Exploring social emotional learning and its impact on school climat

Today's youth are facing many new and difficult challenges both inside and outside of the classroom. The Lions Quest social emotional program was developed to provide students with social emotional skills to navigate the challenging world around them. The program empowers students to make positive decisions by building social emotional skills. Working cooperatively with each other is the way in which our society is heading and the Lions Quest program gives the kids the skills to do this.;The purpose of this study was to examine the influence the Lions Quest social emotional learning program had on school climate. The researcher examined differences in school climate between schools that utilized and did not utilize the Lions Quest life skills program in one suburban school district, located on Long Island. New York. In addition, this study examined teacher's overall perceptions of school climate variables: safety, teaching and learning, institutional environment, social emotional learning and relationships. This study also examined relationship variables (leadership. interpersonal and professional) and dimensions between the schools that utilized and did not utilize the Lions Quest program.;Data was collected using the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) 2006 survey. The 2006 survey was used to examine teacher's perceptions of the school climate variables: safety, teaching and learning, social emotional learning. institutional environment, and relationships with its relationship to utilizing and not utilizing the Lions Quest life skills program. Data collected was analyzed to answer the research questions that supported this study.;Based on the findings of this study, there was ample amount of evidence that supports the recommendation of utilizing a social emotional learning program within a school district. The results of this study clearly show that teachers perceived there was a positive impact on school climate when utilizing the Lions Quest life skills program.