Culturally Adapted Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Support for Black Male Learners

Black learners, like all other learners, bring their cultural values into the classroom, how they express themselves, and how they problem-solve. In addition, their life experiences influence their social and emotional behaviors. This study examined the effects of a multicomponent intervention approach—including a culturally adapted social and emotional learning curriculum, check-in/check-out, and self-monitoring—on the externalizing behaviors of Black male learners in an urban elementary school. A multiple-baseline-across-classes, single-case, experimental design evaluated the effects of the intervention package. Results from the study show a consistent decrease in externalizing problem behaviors, increases in social and emotional competencies, and high levels of social validity for the intervention package based on the input of relevant stakeholders. An embedded alternating-treatment, single-case design explored the relative impact of self-monitoring. The authors also include a discussion of the limitations of this work and the implications for future research.