University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA.
McREL International, USA.
J Sch Psychol. 2022 Aug;93:41-62. doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2022.05.002. Epub 2022 Jun 28.
School-based assessments of students' self-reported social-emotional competencies (SECs) are an essential part of social and emotional learning (SEL) initiatives. Few studies, however, have investigated whether such assessments align with the frameworks that inform SEL practices, especially for diverse populations. In the present study we investigated the dimensional structure of the 40-item Washoe County School District Social-Emotional Competency Assessment (WCSD-SECA), which was designed to measure the five domains of SECs defined by the widely used Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning framework (CASEL 5). Findings showed that a subset of 21 items fit a 3-factor solution that reflected Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, and Emotion-Focused competencies, a structure consistent with previous theorizing of broad SEC constructs. This 3-dimensional structure was partially invariant, with differences especially evident in item thresholds across subpopulations (defined by the intersection of grade level, gender, and race/ethnicity). Accounting for differences in item thresholds increased mean differences among subpopulations in the three domains. Across subpopulations, Intrapersonal scores were positively associated with students' standardized test scores and GPAs, and negatively related to the number of days they were absent from school, in multilevel models that adjusted for school-level clustering and included all three SEC scores and student demographic controls. Interpersonal scores were associated with fewer suspensions. Interpersonal and Emotion-Focused scores demonstrated unexpectedly negative associations with some outcomes in these models. Findings contribute to an emerging body of research that aims to deepen understandings of the content and structure of students' SECs as well as the factors that contribute to growth in these competencies.
基于学校的学生自我报告的社会情感能力（SEC）评估是社会情感学习（SEL）计划的重要组成部分。然而，很少有研究调查这些评估是否与SEL 实践的框架一致，尤其是对于多样化的人群。在本研究中，我们调查了专为衡量 SEL 框架中定义的五个 SEC 领域而设计的 40 项 Washoe 县学区社会情感能力评估（WCSD-SECA）的维度结构。研究结果表明，一组 21 项符合反映内在、人际和情绪焦点能力的三因素解决方案，这一结构与广泛使用的学术社会和情感学习合作框架（CASEL 5）之前的理论相一致。这种三维结构具有部分不变性，特别是在不同亚群体（由年级、性别和种族/民族的交集定义）的项目阈值方面存在差异。考虑到项目阈值的差异，增加了三个领域中不同亚群体之间的平均差异。在所有三个 SEC 分数和学生人口统计学控制因素都被纳入多层次模型的情况下，跨亚群体，内在得分与学生的标准化考试成绩和 GPA 呈正相关，与他们缺课的天数呈负相关。人际得分与较少的停学有关。人际和情绪焦点得分在这些模型中与一些结果呈现出出乎意料的负相关。研究结果为旨在加深理解学生 SEC 的内容和结构以及促进这些能力发展的因素的新兴研究领域做出了贡献。
