Elizabeth Malin MINDFULNESS PROGRAM & STUDENT SOCIOEMOTIONAL GROWTH 1

ANALYZING EFFECTIVENESS OF MINDFULNESS INNOVATION PROGRAMS THAT

IMPACT STUDEN’TS SOCIOEMOTIONAL AND ACADEMIC LEARNING

A Literature Review

Presented to

The Faculty of the Department of Educational Leadership

Lamar University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Education in Educational Technology Leadership

by

Elizabeth Fuentes Malin

EDLD 5314: Digital Learning in Local and Global Contexts

May 20, 2020

MINDFULNESS PROGRAM & STUDENT SOCIOEMOTIONAL GROWTH 2

Introduction: Purpose of Literature Review

Currently, amidst the COVID-19 Crisis, globally education has had the biggest jolt

transitioning from the standard model of physical, blended learning/flipped classroom, teacher,

or student-centered learning to this semblance of distance learning. There are some success

stories and other stories of struggle. We, as educators, are doing our very best to create equitable

lessons that reach all learners who have access to technology and to those that don’t. Our

student’s academic success and their growth are always at the forefront of anything we do to

provide learning opportunities. There are many issues educators, our school community, students

and their families are enduring—are students able to understand, retain, and apply their lessons?

Are students struggling to get the work done? Who has technology, who doesn’t? While their

academic growth is key, their socioemotional health is also vital. It is imperative to have students

who are struggling with this distance learning to be able to reach out to any adult who will listen

—members of their family, teachers, counselors, administrators. The mental state of our students

and our educators during this time distance learning is the reason for this call to action. What

tools are available to help our educators, students, and members of our school community to help

with any areas of mental health, relaxation, venting, and socio-emotional health? A successful

innovation project can impact school improvement in identifying how mindfulness activities can

alleviate stress and anxiety and increase academic performance. Students experiencing stress and

anxiety are a major issue that impacts their education.

The reason for reviewing the literature on this topic is to examine successful and

unsuccessful innovation projects, case studies, and articles that discuss areas of mindfulness and

to see how these activities are implemented in the case study school and to examine the effects of

mindfulness activities on students to see how it has impacted any academic or socioemotional
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areas. This literature is presented towards those educators who are seeking ways to reach our

kids, ways to help coop during this crisis, and administrators who can help implement this

innovative idea.

The innovation project proposed it so implement Innovative plans are essential for the

growth of any academic program. The innovation plan is to propose The Design and Technology

Academy at Ed White Middle School in San Antonio, TX is bring an online intervention

program through Mindful Schools which provides mindfulness, life balance, lessons/activities

that help to reduce mental health stigma while promoting awareness and to help build resiliency.

Analyzing research involving impactful and effective mindfulness intervention program have

been executed is also one of the goals of this literature review. This research literature will not

examine a specific type of mindfulness, rather programs overall that have been effective.

Research questions guide the direction of what the research is trying to conduct. The following

are the literature review questions: 1. What effect do mindfulness activities have on impacting

students academic achievement? 2. What effect do mindfulness activities have on impacting

wellness and socioemotional health? 3. What are the perceptions held by students who

participate in mindfulness activities? The problem statement—the purpose of this study is to

investigate how the integration of an online mindfulness activities effects student’s wellness,

socioemotional health, and academic performances. The reason for reviewing the literature on

this topic is to examine articles that discuss areas of mindfulness and to see how these activities

are implemented in the case study school and to examine the effects of mindfulness activities on

students to see how it has impacted any academic or socioemotional areas. One goal of this

literature review is to examine themes regarding mindfulness interventions to understand

examples of these activities and how they impact student success. The goal of this literature
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review is to compare mindfulness activities that can affect students. The scope of this literature

will consist of innovation ideas that did not work and others that were successful. It will cover

literature that focuses on the effect of mindfulness on socioemotional health, the impact

mindfulness has on academic performance, and how current online and offline mindfulness

programs have impacted student success, while suggesting questions for future study.

Scope of Innovation Programs

Many school districts and campuses have experimented and implemented innovative

ideas that have been successful or have tanked. The idea must be innovative, while adding a new

concept, vision, educational reform, not just improving a situation, which results in an

improvement, not an innovation (Serdyukov, 2017, p. 10). Current research suggests what has

worked with educational innovations is the improvement of the quality of education, with that

stemming from some vision. Innovation as Serdyukov suggests, “can be assessed by its novelty,

originality, and potential effect…in education, we estimate the effect of innovation via learning

outcomes, formative and summative assessments, and student self-assessment, [and student

growth and achievement] (2017, p. 11). There is a “scale of implementation [that] impacts

multiple/spread/system-wide persons” (Serdyukov, 2017, p. 11). An example of innovations that

have worked includes “Khan Academy, International academies in Kenya that have clear goals

and have measured their successes based on adjustment, modification, and transformation”

(Serdyukov, 2017, p. 11). What could have been done better is to have innovation plans that have

a vision and have attainable goals? What did not work with past innovations stems from a lack of

goals, vision, and a rush to attain immediate results. Serdyukov discusses how political

innovative reforms such as NCLB (No Child Left Behind) “placed too much focus on

accountability and assessment and lost sight of many other critical aspects of education. In
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drawing too much attention to technology innovations, we may neglect teachers and learners in

the process. Stressing the importance of STEM at the expense of music and fine arts and physical

culture ignores you people’s personal, social, emotional, and moral development” (Serdyukov,

2017, p. 9). Another example of what went wrong with innovative planning stems from the case

study in Los Angeles regarding their iPad program. As the article states "according to Horn, Los

Angeles is a classic case of school district getting caught up in the ed-tech frenzy without fully

thinking through why technology is important in the first place (Lapowsky, 2015, p.4). School

districts need to find the right vendors that are fit for their learners. They chose a vendor before

discussing how the technology would be used initially" (Lapowsky, 2015, p. 5). In this case, was

Apple and Pearson at fault? Is it easier to point blame at others when the school district did not

have a clear vision or instructional model? They need to ask themselves, "what problem are we

trying to solve and what's the instructional model we need?" (Lapowsky, 2015, p. 4).

Considering analyzing past innovations and deconstructing what worked, what did not work, and

what lessons were learned, this literature review is framed to transition to analyzing research

aligning to the educational innovation plan of a mindfulness program that stems under the

“psychological (cognitive science, multiple intelligences theory, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,

learning style theory)” (Serdyukov, 2017, p. 9).

Mindfulness Effect on Socioemotional health

One of the emerging trends in our student’s education is helping their socioemotional

learning. Mindfulness interventions are one avenue that can enable students to achieve higher

levels of achievement. Many of our students experience unrelenting” life stressors such as

community violence, multigenerational poverty, failing educational systems, substance abuse,

limited avenues for success, health risks, and trauma” (Sibinga, et al., 2016, p.1). This 2016
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study conducted by medical doctors Erica M.S. Sibinga, Lindsey Webb, and Jonathan Ellen

evaluated a mindfulness program three-hundred fifth to eighth-grade students participated in.

Through a randomized active-controlled trial in Baltimore City, these researchers implemented

“a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) such as didactic material related to mindfulness,

meditation, yoga, and the mind-body connection” (Sibinga, et al., 2016, p.2). Regarding the

research question of what effect do mindfulness activities have on impacting students’ wellness

and socioemotional health, three hundred students participated in 14 separate classes 21 to 37

and the MSBR participants “reported lower levels of depressive symptoms, students showed

significantly lower levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, including both domains of

subdomains of depressive and re-experiencing” (Sibinga, et al., 2016, p.4). Various research

indicates that intervention programs such as mindfulness promote socioemotional health.

Ernest Solar of George Mason University explores several case studies of successful

mindfulness programs that promote the reduction of stress, help to increase student’s breathing

and relaxation, and to reduce anxiety through the use of mindfulness activities (Solar, 2013, p.

44). Breathing enables students to concentrate on their breathing to calm down. One case study

discusses how Mr. Barrett, who services students with emotional or behavior disorders (EBD),

implements a breathing exercise called “PEACE” (Solar, 2013, p. 45). He practices this on one

of his students named Chris. The results of this mindfulness activity, specifically with Chris

indicate, he “became more aware [of his breathing], and accepte[ed] [his] thoughts and emotions

at a moment in time” (Solar, 2013, p. 46). When a student practices this “PEACE” breathing,

they can use it as a tool for cooping. Research behind the neurophysiological effects of

mindfulness induction on emotional processing in children is important to analyze the impact of

mindfulness programs.
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Deng et al. (2019) examines “the present study the influence of mindfulness induction on

electrocortical responses during emotional processing in pre-adolescent children. What worked

in this study was its scientific approach to applying the affect of mindfulness on 35 students.

Electroencephalograms were recorded from 35 pre-adolescent children; 18 children

(Mage = 10.44 years) were randomly assigned to a mindfulness induction group and 17 children

were randomly assigned to a control group (Mage = 9.88 years) (Deng et al., 2019). Group

differences in event-related brain potentials (ERPs) associated with the processing of positive,

negative and neutral stimuli were analyzed (Deng et al., 2019). What did not work in the study

with regard to “the P1, N2 and late positive potentials (LPPs) were compared between the

mindfulness induction group and the control group. The amplitude of the P1 was smaller

in the mindfulness induction group compared to the control group under both the

negative and neutral conditions” (Deng et al., 2019). The lessons applied here were,

“the presented findings suggest that the impacts of mindfulness during emotional

processing are reflected by both bottom-up (evidenced by the early ERP components) and

top-down (evidenced by the later ERP components) processes (Deng et al., 2019).

Additional lessons applied are “these results indicate that mindfulness modulates

emotional responses in pre-adolescent children and thus has important implications in

training and clinical practices (Deng et al., 2019). Future lessons to be applied in the

mindfulness intervention innovation program are to have this plan serve as a model for

future schools and mindfulness programs begin at the elementary level.

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Mindfulness Effect on Academic Performance     

While examining the effect mindfulness activities intervention programs have on students

is vital, understanding the effect of student’s academic achievement is integral in assessing their

student success. Lea Waters, et al., examines 15-peer-reviewed studies of school meditation

programs that analyze well-being, social competence, and a stressor on academic achievement”

(Waters, et al., 2014, p. 103). Waters, et al. find that intervention programs such as

contemplative education (CE) enable a student’s mind to process their learning through clearer

heads, which promote student thinking, analyzing, and processing of their content.

Contemplative education is “a set of practic4es that may foster particular forms of awareness in

students, forms of conducive to the conscious motivation and regulation of learning, and also to

freedom of transcendence in life more generally (Waters, et al., 2014, p. 108). When meditation

occurs, it immediately regulates one’s attention and increases one’s awareness of their thoughts,

body, mind, and soul. If students can practice these mindfulness activities, then perhaps they can

increase their ability to think, process, concentrate, and discipline themselves to analyze their

studies, thus increasing retention of content. There were “76 results where effect sizes could be

calculated; there were 1,797 participants that indicated that transcendental meditation programs

had a high percentage of 61% who reported that medication helped them to concentrate and

increase student academics” (Waters, et al., 2014, p. 105). Often the causes of lower academic

performances stem from medical or psychological stressors such as anxiety and psychological

disorders.

Jennifer Sherman of the University of Wisconsin explores the effects of academic

successes of a Montessori elementary school and how mindfulness activities help to support the

academic achievement of students who experience anxiety. Many students as she describes are
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unaware of their anxieties, and or if they have a mental illness or not (Sherman, 2017, p. 2).

Sherman focuses on how students who are “impulsive, short-tempered [experience] a difficulty

in starting classwork or planning, [while] lacking an ability to organize classwork. Through a

mindfulness intervention program, the Montessori elementary school can provide support and

tools that enable students to focus on their thoughts and retrigger their thinking by helping to

lower their stress and anxiety. Through mindfulness activities, students can slow down, examine

situations, and prepare their minds to set academic goals. The results indicated “participants were

introduced to both Mindful Schools and the work of Dr. Daniel Siegel and his work on child and

adolescent psychology. Mindful Schools is an organization whose mission is to bring the regular

practice of mindfulness into schools to assist students in social and emotional control and to

improve the classroom and school environment and increase student academic achievement”

(Sherman, 2017, p. 5). Sherman’s study correlated the result of increased student academic

achievement through mindfulness activities. 

Scope of Effective Mindfulness Programs

These are trying times and all stakeholders of a school community should be on the same

path to supporting, encouraging, and reaching out to each other. Building and maintaining

relationships is key. Mindfulness activities are a tool that educators can use in a curriculum

manner that helps to calm themselves, their student’s anxiety, help to build healthy coping skills,

while us to identify feeling that may potentially impede strategic thinking and action during this

time of distance leading and learning. In order to move forward with this innovation project, it is

important again to review cases that have worked, did not work, and assess what was learned.

Successful implementation of a mindfulness course was discussed in Psychology Today. Zoe

Weil discusses how the mindfulness program has equipped her faculty to “connect with one and
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another and address each other’s challenges with empathy” (2020, p.1). By focusing on how are

you feeling emotionally and physically; how are you bringing mindfulness to your own lives and

to other’s lives, teachers have “served [as] a very important purpose that [has allowed them ] to

bring attention to [their] mental and physical states and to mindfully observe in order to be less

reactive and more responsive in the face of such uncertain and frightening times” (Weil, 2020,

p1). By bringing attention to “noticing your heart rate, breathing, bringing awareness to the

source of one’s fear, planning mindfully for the future, and shifting the attention from “me to

we” will help immeasurably” (Weil, 2020, p.1). Another success story comes from Minnesota.

According to Jordan ISD’s web page, “supported by the latest research in neuroscience, trauma,

and social/emotional learning, the curriculum creates optimal learning environments that

improve children’s focus, behavioral skills, physical health, and emotional stability. Mindfulness

has been delivered to students in different ways throughout the district-Yoga Calm, 1000 Petals

for younger students, Mindful Schools, and Change to Chill for older students. During this

uncertain time, practicing mindfulness techniques may help students and families. We are also

sharing online resources to our school community” (Jordan ISD, 2020). The success measured

here is the plan is published for anyone to access their resources while impacting the overall

success of student’s socioemotional needs being met. 

               Certain mindfulness programs end up failing because of several factors. There have

been controversies as research suggests that elements of yoga and meditation are integrated into

the curriculum (Weil, 2020, p.2). This may go against a person’s personal beliefs against such

mediation and yoga practices. Often students are given more work and these mindfulness

activities pile on and become something mundanely executed instead of willingly experienced.

Often schools provide resources from a plethora of sites, books, and videos. Also, teachers
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research their own resources, and students go class to class getting different segments of

mindfulness, TEDtalks, and mediation practices, while others do not. There is not a unified

curriculum and often teachers are not trained properly on how to execute these interventions.

Mindfulness curriculums are something that takes some professional development. 

               The lesson learned from failed programs and successful programs suggests that moving

forward with a mindfulness intervention program requires a vision, attainable goals, professional

development, and executing a unified curriculum that helps all stakeholders within a school

community. In order to avoid a poorly designed school mindfulness program, campus needs have

a curriculum that is unified to address resilience, mental health, socioemotional growth, and

providing tools for coping with stress. According to Bristow (2017), “Schools should know the

difference between focused awareness and mindful awareness, by emphasizing that mindfulness

is more than just calm and concentration. If mindfulness training is to be distinguishable from

relaxation or attention training, children need to learn about the mind and develop certain

qualities of awareness—like openness, curiosity, and care” (p. 1). He also suggests that we “need

to put on our own oxygen masks first, implying that “if teachers are to guide practices for

children, it’s very important that they embody mindfulness themselves and have high levels of

personal motivation It is widely held that mindfulness training cannot be delivered from a script,

much like you wouldn’t ask a teacher who can’t swim to teach a swimming class from a

textbook” (Bristow, 2017, p.2). He continues to discuss how schools need to clearly define the

program, have a vision with measurable outcomes. Measurable goals such as increased

attendance rates (when physical schools resume), increased academic achievement, increased

awareness, lowered anxiety measured by self-analysis, activities, and overall building of

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relationships and opening up to each other as a campus, of which this innovation plan would set,

execute, measure, and analyze the fidelity of the program.

Literature from J.D. Creswell (2017) “evaluates the growing evidence of mindfulness

interventions RCTs by reviewing and discussing the effects of mindfulness interventions on

health, cognitive, affective, and interpersonal outcomes, evidence-based applications of

mindfulness interventions to new settings and populations (Creswell, 2017). Creswell also

analyzes the psychological and the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness interventions

(Creswell, 2017). What worked well was his analysis of how “methodologically rigorous RCTs

have demonstrated that mindfulness interventions improve outcomes in multiple domains (e.g.,

chronic pain, depression relapse, addiction)” (Creswell, 2017). What could have been better

would have been an inclusion of a range of intervention programs in his study. The lessons to be

applied are understanding how mindfulness “focuses on opportunities and challenges for

mindfulness intervention research and on community applications” (Creswell, 2017). Future

lessons to be applied are really considering how effective mindfulness programs are at helping

people in their personal lifestyles, choices, and in their personal outcomes. For example, how

will students cope with this COVID-19 Crisis? Will mindfulness activities be a tool that helps

them deter from poor choices?

Conclusions from Research Gathered

Knowledge gained from this literature review includes understanding that there is a

correlation between mindfulness activities and increasing student achievement. Deep breathing

serves as a means of concentrating on one’s mind, body, and soul. When such practice occurs, a

student can transfer this practice into concentrating on other academic processes such as

studying, notetaking, and completing homework assignments.

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Regarding what effect do mindfulness activities have on impacting student’s academic

achievement, Waters et al.’s study analyzed 15 peer-reviewed studies of school meditation

programs. Specifically in the study conducted by Walters, et al. compares transcendental

meditation program, which had a “higher percentage of significant effects than mindfulness-

based and other types of meditation programs, but this may be to the settings and the program

delivery rather than the technique itself (Waters, et al., 2014, p. 1). Walters, et al. increased the

rigor of medication activates and discussed the responsibility of the teacher to see how effective

this type of mindfulness activity would be effective. 24% of 1797 sampled population had

medium effects of strength in the transcendental meditation program (Walters, et al., 2014, p. 1).

To further answer the above research question, Sherman (2017)’s study on mindfulness in a

Montessori small-group intervention setting” was synthesized (Sherman, 2017, p. 1).

She examined the effectiveness of a mindfulness intervention program at her campus.

The purpose of the study, according to Sherman (2017) is to examine the effectiveness of short,

regular sessions of mindfulness practice in reducing math anxiety and increasing academic

performance” (Sherman, 2017). She evaluated her testing group’s emotions “the end of each

small-group session to determine whether mindfulness was having an effect on the short term.”

The results indicated that “four out of fourteen students indicated greater feelings of calm during

math group. Although most students did report greater levels of calm and focus, these changes

often were too small (+1) to be significant or, in the case of a positive changes, the student’s

comments attributed those positive changes to another outside” (Sherman, 2017, p. 270). Many

students reported they were distracted and anxious during homework. Having an intervention or

a means to release pent-up energy is a great best practice to have in the classroom. Regarding

another research question—what effect mindfulness activities have on impacting student’s

MINDFULNESS PROGRAM & STUDENT SOCIOEMOTIONAL GROWTH 14

wellness and socioemotional health, led to a study conducted by Ernest Solar.

He addresses an “alternative approach to behavior interventions: mindfulness stress

reduction” (Solar, 2013, p. 44). Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) enables students

with tools that can help them with stress, relaxation, and reducing anxiety. Solar discusses case

studies where mindfulness activities were used on various campuses. Solar states, “over the past

30 years MBSR has been researched by the medical and health care community to document the

many positive effects experienced by patients. For example, a clinical study showed a reduction

in anxiety and depression in adult patients who engaged in an MBSR” (Solar, 203, p. 44). This

suggests that students who participate in mindfulness programs can succeed based on examples

in which mindfulness programs were effective.

In serving as a framework of reference, Sibinga, et al.’s study on school-based

mindfulness instruction, discusses students from Baltimore City who participated in “randomly

assigned by grade to received adapted MBSR or health education. Results included “three

hundred fifth-to eighth grade students were in MBSR classes. Three hundred fifth- to eighth-

grade students (mean 12.0 years) were in MBSR and HT classes and provided survey data.

Participants were 50.7% female, 99.7% African American, and 99% eligible for free lunch. The

groups were comparable at baseline. Post-program, MBSR students had significantly lower

levels of somatization, depression, negative affect, negative coping, rumination, self-hostility,

and posttraumatic symptom severity (all Ps < .05) than HT” (Sibinga, 2019, p. 1). Both studies

serve as a framework to help me identify the likelihood that a mindfulness intervention program

would work to help with student’s socioemotional needs.

Finally, in addressing the final research question—what are the perceptions held by

students who participate in mindfulness activities, research examining Patricia Jennings, et al’s
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“The Prosocial Classroom: Teacher Social and Emotional Competence in Relation to Student

and Classroom Outcomes” (2009). Jennings, et al. “proposes a model of the prosocial the

prosocial classroom that highlights the importance of teachers' social and emotional competence

(SEC) and well- being in the development and maintenance of supportive teacher-student

relationships, effective classroom management, and successful social and emotional learning

program implementation” (Jennings, et al., 2009, p. 491). This prosocial model enables students

to increase their socioemotional development. Jennings remarks “this model proposes that these

factors contribute to creating a classroom climate that is more conducive to learning and that

promotes positive developmental outcomes among students” (Jennings, et al., 2009, 491).

Evaluating a teacher’s behaviors and attitudes are key to the effectiveness of any intervention

program. Specifically, regarding a mindfulness intervention program it is imperative to have

teachers whose behavior who “associates [their] behaviors with optimal social and emotional

classroom climate and desired student outcomes” (Jennings, et. al., 2009, p. 492). We want

teachers to not only “buy-in” to the program. We want teachers to “embrace it.” Student’s

perceptions of these of a teacher supporting them will have a “direct effect on their interest and

motivation” (Jennings, et. al, 2009, p. 500). Students who participate in mindfulness activities

had an increased understanding of self-perception, motivation, and he desires to learn. This

article has provided a framework for predicting that student’s perceptions of the mindfulness

activities will benefit their overall socioemotional learning. Connecting inquiry question of

whether or not a mindfulness intervention program would be effective towards a group of

student’s academic and socioemotional, one is able to synthesize various sources that allowed a

framework for answering the presented research questions. A takeaway from this literature

review was appreciating student’s overall positive perception of the intervention program.
MINDFULNESS PROGRAM & STUDENT SOCIOEMOTIONAL GROWTH 16

Questions for Future Study

Questions of future study suggest whether mindfulness programs would be as effective

starting out at the elementary school level. Emerson et al. (2017) discusses the impact of early

intervention at the elementary levels. Early intervention or prevention approaches may support

teachers to develop positive coping and reduce the experience and impact of stress. This

article reviews research on one such approach: mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) for

school-teachers (Emerson et al., 2017). What worked was the “systematic review and narrative

synthesis were conducted for quantitative and qualitative studies that report the effects of MBIs

for teachers of children aged 5–18 years on symptoms of stress and emotion regulation and self-

efficacy” (Emerson et al., 2017). Twelve independent publications were identified meeting the

inclusion criteria and these gave a total of 13 samples (Emerson et al., 2017). What could have

helped this study was perhaps conducting a live case study and surveying existing MBIs. The

lessons learned indicate that “the results of the review are discussed in the context of a model of

teacher stress” (Emerson et al, 2017). Teacher social and emotional competence has implications

for pupil well-being through teacher–pupil relationships and effective management of the

classroom (Emerson et al, 2017). The implications for practice and research are

considered (Emerson et al, 2017). The main takeaway and application of lessons learned

are that building relationship is crucial to any school community and environment. These

are the building blocks to any MBI, school community, or any learning community.

Looking forward to a changing world, COVID-19 has impacted our school systems and

has impacted the mental health of all stakeholders of a school. Providing a mindfulness

curriculum is a small step forward for unifying us in a time that can center us, pausing the

situation to focus on our internal and external environments and how they are affected. Bristow
MINDFULNESS PROGRAM & STUDENT SOCIOEMOTIONAL GROWTH 17

concludes with, “in a world where the only thing we can count on is constant change and the

shape of work is likely to be very different in 20 years’ time, leading thinkers have suggested

that future success will be as dependent on understanding the minds of others as understanding

technology (giving rise to the term ‘STEMpathy’)” (2017, p. 4). Mindfulness is not a remedy

(Weil, 2020). It is not a cure-all that will shield you from COVID-19 nor its physical, economic,

and mental effects, but it will allow you to persevere with refinement, spaciousness, tranquility

while providing us with learning opportunities to grow socioemotionally (Weil, 2020). The flip

side of this pandemic is it is bringing people together in a benevolent way (Weil, 2020). People

are more humanitarian-like minded. We can hold on to that hope and be mindful of its powerful

panacea (Weil, 2020). How well will students transition to an online mindfulness curriculum to a

physical model? How will teachers honor the fidelity of the mindfulness program? How will this

mindfulness program impact student success, academic achievement, increase attendance rates,

and affect overall socioemotional change amongst this COVID-19 Crisis?

MINDFULNESS PROGRAM & STUDENT SOCIOEMOTIONAL GROWTH 18

References

Bristow, J. (2017, April 12). How to avoid a poorly designed school mindfulness program.

Foundation for a Mindful Society. https://www.mindful.org/4-signs-poorly-designed-

school-mindfulness-programs/

Burke, M. et al., (2017). Parent perspectives of applying mindfulness-based stress reduction

strategies to special education. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 55(3), 167-

180. doi: 10.1352/1934-9556-55.3.167

Creswell, J. D. (2017). Mindfulness interventions. Annual review of psychology, 68, 491-516.

doi/full/10.1146

Deng, X., Zhang, J., Hu, L., & Zeng, H. (2019). Neurophysiological evidences of the transient

effects of mindfulness induction on emotional processing in children: An ERP

study. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 143, 36-43.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.06.014

Emerson, L., Leyland, A., Hudson, K. et al. Teaching Mindfulness to Teachers: a Systematic

Review and Narrative Synthesis. Mindfulness 8, 1136–1149 (2017).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0691-4

Eva, A. L., & Thayer, N. M. (2017). Learning to BREATHE: A pilot study of a mindfulness-

based intervention to support marginalized youth. Journal of evidence-based

complementary & alternative medicine, 22(4), 580-591.

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Felver, J.C., Frank, J.L. & McEachern, A.D. Effectiveness, Acceptability, and Feasibility of the

Soles of the Feet Mindfulness-Based Intervention with Elementary School

Students. Mindfulness 5, 589–597 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0238-

MINDFULNESS PROGRAM & STUDENT SOCIOEMOTIONAL GROWTH 19

Jennings, P., & Greenberg, M. (2009). The Prosocial Classroom: Teacher Social and

Emotional Competence in Relation to Student and Classroom Outcomes. Review of

Educational Research, 79(1), 491-525.

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