A growing number of researchers, educators, and policymakers agree that social and emotional learning (SEL, or noncognitive) is essential for a wide range of outcomes in academic and life success. Decades of research have shown that attention to SEL predicts many important outcomes across different ages, countries, and cultures: - 77% of teachers say that strong SEL skills improve academic performance - 87% of teachers believe that SEL is a major benefit in preparing students for the workforce - On average, every $1 invested in SEL-development programs yields $11 in long-term benefits, ranging from reduced juvenile crime, higher lifetime earnings, and better mental and physical health This webinar highlights important SEL research, policy, and emerging practice that can have very positive effects on K-12 educators and students. Topics include: - How measuring SEL skills is elevated by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) - How these factors predict academic outcomes, including achievement, retention, and citizenship behaviors; as well as how these expand into indicators of college and career readiness - How to integrate various SEL frameworks into a comprehensive model, with various crosswalks - How to best measure these skills, with coverage of new measurement paradigms that represent advances over traditional self-report assessments - A brief introduction to ACT® Tessera, a noncognitive assessment that uses a holistic approach to measuring college and career readiness with data and tools to intervene on these skills, should issues emerge

1. Demystifying Social-Emotional
Learning: How Measuring SEL
Skills Affects Classroom
Achievement and Beyond
Richard D. Roberts, Jeremy Burrus, & Team

2. 2
The Pulse Poll Questions
Does your school/district have a tool to measure the social and emotional learning of your students? (Answer:
Yes/No)
Do you believe that social and emotional learning assessments can contribute to student learning? (Answer:
Yes/No)
Does your school/district have a framework in place that helps individuals develop the skills necessary for college
and career that includes the following areas? (Answer: Select all that apply)
Core academic skills (e.g., Math; ELA)
Cross-cutting capabilities (e.g., critical thinking; decision making)
Behavioral skills (e.g., grit; resilience; cooperation)
Education and career navigation (e.g., career interests; career exploration)
Do you believe that including forced choice and situational judgment tests improves the validity of social and
emotional learning assessments? (Answer: Yes/No)
Are you interested in receiving more information about ACT’s social and emotional learning solution?
(Answer: Yes/No)

3. 3
New Kids on the Block @ ACT
– Cut-across: K12 and industry; research, policy, and practice
– History of innovation in the field
– Developed assessments for PISA, PIAAC, NAEP, Success Navigator,
Engage, Index schools (MSA), AICPA
– Over 200 peer-review articles, 12 books (4 new additions)
– History of external funding, clients have included: Federal (IARPA,
ARI, IES), plus private, in education (Microsoft, Ford PAS, College
Board)

4. Social and Emotional Learning
(SEL) Skills: Latest Fad or a Whole
New Domain of Educational
Research, Practice, and Policy?

5. A Sea Change
is Occurring
in USA K-12
Education • No Child Left Behind has been replaced with Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESSA)
• States have greater leeway in designing their accountability
systems, but schools must be evaluated on four criteria,
one of which is a non-academic measure
5

6. California
CORE
6

7. 7
Recent Reports on SEL Importance

8. And the Sea
Change is
Global
8
“Social and emotional skills, such as
perseverance, sociability and self-esteem have
been shown to influence numerous measures
of social outcomes.
Such measures can be instrumental to help
decision makers better assess children’s
current skill sets and their future needs, and
thereby help teachers and parents to
effectively adapt the pedagogy, parenting and
learning environments accordingly”.
From the foreword by Andreas Schleicher

9. Social and Emotional Learning
(SEL): What is it?

10. Why?
S
E
L
10
– People skills
– Soft skills
– Transversal skills
– Noncognitive skills
– Personal skills
– 21st/22nd Century skills
– Metacognitive skills

11. 11
SEL Skills
• Professionalism
• Teamwork
• Collaboration
• Oral Communication
• Agreeableness
• Ethics
• Emotional Intelligence
• Respecting Diversity
• Stress Tolerance
• Time Management
• Anxiety
• Emotional Stability
• Self-regulation
• Entrepreneurial Skills
• Leadership
• Character Strengths
• Open-mindedness
• Persistence
• Collegiality
• Motivation
• Work Ethic
• Planning
• Organization
• Self-efficacy
• Social Intelligence
• Grit
• Global Awareness
• Empathy
• Interacting
• Presenting
• Coping
• Enterprising
• Cultural Sensitivity
• Extroversion
• Self-esteem
• Creativity
• Conscientiousness
• Openness

12. 12
Chicago Consortium on School Research

13. 13
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)

14. 14
Making Sense of it All: Tessera Constructs
• There are a multitude of terms for SEL skills, likely subject to jingle-jangle fallacies
• For example, are CASEL’s “relationship skills” the same as the Chicago
Consortium’s “social skills”?
• Do these frameworks have structural and predictive validity?
• Do they have the same impact on policy?
• Do they track well across the lifespan?

15. 15
Big Five as a Rosetta Stone for SEL
– All models can be subsumed under the Big
Five
– The model helps to stop thinking in silos:
The education-workforce-life continuum,
becomes better understood
– Why?

16. Unpacking
the Big Five
16
– Emerges from lexical analysis of trait adjectives in
many countries
– Also, emerge from self- and other-reports in many
different countries
– Near consensual model for education, economics,
psychology (I/O), policy
– Ergo, can sort out what’s old and new, fad and “here
to stay” when discussing human potential and skills

17. C
A
N
O
E
17
– Conscientiousness
– Detail focused, dependable, responsible,
industrious / achievement orientated
– Agreeableness
– Cooperative, trusting, sympathetic, and altruistic
(i.e., concerned for others)
– Neuroticism/Emotional Stability
– Stress tolerant, calm and relaxed, resilient, self-
controlled
– Openness
– Intellectual (including analytical and divergent
thinking strategies), innovative
– Extraversion
– Talkative, assertive, energetic

18. 18
SEL Skills Reinterpreted
Conscientiousness Agreeableness Emotional
Stability
Openness Extraversion
Dependability Collaboration Confidence Curiosity Assertiveness
Grit Collegiality Coping with
Stress
Creativity Cheerfulness
Organization Generosity Moderation Global
Awareness
Communication
Persistence Honesty Resilience Growth
Mindset
Friendliness
Planning Integrity Self-Esteem Imagination Leadership
Punctuality Kindness Self-
Consciousness
Innovation Liveliness
Responsibility Trustworthiness Self-Regulation Tolerance Sociability

19. 19
ACT’s Holistic Framework
SELF
KNOWLEDGE
ACTING
HONESTLY
SCIENCE
INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY
ELA
GETTING
ALONG WELL
WITH OTHERS
STUDY SKILLS
MATH
ENVIRONMENTAL
FACTORS
MANAGING
CAREER &
EDUCATION
ACTIONS
SCIENCE
KEEPING AN
OPEN MIND
THINKING
SKILLS
ELA
SOCIALIZING
WITH OTHERS
INTEGRATION
COLLABORATIVE
PROBLEM
SOLVING
Behavioral
Skills
Core Academic
Skills
Cross-Cutting
Capabilities
Education &
Career Navigation

20. 20
Success is Multidimensional
Course
Grades
Enrollment
GPA
Retention
Satisfaction
Graduation
Education
Success
Job
Performance
Employment
Teamwork
Tenure
Job Satisfaction
Promotion
Work
Success

21. The Big Five: Why Are
They Important?

22. Overview
22
– SEL skills can be linked to mission statements: School,
college, work
– SEL skills predict valued outcomes: School, college,
work
– SEL skills are invaluable in the workforce
– Even more so with the changing nature of the
workforce
– SEL skills can be changed, with focused interventions

23. 23
Mission
Statements
(Middle
Schools)
Agreeableness
(Altruism)
100%
Openness
(Curiosity)
73%
Emotional Stability
(Resilience)
67%
Openness
(Creativity)
67%
Agreeableness
(Teamwork)
40%

24. 24
Mission Statements (Higher Education)
Intellectual Interpersonal Intrapersonal
Knowledge and mastery of
general principles
Appreciation for
diversity
Social responsibility and
citizenship
Continuous learning,
intellectual interest and
curiosity
Leadership Physical and psychological
health
Artistic and cultural
appreciation
Interpersonal skills Career orientation
Adaptability & life skills
Perseverance
Ethics and integrity
(Oswald et al., 2004)

25. 25
Big Five Predicts Valued Educational Outcomes
(Poropat, 2009)
Meta-Analysis with Grade Point Average

26. 26
Big Five Predicts Valued Educational Outcomes
(MacCann et al., 2009)
Prediction of Success Indicators in High School

27. 27
Big Five Predicts Workforce Success
Job
Performance
Task
Performance
Organizational
Citizenship
Behavior
Counter-Productive
Work Behavior
Conscientiousness .33 .31 .40 -.40
Agreeableness .22 .13 .23 -.51
Emotional Stability .13 .11 .21 -.31
Openness .10 .14 .04 -.08
Extraversion .26 .15 .28 -.04
(Roberts et al., 2013)

28. 28
O*Net and Work Styles
O*NET Worker Style Characteristic
Job Family Top Ranked Second Ranked Third Ranked
Architecture and Engineering Analytical Thinking (O)/ Dependability (C) Integrity (C) Initiative (C)
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and
Media
Dependability (C) Adaptability and Flexibility (N) Initiative (C)/ Stress Tolerance (N)
Building and Grounds Cleaning and
Maintenance
Dependability (C) Cooperation (A) Self-Control (N)
Business and Financial Operations Integrity (C) Dependability (C) Analytical Thinking (O)/ Cooperation (A)
Computer and Mathematical Analytical Thinking (O) Dependability (C) Cooperation (A)
Construction and Extraction Dependability (C) Cooperation (A) Self-Control (N)
Education Dependability (C) Integrity (C) Self-Control (N)
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Dependability (C) Self-Control (N) Independence (C)
Food, Preparation, and Serving Related Cooperation (A) Dependability (C) Self-Control (N)
Health Care Support Dependability (C) Concern for Others (A) Integrity (C)
Health Care Practitioners and Technical Integrity (C) Dependability (C) Concern for Others (A)
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Dependability (C) Integrity (C) Cooperation (A)
Legal Integrity (C) Dependability (C) Analytical Thinking (O)
Life, Physical, and Social Science Integrity (C) Analytical Thinking (O) Dependability (C)
Management Dependability (C) Integrity (C) Leadership (E, A)
Office and Administrative Support Dependability (C) Integrity (C) Cooperation (A)
Personal Care and Service Dependability (C) Self-Control (N) Integrity (C)
Production Dependability (C) Cooperation (A) Integrity (C)
Sales and Related Dependability (C) Integrity (C) Self-Control (N)
Transportation and Material Moving Dependability (C) Self-Control (N) Integrity (C)
(Sackett & Walmsley, 2014)

29. But Missing
in the
Workforce
29
(Conference Board, 2005)

30. Ultimate
Validity
30
(Roberts et al., 2007)

31. The Big Five
Can Change
31
(Roberts et al., 2006)

32. 32

33. Return on
Investment
($11 to $1)
33
Programs covered: 4Rs, Positive Action, Life
Skills Training, Second Step, Responsive
Classroom, Social and Emotional Training
(Sweden)

34. SEL Assessments:
Traditional Approaches

35. 35
Self-Report
Thinking about the mathematics you do for school: to what extent do you agree with the
following statements?
Strongly
Agree Agree Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
I finish my homework in time for
mathematics class.
1 2 3 4
I work hard on my mathematics homework. 1 2 3 4
I am prepared for my mathematics exams. 1 2 3 4
I study hard for mathematics quizzes. 1 2 3 4
I keep studying until I understand
mathematics material.
1 2 3 4
I pay attention in mathematics class. 1 2 3 4
Source: PISA Background Variable Questionnaire 2012
http://pisa2012.acer.edu.au/downloads/MS12_StQ_FORM_B_ENG.pdf

36. Issues with
Self-Reports
36
– Faking
– Biases
– Self-insight
– Outcome evaluation
– Cross-cultural comparison

37. SEL Assessments: New,
Scalable Approaches

38. 38
Forced-Choice
For each pair of statements, please click on the one that is most like you.
1. I think of others first
2. I am always prepared
• Recent Study: Forced-choice had similar validity coefficients as Likert-scale for predicting
valued educational outcomes (Anguiano-Carrasco, MacCann, Geiger, Seybert, & Roberts, in
press)
• Note, this method is less easy to fake (Zigler, MacCann, & Roberts, 2011)

39. 39
Situational Judgment Test
It is a busy Saturday night and you have carefully prepared the ingredients for tonight’s
special, the filet mignon. Close to opening you wish to finish up the preparation by cutting
the filets. But instead of the whole filet, there is just a bowl of ground beef. One of the
kitchen staff has used the filet for ground beef. You are not sure if you have more filets left
for your special.
What would you do in this situation?
 Fire him/her right away. He/she is obviously not good enough.
 Exclaim your anger very loudly and in colorful language in front of your colleagues.
 Speak to him/her about this mistake after the work is done and then explain to him/her
how important good preparation is.
 Speak to him/her after all dishes are finished and fire him/her.
 Send him/her home for the night. Talk to him/her about kitchen rules the next day.

40. ACT TesseraTM
Noncognitive
Assessment System

41. 41
Assessment Overview
• Grades 6-12
• Six constructs
• Three methods (self-report, FC,
SJTs)
• Online, easy administration
• Rapid reports for schools,
teachers, students
• Embedded strategies and
guidance for growth

42. 42
Theory of Action

43. 43

44. 44
Reports (Institutional, Teacher, Students)

45. 45
Early Tessera Findings
MS: Correlations with Self-reported GPA (N = 2885)
Self-report SJT Forced Choice Average Poropat
Leadership/
Communication
.25 .27 .33 .28 .18
Teamwork/
Cooperation
.16 .24 .34 .25 .30
Grit/Tenacity .42 .36 .41 .40 .28
Responsibility/
Organization
.34 .39 .43 .39 .28
Composure/
Resilience
.22 .30 .31 .28 .20
Curiosity/
Ingenuity
.20 .22 .06 .16 .24
Alphas range between .70 and .82

46. 46
HS: Regressing Self-reported GPA on Traits
– These results are similar to SAT (Shaw et al., 2016) and ACT (Westrick et al., 2015) scores
correlations with High School GPA
– And they gain extra “value” because of the low correlation between noncognitive and
cognitive indicators (Poropat, 2009)
R2
(adj) Δ R2
Self-report .14 .14*
Self-report + SJT .17 .04*
Self-report + SJT + FC .20 .04*
High School (N = 2088)

47. 47
Student User Experience

48. 48
Tessera Teacher Playbook

49. 49
Research Agenda
Innovation
Further development of Playbook
Integration with school data
Longitudinal analyses and reporting
Develop Tessera short form
Develop upper elementary and community college
forms
Develop assessments of new skills (e.g., critical
thinking)
Online reporting “data explorer”
Creation of equated forms
Development of new methods (e.g., multi-media SJTs)
Shorter Term
Longer Term

50. 50
The Pulse Poll Questions
Does your school/district have a tool to measure the social and emotional learning of your students? (Answer:
Yes/No)
Do you believe that social and emotional learning assessments can contribute to student learning? (Answer:
Yes/No)
Does your school/district have a framework in place that helps individuals develop the skills necessary for college
and career that includes the following areas? (Answer: Select all that apply)
Core academic skills (e.g., Math; ELA)
Cross-cutting capabilities (e.g., critical thinking; decision making)
Behavioral skills (e.g., grit; resilience; cooperation)
Education and career navigation (e.g., career interests; career exploration)
Do you believe that including forced choice and situational judgment tests improves the validity of social and
emotional learning assessments? (Answer: Yes/No)
Are you interested in receiving more information about ACT’s social and emotional learning solution?
(Answer: Yes/No)

51. Thank you!
51
RRoberts@proexam.org
JBurrus@proexam.org