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Practical Ways To Assess Climate And Social And Emotional Competence

January 29, 2020 Inform

By Clark McKown, xSEL Labs Review: The Case for Climate AND (not OR) Social and Emotional Competence In a recent blog post, I discussed the peculiar rivalry between those who advocate assessing school climate exclusively and those who advocate assessing student social and emotional competence. I made the case that zero-sum thinking by which assessment of climate competes with assessment of competence is misguided. I argued that in the best of all worlds, educators would assess both climate AND competence and use what they learn to guide actions to create positive conditions for learning and to teach the social and emotional competencies students need to succeed. Let’s not join hands and start singing Kumbaya just yet though. After I wrote that […]

Using Stories with Numbers to Reveal Social-Emotional Impact

January 22, 2020 Inspire

By: Barry Kibel and Melinda Lackey, SEED Impact “You would not think this is the same Alicia who started our program in the fall. She’s a different person! She was angry at the world and clearly did not want to be with us. To see the smile on her face and hear her laughter these days, it warms our hearts. Alicia has grown miles in all aspects of our program. She is quick to volunteer. She is a positive role model. She helps her peers to take perspective and be respectful to each other…” What difference do stories make in out-of-school program evaluations? The best evidence of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is found in stories. Stories confirm how well young people […]

Data + SEL = Big Growth for Kids

January 15, 2020 Inspire

By: Anne Childers Guide students to be agents of their own learning through data analysis and SEL There is tremendous power in coupling school data and social and emotional learning. While most schools have access to a surplus of student data, figuring out how to use it to drive learning remains a mystery. One innovation I have been developing as a district data coach and now as a classroom teacher is a process to teach kids how to look at their own data. More specifically, the process helps kids employ SEL strategies to look at their NWEA growth data. NWEA is an assessment that measures growth over time and norms scores to 10.2 million students- giving both growth and achievement […]

SEL-Related Wonderings for Educational Leaders

January 8, 2020 Inform

By Julie A. Foss As a consultant with Advanced Learning Partnerships, I have the amazing privilege to work alongside educators in school districts across the country. I work in every quadrant of the continental United States and I can tell you unequivocally, people are invested in Social and Emotional Learning. Here’s what people get right. They care about kids.There is urgency around SEL as a priority.People see that SEL is connected to learning.Folks are acutely aware that SEL is not just a kid need, but an adult need too. There are two critical shifts that are needed and toward which I see people working. The Shift from Completion Data to Impact Data We collect participation rates, survey completion rates, discipline […]

The Importance of Measuring SEL Skills

December 18, 2019 Inform

By Sarah Ura, Texas A&M University School-based SEL interventions demonstrate promising evidence to increase positive outcomes in students, such that students’ SEL skills are associated with increased academic success and well-being, and decreased risky behaviors (Durlak et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2017). My colleagues at Texas A&M University, Sara Castro-Olivo and Ana d’Abreu, and I recently examined how SEL outcomes have been measured in previous school-based research. Specifically, we analyzed 111 studies included in Taylor and colleagues’ (2017) meta-analysis of school-based SEL intervention follow-up studies and categorized their measurement of direct skills versus broad outcomes, instruments used, and alignment with CASEL’s 5-competency model. First, we extracted information from each study and identified whether the intended outcome was skill-specific and […]

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