Early social experiences, such as caregiver scaffolding, play a crucial but disputed role in the emergence of prosociality. A longitudinal experiment examined how explicit scaffolding--such as encouragement or praise--influences helping late in the first year, when helping emerges. Eighty-three infants (40 female, 6-9 months, 54% White, 17%…

The Social Emotional Health Survey-Secondary-2020 (SEHS-S-2020) is a well-studied option for assessing social emotional health to support students within a multitiered system of school support. While a growing body of literature supports the SEHS-S-2020 measure for assessing student covitality, there is less validation evidence specifically for…

Both parasympathetic nervous system regulation and receipt of social support from close relationships contribute to prosocial development, although few studies have examined their combined influences in adolescence and particularly within racially and ethnically minoritized populations. In this longitudinal study of 229 U.S. Mexican-origin…

Video modeling (VM) has demonstrated efficacy in teaching a variety of skills (e.g., social skills, communication, vocational tasks) to learners with autism spectrum disorder. Previous research indicates teachers and learners have supported the use of VM. However, the majority of studies have focused on elementary-school students; less research…

In March 2020, most schools in the United States transitioned to distance learning in an effort to contain COVID-19. A significant number of students did not fully engage in remote learning opportunities due to resource or other constraints. An urgent question for schools around the nation is how much did the pandemic impact student academic and…

Children often encounter events that bear on their moral and other evaluations, such as physical aggression and material disorder. Children's perceptions and evaluations are decisive for how they respond to and learn from these everyday events. Using a new method for investigating the development of social perceptions and evaluations, researchers…

Foster youth have attended schools for decades, but with the development of the local control funding formula (LCFF) and Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP), they are now a group of students receiving the publicity and acknowledgment needed to improve their academic and social success. This study brings to light the importance of…

School climate is increasingly intertwined with efforts to create safe schools and improve social-emotional learning and academic outcomes. While current definitions of school climate implicate the decisions and actions of school staff members, the majority of school climate research focuses on the perspectives of students. This study presents an…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is critical to the success of students of all ages--and for educators across all stages of the career continuum. Because SEL skills take time to develop and mature, they should be part of the content addressed in teacher preparation programs, beginning teacher support, and ongoing teacher professional learning.…

Home education support groups and associations are increasingly becoming hubs for home learning communities to share resources and knowledge. This literature review examined (a) motivations for joining homeschool groups; (b) values and beliefs that led to the formation of homeschool groups; and (c) how the culture of homeschool groups aids in…

Emotion talk plays an important role in the social and emotional development of preschoolers, but not much work has shown how teachers talk about emotions in the classroom. We recorded preschool teachers' (N = 13) emotion talk in naturalistic observations. Teachers expressed 633 emotion-related utterances, about 3 per hour (range fewer than 1 to…

Using the conceptual frameworks of validation theory and socioemotional development, this study investigated undocumented/DACAmented community college students' emotional reactions to Trump's presidential victory and whether educators and/or administrators offered positive validation after the election. The study sheds light on current practices…

Middle- and high school-based programs that affirm diverse sexual orientations and gender identities are related to lower rates of bullying and better mental health for LGBTQ students, yet little is known about how to implement affirming programs for elementary-aged children. This study is among the first to examine how an arts-based curriculum…

School leaders must navigate nonacademic barriers to learning. One type of affective, nonacademic reform is social-emotional learning (SEL), a quickly growing K-12 school initiative. Yet scant empirical literature exists on the actions, interactions, and beliefs of school principals charged with leading SEL reforms. The needs of diverse learners…

In addition to excelling in subjects such as science, math, arts, and social studies, students must also develop skills like resiliency, adaptability, and collaboration in order to truly succeed in the world. But how do schools effectively measure those skills when they so often rely on standardized assessments? This article provides a thorough…