AWG 2018 Year in Review

By: Lindsay Read and Jordan Trejo, CASEL

Greetings Collaborator Network members!

We are proud to share a reflection on our accomplishments this year. We are grateful to you, our collaborator network, for your continued engagement in our work and for the input many of you have shared that has influenced the direction of our work. This group of collaborators has more than doubled this year, from 1,149 members to 2,543 as of this post with people from all 50 states and over 26 countries. This has allowed us to reach more of you who are interested in and challenged by using SEL frameworks and assessments.

We began 2018 with a goal to engage more practitioners in our work. We sought and obtained funding to create the National Practitioner Advisory Group, which comprises nearly 30 educators from across the country. Members of the group represent schools, districts, and 17 different states and are from a blend of rural and urban areas as well as both school and out of school settings. In the Spring and Summer, we took the first steps to introduce them to one another by convening them virtually and in person. This Fall, we created a forum for them to share questions and exchange insights on topics such as SEL frameworks and assessment. As we end the year, we’re hoping to create opportunities for NPAG members to dialogue as a group and to develop a consensus statement of SEL assessment.

Another goal for 2018 was to help practitioners make sense of SEL frameworks. We’ve done this by releasing 5 briefs on SEL frameworks, with more to come. The briefs cover topics from helping readers understand what frameworks are and why they’re important, to guidance on selecting frameworks, to the importance of using developmental and equity lenses when examining frameworks.

• • Read SEL Frameworks – What are They and Why are They Important?
  • Read SEL Frameworks – Practical Challenges and Opportunities
  • Read Ten Criteria for Describing and Selecting SEL Frameworks
  • Read Keeping SEL Developmental: The Importance of a Developmental Lens for Fostering and Assessing SEL Competencies and brief summary
  • Read Equity & Social Emotional Learning: A Cultural Analysis and brief summary

A third goal for 2018 was to help practitioners understand, select, and effectively use currently available assessments of students’ SEL competencies. Our interactive SEL Assessment Guide launched in November and has already had over 4,300 users. Users will find resources to help them understand the process of SEL assessment and data use, an interactive catalog from which to select assessments, which currently includes 25 assessments, and our new SEL Assessment in Action series that shares examples from the field.

A further goal for 2018 was to stimulate the development and adoption of direct assessments of social emotional learning (SEL) competencies supporting effective instruction and positive student development. We conducted a successful second annual Design Challenge that featured practitioners’ needs and 5 new assessment winners. Read our brief  or view the webinar to learn about which design principles we think are key to advancing the development of new SEL competence assessments.

And for those of you looking for more, you can go back through the many blogs we’ve published this past year. You’ll find nearly 50 different posts covering a wide range of topics. The three most frequently read were:

1. Formative Assessment of Social and Emotional Skills By Tom Vander Ark and Mary Ryerse, Getting Smart
2. Finding the Right SEL Assessment: New Guide for Educators by By Katie Buckley, Transforming Education; Jeremy Taylor, CASEL; and Lindsay Read, CASEL
3. OECD’s New International Study on Social and Emotional Skills by Miloš Kankaraš and Javier Suarez-Alvarez, Directorate for Education and Skills, OECD

More is coming in 2019! In early January, we’ll share our plans for 2019.

We’d love to read your comments! Please share your favorite MeasuringSEL blog post of 2018, a comment about this project, or a hope you have for SEL assessment in 2019!