Resilience Builder Program – Universal

Get info and pricing on the provider’s website

Go to Provider Site
Designated
SELect

Indicates that a program demonstrates evidence of effectiveness at improving student outcomes at the highest level, supports students’ social and emotional growth through all five competencies, and offers multi-year programming. For a full list of SELect student outcomes see SELect designation.

    • Compare
    Program description

    Resilience Builder Program- Universal (RBP), offered by Resilience Across Borders provides a lesson-based approach. RBP offers programming for grades 3-5. A CASEL-approved evaluation demonstrates evidence of effectiveness in grades 4-5. Videos subtitles are available in multiple languages and the family newsletters are available in Spanish and French.

    Strategies supporting educational equity

    Resilience Builder Program features strategies for understanding context, including trainings on how to adjust lesson topics to reflect student backgrounds.

    /
        • SEL lessons
        • Positive classroom management
        • SEL generalization
        • Family Intervention Component
        • Connecting Families With Community Supports
      • 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    Results from a randomized controlled trial conducted in the 2025-26 academic year (unpublished report written in 2026) supported the effectiveness of Resilience Builder Program – Universal for public school students. This evaluation included 248 students in 4th-5th grade from one district in the U.S. Northeast region (18.4% Black/African American, 61.6% Hispanic/Latino, 33.6% “Other,” 18.4% multiracial, 10% white; 86.5% free or reduced-price meals). The study found that students who participated in the program had significantly higher ratings of teacher reported resilience (on the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-2)) and higher teacher-reported interpersonal skills as measured by teacher-report on the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES; DiPerna & Elliott, 1999) compared to the students in the control group while controlling for baseline scores.

    /
    • Evidence shown in grades
      4, 5
      School characteristics
        • Suburban
        • Northeast
      Student characteristics
      • Black / African American
      • Hispanic / Latinx
      • White
      • Multi-racial / other
      Percentage Low Income
      • Eligible for FRPL: 87%
      Study design type
      • RCT
      Greater than 350 students included in study design type
      • No
      Multiple school districts included at study design type
      • No
      • 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 Resilience Builder Program – Universal support SEL implementation across multiple settings?

    “RBP-U is designed for upper elementary-aged children in classrooms, afterschool programs, and other youth settings. The program includes 25 brief lessons across 12 resilience topics, featuring online-accessible videos, activities, and educator guides. Leaders can implement the full program or select lessons that best fit their setting and youth needs.”

    Get info and pricing on the provider’s website

    Go to Provider Site

    References

    • Accepted by CASEL

    • Starin, N. S., Pearlman, A. R., Fallon, M. P., Alvord, M. K., Myerberg, L., Weinstock, R., Cummings, C. M., Lamb, K., Degnan, K. A. & Rich, B. A. (2026). Effectiveness of the Resilience Builder Program-Universal in randomized controlled trial in schools. [Manuscript Under Review – Link will be provided upon publication].
    Access the latest, most trusted information on SEL
    Sign up for our newsletters