Indicator: Developmental progress: social-emotional development

Definition

Children develop and demonstrate progress toward skills to form positive relationships with adults and peers, emotional functioning, and a sense of identity and belonging.

Recommended Metric(s)

Percentage of students meeting benchmarks on a teacher- or parent-observed developmental assessment

Example Instruments

Not finding an instrument that suits your needs? Visit EdInstruments.org for more measurement tools.

Or, percentage of students meeting benchmarks on teacher reports

Example Instruments

Not finding an instrument that suits your needs? Visit EdInstruments.org for more measurement tools.

Type(s) of Data Needed

Assessments

Why it matters

Children with positive social and emotional development tend to be happier, show greater motivation to learn, have a more positive attitude toward school, more eagerly participate in class activities, and demonstrate higher academic performance than peers with social and emotional behavior issues.1, 2 Positive social and emotional development is also related to completing a college degree, likelihood of being employed, and less likelihood of involvement with the justice system at age 25.3 However, children from households with low incomes, children who are English language learners (ELL), and children of color are more likely to be rated as having lower social-emotional skills than their White peers, which can affect their educational experiences and outcomes.4, 5 For example, children in the bottom three income quintiles score between 0.15 and 0.23 standard deviations higher on behavior problems compared with children in the top two income quintiles at kindergarten entry, which are considered small- to medium-sized differences.6 As noted under E-W system conditions, there is inequitable access to quality pre-K education that promotes positive outcomes for all children.

Note: This indicator has been updated from ‘kindergarten readiness’ to ‘developmental progress’ to reflect a child’s growth across developmental milestones rather than being ready at a single point in time. This term also aligns with the System Transformation for Equitable Preschools (STEP Forward with Data) Framework (Child Trends, November 2023). Alternate terms for developmental progress may include kindergarten readiness, school readiness, and/or early child development and progress.  

What to know about measurement

Measurement of social-emotional development typically relies on teacher or parent reports. However, children’s skills in this domain likely vary by context, so teachers and parents might rate children’s social and emotional development differently based on their experiences and perspectives. Additionally, the evidence is not clear as to whether many of the commonly used measures of social and emotional development are culturally and linguistically appropriate for young children. Specifically, there is the potential for bias in these assessments for children of color and those who speak a language other than English at home.7, 8, 9 Therefore, it may be useful to gather data on children’s social-emotional development from multiple sources and to use the information with caution to avoid bias.

In the System Transformation for Equitable Preschools Framework, Child Trends emphasizes the importance of using multiple forms of evidence to assess a child’s developmental progress. This could include observational or direct child assessments, as well as information from parents, pediatricians, counselors, therapists, or other organizations serving the child. Using multiple forms of evidence can help ensure that preschool systems do not over-rely on a single source that might not be culturally or developmentally appropriate for the child, as well as provide information that is meaningful for families.10

Source frameworks

Developmental progress or a related term, such as kindergarten readiness, appeared in 10 source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our proposed definition and measures align with the five domains of school readiness summarized in the Getting Ready framework, prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT; they are also included in the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework.

References

    • 7

      Barbarin, O. A. (1993). Emotional and social development of African American children. Journal of Black Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984930194001 

    • 8

      Halle, T. G., Whittaker, J. V., Zepeda, M., Rothenberg, L., Anderson, R., Daneri, P., Wessel, J., & Buysse, V. (2014). The social-emotional development of dual language learners: Looking back at existing research and moving forward with purpose. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 734–749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.12.002 

    • 9

      Halle, T. G., & Darling-Churchill, K. E. (2016). Review of measures of social and emotional development. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 45, 8–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2016.02.003 

    • 10

      Bui Lin, V.-K., Esposito Hackett, S., Richards, D. E., King, C., & Bredeson, M. (2024). About the System Transformation for Equitable Preschools (STEP Forward with Data) framework. Child Trends. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/about-system-transformation-equitable-preschools-framework 

    • 1

      Hyson, M. (2004). The emotional development of young children: Building an emotion-centered curriculum, 2nd ed. Teachers College Press. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED400933 

    • 2

      Kostelnik, M. J., Soderman, A. K., Whiren, A. P., Rupiper M. L., & Gregory, K. M. (2015). Guiding children’s social development and learning: Theory and skills, 8th ed. Cengage.

    • 3

      Jones, D. E., Greenberg, M., & Crowley, M. (2015). Early social-emotional functioning and public health: The relationship between kindergarten social competence and future wellness. American Journal of Public Health, 105(11), 2283–2290. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302630

    • 4

      Chernoff, J. J., Denton, K. D., McPhee, C., & Park, J. (2007). Preschool: First findings from the third follow-up of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). National Center for Educational Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/preschool3/ 

    • 5

      Aratani, Y., Wight, V. R., & Cooper, J. L. (2011). Racial gaps in early childhood: Socio-emotional health, developmental, and educational outcomes among African-American boys. National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University. https://eric.ed.gov/?Id=ED522681 

    • 6

      Garcia, E. (2015). Inequalities at the starting gate: Cognitive and noncognitive skills gaps between 2010-2011 kindergarten classmates. Economic Policy Institute. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED560407