Throughout much of the past quarter century, standards, testing, and accountability have composed the North Star of education reform. But over that time, the string of reform initiatives that failed to live up to their initial promise has effectively extinguished that guiding light. Now focus has turned to social and emotional learning (SEL). In a…

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) began to take form when dozens of educators from across the country were led by governors and chief state school officers in gathering and reviewing the academic standards of states that had the best outcomes. Their goal was to determine what the current best academic standards were in the country and then…

The Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (Hemmeter, Fox, & Snyder, 2013), or the Pyramid Model, is a conceptual framework focused on systemic and sustained implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP) related to promoting social emotional competence and preventing challenging behaviors in…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) emphasizes evidence-based interventions while providing new flexibilities to states and districts with regard to the use of federal funds, including funds that could be used to support social and emotional learning (SEL). This report is a companion to "Social and Emotional Learning Interventions Under the…

In response to the main federal K-12 law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the teacher education program standards, teacher education programs have tried to address social and emotional learning (SEL) content in their curricula. Adding information on SEL alone may not be enough to overcome the shortenings of many existing early childhood…

This article provides an overview of a grant project designed to create a district-wide elementary school counseling program with a strong data-based decision-making process. Project goals included building data literacy skills among school counselors and developing the infrastructure to efficiently collect important social-emotional indicators…

The 1990 reauthorization of PL 94-142, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), emphasized the need for applied research in schools to prevent the development of emotional disturbance. Prevention research then led to mandates in IDEA 1997 that schools must develop positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) for children and youth…

A growing number of states and communities are implementing the Pyramid Model in early care and education settings, and in many of these places there are also early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) programs operating. This policy brief provides an overview of ECMHC, how it can support the implementation of the Pyramid Model and the…

This handbook for regular and special education teachers, diagnosticians, administrators, parents, and others involved in the development and implementation of individualized education programs (IEPs) for students with disabilities, focuses on both the intent and spirit of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Chapters cover the…