Since I received my PhD, I have worked hard to unlearn the copious amounts of jargon endemic to the social sciences. Don’t get me wrong: The right jargon can be an economical way to pack a lot of information in …
Read MoreEvidence-Based SEL and Data-Informed SEL: Not the Same; Both Important
(Spoiler Alert: The Answer is, Carefully) I just attended a terrific meeting with educational leaders and educational innovators. It was inspirational to engage attendees as we all struggled with important questions about how best to support student academic, …
Educators who want to focus on supporting student social and emotional learning (SEL) face very real challenges as they move from intention to action. One of the more obvious challenges is how to go about teaching social and emotional skills. …
Read MoreSocial and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs and Practices
Specialization in Social and Emotional Learning The field of social and emotional learning (SEL), like most fields, has its silos. This, as I see it, is the inevitable and natural consequence of the high level of sustained effort required to …
In the last blog post, I suggested using a student SEL assessment that is designed to measure the skills your SEL program is designed to teach. I noted that xSEL Labs has crosswalked several widely used SEL programs with SELweb, …
Read MoreStrengthening SEL Program Implementation with Assessment Data
Is your school district using an evidence-based social emotional learning (SEL) program or curriculum? If so, how are you measuring skills to inform instruction and to measure progress over time? This two-part blog series is for educators who use (or …
Read MoreLinking Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs and Assessment
If you’ve been following my posts over the past year, you probably know that I believe in the power of SEL skill assessment to improve outcomes by helping educators understand their students’ social-emotional strengths and needs. This is an aspirational …
Read MoreIs your District Ready to Assess Social Emotional Learning (SEL)?
In my conversations with educators, the issue of assessment time has come up a lot lately. Here’s the issue: On the one hand, many educators like the idea of directly assessing student social and emotional skills; and those who do …
Read MoreWhy Invest Time in Social Emotional (SEL) Assessment?
As you know, I spend a lot of my time thinking and talking about how to assess student social and emotional learning skills. Among the many reasons for this singular focus, one rises to the top: it matters. I do …
Read MoreSocial and Emotional Learning (SEL) Assessment in Action
What the $#&^!@* is Direct Assessment of Student Social and Emotional Learning Skill? I think you’ll agree with me that terminology is, well… boring. But let’s also admit that not understanding terminology can cause problems, like, for example, leading you …
