Transforming School Mental Health Services by Doll Beth;Cummings Jack A.;

Author:Doll, Beth;Cummings, Jack A.; [Doll, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1994150
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2007-09-12T00:00:00+00:00

Challenges in Impacting the General School Environment and Culture

Although schools are excellent venues for promoting social and emotional learning, several challenges make many SEL efforts ineffective, unsustainable, and less socially valid. For SEL efforts to be both effective and sustainable, it is critical to consider the school environment and culture and how these impact SEL efforts. Environment and culture in school systems encompass social relationships among administrators, staff, teachers, and students; the expectations within each school; the resources available to students and staff; cultural, gender, religious, and linguistic diversity; the system goals; and how goals are accomplished. Schools are confronted with these challenges, while needing to provide efficacious services. These factors are important to be aware of when promoting intervention and prevention efforts, to achieve the greatest possibilities of SEL success.

Although the challenges in implementing social and emotional learning programs vary, most schools face primary barriers because they are systems of organizations and organisms that are required to work together. Some common challenges that schools may encounter when using SEL are fragmented and uncoordinated efforts, limited training for staff who implement SEL programming, uncoordinated staff efforts to initiate and direct SEL, the need to recruit staff and personnel to be involved, leadership responsibilities, and failure to document the implementation process to ensure its fidelity (Zins, 2001). These issues are critical and can impact the school environment and culture when SEL programming is implemented or promoted. Crone, Horner, and Hawken (2004) have suggested that significant behavioral programming efforts may take three to five years to make a positive impact and changes in schools. The reality and complexity of barriers to implementing new programs or best practices in schools should not be underestimated. An intervention that has been proven effective within a highly controlled research study may have little appeal to teachers or administrators if it lacks a high degree of social validity, usability, and appeal, despite its evidence-based pedigree. The research-to-practice gap and the absence of social validity or ease of usability in some research-based practices provides an argument for considering other factors besides efficacy when selecting an intervention program (Merrell & Buchanan, 2006). Barriers to implementation absolutely must be addressed if SEL programming is to be effective, sustainable, and successful in schools.

For SEL prevention and promotion efforts to be successful, school personnel should have support and training to integrate SEL with academics, account for changing demographics, document implementation efforts, and embrace a strength-based and needs-based approach in the school setting. In addition, the effectiveness of such efforts will be strengthened if there is good communication among school personnel, a coordinator who oversees the implementation process, ongoing formal and informal training, high visibility in schools, and varied and engaging instructional approaches (Elias, Zins, Graczyk, & Weissberg, 2003; Zins, Weissberg, & O’Brien, 2003). These efforts should be conspicuous, conscious, and purposeful. Such a direct process will require energy from all individuals in the school environment to make changes and increase intervention and prevention success.

Another barrier that impacts school culture and climate is diversity within schools.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.