Indicator: Social awareness

Definition

Students are able understand others’ perspectives; understand social and ethical norms for behavior; and recognize family, school, and community resources and supports.

Recommended Metric(s)

K–12: Percentage of students reporting a high level of social awareness on surveys

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 ratings of social skills

Example Instruments

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

Postsecondary and workforce: Percentage of individuals demonstrating social proficiency on a performance assessment

Example Instruments

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

Type(s) of Data Needed

Surveys or assessments

Why it matters

Some research has found that higher social awareness in early grades is correlated with a greater likelihood of graduating from high school and college, and more stable employment at age 25, controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES) and prior achievement.1 Other evidence, however, shows that social awareness has limited predictive power for later academic outcomes after accounting for other social emotional learning (SEL) skills, such as self-management and self-efficacy. 2Research from the CORE Districts shows that White students consistently rate themselves more favorably than other racial groups regarding social awareness.3 Research on soft skills required for workplace success shows that social skills—including whether individuals respect differences and use appropriate behavior and conflict-resolution methods—are predictive of employment, job performance, income, and entrepreneurial success.4

What to know about measurement

As indicated above, several survey tools exist to measure this indicator and related constructs. We have identified and suggested tools with an evidence base; however, other instruments may also be appropriate to measure this indicator, though the use of different instruments across contexts would reduce comparability of this indicator. Please see information on the self-management indicator for additional considerations regarding the measurement of social-emotional skills.

E-W Case Studies

Children running stock image
Elevating Social-Emotional Learning in CORE Districts
The CORE Districts—a collaborative of eight school districts in California—developed, validated, and included measures of students’ social-emotional skills in its School Quality Improvement System.
View Case Study

Source frameworks

This indicator appeared in five source frameworks reviewed for this report. Our proposed definition and measure are adapted from the CORE Districts definition of social awareness. Broadly, we have opted to align with—and build on—CORE Districts SEL indicators, given the evidence base for their predictive power and instrumentation.

References