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Social-emotional learning and competency assessment in East Asia, Part 1

Social-emotional learning and competency assessment in East Asia, Part 1

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Patrick Kyllonen, Educational Testing Service A series of blogs about international efforts to measure SEL The so-called Confucian Asian countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan[1] produce the highest achieving students in the world based on their scores on international mathematics, reading, science, and problem solving tests (e.g., TIMSS; PISA 2015; PISA 2012). According to Magdalena Mok and Gerald Wu from the Education University of Hong Kong, this at least partly reflects the “examination-driven and achievement-oriented” learning environments stemming from traditional Confucian philosophy. Economic growth over the past 35 years suggests that Asia’s success is not confined to test scores. What may be surprising to Westerners is the degree to which these examination-driven countries have embraced social-emotional learning (SEL) […]

The Appropriate Roles of Assessment in Social and Emotional Learning

The Appropriate Roles of Assessment in Social and Emotional Learning

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By Paul LeBuffe Research has clearly demonstrated that social and emotional competence is critical to students’ success in school.  In the most widely cited study, Durlak and colleagues reviewed 213 studies and reported that school-based programs that promote students’ social and emotional competence result in an average 11 percentile point gain on academic achievement tests. This and similar research findings have led several states and local school districts to adopt social and emotional learning standards. These standards, in turn, have created interest in assessing social and emotional skills in students, which is reflected in the most recent federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA. The new law requires that states develop an accountability system that encompasses both […]

APA Awards Programs for Schools that Support Social-Emotional Learning

APA Awards Programs for Schools that Support Social-Emotional Learning

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APA Awards Programs for Schools that Support Social-Emotional Learning By Patrick Kyllonen The American Psychological Association (APA) sponsors a couple of awards programs that recognize schools that promote social and emotional skills. APA’s Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) sponsors the Golden Psi program http://www.apa.org/about/awards/bea-golden-psi.aspx  which gives an annual $1000 award to schools “that apply psychological science to promote student academic and social-emotional growth and success.” Awardees are recognized with a trophy, a press release in local media, in the Monitor on Psychology, on APA’s website, and at the Annual APA convention. The deadline is November 1, 2017. (For further information please contact Maha Khalid, mkhalid@apa.org) The “Top 20” Badges Program awards virtual badges to PreK-12 schools that use evidence-based strategies to […]

How Can States Foster SEL under ESSA?

How Can States Foster SEL under ESSA?

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By Hanna Melnick, Learning Policy Institute It’s an old adage that “what gets measured, matters,” or “what gets reported, gets supported.” Under No Child Left Behind, math and reading tests were what mattered – and as a result, many schools have had a laser focus on the 3Rs, at the expense of social and emotional learning (SEL). What we know about the science of learning and development indicates that this approach is not just wrong-headed, but could actually undermine students’ academic achievement. For students to learn academically, schools must also support their social and emotional development. Luckily, the tide might be turning: A new federal law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), requires that states include at least one measure […]

From Key Skills to Useful Measures: A Review and Inventory

From Key Skills to Useful Measures: A Review and Inventory

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Review and Inventory of Measures of “Soft” Skills By Laura Lippman, Senior Technical Advisor, FHI360 and Independent Consultant As the evidence base on the importance of social and emotional skills for fostering multiple positive outcomes grows, international youth development programs increasingly want to focus on developing and measuring those skills (which they tend to refer to as “soft skills” or “life skills,” as those terms are widely used by employers, international youth program funders and implementers, and youth themselves).  But which skills to focus on? And how to measure them? To help these programs focus on the skills that are best bets for fostering success in the workplace, positive sexual and reproductive health outcomes, and reducing violent behavior, USAID funded […]

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