How to Create More Useful Measures: The Development of a Web-Based Application for Assessing School Climate in Secondary Schools

• In Event: Innovative Approaches to Measuring Social Emotional Learning

Abstract

Educational assessments must be valid, but also useful. In this paper, we discuss directions for enhancing the utility of educational assessments and provide an example of this process: the development of a school climate tool. First, we generated items through an iterative process of data collection, feedback, and revision. Next, we refined items and explored underlying factors. We then converted the items into a web-based app and obtained additional feedback from students. Based on this feedback, we revised items again before identifying underlying factors. The resulting tool incorporates student perspectives, uses technology to support engagement, provides actionable feedback, and celebrates interpersonal variation. This process described can guide future research in building the next generation of educational assessments.

Authors

• Jessica D. Hoffmann, Yale University

• Rachel Baumsteiger, Yale University

• Julie McGarry, Yale University

• Jennifer Seibyl, Yale University

• Marc A. Brackett, Yale University