Congratulations to Teresa Letizia who on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, successfully defended her dissertation. The title of Teresa’s dissertation is, "QUALITATIVE STUDY OF TEACHERS’ USE OF SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING CURRICULUM IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS: AN ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS ANALYSIS."
Overview of Problem: Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is widely recognized as essential to supporting student well-being, school engagement, and academic success. While schools are expected to implement SEL as a key component of instruction and school culture, the experiences of teachers—those responsible for delivering and sustaining SEL—remains an under-researched area. Without a deeper understanding of teachers’ experiences and the challenges they face, SEL curriculum implementation risks becoming disconnected from daily practice and from the support students urgently need.
Research Purpose: Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, this study explored how elementary school teachers in New York public schools experience the implementation of a SEL curriculum. The study examined how different layers of influence such as classroom relationships, family engagement, professional development, district/school policies, and societal change—shaped their efforts to integrate SEL into everyday practice.
Research Design: This study used a qualitative research design grounded in interpretive inquiry to understand elementary school teachers’ experiences as they implement SEL curriculum.
Sample: The study included 15 public elementary school teachers in New York. Each participant had at least five years of teaching experience.
Data Collection and Analysis: Data were collected through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to code transcripts using both in vivo and a priori strategies, with attention to how participants’ experiences aligned with each level of the ecological model: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.
Findings/Results: The findings revealed that strong teacher-student relationships and emotionally safe classrooms were central to effective SEL (microsystem). Teachers actively engaged families through SEL language and tools (mesosystem). However, professional learning opportunities were often limited or episodic, and administrative support -though recognized as critical- was frequently insufficient (exosystem). Broader influences, such as district mandates and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting increased emotional needs and learning disruptions, also shaped teachers’ experiences (macrosystem and chronosystem).
Conclusions/Implications: This study illuminated how SEL curricula offered structure; however, it is the relational and emotional work of teachers that drives meaningful SEL. For SEL to be sustainable and effective, schools must invest in long-term support, prioritize teacher well-being, and foster alignment across all levels of the school system—from policy to practice.
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE CHAIR(S):
Dr. Susan V. Iverson
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE MEMBER(S):
Dr. Mary Coakley-Fields
Dr. Lynn Allen 
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