Foundational Skills for Lifelong Learning

Second Step® Elementary classroom kits help create focused, predictable classrooms where students feel safe, focused, and ready to learn—strengthening behavior and relationships during daily instructional time.

This guide provides basic information to empower you to plan and conduct an evaluation of the Second Step® program in your school.

This webinar, hosted by Committee for Children, walks you through the Second Step Elementary digital program. Our experts provide important tips, answer frequently asked questions, and give a short demo of the program to help plan for a successful implementation.

To effectively support students’ human skills learning, educators need human skills resources, tools, and program implementation strategies that work for their schools and communities. In this webinar, you will learn about Second Step® Elementary and Second Step® Middle School, and how to implement these programs successfully in your K-6 school.

A large-scale, two-year randomized control trial found that Second Step Elementary led to increases in executive function, emotional regulation, and other social-emotional competencies, and simultaneously decreased hostile attribution and disruptive behavior.

In a large multi-year study involving 61 elementary schools, authors found that when students engaged with the Second Step Elementary Classroom Kits program and received more lessons, they showed significant growth in both prosocial skills and academic achievement.

Students who received the Second Step Elementary Classroom Kits SEL program showed significant improvements in teacher-rated prosocial behaviors, empathy, conduct, and emotional symptoms, as well as significant decreases in teacher-rated peer problems. Students who were taught fewer Second Step Elementary Classroom Kits lessons showed fewer gains and significant increases in peer problems.

Findings from an independent study using data from over 23,000 students in a large, diverse school district in North Carolina show that using the Second Step Elementary digital program with fidelity led to significant improvements in students’ self-management skills and a meaningful reduction in out-of-school suspensions.