Arab Educational Information Network

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of applying social and emotional learning programs on the academic performance and the behavior of students in grade 5 in a Lebanese private school, as well as the need of infusing such programs into schools. To achieve that, quantitative and qualitative approaches were used. In the quantitative approach, an experimental study and a survey were done. In the experimental study, a sample of 32 grade 5 students were studied to analyze the effect of social and emotional learning on their academic performance. In the survey, a sample of 41 members of school staff answered a questionnaire to study their opinion about the importance of infusing social and emotional learning into schools. In the qualitative approach, the researcher observed the behavior of the students in the experimental and control group in grade 5, during the time where the social and emotional learning programs were implemented, from February 9, 2016 till March 11, 2016. The results of the intervention of social emotional learning on students in grade 5 showed improvements in academic achievements and behavior of the students of the experimental group. Respondents of the survey confirmed that applying social emotional learning is essential in providing students’ success and in affecting students’ achievements, and they highlighted on the importance of having such programs infused in the educational programs of their school, which implies that there is a need to use social emotional learning in schools especially in grade 5. (Author's abstract)