

Emotions, Equity, & Education Lab
Research Projects
Developing Resilience, Emotional, and Academic Support for Immigrant Students (DREAM)
The lab is investigating culturally-relevant supports provided by K-12 school counselors, psychologists, and teachers who work with immigrant students. We would like to know (1) How K-12 counselors, psychologists, and teachers support immigrant students’ mental health, academic achievement, and transition to college or post-graduation planning; (2) Counselor, psychologist, and teachers’ perceptions of their own and immigrant students’ emotion- and stress-related experiences at their schools; and (3) School counselors’, psychologists’ and teachers’ perceptions of supports and barriers in the school system experienced by immigrant students. Ultimately, we hope that this information will benefit future immigrant students, schools, school counselors, and teachers, in particular.
The team is currently finalizing measures and preparing to recruit school counselors and school psychologists to begin collecting data.
Resilient Refugee Education Project
Dr. O'Neal's resilient refugee education intervention with refugee teachers in Malaysia includes intervening with both refugee teachers and students around emotions, stress, and emotion management, in addition to classroom management. We are also examining culturally-relevant ways to assess refugee student outcomes in addition to the possibility of accommodation of online and in-person refugee teacher training.
Currently, the team is analyzing intervention data, addressing intervention effects, policy effects, and consultation implementation with refugee teachers. We are also conducting a single subject design study related to international teleconsultation with refugee teachers in Malaysia.
Multicultural Competencies, Anti-Racist Attitudes, and Racialized Emotion Perception in Teachers
The lab is examining the relationship between multicultural teaching competencies and anti-racist attitudes and behaviors in elementary and middle school teachers, while also exploring their relationship to teacher’s ability to accurately perceive emotion across race. In collaboration with Dr. Renee Garraway, this study takes a mixed-methods approach, with equal interest in both quantitative and qualitative outcomes.
Social-Emotional Learning and Achievement
Dr. O'Neal's team examined the impact of grit, stress, emotions, anger regulation, growth mindset, and social support on literacy and academic performance among ethnic minority students in elementary school. The team's long-term objective is to develop classroom-based interventions, in conjunction with two local public elementary schools. The team has performed a follow-up study with the elementary school students in higher grades. Dr. O'Neal's team has developed a grit intervention consultation manual and tested a pilot of this intervention in the schools as part of this research program. The team has also developed an anger regulation measure. The team is currently conducting multiple analyses and dissemination of the results of this study.
Promoting Grit in Elementary School Students Through Culturally-Proficient Practices: Intervention and Evaluation
This study aimed to encourage culturally-relevant teaching practices and help close the achievement gap through teacher training and consultation. Consultation focused on integrating grit promotion and cultural responsiveness into teachers’ Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). SLO’s involved the teachers identifying goals, developing individual interventions, and progress monitoring for individual students in need of improvement. The study had three parts: focus group, training, and consultation.
The project was initiated by a request from school administrators after receiving the results of our previous study in their school; they wanted to immediately follow up with an intervention. The project was developed in close collaboration with school staff, administrative leadership, and the school county’s Equity Initiatives Unit to ensure that it focused on the issues of greatest importance to the school and county as a whole.
Refugee Intervention Study
As a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. O’Neal completed a refugee teacher training and consultation intervention study in Malaysia. The goal of the study was to improve refugee teacher classroom management of refugee student behavior, attention, and emotions, and to promote healthy stress management. This study was done in collaboration with Fulbright alumni, NGO's, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malaysia. Emphasizing classroom management and self-care, the project used a train-the-trainer model with the goal that the 124 participating teachers will train peers in their local schools. Find out more by viewing the or by watching a short video on the project .
Undocumented Latino/a Study
Dr. Michelle Espino and Dr. O'Neal studied emotions, stress, and academic functioning in addition to institutional support among undocumented students taking advantage of the Maryland Dream Act, which permits them to pay in-state tuition rates at 91´óÉñ campuses. Check out the .
Early Head Start
Dr. O'Neal and her collaborators completed analyzing data on mother-child interactions within the Early Head Start program.