Browsing by Subject "social and emotional learning"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Moving Social and Emotional Learning from Research to Action
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2013-10) Herman, Margo; Walker, Kate; Blyth, Dale; Hagen, Elizabeth
    Bridging the educational achievement gap is one of Extension’s identified issue areas. This poster presents a three-year initiative dedicated to developing programming that enhances understanding of social and emotional learning factors and their contribution to closing the achievement and opportunity gaps. The Extension Center for Youth Development is working with the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI), Extension Center for Family Development, the Department of Family Social Science, and Youthprise (a non-profit intermediary and funder) on this issue. This poster will explore social and emotional learning frameworks, share research on the importance of these skills, delineate strategies and delivery methods (e.g., public symposia, regional forums, online webinars, issue briefs) to move those strategies into programming. Also addressed are the internal and external partnerships that enhance the visibility and value of social and emotional factors in addressing educational disparities.
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    Perspectives on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) from Out-of-School Time (OST) Leaders in Minnesota
    (University of Minnesota Extension, 2014-10) Walker, Kate; Blyth, Dale; Sheldon, Tim
    "To be successful in school now and ready for college and careers later, young people need to develop a range of skills that extends beyond traditional academics. Content knowledge and academic skills are important, but it is also critical that youth learn how to work well with others, persevere when faced with challenges, and recognize when a new strategy is needed to solve a problem. There is increasing evidence that social and emotional factors are critical to young people's success. There is, however, little agreement on which factors to assess or how best to support their development in both school and out of school programs. This poster presents results from an online survey of over 900 leaders in the out of school time field. The survey taps their perspectives on social and emotional learning, its importance, its assessment, barriers, current efforts in this area, and which dimensions of SEL are considered most important. Many of the questions parallel a survey we conducted with over 600 school district and building education leaders. Results from these surveys, along with one being conducted with youth this fall, help round out our understanding of how leaders and youth both in and out of school understand, value, and promote the social and emotional development of young in Minnesota. These data provide direction for how best to move forward in both improving practice and assessing social and emotional learning in different contexts."
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    Using psychometric models to measure social and emotional learning constructs
    (2020-08) Smith, Mireya
    In Testing Standards (2014), a construct is a concept or characteristic that an assessment is intended to measure. From a quantitative lens, a construct is trait or domain that may include attitudes, skills, abilities, dispositions and some aspects of knowledge (e.g., competencies). Research studies suggest that social and emotional learning (SEL) constructs may be useful in narrowing the achievement gap, however there is no agreed upon definition of SEL as SEL constructs are multifaceted and defined by the researcher(s). Currently, some SEL constructs are measured qualitatively but this ignores the quantitative structure of the construct. In the quantitative field, SEL constructs are measured by applying a less complex model before a complex model. However, this disregards the qualitative definition for the SEL construct. Furthermore, a construct cannot be directly measured (e.g., person’s height), instead, we need to indirectly observe SEL constructs through item responses (e.g., polytomous items). The problem is that there is a lack of clarity in how the SEL constructs are defined and measured. In addition, there is very little research in an approach for SEL constructs to have accumulating evidence that supports score interpretation and use. This study proposes using the paradigm for SEL assessment that can lead to meaningful, useful, appropriate, and fair score interpretation and use. The paradigm consists of three components. The first component, the structural components of SEL, makes a distinction of the units of SEL assessment (framework, construct(s), measure(s) and item responses) where the construct is the centerpiece. The second component is where the construct definition and measurement model work together to put forth plausible competing models for the internal structure (e.g., bifactor) of selected SEL constructs. The final component is forms of validity evidence (e.g., measurement invariance) where the focus is to evaluate the claims (e.g., scores can be compared across groups) regarding what the scores represent and how they should be used. The paradigm for SEL assessment encourages researchers from the qualitative and quantitative fields to work together to properly define SEL constructs in a qualitative (e.g., theory) and quantitative (e.g., confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory models) manner.