Aligning Mosaic by ACT: Social Emotional Learning to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Framework

ACT Research & Policy | Technical Brief | March 2021 1 Aligning Mosaic™ by ACT®: Social Emotional Learning to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Framework Kate E. Walton, PhD, Jeremy Burrus, PhD, Cristina Anguiano-Carrasco, PhD, Jason Way, PhD, Dana Murano, PhD MosaicTM by ACT®: Social Emotional Learning1 is a comprehensive assessment system designed to measure five social and emotional skills (ACT, 2021). When developing the assessment, the multitude of existing social and emotional skill frameworks were considered. Due to its many desirable features, the assessment development team adopted the Big Five taxonomy, the dominant personality trait model, as the organizing framework. The Big Five framework stems from the lexical hypothesis, which states, “the most important individual differences in human transactions will come to be encoded as single terms in some or all of the world’s languages” (Goldberg, 1993, p. 26). Researchers factor analyzed personal trait-related adjectives identified in the English language dictionary, and this ultimately led to five replicable factors (see de Raad & Mlačić, 2015, for a complete history). The five domains are commonly referr ed to as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability (t he opposite of neuroticism), and openness (see John, Naumann, & Soto, 2008, for full descriptions). A key advantage of the Big Five framework is that it optimizes bandwidth and fidelity (Cronbach & Gleser, 1965); that is, it allows for the summary of a large amount of information while simultaneously allowing for some nuanced individual difference description (Soto & John, 2014). I n addition, there are decades of empirical support for the framework including, but not limited to, generalizability across different populations and settings (Marsh, Nagengast, & Morin, 2013; McCr ae & Costa, 2003; McCrae, Terracciano, & 78 members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures P roject, 2005; Sot o & Tackett, 2015) and str ong criterion-related validity evidence (e.g., Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007). The Mosaic by ACT: Social Emotional Learning skills have been aligned to the Big Five previously (ACT, 2021). Here we present the alignment between these skills and the five core social and emotional learning competencies adopted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2018). These five competencies are labeled self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. We f ocus on CASEL’s framework because it receives a lot of attention and is particularly influential in the US (cf. Chernyshenko, Kankaraš, & Drasgow, 2018). Method We took a conceptual, face validity approach to aligning the two frameworks. We collected input from five subject matter experts (SMEs), all of whom have extensive knowledge of the two frameworks and are either working toward or have completed a doctoral degree in psychology. The following steps were taken: ACT.org/research© 2021 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. | R1747 Original version published April 2019 ACT Research & Policy | Technical Brief | March 2021 2 •SMEs were provided (a) the Mosaic by ACT: Social Emotional Learning skill descriptions and theCASEL competency descriptions to ensure they all had the same working definitions and (b) a five-by-five skill-competency matrix (i.e., five assessment skills by five CASEL competencies; see Figure 1).•Per instructions provided to them, in the event of any clear overlap in the precise language orsemantics between any assessment skill description and CASEL competency description, SMEswould highlight that cell in the matrix. In the event that there was not clear overlap in precise language,SMEs would call on their knowledge of assessment skills and Big Five traits to determine whetherthere was conceptual overlap. This was done independently. Note that no expectations were givenregarding whether a rater needed to identify overlap (i.e., it was possible for a rater to conclude therewas no overlap) or how many skills could overlap with a single competency or vice versa.•We compiled the SME matrices and noted when there was perfect agreement (i.e., all five did or didnot highlight the same cell). In the event that there was not perfect agreement, a discussion among theSMEs ensued to determine whether consensus could be reached as to whether the construct overlapwarranted inclusion in the alignment.Results With 100% agreement, the SMEs identified two Mosaic by ACT: Social Emotional Learning skills that align with each CASEL competency. In the five-by-five skill-competency matrix, there were four instances where one or two raters identified overlap. After discussions among the five SMEs, they reached consensus that overlap in these four instances was insufficient to warrant identification in the alignment. See Figure 1 which provi