Mindfulness training contributes to greater well-being in students who encounter challenges that cause stress. Ongoing stress can be detrimental and have negative impacts on the brain, which results in academic and social difficulties. Mindfulness training can help protect the developing brain from the negative effects of excessive stress,…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have become increasingly popular during the last 20 years. Although the benefits of SEL programs are significant, the issue of implementation fidelity often arises. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of implementation fidelity in the Life Skills Training (LST) program implemented with…

This article focuses on the development of the Altruism Scale for Children (ASC). Analyses revealed a one-factor model with internal consistency of 0.89 and test-retest reliability of 0.94. The authors also discuss the implications for using the instrument for assessing the need for interventions and measuring program outcomes.

Decades of research have illustrated the linguistic, social, and cognitive growth that occurs in the context of play (e.g., Baron-Cohen, 1987; Lifter, Foster-Sanda, Arzamarski, Briesch, & McClure, 2011; Lillard et al., 2013; Ungerer & Sigman, 1984). Play also provides opportunities to practice and gain important social skills. During play…

The ACT® National Curriculum Survey® is a nationwide survey of educational practices and college and career readiness expectations. Every few years, educators across the country are surveyed about the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn that are essential for college and career readiness. As part of this study, over 6,000…

The pandemic and subsequent switch to distance learning combined with recent instances of racial injustice has put a spotlight on the cracks in the practice of social and emotional learning (SEL). More than ever before, schools are shifting their focus and prioritizing SEL competencies--around the nation and the world. The call for compassion has…

Schools are an essential setting for mental health supports and services for students. To support student well-being, schools engage in universal mental health screening to identify students in need of support and to provide surveillance data for districtwide or statewide policy changes. Mental health data have been collected via anonymous and…

Following a high-quality early care and pre-K experience, the kindergarten-through-third-grade years set the foundation upon which future learning builds; and strengthening this continuum creates opportunities for later success. Key components of a quality experience in K-3 include school readiness and transitions, kindergarten requirements,…

Background/purpose. It has been established that students with special educational needs should have equal opportunities for learning with the rest of the formal developmental students in a common school, regardless of their characteristics or difficulties. In an environment that promotes normal physical and emotional well-being, mental…

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…

The purpose of this article is to carry out a philosophical enquiry into the affective nature of creative and innovative processes. Recent studies on future employment suggest that we are at an inflection point whereby any job is in principle at risk of being taken over by computers and robots in the near future. The jobs least at risk, it is…

We propose the Framework for Cultivating Teacher Thriving, which identifies the important role that teachers' social-emotional competence (SEC) plays in helping them to thrive at work (and beyond). The framework operationalises SEC by way of teachers' basic psychological need satisfaction (a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness),…

Emotions form the foundation of infants' early social interactions and yet their role in prosocial behaviors is generally limited to situations of distress and other negative emotions. The present article argues that both positive emotions and the emotion of interest play important roles in prosocial behavior and development. First, we explore the…

Interest in school-based strategies to support student social and emotional learning (SEL) is strong. Although SEL policies and programs designed to support the development of student competencies have advanced significantly, less work has been done to develop methods of assessing student social and emotional competence. This article briefly…

In a context of growing globalisation and European integration, Christian religious education seems to be more and more neglected within the social debate. Given the differences between European countries, the question may arise: What is the relevant situation in Romania? The article analyses the religious education and spiritual development as a…