"This book represents the best current state of the field. It will help educators approach SEL in an evidence-based, holistic way. Merrell and Gueldner clearly lay out the conceptual basis of SEL, its documented benefits for students, and the most effective teaching and assessment practices. Instructive and engaging, the book explains the nuts and bolts of how to best implement SEL in the classroom. It is a wonderful contribution and essential reading for educators, mental health practitioners, and researchers. I teach a course on SEL and I plan to assign this text as required reading."--Roger P. Weissberg, PhD, Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago
"This timely book summarizes and integrates recent advances in understanding the importance of SEL and developing evidence-based curricula and intervention strategies. The book strikes a perfect balance between reviewing the theoretical and empirical bases of recommended approaches and providing concrete guidelines for practitioners. The authors make excellent use of scenarios to emphasize important points. I would select this text for master’s-level courses in school-based interventions and school consultation. Students would benefit from the practice-relevant guidelines and from the book’s emphasis on systemic change versus single strategies."--Jan N. Hughes, PhD, Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University
"Finally, a comprehensive and well-written resource on social and emotional learning (SEL). This outstanding volume will be useful for school psychologists, educators, and graduate students. The book is great for those interested in implementing SEL in schools, as it contains plenty of practical advice and real-life examples. As a university trainer, I appreciate not only the academic rigor of the text, but also its accessibility and its clear connections to current issues in school psychology, especially response to intervention and mental health. This is a suitable text for graduate-level classes on mental health, behavioral interventions, prevention, and even classroom management."--Brian C. McKevitt, PhD, School Psychology Program, University of Nebraska at Omaha
"Why should social and emotional learning (SEL) be a central component of every child’s education? Merrell and Gueldner offer the answers in this very readable, informative, and comprehensive guide. The book takes school-based practitioners through the entire process of choosing the best SEL approach for a particular context and implementing, assessing, and sustaining quality SEL programs for children and youth. The authors provide an integrated model that demonstrates how SEL can work effectively with positive behavioral supports within a three-tiered intervention framework. An excellent and timely guide."--Mark T. Greenberg, PhD, Bennett Chair of Prevention Research and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University
"The setup of the book is very user-friendly. Chapters may be used independently. Many subsections have small grey boxes that summarize the surrounding content. These are very effective and helpful for spotting important passages to review at a later date. Each chapter ends with a vignette of a real-life situation based on the chapter content....There is a chapter devoted to the most popular 'packaged' curricula for SEL. The rubric is excellent, providing the most appropriate settings for each, brief overviews of the skill foci, and a summary of the skill foci, and a summary of the evidence of its effectiveness. Included is a worksheet to evaluate SEL programs that studies the costs, evidence base, number of lessons, competency areas covered, and training required. It even provides some evidence linking SEL's influencing academic performance, which may be helpful in spearheading a program or writing grants to fund them. One might have to purchase several books and read multiple journals to get the concise end product of this book."
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School Social Work Journal 2010-01-31)
