Christina O’Neal, a 2021 graduate and Coordinator of Educator Excellence, Recruitment & Retention within the Office of Higher Education & Educator Support Services at the Maine Department of Education recently presented her dissertation research at the CASEL SEL Exchange Conference in Chicago.
Her poster, The Influence of SEL in High School Advisory Programs on Student Engagement & Success presented her research which found that social-emotional learning (SEL) can help decrease negative outcomes and improve positive outcomes for high school youth.
Student advisory time can be one effective mechanism for SEL, especially for females and students of lower socioeconomic status. This study explored the ways in which SEL is included in high school advisories and how this in turn influences teacher-student relationships, student engagement, and student perceptions of academic achievement as well as associations with SES and gender.