5 Tips to Maximize Student Outcomes Through Second Step® Program Data

There’s ample evidence that Second Step^® programs are effective in driving school and districtwide outcomes, ranging from reduced behavioral referrals to improvements in academic readiness and school climate. But for district and school leaders, how can you tell if Second Step programs are creating these outcomes in your school community? And how can you tell if you’re getting the most out of your investment in Second Step programs?

The Leader Dashboard in every Second Step digital program makes it easy to monitor program data. But making the connection between Second Step program data and student outcomes—in attendance, behavior, or academic performance—requires a strategic approach. Here are five practical tips to help school and district leaders get the most out of Second Step program data, ensuring they’re on track to districtwide transformation.  

1. Before outcomes, start with implementation  

Before you can measure whether students are benefitting from human skills instruction, you need to know whether the program is actually being taught. Using the reports on the Leader Dashboard reports and the tools in the Second Step Implementation Guide, leaders can track program usage through class creation, lesson completion, and staff training data.  

Middle schools with higher usage (60% or greater lesson completion) have demonstrated bigger gains (or difference scores) in attendance rates than schools with lower usage.

Meanwhile, elementary schools with higher usage (80% or greater lesson completion) have demonstrated improvements in areas such as academic motivation, prosocial behavior, and out-of-school suspensions in comparison to schools with lower usage.

With a picture of how consistently the program is being delivered, leaders can see the impact of Second Step instruction on student outcomes with greater clarity.  

2. Choose outcomes that matter to your school

You don’t need to create a new measurement system from scratch. Think about the outcomes your school or district is already prioritizing or wants to prioritize—such as attendance, behavior referrals, school climate, and academic engagement—and build your outcome tracking around them. The key is capturing a baseline, or “pre-test,” measure, meaning how students were doing before the program was implemented. For the best pre-test baseline in these measures, use data from the year immediately prior to starting Second Step implementation.  

To examine changes in the outcome, you’ll then measure the same outcome after the program is implemented. This is your “post-test” data, which can be measured at the end of the school year.  

If you don’t have access to school or district data, consider using our Second Step evidence base to help inform expected outcomes in your school or district.  

3. Collect data over multiple years

Meaningful change takes time. It may take a full school year or more for all educators to become comfortable delivering lessons with confidence and consistency. Plan to collect outcome data across multiple school years so your findings reflect the programs’ true impact as they become more embedded in classrooms and school culture.  

Multi-year data also gives you a much richer story to tell. A single year of data captures the snapshot, but multiple years can reveal larger trends. Stakeholders and funders respond to trends. A consistent upward trajectory across two or three years could be far more impressive than single-year data points.  

If you have multiple schools using Second Step programs, there will likely be differences in implementation consistency. That variation is actually useful data. You can compare student outcomes in schools with higher lesson completion rates against those with lower rates. If the highest-implementing schools are showing the strongest gains, that’s a powerful message to bring back to schools to help encourage implementation fidelity.  

We know from our Second Step K–8 evidence base that on average, schools that complete at least 60% of the program lessons achieve initial improvements in student outcomes, such as self-management skills in elementary schools and fewer disciplinary referrals and absenteeism in middle schools. With at least 80% lesson completion in elementary schools, improvements expand to areas like school climate, out-of-school suspensions, and academic motivation.

4. Share findings and use them to improve

Once you’ve analyzed pre- and post-test data, consider using the Second Step Outcomes Report Card template to showcase your impact.

Then you can share findings with all stakeholders: teachers, counselors, administrators, school board leaders, and even families. Create space for staff to reflect on what the data means, celebrate areas of strength, and identify where Second Step implementation can be stronger. Bringing staff into the data conversation builds the kind of shared ownership that helps sustain a program for the long haul.  

5. Use insights to secure or sustain funding

Strong outcome data can be one of the best resources for securing or sustaining funding. It can help bolster grant applications or show funders or district leaders why they should continue to fund your Second Step initiative.  

You can tailor the Second Step Outcomes Report Card template to focus on key priorities that align to the funding source, such as improved attendance, school climate, or behavior. This can help make the case for why Second Step programs are a critical priority for your district and offer evidence for why new or continued funding is needed to support it.  

Visit secondstep.org/purchase/funding-support for additional guidance.

Data-informed, human-led

Tracking student outcome data ensures schools are getting the maximum benefits Second Step programs have to offer, such as higher attendance, better student behavior, and an improved school climate. Just as importantly, it helps leaders understand where there’s room for improvement. When schools combine consistent implementation with thoughtful data collection, it becomes a foundation for lasting, measurable change. Start where you are, ask good questions of your data, and let the evidence guide you forward.

To learn more about how Second Step programs can help your district create positive, measurable student outcomes, schedule a free consultation today.

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