Early Childhood RULER in Pennsylvania

Funding Source: The Pennsylvania Key Office of Child Development and Early Learning

Team Members: Craig Bailey, Mariam Korangy, Tangular Irby, The Pennsylvania Key personnel

The purpose of this project is to offer professional development to Pennsylvania early childhood educators to support their job satisfaction, emotional well-being, and social and emotional skills as well as tools and strategies to intentionally teach the social and emotional skills that will lead to young children’s resiliency and a reduction in challenging behaviors. With funding from the Office of Early Childhood within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence will coordinate with The Pennsylvania Key and Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning in offering (a) the Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty and Stress Online Course, (b) an Early Childhood SEL Leadership Institute, (c) RULER Institute Online and RULER Online Access, (d) RULER Implementation Support, (e) Research and Evaluation from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026. This tiered, systematic approach to social and emotional learning (SEL) aligns with other trauma-informed efforts to support the ECE workforce in Pennsylvania’s aimed at building capacity of early childhood providers so they can support children and families in quality settings. The systematic approach offers universal reach as well as regionally focused supports to address the needs of rural communities, marginalized and underserved communities and addresses the need for a trauma-sensitive, culturally responsive approach.

Connection to Research Agenda: Intervention Evaluation