Dive Brief:
- A new initiative starting this year in California will test students on emotional skills in eight districts; a study conducted in 2011 showed that teaching social emotional skills helps students improve academic performance by 11%.
- Because the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) mandates states include one metric that isn't academic when evaluating school performance, this could be used as a potential option.
- Testing social emotional skills is tricky; there is no single way in which to evaluate such skills, and it's as-yet unclear which traits will be tested or even considered desirable.
Dive Insight:
Social emotional skills are important to young learners, and at this point, enough research has been done to make that point irrefutable. A Duke University study reports that teaching at-risk kids skills like self-control could help prevent run-ins with the law later in their lives. Yet measuring and quantifying such skills is still a gray area, and one that's now proving to be contentious.
A study by Education Week also recently found that many educators also believe that social emotional learning is very important to student achievement. But teachers also noted that they themselves needed more training around the topic, and schools also still have to figure out how to blend helping students develop skills like self-awareness, decision-making and communication into effective instruction.
Administrators should look to existing models for consideration. For example, at Roots Elementary in Denver, CO, principal Jonathan Hanover incorporates a data-driven model while pushing for increased individualized attention and social emotional development.