Multi-tiered social-emotional learning: PATHS and Friendship Group in the Fast Track program.

Bierman, K. L., Greenberg, M. T., & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2020). Multi-tiered social-emotional learning: PATHS and Friendship Group in the Fast Track program. In T. W. Farmer, M. Conroy, E. M. Z. Farmer, & K. Sutherland (Eds.), Handbook of research on emotional and behavioral disabilities: Interdisciplinary developmental perspectives on children and youth (pp. 245-260). Taylor & Francis.

Abstract: Deficits in social-emotional skills are common among students with (or at high-risk for) emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and they disrupt children’s functioning at school, impairing social, behavioral, and academic performance. This chapter provides an overview of the social-emotional skill deficits that are common among students with or at risk for EBD and describes the utility of a multi-tiered social-emotional skill training approach that includes tier one classroom-wide (and school-wide) programming along with tier two small group programming for children who need remedial support. The featured interventions include the Fast Track adaptation of the PATHS® Curriculum (Kusché, Greenberg, & CPPRG, 2011) as an exemplary tier one program and the Fast Track Friendship Group (Bierman et al., 2017) as a coordinated and complementary tier two program. Program content and implementation are described, along with evidence from the Fast Track randomized-controlled trial and other studies demonstrating the efficacy of these programs, when integrated, to promote social competence, self-regulation skills and adaptive learning behaviors, and to reduce aggressive-disruptive behavior in children with or at risk for EBDs.