The Development and Validation of the Social and Emotional Learning Observation Checklist for Elementary School (SELOC-ES)

Co-Principal Investigators: Bailey, Craig S.; Strambler, Michael J.

Proposed Activities: The research team will develop the SELOC-ES through a mixed-methods design to support the resulting tool's immediate practical utility within school, state, and district assessment frameworks. In Year 1, the researchers will begin with 1) a content analysis of evidence-based elementary school SEL curricula to identify the key processes and activities of SEL pedagogy in elementary school classrooms; 2) strategic classroom observations and interviews with 12 experienced SEL School Leaders (SLs) and 12 K-5 teachers from diverse school districts across the country; and 3) convening an advisory board of SEL experts. Year 1 research activities will inform development of initial SELOC-ES items and refine the SEL Pedagogy Framework. In Year 2, basic feasibility testing will be conducted with 24 SLs and 24 teachers to refine draft items and create the SELOC-ES observation system. In Years 3 and 4, the researchers will 4) pilot the SELOC-ES to establish initial evidence of psychometric properties and refine the observation tool and system alongside 50 SLs and 300 classrooms across the country; 5) conduct a cost analysis of SELOC-ES implementation; and 6) re-convene the advisory panel and SLs to share the final tool for immediate adoption to support effective SEL implementation and professional development.

Instrument: The focus of the study is on developing the SELOC-ES as a valid and reliable checklist of SEL pedagogy for educational professionals to use in their schools to assess and support SEL implementation. By refining an SEL Pedagogy Framework based on key processes and activities of SEL pedagogy, items will address both the content and context involved in SEL. The measure will rely on checklist (binary) items of teacher behavior that will range in their likelihood to be observed (difficulty) in classrooms. This format will provide the lower training burden of a checklist measure while capturing information that can differentiate teachers and capture teacher growth of SEL pedagogy.

Analytic Strategy: The research team will use qualitative observational data and feedback from participating stakeholders to establish construct validity and inform measure development during the first two years of the project. This will involve a content analysis of SEL approaches, including an expert review by an advisory panel to refine the SEL Pedagogy Framework and thematic analysis of classroom video footage as well as debrief and advisory sessions to inform SEL Pedagogy Framework development. Researchers will use quantitative methods, including multilevel confirmatory factor analyses, to examine the psychometric properties, reliability, as well as the concurrent, divergent, and predictive validity of the measure.