What your SEL programs should teach:
1. Self-regulation (controlling impulses; focusing, sustaining and shifting attention; listening to and remembering information; empathy training)
2. Perspective taking (appreciating similarities and differences; recognizing and identifying feelings of others; understanding that feelings can change and are complex)
3. Emotion management (recognizing and identifying one’s own feelings; learning strategies for calming down strong emotions; managing stress/anxiety).
4. Problem-solving (learning a process for solving problems; goal setting
5. Communication skills (being assertive; being respectful; negotiating and compromising)
6. Friendship skills (cooperation, including others, joining in with others)
The best bullying prevention programs should ideally include the above SEL skills and the following:
1. Training for all school staff and parents on the “psychology” of bullying
2. Training for all school staff and parents on procedures for how to effectively handle bullying reports, including the school’s process for and policies around dealing with bullying reports
3. Training for teachers on how to deliver the program, including some training around managing relationships and behaviors in the classroom as well as monitoring their own behaviors that are modeled for students.
4. Guidance around establishing policies and procedures (even if it’s a simple checklist).
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The bullying prevention program with the most extensive research support at this time in the United States is Steps to Respect (http://www.cfchildren.org/steps-to-respect.aspx), a curriculum developed by the Seattle-based Committee for Children. Rigorous evaluation has shown that the Steps to Respect program successfully increased positive bystander behaviors in youth, and decreased physical bullying by children according to teacher reports.
There is also research support for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (http://www.olweus.org) although the most successful research has been conducted in European countries and evaluation results in the U.S. have been mixed. KiVa, an evidence-based Finnish program (www.kivakoulu.fi/there-is-no-bullying-in-kiva-school) has shown effectiveness in Finland.
Although evidence for particular SEL programs varies and is ongoing, below are some programs with support:
• Second Step (http://www.cfchildren.org/second-step.aspx)
• The RULER program (http://therulerapproach.org/)
• Roots of Empathy (http://www.rootsofempathy.org/)
• Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) (www.prevention.psu.eduprojectsPATHS.html)
• Tribes Learning Communities (http://tribes.com/about/amodelprogram/caselselect-program/)