SEL Assessments

Once SELENA is deployed in schools, it’s crucial to use SEL assessments regularly to track how the program shapes instruction and supports students’ social-emotional growth. To complement the strategies discussed here, explore our SELENA curriculum overview for a deeper look at how the program develops key social-emotional skills. These SEL assessments serve two main roles: formative and summative.

Formative SEL Assessments

Formative SEL assessments happen frequently and give teachers immediate feedback. Educators can adjust instruction in real time, ensuring students build stronger social and emotional skills.

Summative SEL Assessments

Summative SEL assessments evaluate the overall effectiveness of school-wide or district-wide SEL programs. Schools typically use them before and after interventions to measure whether students made meaningful improvements in their SEL skillsets. According to CASEL, these assessments play a critical role in determining the long-term impact of SEL programs.

Our SELENA curriculum centers on the FIVE CORE IDEAS: Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making. To measure the impact of SELENA in these areas, we recommend using several reliable and validated tools.

SEL Rating Forms

The Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) SEL Rating Forms are widely used assessments that align with the five core skillsets. Available in student, teacher, and parent versions, they each take 10–15 minutes to complete.

• The parent and teacher versions are third-party assessments for PreK–12 students. They help measure self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

• The student version, available for grades 3–12, is a self-report assessment that captures self-awareness and social awareness, two skills that are harder to observe from behavior alone.

Further information on reliability and validity:

• 
  SSIS SEL Parent Rating Form – Reliability & Validity Report (PDF)
  
• 
  SSIS SEL Teacher Rating Form – Reliability & Validity Report (PDF)
  
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  SSIS SEL Student Rating Form – Reliability & Validity Report (PDF)
  
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  Purchase SSIS SEL Rating Forms (Pearson Assessments)
  

Further information on reliability and validity for WCSD-SECA:

• 
  WCSD-SECA Reliability & Validity FAQ (PDF)
  

Access the WCSD-SECA Assessment Forms:

• WCSD-SECA Long Form (PDF)
• WCSD-SECA Short Form (PDF)
• WCSD-SECA Item Bank (PDF)

Information on reliability and validity for DESSA:

• 
  DESSA User Manual – Reliability & Validity (PDF)
  

Information on reliability and validity for Panorama SEL:

• 
  Panorama SEL Validity & Reliability Report (PDF)
  
• 
  Panorama SEL User Guide (PDF)