Development and psychometric properties of rubrics for assessing social-emotional skills in youth. (December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pancorbo, Gina; Primi, Ricardo; John, Oliver P.; Santos, Daniel; Abrahams, Loes; De Fruyt, Filip
• Is Part Of: Studies in educational evaluation. Volume 67(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-12
• Subjects: Social-emotional skills -- Scoring rubrics -- 21st century skills -- Item response theory -- Evaluation methods -- School-based evaluation; Curriculum evaluation -- Periodicals; Educational tests and measurements -- Periodicals; Programmes d'études -- Evaluation -- Périodiques; Tests et mesures en éducation -- Périodiques; 375.006
• DOI: 10.1016/j.stueduc.2020.100938
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-491X

Abstract

Highlights: A set of rubrics are developed to adequately assess social-emotional skills. Rubrics' categories adequately map the different subsequent levels of the skills. Clear and age-appropriate instructions positively affect rubrics' use. Explicit labels in all rubrics' categories help to improve rubrics' validity. Rubrics' rating scale psychometric evidences should be further investigated. Abstract: Despite the increasing attention to social-emotional skills' development, few attempts have been made to develop rubrics to formatively assess these skills in classrooms and evaluate their psychometric properties. This research aimed to develop rubrics for the social-emotional skill domains of Self-management and Open-mindedness and assess their psychometric properties using Item Response Theory modeling. Two samples of students (Pilot study: N = 947 middle-school students; 54 % female; mean age = 13.8 years; Main study: N = 7404 middle-school students; 48 % female; mean age = 13.0 years) provided self-descriptions on social-emotional rubrics. Results showed that changes in rubrics' instructions, rating scale characteristics, and descriptors' content improved validity and reliability properties from the pilot to the main study, though there is still room for improvement. Overall, our research supports the use of rubrics for the assessment of Self-management and Open-mindedness skills and provides recommendations for designing social-emotional rubrics in the school context.