Efficacy Study of Adventures Aboard the S.S.GRIN: Social, Emotional, and Academic Skills, WestEd and 3C Institute, 2019-2023

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Linlin Li, WestEd; Kylie Flynn, WestEd; Melissa DeRosier, 3C Institute; 3C Institute; WestEd

Version: View help for Version V1

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SSGRIN_for data repository.xlsx	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet	445.5 KB	05/23/2023 08:39:PM
sample Stata codes used for the analyses.docx	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document	14.2 KB	05/23/2023 08:39:PM

Project Citation:

Li, Linlin, Flynn, Kylie, DeRosier, Melissa, 3C Institute, and WestEd. Efficacy Study of Adventures Aboard the S.S.GRIN: Social, Emotional, and Academic Skills, WestEd and 3C Institute, 2019-2023. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-10-20. https://doi.org/10.3886/E191912V1

Project Description

Summary: The aim of the study was to explore the
impact of the Adventures Aboard the
S.S.GRIN (Adventures) program in the
school setting for third graders.
Adventures is a game-based online social-
emotional learning (SEL) training program
designed to improve socio-emotional skills
and peer relationships for elementary
school students.

The study focused on the following
research questions:
1. Is the Adventures program treatment more
effective than the control for improving students’
social-emotional skills?
2. Is the Adventures program treatment more
effective than the control for improving students’
social-emotional skills for students with social-
emotional challenges identified at the beginning
of the study?
3. Is the Adventures program treatment more
effective than the control for improving students’
social-emotional skills when implemented with
higher fidelity?

Funding Sources: United States Department of Education. Institute of Education Sciences

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: randomized controlled trial; social-emotional learning

Geographic Coverage: CA

Time Period(s): 2019 – 2021 (2019-2020 for Cohort 1 and 2020-2021 for Cohort 2)

Collection Date(s): 2019 – 2021 (2019/12/01-2020/05/31 (Cohort 1) and 2020/12/01-2021/05/31 (Cohort 2))

Universe:

Since the study sample is a convenient sample, the findings of the study can only be generalized to the third grade students in the schools with similar characteristics as those in the study.
The original study sample for both cohorts combined consisted of 1,645 third-grade students from 88 classrooms in California. Many of the schools are Title I schools (65%). The average class sizes for treatment and control classrooms were 18 and 19, respectively. Analysis of the student demographic data indicated that about one third of the students were Latinx and about 50% qualified for free and reduced lunch.

Data Type(s): administrative records data; experimental data

Methodology

Response Rate:

Forty-two out of 44 treatment classrooms were able to implement the intervention, and 43 out of 44 control classrooms were able to remain in the study and provide valuable inputs on their “business-as-usual” instructional experiences and practices. The overall attrition rate and differential attrition rate at the classroom level were 3.41% and 2.27%, respectively, which led to the tolerable level of potential bias under both optimistic and cautious assumptions provided by the WWC (2022).
The overall and differential attrition rates were 16.69% and 8.11%, respectively, for Zoo U. The overall and differential attrition rates were 17.89% and 8.37%, respectively, for SELweb. The combination of overall and differential attrition rates at the student level meets the WWC standards without reservation under optimistic assumptions for all direct SEL outcome measures
The overall and differential attrition rates were 0.45% and 0.51%, respectively, for both BERS and SSBI (teacher ratings of student SEL outcomes). It meets the WWC standards without reservation under both optimistic and cautious assumptions.

Sampling: For teacher ratings of BERS and SSBI, we asked the teachers to rate all students with social-emotional challenges and randomly selected and rated a subsample of students without social-emotional challenges.

Data Source:

school administrative records for student demographic data
study-collected data through outcome measures (Zoo U, SELweb, BERS, and SSBI)
study-collected data through DESSA-Mini to identify students with social-emotional challenges

Collection Mode(s): cognitive assessment test; other

Scales: For each of outcome measures, the possible values are indicated in the data codebook. No survey/attitudinal measures were given to the students.

Unit(s) of Observation: students

Geographic Unit: school

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Published Versions

V1 [2023-10-20]

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