Through a generous award granted to MVYPS by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (FC151), MVYPS piloted the SELIS with various grades and schools in the Spring of 2021. MVYPS received a second grant this year to administer the SELIS in select grades and schools both in Fall 2021 and Spring 2022.

The SELIS is a strength-based inventory of social-emotional skills that students complete. A map is generated for each student that shows areas where the student's strengths lie as well as opportunities to develop social-emotional skills.

In addition, teams of educators and administrators will work together to learn how to use students' individual strengths-based SEL maps (SWON Maps) to support students in developing SEL competencies in school. This will be done through both the technical support provided by DESE as well as a team-based initiative led by Kim Garrison.

Social-emotional competencies, as inventoried by the SELIS, are skills that students report having ease or difficulty using in the areas of:

Self-management -

The ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively in many different situations. This includes managing stress, controlling impulses, motivating oneself, and setting and working toward achieving personal and academic goals. This also includes stress management, self-care, perseverance, and agency. 

Self-awareness -

The ability to accurately recognize one's emotions and thoughts and their influence on behavior. This includes accurately assessing one's strengths and limitations. It also includes understanding one’s personal and sociocultural identities, and recognition of one’s beliefs, mindsets, and biases. It also includes recognizing the impact of ways of coping with acculturative stress, discrimination, and prejudice.

Social-awareness-

Social awareness: 

The ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures, to understand social and ethical norms for behavior, and to recognize family, school, and community resources and supports. This also includes understanding the meaning and importance of diversity in contexts, as well as empathy and belonging.

Responsible decision making-

The ability to make constructive and respectful choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on consideration of ethical standards, safety concerns, social norms, the realistic evaluation of consequences of various actions, and the wellbeing of self and others. This also includes ethical responsibility, distributive justice, and collective well-being.

Relationship skills-

The ability to establish and maintain healthy and rewarding relationships with diverse individuals and groups. This includes communicating clearly, listening actively, cooperating, resisting inappropriate social pressure, actively learning from others, negotiating conflict constructively, and seeking and offering help when needed. This also includes collaborative problem solving, co-construction, and effective interpersonal communication. It also includes demonstrating cultural competence and leveraging cultural fluency.

[Click the e-brochure to the left to see what skills lie in each competency area.]