The Making Choices Program

The findings reported here describe the effects from a cohort-controlled trial of Making Choices (MC), a universal social-emotional skills training program. From teacher ratings, 688 third-grade students were classified into 4 risk profiles using measures of aggression, social competence, classroom concentration, and peer relations. High-risk students were more aggressive and less socially competent, on-task, and liked by peers; low-risk students were less aggressive and more socially competent, on-task, and liked by peers. Program effects were estimated as changes in profile membership between pretest and posttest assessments. Relative to high-risk students in comparison cohorts, a greater proportion of high-risk students in MC cohorts had moved to low-risk groups at posttest. Low-risk students in MC cohorts tended to remain at lower risk while a larger proportion of low-risk students in the comparison cohorts joined higher-risk groups. Social-emotional skills training appears to confer benefits ...