In This Chapter
Utility: We provide overviews of social-emotional learning (SEL) and character development (CD) and identify specific behaviors representative of each. A description of the lack of support in research for current comment systems and some key rationales as to why report card comments should be changed are included. This chapter also includes an analysis of driving forces for making changes to comments and an overview of the inefficient nature of current comment systems.
Maximizing Guide Resources: Consider adapting or distributing this part of the Guide for key stakeholders or staff to promote awareness and buy-in.
Key Takeaway and Reflection Points:
- SEL refers to a set of skills. A prominent categorization is the CASEL 5, which includes self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making (see Table 1.1).
- CD refers to both moral character rooted in virtues (e.g., integrity, justice, and respect) and performance character (e.g., perseverance, optimism, and work ethic) (see Table 1.2).
- Taken together, SEL and CD can be referred to as SECD (social, emotional, and character development), highlighting the overlap and importance of both.
- States and countries are integrating SEL and CD into a variety of mandated programming, including early learning standards and the Common Core and related state standards.
- Current report card comment systems lack research demonstrating their efficacy in promoting student success in school and life.
- Consider the āDriving Forces for Adding SECD to Report Cardsā bulleted points. How salient are practical and conceptual advantages for your school or district?
The saying āWhat is important is what gets assessedā is a bit too simplistic. In fact, the first question should be āWhat is important?,ā followed by āHow can we assess it?ā So the answer to the question that opens the chapter, āIs it realistic to include social-emotional skills and character on report cards?,ā depends on how important you feel those areas are to your students, fellow educators, school, and community.
If you value data, then you will be reassured that over 200 studies support the significance of the role of social-emotional and character development on student academic outcomes, classroom behavior, attitudes toward school, treatment of other students, and beliefs in their own competences and efficacy (Brown, Corrigan, & Higgins-DāAlessandro, 2012; Durlak, Domitrovich, Weissberg, & Gullotta, 2015; see also www.characterandcitizenship.org).
If you simply love children, believe in the developmental education of the whole child, understand what is necessary for college and career success, or want to prepare students for the tests of life and not just a life of tests, you may also value social-emotional and character development. While much has been written about this area, we want to share our perspective here.
What Is Social-Emotional and Character Development?
Simply put, social-emotional and character development represents the convergence of two trends in education, social-emotional learning (SEL) and character education (CE). Both SEL and CE have two flagship organizations, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and Character.org (formerly the Character Education Partnership), and each has a website that is an outstanding source of ongoing information about each perspective, www.casel.org and www.character.org.
SEL refers to a set of skills that are important elements of everyday life and are present and relevant from infancy through old age: recognizing and managing emotions, developing empathy and concern for others, establishing effective relationships in one-on-one and group contexts, making responsible and ethical decisions, and handling challenging situations constructively. These skills allow students to function well in classrooms, in schoolyards, on the bus, during recess, and in after-school programs. They are able to calm themselves when upset, initiate friendships and resolve conflicts respectfully, and make choices that are ethical and safe. Table 1.1 includes the most common definition of SEL mentioned earlier in the introduction, the CASEL 5, with detailed definitions and behavioral examples (see Payton et al., 2008, for additional detail). From even a cursory reading, it should be clear how essential these skills are for virtually everything that occurs in schools, whether in classroom or other contexts, because both the skills and what happens in schools are grounded in interpersonal relationships.
Character has two essential parts: moral character and performance character. Moral character encompasses the knowledge of essential virtuesāsuch as integrity, justice, caring, respect, and citizenshipāneeded for successful interpersonal relationships, ethical conduct, and productive living. Performance character represents the qualities and competencies individuals need to live up to their potential for excellence, including enacting the virtues of moral character. Attributes and skills such as perseverance, optimism, a sound work ethic, emotion regulation, interpersonal and communication skills, and problem solving are all needed to perform in a way that reflects oneās moral character in school, after school, vocationally, in higher education, and in the community.
Table 1.2 presents a set of character strengths based on the work of Paul Tough and the KIPP schools cited earlier in the introduction. These strengths are commonly identified as part of positive psychology and often included as part of character education programs. In Table 1.2, the strengths are accompanied by behavioral indicators. As with SEL, whether one looks at the strengths or the indicators, it is hard to imagine a well-functioning school in the absence of appropriate character development on the part of children.
In this Guide, we refer to SEL, CE, and their more descriptive combination, SECDāsocial-emotional and character developmentāto integrate these ideas and show that regardless of whether a school chooses to emphasize one or the other, both concepts include a combination of skills and values necessary to prepare students for success in school and life.
SOURCE: http://www.kipp.org/our-approach/strengths-and-behaviors
Why Should We Be Concerned About SEL or Character?
SEL and Character Are Connected to Current and Emerging Mandates
More and more states and countries are turning their attention to early learning standards; bullying prevention; alcohol, drug, and tobacco prevention; whole-child education; career and college readiness, and the Common Core and related state standards. In each of these areas, social-emotional and character competencies are essential, as we will elaborate below and in case examples in Chapters 4 and 5. For the Common Core State Standards and those that have been substituted for them, strong social-emotional and cognitive learning skills are required on the part of students. These skills include emotion vocabulary and recognition, careful and accurate listening, self-regulation, persistence, inquiry, teamwork, reflection, nonviolent conflict resolution, and problem solving (http://www.casel.org/state-standards-for-social-and-emotional-learning/).
In addition, states, districts, and schools with some kind of SEL or CE or related mandate are coming under greater pressure to have systematic assessment in these areas. Ideally, these assessments will be closely linked to the SEL or CE approaches being used in their settings. Among the most efficient and effective ways to accomplish this is via existing school report cards.
We Are Already Rating These Areas but Ineffectively
In fact, educators have always been concerned about studentsā social-emotional and character development. Usually, this has been referred to under general categories of behavior, citizenship, and work habits, but they have long been a focus of educatorsā concerns and parentāteacher conversations. These have found their way onto report card comment sections as the primary avenue teachers have consistently used for providing feedback to parents and students on behavior. Originally, those comments would be written in open-ended spaces, but in recent years, these spaces have been supplemented and often supplanted by drop-down menus or checklists of comments from which educators choose some that are most applicable. However, most of these comment systems are problematic.
The Inefficient Nature of Current Comment Systems
There is little published research on existing comment systems. Systematic examination by the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Lab of report cards from twenty-three schools in five districts has supported the findings of Friedman and Frisbieās (1995) study that revealed that comment systems can vary tremendously across schools. Formats range from unstructured space for teachers to write comments to computerized drop-down menus of as many as eighty different possible comments, from which teachers select two per student per subject area per marking period. Many comments examined by our Lab do not identify a specific observable behavior, skill, or skill set. Instead, comments are stated broadly, lacking definition of what exact behavior or behaviors students must display or how consistently they must do so to support a comment. Examples include the following: tries hard but finds the subject difficult; shows improvement; interferes with class progress; needs to seek help; and shows excellence. These dilute or misdirect the potential impact of the feedback and create immense potential for different interpretations of the same comment among teachers, parents, and students.
To maximize educational efforts and prepare students for both academic tasks as well as the tests of life, additional consideration should be given to the immense potential impact of well-designed comment sections. What is realistic will remain the ultimate question for any modification to current practices, as schools continually face pressures to promote academic achievement with limited resources and seemingly endless lists of responsibilities. Addressing behaviors that have systematically been found in research and practice to promote academic success can be done in a feasible way by modifying current report card comment systems.
