Social and Emotional Learning, Vol. 27, No. 1
“SEL Interventions in Early Childhood”

What’s the focus of your research? 
My research focuses on optimizing children's development. In particular, I examine links between self-regulation and academic achievement from early childhood to adulthood, recent advances in measuring self-regulation, and intervention efforts to improve these skills in young children.

If readers take one big idea from your Future of Children article, what should it be?
Children's social-emotional learning skills are foundational skills that predict important outcomes. We need more research that examines the effectiveness of them in the long-term and for a variety of outcomes.

What did you learn from writing a Future of Children article?
I learned how hard it is to write for different audiences! I had prided myself on being able to make my writing accessible to non-researchers, but it still took our team a number of iterations to get it right!

Megan McClelland is the Katherine E. Smith Endowed Professor in Child Development at Oregon State University.