Getting Clarity on Hard-to-Measure SEL Concepts in Rural Schools

How do you quantify the impact of a social-emotional learning program, given the difficulty of assessing these skills?

Avon Central Schools, a preK–12 district with about 875 students in Western New York, sought to measure the impact of a newly used SEL tool. As a rural school with limited resources, evaluating program impact is essential. People wear many hats. The alignment of SEL instructional approaches across buildings and assessment of hard-to-define and hard-to-measure outcomes is essential.