Back Pocket

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Designated
Promising

Indicates that a program demonstrates evidence of effectiveness at improving student or teacher outcomes, as well as supporting students’ social and emotional growth through at least two competencies. May offer multi-year programming. For a full list of Promising student outcomes see Promising designation.

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    Program description

    Back Pocket, offered by Back Pocket Tools, provides a lesson-based approach to SEL for grades 6–12. A CASEL-approved evaluation demonstrates promising evidence of effectiveness across grades 6–12. The program consists of five educator-led foundational lessons focused primarily on intra-personal competencies and more than 50 optional reinforcement activities.

    Strategies supporting educational equity

    Back Pocket features strategies for customizing for context. This includes guidance for educators to consider students’ lived experiences and circumstances, identify aspects of school or classroom culture that may contribute to stress, invite student suggestions, and adapt while preserving core lesson objectives.

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        • SEL lessons
        • Instructional practices
        • Relationship building
        • SEL generalization
        • Systemic support for SEL
        • Adult SEL
        • Community volunteer activities
        • Family Intervention Component
        • Activities and Resources for Home
      • Onsite in-person training
      • Virtual training
      • Offsite training
      • Train the trainer model
      • Administrator support
      • Coaching
      • Technical assistance
      • Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)
      • Online resource library
      • Self-report tools for monitoring implementation
      • Observational tools
      • Tools for measuring student success

    Evidence of effectiveness

    Results from a quasi-experimental study conducted in the 2025 academic year (unpublished report in 2026) supported the effectiveness of Back Pocket for public school students. This evaluation included 118 students in 6th-12th grade from two districts (urban and suburban) in the U.S. Midwest region (68% white, 10% Black/African American; 30% free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL)). The study found that students who participated in the program had significantly higher emotion regulation as measured by the cognitive reappraisal subscale of Emotion Regulation Back Pocket Evaluation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents relative to students in the comparison group while controlling for outcome pre-test, student race, student age, and teacher or peer implementation.

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    • Evidence shown in grades
      6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
      School characteristics
        • Urban
        • Suburban
        • Midwest
      Student characteristics
      • Black / African American
      • White
      Percentage Low Income
      • Eligible for FRPL: 30%
      Study design type
      • QE
      Greater than 350 students included in study design type
      • No
      Multiple school districts included at study design type
      • Yes
      • Improved academic performance
      • Reduced emotional distress
      • Improved identity development and agency
      • Reduced problem behaviors
      • Improved school climate
      • Improved school connectedness
      • Improved social behaviors
      • Improved teaching practices
      • Improved other SEL skills and attitudes

    How does Back Pocket support SEL implementation across multiple settings?

    “Back Pocket is SEL students practice, not just sit through. Built for middle and high schools, five brief educator-led units and hands-on reinforcement activities make coping skills social, experiential, and usable across classrooms, advisory, peer settings, and home.”

    Get info and pricing on the provider’s website

    Go to Provider Site

    References

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