The focus of my project will be based on assessing social emotional learning (SEL) in academic settings. I currently work at a non-profit organization that focuses on afterschool programs for youth ages 5-18. In recent years, we have expanded our educational and academic programs with one focus being college and career readiness for middle school and high school students. While data shows how important college and career readiness is for this age group, it has been a challenge delivering the program especially for communities who have not been exposed in the past and the middle school group that has a tough time connecting the dots. Through research, trial and error, our team has learned that one of our missing components has been SEL. While we have tried to incorporate it, we need to be more intentional of how it is implemented and making sure the youth are able to connect the dots in each area. Kalantzis and Cope both mentioned that the major principle in authentic education is learners taking an active part in their learning along with their learning connecting to their life experiences. My reason to focus on this topic is because it will allow me to relate my educational learning to my experiences in the workforce simultaneously. It also provides me with the knowledge to implement assessment of our curriculum that includes SEL in the beginning and end. Through identifying ways to implement SEL into academic programs, Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has been a leading resource while in my beginning stages of research. CASEL has identified SEL as a high-quality educational resource including workforce preparation. My goal with focusing on this topic is to start with a general focus but be able to expand into specific categories through research. While I want to use assessments in SEL in relation to College and Career Readiness, I also want to be able to contribute assessments in SEL to many other academic topics.

Figue 1: CASEL. 2022. SEL: What are the core compentencies and key settings? [video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouXhi_CfBVg&t=2s.

• Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis. 2023. Chapter 2: Life in Schools. Work & Days. https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-2.
• CASEL. 2022. SEL: What are the core compentencies and key settings? [video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouXhi_CfBVg&t=2s. 
• Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning. (2023). What is the CASEL framework? CASEL. https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/.