The Implementation of Skillsteaming: A Prosocial Skills Training Program Alyssa Heggen, B.A. and Kristen Davidson, B.A. Department of Counseling Psychology & Guidance Services, Ball State University Correspondence may be addressed to: Kristen Davidson or Alyssa Heggen In order to fulfill House Enacted Act 1419, stating that the Indiana Department of Education must demonstrate improvement in school safety and classroom management, Burris Laboratory School instituted a school-wide social skills curriculum entitled Skillstreaming. Skillstreaming is a highly acclaimed, researched-based, prosocial skills training program. In order to teach the essential skills to children and adolescents, the curriculum utilized a four- part training approach including modeling, role-playing, performance feedback, and generalization. Through Skillstreaming the students developed the capability to deal to with interpersonal conflicts and learned how to use self-control. These goals were accomplished via the five skill groups of classroom survival skills, friendship-making skills, dealing with feelings, alternatives to aggression, and dealing with stress. Goal and Objectives Competencies Through Skillstreaming, Kindergarteners and first graders were taught the following skills: listening, following directions, asking for help, knowing when to tell, dealing with teasing, dealing with feeling left out, asking to join in, waiting your turn, and accepting consequences. These skills were taught using a common language which was applied via all teachers and staff. The curriculum allowed the students to learn the language as well as practically apply the skill through role playing. Overall, the results demonstrate that students improved in all the skills significantly from when they started in September. According to the pre-test data, Kindergarteners rated themselves as least successful in asking for help and asking a friend to play compared to the other skills. The post-test data demonstrated that after Skillstreaming, the Kindergarteners were significantly more confident in these two skills. Across the board, the Kindergarteners showed improvement in all six skills. Compared to the Kindergarten classes, the first grade classes were overall more confident in their skill ability. However, the pre-test demonstrates that the first graders rated themselves as least confident in their ability to deal with feeling left out. Although this skill did improve throughout the course of the year, this skill was still ranked lowest in the post-test. This demonstrates that dealing with feeling left out is something that the first graders still struggle with, even after they have been taught the skill curriculum. The combined results data demonstrates that overall there was significant improvement in all six skills. However, more attention is needed to help students deal with feeling left out as this skill showed the least improvement. The most challenging part about implementing the Skillstreaming program was the self-evaluation portion of the program. The students had a difficult time rating themselves poorly. To control this limitation as much as possible, the counselors had a standardized script for all classrooms. We also had several teachers and school counselors monitoring the students during both the pre and post-tests to ensure that students weren’t influenced by their neighbor’s responses. We also implemented the use of cardboard dividers between each student’s desk. In the future Skillstreaming curriculum, it is recommended that counselors ask teachers to evaluate the student’s skill development in addition to the self-reports made by the students in the pre-test, thus allowing for a more accurate evaluation of skills competency. By implementing Skillstreaming into the elementary school curriculum, the following school counseling standards were met: A:A3.1 Take responsibility for their actions A:B1.2 Learn and apply critical-thinking skills PS:A1.7 Recognize personal boundaries, rights and privacy needs PS:A1.8 Understand the need for self-control and how to practice it PS:A1.9 Demonstrate cooperative behavior in the classroom PS:A2.7 Know that communication involves speaking, listening and nonverbal behavior PS:A2.8 Learn how to make and keep friends In order to determine the skill curriculum, a needs assessment was distributed to each of the teachers. Teachers ranked the top three skills in each of the five skill groups that they noticed their students needing to develop most. Their rankings were then tallied and the skills needing the most attention were addressed first. The guidance department began by implementing this program in the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Over the course of the academic year, the kindergarten classrooms were visited twice a week while the first grade classrooms were visited once a week. Each grade level has two classrooms, with each classroom containing approximately 20 students for a total of approximately 80 students. Before starting any lessons, the students were given an age-appropriate pre-test. The assessment was given using a 3-point Likert scale type of rating tool with the options of always, sometimes, or never. At the end of the academic year, the same rating tool was distributed to students as a post-test measurement tool. The first lesson of each skill began by introducing the skill-steps and skill poster to the students and talking about potential situations where this skill could be implemented, both in school and outside of the school setting. The instructors took this time to model the use of the skill in a role play situation. During the next lesson, the instructors would review the skill and ask the students to contemplate actual situations where they could apply the skill. Students then began to role play with their own ideas. After each student role play, the instructors reviewed the skill steps with the class to see if all the steps were included in the role play. Upon completion of their role play, students were given a worksheet where they were asked to log three examples of themselves using the skill throughout the week. When they returned the worksheet, they were rewarded with a certificate proclaiming them as a “master” of the current skill. Finally, after all the students had a chance to present their role play to the class, the instructors began with a new skill. At the end of the school year, after all skills had been taught, a post-test was given to all students to determine growth in each skill from the beginning of the school year. Results & Discussion Methods Survey Questions 1.Do you know what to do when directions are given? 2.Do you keep trying when something is hard? 3.When you make a mistake on an activity or in a game, do you still feel OK? 4.Do you still feel OK if you are left out of a game or activity? 5.Is it easy for you to ask in a friendly way when you need help? 6.Is it easy for you to ask a friend to play?.