Effectiveness of a Blended Learning Social Skills Intervention on High School Students Identified as At-Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorder

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the social, emotional, and behavioral impact of a nine-week blended learning social skills intervention for high school students identified as having, or at-risk for, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Exploring how social skills interventions improve students' social, emotional, and behavioral deficits can aid in the development of a curriculum that combines social and academic skills in new and innovative ways. This quantitative study utilized a pretest---posttest method. High school students identified as having, or at risk for, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders and their special educators were invited to complete the researcher-designed social skills intervention with a corresponding Social Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales (SEARS) pre- and post-test. There were no statistically significant differences between the pre- and post-test scores for the students or the special educator. The SEARS' social-emotional domains (self-regulation, empathy, responsibility, and social competence) were all found to be statistically significant predictors of the students' total composite score. Similarly, gender was found to be a robust, significant predictor of the student's total composite score. Implications of the study include strategies for developing and delivering social skills interventions at the high school level.