The SSIS SEL Brief Scales–Student Form: Initial development and validation.

Abstract

The SSIS SEL Brief Scales-Student Form (SSIS SELb-S) was developed to create an efficient assessment of students' social and emotional learning (SEL). Using item response theory with ratings from 800 students in Grades 3-12 from the standardization sample, 20 items were selected from the full-length SSIS SEL Rating Form -Student to maximize score information and rating efficiency. After identifying items for the SSIS SELb-S, we conducted several reliability and validity analyses. These analyses provided initial support for the use of the SSIS SELb-S for low-stakes decision making contexts. As such, the SSIS SELb-S holds promise for incorporating the perspectives of students ages 8 -18 into assessments of their SEL competencies. Impact and ImplicationsThere is increasing need for efficient assessments targeting students' social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies to support school-based SEL programming. To address this need, the current study used advanced psychometric approaches to develop the SSIS SEL Brief Scales -Student Form, a brief version of the prominent SSIS SEL Rating Form-Student. The resulting measure holds promise to extend and support SEL programming and incorporate students' self-perceptions into the SEL assessment and intervention process.

Examining the structural validity of the SSIS SEL brief scales—Teacher and student forms

“…Potential uses for the SSIS SEL b ‐S as suggested by Anthony et al (2020a) include using the scores to inform intervention planning, progress monitoring, and as a universal screener for social and emotional skills. As with the SSIS SEL b ‐T, IRT was used to select 20 items from the SSIS SEL‐RF‐S and Anthony et al (2020a) tested the reliability and validity of the SSIS SEL b ‐S scores on data from the SSIS Rating Scale standardization. Anthony et al (2020a) found that the SSIS SEL b ‐S scores had sufficient evidence of reliability.…”

“…As with the SSIS SEL b ‐T, IRT was used to select 20 items from the SSIS SEL‐RF‐S and Anthony et al (2020a) tested the reliability and validity of the SSIS SEL b ‐S scores on data from the SSIS Rating Scale standardization. Anthony et al (2020a) found that the SSIS SEL b ‐S scores had sufficient evidence of reliability. Specifically, Cronbach's ɑ was .90 for the SEL Composite with scale values ranging from 0.64 to 0.71 (median = 0.69).…”

“…To address this need, the SSIS SEL Brief Scales (SSIS SEL b ; Elliott et al, 2020) were developed. They include forms for K‐12 teachers (Anthony et al, 2021), students in grades 3–12 (Anthony et al, 2020a), and K‐12 parents (Elliott et al, 2020) as well as preschool teacher and parent forms (Anthony et al, 2020b). The SSIS SEL b Scales were developed by applying item response theory (IRT) to the standardization sample of the more extensive SSIS—SEL Edition (SSIS SEL RF; Gresham & Elliott, 2017).…”

“…The SSIS SELb-S can be completed in 5 min and yields scores for each of the 5 CASEL domains, as well as a total SEL Composite score. Potential uses for the SSIS SELb-S as suggested byAnthony et al (2020a) include using the scores to inform intervention planning, progress monitoring, and as a universal screener for social and emotional skills. As with the SSIS SELb-T, IRT was used to select 20 items from the SSIS SEL-RF-S andAnthony et al (2020a) tested the reliability and validity of the SSIS SELb-S scores on data from the SSIS Rating Scale standardization Anthony et al (2020a).…”

Initial Development and Validation of the Social Skills Improvement System—Social and Emotional Learning Brief Scales-Teacher Form

“…Specifically, the CASEL model has influenced SEL policies in all 50 US states and internationally (Dusenbury, Yoder, Dermody, & Weissberg, 2019;Eklund, Kilpatrick, Kilgus, & Haider, 2018). Recent studies have also corroborated the CASEL framework as a broad model of important SEL skills (Anthony, Elliott, DiPerna, & Lei, 2020a, 2020bDoromal, Cottone, & Kim, 2019), further supporting the utility of this framework. Despite these developments, there remain important barriers to effective practice in contemporary school-based service delivery paradigms, such as MTSS.…”