Combine existing school climate instruments with theoretically aligned SEL modules rather than developing new measures¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (1 for, 2 mixed) · 1 study (1 review), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

To address the scarcity of explicit SEL measurement without adding to the overabundance of near-duplicate instruments, the review recommends pairing school climate measures with SEL surveys developed under the same conceptual framework. The article states "one solution would be to combine school climate instruments with theoretically aligned SEL modules", citing the Delaware School Climate Survey combined with social and emotional learning and competencies surveys as an example of complementary instruments providing a detailed picture of how the two constructs interact in a school.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• The climate instrument and SEL module must be developed to complement each other under the same conceptual framework

Constraints¶

Target Learners¶

• Upper middle and secondary school students

Target Learning Goals¶

• Measuring school climate while capturing students' social and emotional domain

Claims¶

• Only 4.65% of the 43 most-used school climate measures include an explicitly SEL-oriented subscale [+W]
• Nearly all (90.7%) of the most-used school climate measures include subscales conceptually related to SEL support, covering 55.04% of all subscales [~W]
• About 6% of items in the most-used measures operationalize students' social and emotional skills, appearing in 58.14% of measures [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Apply the review's three-level criteria to critically assess SEL integration in a school climate measure before adoption

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Castro, C., Barata, M. C., Alexandre, J., & Santos, R. (2026). Placing Social and Emotional Support at the Center of School Climate: A Scoping Review of Measures for Middle and Secondary Schools. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10192-x