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A landmark meta-analysis of 213 school-based SEL programs involving over 270,000 K–12 students found that participating students showed significant improvements in social-emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance. Follow-up data indicated that benefits persisted at least six months after the programs ended.

A study of 429 parents found that those who watched the Second Step Child Protection Unit family video demonstrated significantly higher knowledge of child sexual abuse, increased self-efficacy to discuss prevention with their children, and greater motivation to have those conversations compared to parents who did not watch the video.

In a study of nearly 1,200 students from PreK to Grade 4, findings showed that greater adherence to the Second Step Child Protection Unit’s implementation guidelines was associated with significantly higher student knowledge of personal safety concepts related to preventing child sexual abuse.

A study of 218 educators in grades PreK through 5 found that those who taught the Second Step Child Protection Unit had significantly greater knowledge of child sexual abuse, including recognizing risk factors and responding to disclosures, compared to a control group.

In a randomized control trial of nearly 1,200 students from PreK to Grade 4, students who participated in the Second Step Child Protection Unit showed significant improvements in personal safety knowledge, including identifying unsafe touches, knowing it’s not their fault, and understanding ways to stay safe.

In a year-long evaluation study of nearly 3,000 elementary school students participating in the Second Step Out-of-School Time (OST) program, findings showed a significant decrease in problem behavior for students who received the program, compared to students in the control group.

Analysis of a large-scale, randomized control trial reveals that among sixth-grade students who received the Second Step Middle School program, bullying victimization perpetrated by students with disabilities was reduced by 20 percent.

In a large-scale, multi-year randomized control trial involving 6,715 sixth-grade students, those who received Second Step Middle School were 42 percent less likely to report engaging in physical aggression.