WILMINGTON, MA – Wilmington School Superintendent Mary DeLai published her weekly blog post Friday, discussing the need for Wilmington schools to teach social skills. She explains “social competence” and stresses its importance among students, citing an interesting new study. Read her post, in its entirety, below:
As we close out National Bullying Prevention Month, I find myself wondering, “How do we teach students to support and care for one another every month, not just October?” The answer, I believe, is to actively develop our student’s social competence. What is social competence? I like the Illinois Early Learning Project definition: Social competence refers to a person’s ability to get along with other people. Social competence includes knowing what is expected for social interactions, such as making eye contact, taking turns, listening to others, not being aggressive; “reading” other people’s facial expressions and gestures; recognizing emotions in others and oneself; and being able to communicate effectively with others, including family members, peers, and adults.
This month’s issue of the American Journal of Public Health includes an article presenting the results of a 20-year study of 800 children from kindergarten through the age of twenty-five. The objective of the study was to determine if a child’s social skill level is predictive of key adolescent and adult outcomes. The researchers found, “statistically significant associations between measured social-emotional skills in kindergarten and key young adult outcomes across multiple domains of education, employment, criminal activity, substance use, and mental health.”
To conduct the study, researchers from Penn State University and Duke University looked at teacher evaluations of kindergartners’ social competency skills, which were conducted in 1991.
Teachers evaluated the kids based on factors such as whether they listened to others, shared materials, resolved problems with their peers and were helpful. Each student was then given an overall score to rate their positive skills and behavior, with zero representing the lowest level and four for students who demonstrated the highest level of social skills and behavior. Researchers then analyzed what happened to the children in young adulthood, taking a look at whether they completed high school and college and held a full-time job, and whether they had any criminal justice, substance abuse or mental problems. For every one-point increase in a child’s social competency score in kindergarten, they were twice as likely to obtain a college degree, and 46% more likely to have a full-time job by age 25. For every one-point decrease in a child’s social skill score in kindergarten, he or she had a 67% higher chance of having been arrested in early adulthood, a 52% higher rate of binge drinking and an 82% higher chance of being in or on a waiting list for public housing. [1]
The implications of the study’s findings are clear to those of us in education – social skill development, particularly at the early childhood level, is critical. As the researchers note, “achievement is driven by intellectual ability as well as by the self-regulation, positive attitudes, motivation, and conscientiousness that are required to complete educational milestones.” If we want our students to be successful, we must identify the gaps in a child’s social competence, implement proactive social-emotional teaching strategies, and develop strong social skills beginning at the early childhood and continuing through the primary and intermediate grades. As Sofia Dickens, an EQ entrepreneur and founder of EQtainment [2], states, “This study is replicating what we already know to be true, which is that (emotional intelligence) has possibly the greatest correlation to school readiness and life success and that’s why it’s something that we really want to invest in when it comes to raising and growing our kids.”
[1] Wallace, Kelly. “Kindergartners’ Behavior Tied to Adult Success – CNN.com.” <i>CNN</i>. Cable News Network, 16 July 2015. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
[2] EQtainment creates board games and toys to help children “flex their social and emotional muscles.”
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