Guiding Educators’ Evaluation of the Measurement Quality of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Assessments

ABSTRACT This article describes a grant project that generated a technical guide for PK-12 educators who are utilizing social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments for educational improvement purposes. The guide was developed over a two-year period with funding from the Spencer Foundation. The result was the collective contribution of a widely representative group of scholars and practitioners whose background and expertise provided a multifaceted view of important considerations when evaluating the measurement quality of an SEL assessment. The intent of the guide is to enable PK-12 educators to make more informed decisions when identifying, evaluating, and using valid, reliable, and fair SEL assessments for the purposes of curricular and program improvements. The efforts can also serve as an example of how to contextualize professional standards for testing practice that support the selection and use of tests by non-measurement audiences.