Starting From Scratch: Toward A New Measure of Student Social-Emotional Competence

This Research Brief reports on a pilot test toward developing a new measure of student social- emotional competence informed by the five-factor model proposed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL 5). Current measures of the CASEL 5 are limited by development approaches that may contribute to confirmation bias. Our development approach “started from scratch” by creating a fresh item pool and then subjecting this pool to content validation via expert reviewers (N = 4). We administered the 47 best pilot items to a sample of elementary teachers (N = 19) who rated all students in their classes (N = 415). We then evaluated the structural validity of responses to the pilot items via EFA in search of simple structure. Ultimately, results yielded a 14-item, two-factor measurement model that was more parsimonious than the CASEL 5. Scores from this new measure showed relatively normal distributions and theoretically consistent correlations with other measures of student well-being and mental health. Limitations to generalizability and next steps for research are discussed.