Evaluation of the impact of a school-based socio-emotional learning program on the promotion of socio-affective well-being in middle school students and the underlying neurobiological correlates.

Last registered on May 27, 2026

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0018608

Initial registration date

May 22, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

May 27, 2026, 11:03 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name

Maria Jesus Olivares

Affiliation

Fundacion Kiri

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

María Florencia Alamos

PI Affiliation

Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

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PI Name

Francisco Aboitiz

PI Affiliation

Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

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PI Name

Leonie Kausel

PI Affiliation

Universidad Diego Portales

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PI Name

Rodrigo Henriquez

PI Affiliation

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

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PI Name

Mario Villena

PI Affiliation

Universidad de Santiago

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PI Name

Antonia Echenique

PI Affiliation

Fundación Kiri

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PI Name

Pablo Egaña

PI Affiliation

Universidad Adolfo Ibañez

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PI Name

Vania Valenzuela

PI Affiliation

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

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PI Name

Rafael Torres

PI Affiliation

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

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PI Name

Rodrigo Figueroa

PI Affiliation

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

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Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2026-05-22

End date

2027-12-31

Keywords

Behavior, Education, Health

Additional Keywords

Mental health, socio-emotional learning, classroom, teacher training, emotional well-being, child mental health, teacher self-efficacy, school-based intervention, SEL Kernels, primary education, educational intervention

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This project seeks to evaluate the impact of a teacher training program aimed at implementing playful socio-emotional learning strategies (SEL Kernels) on the development of socio-emotional skills, as well as on underlying neurobiological correlates and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in children aged 8 to 12 years. The study also considers the perspectives of teachers and caregivers through assessments of emotional, social, and psychological well-being, classroom climate, teacher self-efficacy, growth mindset, and children’s behavioral and emotional functioning. The study considers the participation of an estimated total of 1,440 children aged between 8 and 12 years, corresponding to students from 3rd to 5th grade of primary school located in the Metropolitan Region of Chile.

Given that school enrollment in primary education reaches 98% and that students spend most of their day in educational settings (MDSF, 2023), schools have become a key context for promoting socio-emotional development. Longitudinal research shows that deficits in socio-emotional skills increase the risk of chronic mental disorders, foster dysfunctional behaviors, and reduce academic performance, whereas their development is associated with positive attitudes, prosocial behaviors, economic stability, and social adaptation (Zúñiga-Fajuri & Zúñiga, 2020; Barría-Herrera et al., 2021; Durlak et al., 2011; Jones & Kahn, 2017; Cipriano et al., 2021; Moffitt et al., 2010).

The proposed study addresses three gaps in the body of knowledge: the lack of experimental designs in socio-emotional skills interventions, the absence of objective measures to assess their impact in the Chilean school population, and the need for replicable, contextualized, and easily adoptable strategies.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Aboitiz, Francisco et al. 2026. "Evaluation of the impact of a school-based socio-emotional learning program on the promotion of socio-affective well-being in middle school students and the underlying neurobiological correlates.." AEA RCT Registry. May 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18608-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention is a teacher training program in playful socioemotional learning (SEL) strategies, based on the SEL Kernels methodology developed by Harvard's EASEL Lab and adapted to the Chilean context by Fundación Kiri. The program is grounded in the CASEL framework and targets the five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
The intervention has two integrated components:

Teacher training: Six theoretical-practical modules of 90 minutes each, delivered in a hybrid format by SEL specialists. Training is pedagogical (not clinical) and focuses on equipping teachers to embed SEL Kernels into their regular classroom practice.
Classroom implementation: Trained teachers deliver SEL Kernels strategies during their regular instructional time across the school year, in non-core curricular blocks within the school day. Implementation is supported by (i) accompaniment from the research team during the first month, (ii) ongoing monitoring of strategy use through a georeferenced mobile app developed by Fundación Kiri, and (iii) pedagogical implementation logs maintained throughout the academic year.

The program targets students aged 8–12 (3rd to 5th grade in 2026; 4th to 6th grade in 2027), a developmental window characterized by high neural plasticity and stronger long-term effects of SEL interventions. Schools assigned to the control group do not receive the intervention during the main study period and continue with their regular pedagogical activities; they will receive program materials and implementation guides on a waitlist basis after the main evaluation phase concludes.

Intervention Start Date

2026-05-26

Intervention End Date

2027-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Student socioemotional and mental health outcomes:
Socioemotional wellbeing and skills (student self-report).
Internalizing and externalizing symptoms (parent heteroreport and student self-report).
Neurobiological correlates of emotional reactivity, measured via event-related potentials (ERPs) on EEG.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

The intervention targets the development of socioemotional skills (SEL) through teacher-implemented playful strategies grounded in the CASEL framework. We therefore expect the program to (i) improve student socioemotional wellbeing and reduce socioemotional difficulties, (ii) reduce internalizing and externalizing symptoms as a downstream effect of stronger SEL skills, and (iii) shift neural correlates of emotional reactivity, reflecting changes in underlying emotion-processing mechanisms.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Contextual and relational dimensions in students: sense of belonging, perceived loneliness, early-life unpredictability, and perceived social support.
Behavioral self-regulation and executive function (observational measure in a subsample).
Adult caregiver wellbeing.
Teacher wellbeing, self-efficacy, classroom climate, and growth mindset.
Administrative school outcomes: attendance and academic grades.
Implementation and process indicators.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary outcomes serve three purposes: (i) characterize the relational and developmental context that may moderate intervention effects, (ii) test mechanisms and robustness of behavioral self-regulation effects, and (iii) capture system-level and contextual changes.
Implementation and process indicators are not outcomes of intervention impact but inputs for dose-response analyses (OE2 and OE4) and fidelity assessment. They allow estimating effects as a function of received dose and characterizing variation across schools.
Expected direction: positive shifts in student contextual measures, behavioral self-regulation, caregiver wellbeing, and teacher self-efficacy and classroom climate in the treatment group; null or weakly positive effects on administrative outcomes given the short follow-up.

Experimental Design

This is a multicenter, parallel-group cluster randomized controlled trial with sequential two-stage randomization.
Stage 1 (school level): Eligible schools that formally consent to participate are randomly assigned to either the treatment or the control condition.
Stage 2 (grade level, within treatment schools only): Within schools assigned to treatment, a grade level is randomly selected to receive the intervention. Other grades in treatment schools do not receive the intervention during the main study period.
Treatment condition: Teachers in the selected grade levels receive a six-module training program in SEL Kernels strategies (developed by Harvard's EASEL Lab, adapted to the Chilean context by Fundación Kiri) and implement these strategies in their regular classroom instruction throughout the school year. Implementation is supported by accompaniment from the research team during the first month and ongoing monitoring.
Control condition: Schools assigned to control do not receive the intervention during the main study period and continue with their regular pedagogical activities. Control schools receive program materials and implementation guides on a waitlist basis after the main evaluation phase concludes.
Evaluations are conducted in both conditions under comparable conditions

Experimental Design Details

Not available

Randomization Method

Randomization is conducted in two sequential stages by a computer using a reproducible random seed, performed by a member of the research team who is not involved in school recruitment or fieldwork.
Stage 1: Schools that have formalized their participation are randomly assigned to treatment or control.
Stage 2: Within schools assigned to treatment, the grade level that will receive the implementation is randomly selected by the same procedure.

Randomization Unit

Randomization is conducted at two levels:

School level (Stage 1): Schools are the unit of randomization for assignment to treatment vs. control.
Grade level (Stage 2): Within schools assigned to treatment, grade levels (cursos del nivel escolar) are the unit of randomization for selecting which grade receives the intervention.

Students and teachers are not independently randomized; they receive the condition assigned to their school and grade.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

17 schools, distributed across 2 Local Education Services (SLEPs) in the Metropolitan Region.

Sample size: planned number of observations

~1,440 students (aged 8–12, grades 3rd–5th in 2026), nested within 17 schools. The study also includes one caregiver per enrolled student and teachers from the participating grade levels.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Sequential two-stage randomization generates three implementation conditions:

Pure control schools: all grade levels remain untreated during the main study period.
Treatment schools – treated grades: two grade levels per treatment school are randomly selected to receive the SEL Kernels teacher training and classroom implementation.
Treatment schools – within-school control grades: one grade level per treatment school is left without direct implementation, enabling within-school comparisons and spillover analyses.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Power calculations assume ICC ≈ 0.05, alpha = 0.05, and multilevel analyses (students nested within grade levels nested within schools, across 17 schools and 2 SLEPs): Between-school analyses (pure control vs. treatment schools): MDES 0.25–0.32 SD. Within-school analyses (treated vs. untreated grade levels): MDES 0.14–0.20 SD. Spillover analyses (indirect effects within schools): MDES 0.18–0.26 SD.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name

Comité Ético Científico de Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades (CEC-CSAH) de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

IRB Approval Date

2026-01-26

IRB Approval Number

250415007

Analysis Plan