UPDATE: Early Results from the Scan for SE Measures

Crafting a Practical Assessment Guide

As one of our primary goals, the Assessment Work Group (AWG) is developing a guide for practical social and emotional (SE) competence assessment. The first stage of creating that guide was launched in January when we asked all of you to complete an assessment scan survey around what measures you see out there in use. We would like to thank everyone who participated in our survey on measures in current use!

In the first few weeks, there were 81 responses! Here are some potentially informative trends that are already emerging:

Measures Identified:

62 different SE measures were identified by respondents
Only one measure was identified by more than 20% of respondents
6 were noted by at least 10% and another 7 were noted by 5-9% of respondents
Just over half of all measures (33) were identified by only one person
34 measures were identified as the measure “most useful and informative to practice”, with 85% of those measures (29) chosen by 2 or less people

With Whom are Measures Used

28% reported that the measure they deemed most useful was used with “all students” in their setting
47% reported that it was used with students in some grades, but not all
Of respondents that administered only to students in some grades,
About 24% reported that students in elementary were surveyed
About 31% reported that middle school students were surveyed
About 24% reported that high school were surveyed
20% reported that only some students received the measure, determined by a criteria other than grade; and
The other 5% did not know which students got the measure.

Perceived Usefulness of Measures

70% of respondents said the measure’s data was either useful “Quite a Bit” or “A Lot” (see Figure 1 below).

When asked about specific types of uses, nearly half of all respondents (see Figure 2 below) reported that their SE data was used to improve or inform teachers’ instruction with students (49%), while the same percentage of respondents said it was used to evaluate SEL programs or curriculum (48%). Few respondents indicate that SE measured data was being used for accountability (21%), while even fewer reported that it was used for teacher evaluations (8%).

What’s Next

Phase two of the AWG’s review of measures for the guide will focus on a subset of measures identified during our initial survey scan. We are identifying multiple people and places using these measures and then interviewing the practitioners that work in those settings to obtain a deeper understanding of how the measures and data generated are used. A beta-version of the AWG’s guide is scheduled to launch in June.
STILL TIME TO PARTICIPATE — The survey is still live and gathering information. If you want to add your perspective or send it along to others, click HERE.