Group of 4 students sitting in library, one on the left high fives teacher who is standing behind

The Network for Educator Effectiveness helps schools evaluate the effectiveness of their social-emotional learning efforts through the use of effective educator evaluation processes.

School leaders may use NEE’s teacher evaluation measures to evaluate effective social-emotional learning practices in classrooms. At the building level, they may also use NEE’s principal evaluation measures to evaluate the principal’s role in social-emotional learning initiatives.

NEE offers a comprehensive, multiple measures approach to principal evaluation that includes four measures: teacher surveys, building improvement plans, principal professional development plans, and building personnel development plans. All measures are available to NEE member schools, and local districts decide which to incorporate in their principal evaluation processes.

Let’s review NEE’s principal evaluation measures and how they can contribute to the evaluation of a school’s social-emotional learning efforts.

First, a note on selecting indicators related to social-emotional learning: Unlike NEE’s teacher evaluation system, which asks schools to prioritize a handful of locally selected indicators, the principal evaluation system will evaluate the full slate of leadership indicators. When prioritizing social-emotional learning, principal supervisors may pay particular attention to two leadership indicators:

  • NEE Leadership Indicator 3.1: The principal promotes a positive, caring, inclusive, and supportive school climate for students.
  • NEE Leadership Indicator 3.3: The principal promotes equity and cultural inclusiveness.

The NEE Teacher Survey of Principal Effectiveness on Social-Emotional Learning

The NEE Teacher Survey includes 47 items, some of which are related to school climate and can contribute data toward evaluating the effectiveness of the principal’s leadership related to social-emotional learning. Teacher input is anonymous. When used as part of the full NEE evaluation system, the survey feeds into a principal’s summative evaluation. A few points to keep in mind:

  • It is critical to assure teachers that their responses are strictly anonymous to schools and districts. This helps to encourage teacher participation, eliminate biases in responses, and improve the validity of the measures.
  • The NEE Teacher Survey can be administered at the beginning of a SEL initiative to collect baseline data. It can then be administered annually to measure changes in teacher perceptions. If more frequent administration is desired, districts may consider creating a survey related to the school climate/SEL items and administering the condensed survey outside the NEE Data Tool. That way, teachers are not as likely to experience survey fatigue that could result from frequent administration of the full 47-item survey.
  • All 47 items are presented to teachers on the NEE Teacher Survey. Of particular interest for SEL will be items related to Leader Indicator 3.1 and Leader Indicator 3.3.
  • The Teacher Survey Summary Report, available in the NEE Data Tool, provides aggregate data that allows district leaders to review district- and school-wide teacher perceptions on indicators related to school climate.

Additional NEE Principal Evaluation Measures for Social-Emotional Learning

  • Building Improvement Plan (BIP) Organizer: If a goal of the school is related to SEL, principals will document their goal development process and goal progress in the BIP Organizer.
  • Principal Professional Development Plan (PPDP): Principals should select one professional goal each year, and that goal may relate to SEL. District leaders should support goal fulfillment by offering adequate opportunities to expand SEL knowledge, skills, and resources.
  • Building Personnel Development (BPD) Plan: The BPD Organizer documents the work of the principal in supporting the professional improvement of specific teachers. Principals may consider working with a select group of teachers on a SEL initiative as part of the BPD. Although not always the case, teachers who participate in the BPD may need more direct support and guidance to implement SEL effectively.
  • Building Walkthroughs: District administrators might also consider conducting informal building walkthroughs to collect information about SEL progress. To learn more about what to look for during building walkthroughs, review the section on principal evaluation indicators for social-emotional learning.

To read more about NEE’s principal evaluation system and social-emotional learning evaluation , visit our respective blog topics:

More details about evaluating SEL are available by downloading Evaluating Teacher & Principal Effectiveness on Indicators of Social-Emotional Learning.

The Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) is a simple yet powerful comprehensive system for educator evaluation that helps educators grow, students learn, and schools improve. Developed by preK-12 practitioners and experts at the University of Missouri, NEE brings together classroom observation, student feedback, teacher curriculum planning, and professional development as measures of effectiveness in a secure online portal designed to promote educator growth and development.