Giving Compass' Take:

• The 74 describes a report about Social-Emotional Learning that assesses its benefits and shortcomings in the hopes that we can discover ways to improve the method.

• Findings include the need for more teacher input into the practice, as well as the challenges in using it across diverse districts. How can nonprofits in the educations space make sure we raise the standards?

• Here are some ways to involve parents in SEL programming.


Taking care of students’ social-emotional needs can significantly impact their academics, boost graduation rates, and improve economic outcomes. But figuring out how to assess social-emotional learning every day in the classroom is “one of the biggest missing pieces.”

That’s how researcher Clark McKown described it. McKown, a professor at Rush University in Chicago, co-authored a report that summarizes the promises and challenges of creating tools for educators to understand how well their students are learning skills like grit, perseverance, self-regulation, and social cues.

The report looked at the winners of an assessment design competition hosted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning and found some promises as well as challenges in how SEL skills are measured.

Getting these assessments right is critical if the SEL movement is to be seen as more than just a “fad,” McKown wrote. “I’d like it to be a data-based discussion about the extent to which SEL is helpful and how we can make it better,” he told The 74.

Among the report’s findings:

  1. No shared definition for SEL
  2. Creative solutions for hard-to-quantify skills
  3. Difficult to use across diverse districts
  4. More teacher voice needed in SEL development

Read the full article about Social-Emotional Learning findings by Kate Stringer at The 74.

That’s how researcher Clark McKown described it. McKown, a professor at Rush University in Chicago, co-authored a report released today that summarizes the promises and challenges of creating tools for educators to understand how well their students are learning skills like grit, perseverance, self-regulation, and social cues.

 

 

The new report looked at the winners of an assessment design competition hosted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning and found some promises as well as challenges in how SEL skills are measured.

Read the full article by Kate Stringer on The 74