Exploring an SEL program's effects on student attendance and academic learning.

In this study, we investigated the effect of the Positive Behavior Skills (PBS) program on students' attendance and academic learning. We used propensity score matching and growth modeling to compare PBS and non-PBS schools on (a) English language art (ELA), (b) mathematics, and (c) attendance. PBS schools had statistically significantly higher annual growth rate in attendance than the matched non-PBS schools, with PBS schools growing 0.38% points higher. Due to the word limit, the results for the other two school outcomes (ELA, mathematics) were not presented. Implications of the study were discussed given the nature of PBS program and general context of the literature.