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Commentary: Implementing Social-Emotional and Academic Innovations: Reflections, Reactions, and Research

The article "Implementation, Sustainability, and Scaling Up of Social-Emotional and Academic Innovations in Public Schools" by Elias, Zins, Graczyk, and Weissberg (2003) is a thought-provoking contribution, and one that begs for more application. Some of the points the authors raise have been articulated in the school (Kratochwill, 2002; Kratochwill & Stoiber, 2000, 2002) and clinical (Schoenwald & Hoagwood, 2001) evidence-based intervention (EBI) literature and, although these issues may deserve repeating, it is time to move to an action agenda (not just an action research agenda--see later) to advance research and practice in this area. In fact, the Task Force on Evidence-Based Interventions in School Psychology (2003) has a committee specifically focused on the Research-to-Practice agenda (see Kratochwill & Shernoff, in press) and APA Division 53 has a Task Force devoted to this topic (Atkins, 2003), both of which are addressing scaling up and adoption of innovation issues in school and community settings. Within this context, the authors provide a good look at the big picture and some ideas that can guide implementation of social-emotional interventions in schools. In this invited commentary our goal is to reinforce and extend some of the key points made by Elias and his colleagues. Our thoughts are organized into two main sections: (a) reflections and reactions, and (b) needed research and research methods. Reflections and Reactions About Social-Emotional Interventions Elias et al. (2003) documented three fundamental assumptions that guide their work on social-emotional innovations. We concur with their three student-focused assumptions but recommend a broader set of assumptions about the system--educators and their environment. Let us elaborate on extensions to these basic assumptions. The social behavior-academic performance relationship and socially supportive learning environments. Over the past decade, we have been involved in a number of school-wide intervention efforts either as implementers or evaluators. As an illustration, the first author, with his work on the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) and more recently with the development and publication of the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (DiPerna & Elliott, 2000), has been involved in the measurement and documentation of the relationship between children's social and academic competence. Both of these assessment tools have been part of a number of evaluation studies focused on the effect of the Responsive Classroom (Charney, 1992) program on the social and academic performance of elementary and middle school students. The guiding theory and research efforts to develop these assessment tools and the results of a number of the Responsive Classroom evaluation studies clearly demonstrate that: (a) social skills are positively related to academic achievement and negatively related to problem behaviors, (b) changes in social skills usually precede changes in academic achievement, and (c) increases in social skills are strongly related to improvements in the perceived social supportiveness of school environments. Subsequent longitudinal research by Malecki and Elliott (2002) and Caprara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, Bandura, and Zimbardo (2000) has provided support for the causal influence of social skills on the development of academically competent students and the development of learning environments that are perceived as safe and socially supportive for children and adults. Thus, there is solid evidence that teaching social skills has both social and academic dividends for students and the schools in which they work and play. This evidence must be shared with policy makers and educators who often report feeling time-pressured to focus on academics. Too many teachers and parents perceive social skills and character education programs as taking time away from academics. Yet when such programs are implemented well for several years, they can actually lead to improvements in engagement and achievement test scores (Elliott, 1995, 1997, 1999). …