Teachers' Role in Explaining Middle School Students' Sense of Belonging and Kindness on Campus

ABSTRACT Youth participation in high quality social‐emotional learning programming has the potential to influence near and distant school‐related outcomes. In a sample of 389 middle school students, the current study investigated students' exposure to one grassroots, evidence‐informed, kindness‐focused school‐based program that targets both students' and adults' capacity for recognizing and enacting kindness. The program was positively associated with students' sense of belonging and intent to perform kind behaviors on campus. The study further tested whether either association was mediated by students' perceptions of teachers' support. The results suggest that there was a positive link between students' exposure to the program and their self‐reported outcomes, and that both associations were mediated by students' perceptions of teachers' support. These findings have implications for program practices. First, the findings indicate that a low‐stakes approach to youth programming is a tool schools can utilize to promote students' perceptions of kindness on campus. Second, the results point to the positive impact teachers' support has on students' appraisal of their school. Together, these findings point to the need to continue to grow our understanding of the impact of intentional kindness on school campuses.