Utility of a Social-Emotional Screener in Monitoring Progress Following Implementation of a Social Emotional Learning Curriculum

• In Event: Roundtable Session 43
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Social Emotional Learning Through Assessment, Profiling, and Mediation

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study examined the use of a social and emotional screener with an evidence-based SEL program in a large school district. Elementary teachers completed the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment-Mini (DESSA-mini), an 8-item, standardized, strength-based screening measure of social and emotional competencies of school-age children at the beginning, midpoint, and end of three successive school years. Results indicate that following as little as 4 months of SEL programming, the DESSA-mini was found to be sensitive to change when assessing students’ social and emotional competencies, and detected differences between students’ exposed and unexposed to the SEL curriculum. Implications for the use of universal screening approaches with SEL programming will be discussed.

Authors

• Paul Augustine LeBuffe, Devereux Center for Resilient Children

• Jennifer Fleming Robitaille, Devereux Center For Resilient Children