifying problems of practice and testing solutions for improvement, are a promising means for addressing this important gap. Though implementation science and RPPs have complementary aims, there has been limited attention to the integration of these approaches in the context of SEL programming. The goal of this paper is to offer practical strategies for measuring and using SEL implementation data in schools, using the example of an RPP that used implementation science practices to guide SEL implementation. We give special attention to structures that can support the collection and use of implementation data to improve practice, as well as considerations around developing measures, considering trade-offs of data collection decisions, and conducting data analysis.

School- and teacher-related contextual factors are those that often influence the quality of social-emotional learning (SEL) program implementation, which in turn has an impact on student outcomes. The current paper was interested in (1) Which teacher- and school-related contextual factors have been operationalized in articles that focus on the relationship between implementation quality indicators 200 and contextual factors in SEL program implementation in schools? (2) Which contextual factors would demonstrate the highest frequency of statistically significant relationships with SEL program implementation quality indicators and could therefore be more essential for ensuring the program outcomes? Determining the more significant contextual factors would allow for more focused and better-informed teacher professional development for supporting students’ social and emotional skills, it can also be useful for hypothesis development for quasi- experimental research designs of SEL program implementation on the school level. A systematic literature search was conducted in seven electronic databases and resulted in an initial sample of 1,281 records and additional journal and citation sampling of 19 additional records. 20 articles met the final inclusion criteria for the study (19 quantitative and one mixed methods). Inductive content analysis and quantitative analysis were employed to map the variables and estimate the relative frequency of statistically significant relationships across studies. Four categories of contextual factors were revealed: program support, school, teacher, and student categories. The results of the study reveal the diversity in contextual factors studied across SEL program implantation quality and bolster the relevance of program support factors (modeling activities during coaching and teacher–coach working relationship) for ensuring implementation quality. A link between teacher burnout and program dosage was revealed. Student factors emerged as a separate contextual level in school, with special attention to student baseline self-regulation that may influence SEL program implementation quality.