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SEL Assessment in Action

The SEL Assessment in Action series is an ongoing effort to collect stories from educators who are using measures of SEL competencies. These vignettes are the product of written testimonies and qualitative interviews, conducted by the guide team, of educators who are using SEL competence assessments in practice.

Over time, this series will represent an increasing variety of contexts and uses of assessment to help illustrate for other practitioners how assessments can be used to improve the social and emotional skills of students.

Washoe County Schools Embeds SEL Assessment in their Climate Surveys

Washoe County Schools Embeds SEL Assessment in their Climate Surveys

Inspire SEL Assessment in Action

Washoe County Schools uses an SEL assessment embedded in their climate surveys. All students in grades 5-9 and 11 take the survey annually. It is administered online via a link on their website. Washoe County staff didn’t feel comfortable putting SEL scores on student profiles, so they focus on aggregate reporting. They report on SEL in a simple way: for each SEL domain, they report the percent of students who rated the competencies within that domain as easy or difficult. The data are publicly accessible on their website. The climate survey reports (including SEL data) are generated by a vendor. PDFs of overall school results are compiled with other data and given to schools. They developed survey items in part […]

Creative Ways SEL Assessment Informs Curriculum Around the World

Creative Ways SEL Assessment Informs Curriculum Around the World

Inspire SEL Assessment in Action

By Cherilyn G. Leet and Dr. Susan Stillman (Six Seconds)   The results of SEL assessments can be intriguing, motivating, and tied to curriculum. They do not have to be dry, feared, or detached. In our experience working with educators from the Americas to Europe, from the Middle East to Asia to Africa, data from SEL assessments have the potential to imbue a school with life. When all stakeholders come together with curiosity to explore the data and wisdom that can be derived from SEL assessments, the insights gained can lay the groundwork for positive change. Strong SEL assessments can become the axles which bring the school’s curriculum design, behavioral intervention, parent engagement, and teacher collaboration into sync.   The […]

Hoosick Falls Central School District Uses SEL Assessment to Inform Instruction

Hoosick Falls Central School District Uses SEL Assessment to Inform Instruction

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Hoosick Falls Central School District in Rensselaer County, New York, has been using the Holistic Student Assessment (HSA) for 5th- to 12th-grade students since 2014. Each school uses physical education and wellness time to administer the survey, which takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete. Why did you choose the the measure? Our district began to incorporate social-emotional learning seven years ago and wanted an assessment that was student self-reported. The measure’s results dashboard allows teachers to view data trends at the student, grade and school-wide levels. This allows practices to be adjusted to be more responsive to students’ needs. How do you use the measure? Our schools use the data from this measure: To inform instructional practices. We examined […]

Austin ISD Uses Assessment to Judge the Success of SEL Programs

Austin ISD Uses Assessment to Judge the Success of SEL Programs

Inspire SEL Assessment in Action

Austin Independent School District (AISD) has been using student and teacher report measures for student SEL since 2014-15. Each school administers an annual climate survey to 3rd-11th grade students, which contains items specifically about students’ SE competence. Teacher of preK-6th grade students also complete a report card on students’ personal development skills every nine weeks (staff also complete a staff climate survey and answer question about their own SEL skills). Why did you choose the the measure? Our district began to incorporate social emotional learning (SEL) during the 2011-12 school year with the vision of full implementation by 2015-16. The student reports and teacher report cards of student SEL skills allow SEL program staff, AISD’s school board and other decision-makers […]

Continuously Improving SEL in an Out of School Time Program

Continuously Improving SEL in an Out of School Time Program

Inspire SEL Assessment in Action

Excel Beyond the Bell is a network of out-of-school-time (OST) providers in San Antonio, Texas, that serves more than 55,000 youth per year. As of November 2017, 25 of Excel Beyond the Bell’s providers administer the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP) to 1,200 students twice a year, generally during March and October. The Excel team uses these data to foster continuous improvement in their network by determining where supports may be needed and when resources may exist. Why did you choose this measure? Our OST network wanted to find a tool that could do two things: (1) analyze SE competencies at various levels (e.g., student and program) and (2) provide data universal enough for use across the many OST programs we […]

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