Learning Activity 1: implementing Student Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Progressions

Background

“The most valuable metrics we can use to understand a student’s academic progress will always remain the ones that are collected by educators and schools on a regular basis in the classrooms – even virtual ones – where individual relationships with students are fostered and strategies for support can be designed in real-time.”  Tony Thurmond, California State Superintendent of Schools 2021.

You can substitute SEL progress for academic progress in this quote and it is still a valid statement. Social Emotional Learning assessing is about the learner. It is not about collecting data for reporting, grading, or compliance. That simple statement, connecting assessing and the learner, contextualizes the ongoing challenge of providing clear feedback which encourages learning – instead of stopping learning, a result of punitive assessment too prevalent in our educational system.

What then is the role of the teacher in assessing SEL competencies? The role of the teacher is to deeply understand the SEL competencies, to know how to create and develop engaging learning opportunities for students to acquire SEL knowledge and skills, and to know with confidence how to assess SEL learning for the purpose of motivating and encouraging ongoing SEL growth.

The next step for those who implement social emotional learning is to understand that students’ social, emotional, and cognitive growth is uneven. The process of developing SEL knowledge and skills is not a linear one. There are a variety of factors that impact the acquisition of SEL competencies, just as they are many factors affecting cognitive growth. Knowing this allows the teacher to create learning opportunities that are aligned to a developmentally appropriate age span. The Student Learning Progression Model was created to support you as you teach and assess SEL competencies. 

A learning progression describes the increasing complexity of skills, knowledge, and performances that a learner will experience across a continuum of development. In other words, progressions show where we start and the pathway we follow to get to mastery.

Instructions

1. Select the SEL Standard you wish to focus on.

• • Standard 1: Self-awareness
  • Standard 2: Self-management
  • Standard 3: Social Awareness
  • Standard 4: Relationship skills
  • Standard 5: Responsible decision-making 

1. Carefully read the standard and the sub-competencies in the chart. Each standard has been separated into smaller sub-competencies. Then examine the Essential Knowledge, Performances, and Dispositions for those sub-competencies. You will see a range of skill acquisition from emerging to developing. This is because the development and acquisition of SEL is not a lock-step process. It develops and grows over time.
2. Create a plan for implementing these SEL Learning Progressions in your SEL practice. In this plan describe the learning environment and the learner(s). Explain how you will apply these progressions to assess student learning. What do you hope the outcomes will be? Who will use the information you gather? How will it increase student learning and inform your practice?

Additional Resources Copy and paste link below:

https://nationalu.brightspace.com/content/enforced/93052-SEL640-55053-2410/Module%202/REL_2020010.pdf

Glossary of Terms

• Competency – knowledge, skills, traits, and behaviors needed for successful inter and intrapersonal development
• Essential Knowledge – what learners should know and be able to do
• Performances – the ability of learners to competently apply new knowledge and skills
• Critical Dispositions – essential character traits for a positive mindset
• Emerging – gaining new knowledge and skills
• Developing – applying new knowledge and skills