Measuring social and emotional skills in elementary students: Development of self-report Likert, situational judgment test, and forced choice items

As social and emotional learning (SEL) continues to gain popularity, the need for high-quality social and emotional skill assessments also increases. We conducted two studies to develop and validate items to measure social and emotional skills in third, fourth, and fifth grade students. The Big Five personality framework served as an assessment framework for image-enhanced Likert items, situational judgment test items, and forced choice items. Results from Study 1 (n = 1047) provided promising reliability and validity evidence, as well as concrete recommendations for item revisions. Study 2 (n = 826) was conducted with a revised item pool and demonstrated improved reliability and validity. Taken together, results provided initial support that social and emotional skills can be validly and reliably measured in elementary-aged students using innovative item types. •Validation of a social and emotional skills assessment•Piloted image-enhanced Likert, forced choice items, and situational judgment tests•Use of Big Five framework as an assessment framework•Stronger reliability and validity estimates for sentences over adjective format•New item types show incremental validity over Likert items