Beliefs about Social-Emotional Skills: Development of the Assumptions Supporting Social-Emotional Teaching (ASSET) Scale
Open Access
- Author:
- Hart, Susan
- Graduate Program:
- School Psychology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 05, 2021
- Committee Members:
- James Clyde Diperna, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
James Clyde Diperna, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Jennifer L Frank, Committee Member
Cristin Marie Hall, Committee Member
David M Ramey, Outside Member
James Clyde Diperna, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- social-emotional learning
teacher beliefs
implementation science
scale development
school-based intervention
teacher assessment - Abstract:
- Although implementation science has highlighted the importance of implementer beliefs in influencing program outcomes, the application of these frameworks to teacher involvement in school-based social-emotional learning (SEL) is relatively new. The purpose of this study was to develop and examine the initial psychometric properties of the Assumptions Supporting Social-Emotional Teaching (ASSET) scale, a measure of teachers’ underlying beliefs about student social-emotional skills, intended to be used as a practical tool for universal program planning and evaluation. Influenced by implementation science frameworks and school-based intervention literature, an initial item pool was developed. After research and practitioner expert review, items were completed by a sample of 385 K-12 teachers in the United States. Data were used to identify the final item pool, test hypotheses about the structure of the scale, and examine aspects of the reliability and validity of its scores. Results of exploratory factor analyses indicated a three-factor structure (Malleable, Compatible, and Influential), and scores demonstrated moderate-to-large positive concurrent correlations with teachers’ comfort with and commitment to delivering SEL. In addition, pre-implementation ASSET scores correlated consistently and moderately with teachers’ ratings of acceptability for a classwide SEL program. There were no statistically or practically significant relationships, however, with implementation dosage, adherence, and quality. Overall, while data supported a three-factor model with evidence of adequate reliability for its intended use, scores demonstrated expected relationships with only some aspects of later SEL implementation. Results suggest that measuring underlying assumptions about student social-emotional skills prior to implementation may be helpful to predict teachers’ later acceptance of SEL programming, but more research is needed to identify factors that reliably predict implementation outcomes such as fidelity and quality.