Make SEL measurement narrower in focus but broader in context and depth, choosing specific measures guided by development and skill trajectories¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 2 studies (1 review, 1 design), q1–q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article's third recommendation addresses measurement practice for middle childhood: "The measurement of skills in middle childhood should grow narrower in focus but broader in context and depth." Narrower means moving away from expansive measurements of SEL outcomes toward measures that are more specific and guided by knowledge of development and skill trajectories. Broader means expanding measurement to classroom-, school-, and adult-level contexts and expanding data sources, for example by collecting data from teachers and school staff about their experiences with the program. The article also recommends caution when interpreting effects when data were analyzed at the child level but randomization occurred at the classroom or school level, since such analyses can overestimate program effects.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Researchers, program developers, evaluators, and practitioners should choose measures more specific to program targets and guided by developmental knowledge

Constraints¶

• Ignoring ecological principles of development may obscure meaningful program-related changes; child-level analysis of classroom- or school-randomized trials can result in overestimating program effects

Target Learners¶

• Children in middle childhood, roughly 5 to 11 years of age

Target Learning Goals¶

• Accurate measurement of targeted social-emotional skills

Claims¶

• Measuring SEL involves a tradeoff between measuring narrower discrete skills and measuring broader competencies [+W]
• Apparent variation in SEL program impacts may be an artifact of imprecise program targets misaligned with too-general outcome measures [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Sequence SEL intervention content by developmental stage, targeting skills most salient to each grade or age that serve as building blocks for later complex skills
• Combine existing school climate instruments with theoretically aligned SEL modules rather than developing new measures
• Attend to both SEL status and SEL growth when identifying students who may need supports to stay on track to graduate

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Stephanie M. Jones, Sophie P. Barnes, Rebecca Bailey, and Emily J. Doolittle. (2017). Promoting Social and Emotional Competencies in Elementary School. The Future of Children, Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring 2017. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1144815