Treffer: Providing Virtual Social and Emotional Learning for Elementary Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

School closures can occur not only during a pandemic, but also during disasters, which can impact students' social and emotional well-being and lead to detrimental behavioral outcomes and trauma-related symptomatology. Such negative impacts can potentially be alleviated by inclusion of effective virtual or blended SEL programming that supports social and emotional well-being and provides meaningful interactions among peers to foster students' ability to process and navigate through emotions during and after the event has occurred. To this end, the authors strongly argue for the importance of building community partnerships and collaborations early on and applying community-based participatory action approach to implementing and studying social and emotional learning (SEL) programming. This article explores the online delivery of a SEL program (the Global Classroom SEL) based at San Francisco State University that features collaboration between school and university staff, including involvement of undergraduate SEL Coaches. Detailed description of the program and materials may be found on the program's website (https:// globalclassroom.sfsu.edu).

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Providing Virtual Social and Emotional Learning for Elementary Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic 

The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us, as is the ever present possibility that local school districts will engage in full or partial online programming as a way of preventing contagion. This article explores the online delivery of a social and emotional learning (SEL) program (the Global Classroom SEL) based at San Francisco State University that features collaboration between school and university staff, including involvement of undergraduate SEL Coaches. Detailed description of the program and materials may be found on the program's website (https://globalclassroom.sfsu.edu).

Social and Emotional Learning Programs Are Effective

SEL is defined as the process through which students and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions ([8]). Benefits of SEL have been well documented in recent years, which has led to increased advocacy of SEL among educators and parents ([16]; [29]). Many studies have shown the positive impact of curriculum-based SEL on young students' adaptive functioning, general well-being, and school readiness, lasting well into adolescence and early adulthood ([3]; [23]). For example, in a meta-analysis of 213 school-based SEL interventions involving over 270,000 K–12th grade students, [10] demonstrated that student improvements were observed beyond their social and emotional skills, including an 11-percentile point gain in academic achievement when compared to those who did not undergo SEL programming. The study also found that students who received SEL programming benefited from improved attitudes about themselves, their peers, and school, as well as positive changes in classroom behavior and enhanced ability to manage stress and depression.

In another meta-analysis, [31] found similar benefits of SEL among 97,000 students, demonstrating significant reductions in conduct issues and emotional distress while displaying larger gains in social and emotional skills and more positive attitudes towards self, others, and school when compared to those who did not participate in SEL programming. Furthermore, the study concluded that the students who received the SEL programming had gone on to experience more positive social and academic outcomes well into their adolescent years. In contrast, students who did not receive the SEL programming were more likely to be at risk for low academic achievement, low peer competence, and increased aggressive behaviors ([21]; [31]).

School psychologists have traditionally taken the role of supporting and promoting positive social and emotional outcomes in elementary school students. For instance, school psychologists provide a wide range of mental health and behavioral health services to students using various tools, interventions, and programs developed for school settings ([24]; [27]). Unfortunately, schools were already dealing with an existing crisis in young students' deteriorating mental health prior to the pandemic, and the experts speak of COVID's impact as a looming "tsunami" of unmet mental health needs ([20]; [33]).

No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic has further accentuated the dire need to build social and emotional skills (e.g., adaptability, emotion regulation, empathy, and resilience) in order for students to successfully navigate an ever-changing environment. In 2020, we witnessed over 100,000 U.S. schools close their doors due to the pandemic, affecting approximately 50 million K–12th grade students ([35]). Abrupt school closures have created a negative impact on students' social and emotional well-being, especially for those young learners just beginning to embark on their formal education ([14]). Students were stripped of the optimal learning environment where they could practice and achieve social and emotional skills that are critical for positive and healthy functioning ([6]; [14]). Lack of peer interactions and structure in their lives, combined with changes to daily routines, has left many young learners facing increased risk for physical and mental health challenges ([2]). Thus, the role of school psychologists has become even more important, especially with recent findings showing that children and youth are more likely than other age groups to display moderate to severe anxiety and depression because of the pandemic ([22]). Consequently, supporting young students' social and emotional development and general well-being has become a great concern and a priority for educators, schools, and mental health professionals ([18]; [34]).

Recent studies and various poll data clearly indicate that most teachers and school leaders aspire to incorporate SEL into their curriculum and provide much needed social and emotional support at their school ([16]). However, only a small percentage feel that they have the adequate knowledge, skills, and resources to make that a reality ([13]). To make matters worse, teachers and school staff were already faced with an added list of challenges inflicted by the pandemic. For one, teachers had to transition from in-person instruction to virtual instruction without any prior training, which increased their work hours and stress significantly ([11]; [28]). Beyond having to work extra hours adjusting to a novel teaching format, teachers also faced other challenges related to technology, low student attendance, and difficulty maintaining connections with their students to support learning, just to name a few ([28]). Even prior to the pandemic, teaching has been found to be one of the most stressful professions, second only to nursing, with about 50% of educators experiencing significant stress and burnout ([12]). Therefore, it is not surprising to find a 41% attrition rate among educators, most choosing to leave their post within 5 years ([15]). Likewise, there has been significant longstanding shortages of school psychologists, which will continue to threaten students' access to needed mental health and behavioral health services in school ([24]; [26]). Currently, school psychologists are working under difficult conditions of having to serve an increased number of students, comply with ever-changing mandates and policies, and suffer a lack of resources and essential tools, which all further threaten the availability and quality of the services students need ([19]; [24]). This calls for radical and innovative solutions for supporting SEL without placing additional burdens on educators and mental health professionals in school settings.

Community-Based Participatory Approach to Promoting Early SEL

One possible solution to promoting SEL without imposing a significant burden on educators is through community partnerships and collaborations. It has been argued that SEL programming is most beneficial when ongoing collaboration with community organizations are established ([7]). With coordinated efforts, community partners can add needed support in rich settings for learning and development to occur. Moreover, learning becomes further solidified when students observe other adult role models outside of the school, work with their teachers, and share the same values on social and emotional concepts and skills. In many ways, it is the best approach to model how people in the communities should interact and collaborate to solve problems. Thus, forming community partnerships and collaboration with schools could be a synergetic way to provide SEL programming. A community-based participatory approach (CBPA) equitably involves the community members, organizational representatives, and researchers in all aspects of the process—allowing for the development and implementation of more targeted programs that directly meet the specific needs of the community ([1]; [25]). CBPA builds on collective strengths and shared resources to address the current issues within the community. Shared leadership, skills, and resources are especially critical when experiencing a crisis, such as the traumatic event of the COVID-19 pandemic ([1]; [14]; [32]). We posit that the sense of connection and shared responsibilities that CBPA affords could be beneficial for teachers, school psychologists, and other school-based mental health professionals who are all experiencing increased levels of workloads and duties ([5]).

<bold> A California case </bold>. In this article, we present a CBPA-SEL program that has been utilized to support teachers in promoting positive social and emotional development among young learners (Grades K and 1) through virtual SEL during the time of the pandemic. The Global Classroom is a learning and development lab in the department of Psychology at San Francisco State University. Since 2009, the Global Classroom has been conducting research related to social and emotional learning and development and striving to provide evidence-based SEL lessons and activities to both local and international school communities. Here we describe a particular collaboration with one school in northern California. Our CBPA-SEL programming involved working closely with school leaders and six classroom teachers to answer the following questions: (a) What specific ways can the Global Classroom help to address the instructional challenges teachers are facing during the pandemic? and (b) Would virtual SEL programming be helpful in supporting young learner's social and emotional health? Ultimately, our goals were to work closely with the community partners to identify and provide the needed social and emotional support for their students through the lens of their teachers. Therefore, participating teachers were involved in all levels of planning and implementation stages of the SEL program for their classrooms. This ensured that the specific social and emotional challenges observed by the teachers were addressed. During this time, the school psychologist also assisted in the development of the program. Their own assessments and perspectives of what were needed for their students were the focal point in the designing stages of the program.

The primary participants consisted of six kindergarten and first grade teachers as well as the principal from an elementary school in northern California that serves middle to upper-middle class families, with 87% minority student enrollment. At this time, the district's school psychologist was splitting their time among multiple school sites, thus attending and contributing whenever they could. In response to the pandemic, the school adopted full distance-learning in March 2020. In late February 2021, approximately 40% of students returned to school in a hybrid model (mixture of in-person and distance learning) while the rest of the students remained in full distance-learning. At the time of our SEL program implementation (March 2021 through May 2021), teachers were delivering lessons through a combination of synchronous instruction (lessons completed during video conferencing meetings) and asynchronous instruction (lessons completed offline).

From July 2020 until the launching of the program in March 2021, teachers and researchers met via Zoom (a videoconferencing tool) on multiple occasions to discuss their challenges, SEL goals, and implementation methods that would align with their goals while also meeting the guidelines and restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Five major challenges emerged: (a) specific social and emotional challenges and needs (e.g., students' difficulty with impulse control and recognizing others' emotions in virtual settings), (b) supporting behavioral difficulties (e.g., talking over others and leaving desks during virtual instruction), (c) supporting language learners (e.g., challenges of providing additional support and making sure their voices are heard), (d) supporting social connections among students (e.g., difficulty building friendships in large virtual instructional settings), and (e) getting support from families (e.g., during virtual instruction). Focal areas of social and emotional competencies (i.e., impulse control, emotion knowledge, and empathy) were established based on teachers' observation of social and emotional skills that they recognized as focal areas in need of improvement. Lastly, ideal methods of providing virtual SEL that could feasibly be embedded into their existing online instruction for the remaining 2020–2021 academic year were discussed at length. Based on the wealth of information gathered through open communication with the teachers and school leaders, a 12-week virtual SEL program for kindergarten and first grade students was generated that focused on building social and emotional skills identified by the teachers.

The Global Classroom Virtual SEL

Throughout the entire duration of the collaboration, teachers provided additional feedback for further refinement of the SEL programming. To foster peer interactions and provide individualized attention which teachers described students were lacking, it was decided that trained psychology undergraduate students (SEL Coaches) would provide the lessons in weekly 30–40 minute Zoom breakout room sessions consisting of no more than a 4:1 student to SEL Coach ratio. This 12-week virtual SEL was highly structured, including four distinct multimodal activities that were sequentially presented: (a) interactive book reading/storytelling, (b) discussion using hands-on learning materials, (c) art or movement activity, and (d) mindfulness practices. Four activities within each lesson were related to the main theme of the day. For example, during the lesson on calming techniques, students (a) read a story about a boy who learns different ways to cope with his strong emotions, (b) discussed different techniques for calming strong emotions using photo props (e.g., breathing exercises, yoga, listening to music, taking a walk, talking to someone that they trust), (c) made a calming jar, and then (d) used the calming jar that they have created to engage in a mindfulness practice. All SEL learning activities were carefully crafted to be developmentally appropriate, include multiple modes of learning, be evidence based, and be easily accessible for students to follow along with through Zoom. Learning materials were dropped off at school for parents to pick up.

Although classroom teachers did not deliver the lessons themselves, they actively participated and assisted during the virtual SEL sessions by visiting each breakout room session. SEL Coaches also alerted the teachers if they needed additional support with particular students. This allowed the teachers to work more closely with students in smaller group settings.

Teachers Accepted the SEL Programming and Found Them Successful

Feedback from teacher questionnaires on program outcomes was overwhelmingly positive, including in such areas as student social and emotional skill acquisition, teacher recommendations for expansion of the program, and student enjoyment and wish for continuation the program. In addition, three major themes emerged from open-ended questions designed to gather teachers' perspective of the virtual SEL: (a) the positive impact observed (e.g., "Small group interactions and instructions were very effective and inclusive to all student learners"), (b) satisfaction with virtual SEL (e.g., "Loved the program ... all of it!"), and (c) desire for extension of the program (e.g., "I think a yearlong program which could build on each week's lesson is good"). Positive interactions, hands-on activities, routine/structure, and inclusion of all learners were most mentioned as positive aspects of the program, while desire for extension of the program, such as inclusion of higher grades or longer duration of SEL, were shared as needs improvement.

Summary, Implications, and Future Directions

Virtual SEL programming consisting of small group Zoom breakout room sessions was provided by externally trained personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic to support social and emotional development among one of the most vulnerable elementary student populations–kindergarten and 1st graders who are just starting out their formal education and are not used to virtual classrooms. Results demonstrated a positive impact of virtual SEL, suggesting that such community participatory action research can be an effective way for supporting social and emotional health of young students in times of crisis ([1]; [14]; [25]; [32]). As schools have reopened, many programs have turned to blended learning; therefore, variations of virtual SEL can continue to support school systems and provide a chance to further investigate the impact of virtual SEL among young students, which have not been explored thoroughly in the past.

This project also received overwhelming support from the school and teachers regarding its instructional methods. Feeling supported through a traumatic event can lead to higher levels of self-efficacy among teachers, which can result in effective teaching that can contribute to their students' learning and success ([17]). While teacher–student interactions play critical roles in creating a supportive and equitable environment, a teacher's perspective on SEL can greatly influence implementation and sustainability of the program ([4]; [23]). CBPA-SEL programs such as the one presented in this article could also create another system of support for not only teachers and students, but also for school psychologists and other school-based mental health providers. While retention and recruitment of school psychologists has been an issue in the profession in recent years, programs like these could alleviate the workload for mental health and behavioral health providers during a crisis. Although more studies (including independent direct multimethod and multi-informant assessment of student outcome behavior) are needed to further investigate the impact of a CPBA to providing SEL in school settings, the teacher response to this project is promising.

Lastly, we note that CBPA-SEL may be an ideal pipeline for attracting and preparing undergraduates to become school psychologists themselves as they gain considerable experience through their service-learning experience as SEL Coaches. Studies have shown that service-learning facilitates students' exploration of career possibilities and informs their career decisions and pathways. For example, [30] found that 82% of students felt that service-learning experiences affected their career development. Being engaged in the school community settings in such a format can be a powerful experience for undergraduates, and can help build compassion, interpersonal skills, teamwork, and leadership skills, which are all necessary requirements to becoming school psychologists ([9]). Programs like these could provide opportunities for college students to learn more about mental health and behavioral health professional careers in school settings and inspire them to seek further education to become school psychologists or counselors themselves, which we have certainly witnessed from our own programs.

Although the negative impacts of sudden switching from in-person to virtual learning due to school closure during the pandemic was evident ([6]; [19]; [35]), there can be benefits of virtual learning or blended learning when implemented with care. Virtual learning is flexible in nature and can be adapted to fit the students' and teachers' schedules and can be adjusted for an individual's own learning pace and interests, especially when offered in small groups ([32]). Furthermore, virtual learning increases parental involvement and engagement as they become more aware of their child's learning styles and needs ([32]). Parents can become more mindful of the ways in which they can support their child. Virtual learning allows for students to become more familiar with technology and build awareness that it is a tool for learning, which can be an important factor in promoting effective education in a world where technology is increasingly being integrated into a variety of contexts and settings. Technology can provide interactive media and facilitate social engagement, which creates increased learning opportunities for children ([11]).

School closures can occur not only during a pandemic, but also during disasters, which can impact students' social and emotional well-being and lead to detrimental behavioral outcomes and trauma-related symptomatology ([32]). Such negative impacts can potentially be alleviated by inclusion of effective virtual or blended SEL programming that supports social and emotional well-being and provides meaningful interactions among peers to foster students' ability to process and navigate through emotions during and after the event has occurred ([32]). To this end, we strongly argue for the importance of building community partnerships and collaborations early on and applying community-based participatory action approach to implementing and studying SEL programming.

By Jae H. Paik; Graciela Urias; Rita Rodriguez and Shinchieh Duh

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