Development of a Social and Emotional Skills Assessment for Upper Primary School Students

Abstract

Background and Aims: Social and emotional skills are fundamental to students’ learning development and daily life in the 21st century, as they enhance adaptability, decision-making, and interpersonal relationships. This study aimed to (1) develop and examine the quality of a social and emotional skills assessment for upper primary school students, and (2) establish normative criteria for interpreting assessment scores.

Methodology: The sample consisted of 389 students in Grades 4–6 from the Laksam Samdam Cluster under the Samut Sakhon Primary Educational Service Area Office in the 2024 academic year, selected through multistage sampling. The research instruments included (1) a 4-point rating scale questionnaire with 25 items (raw score range: 25–100), and (2) a situational judgment test with partial credit scoring consisting of 16 items (raw score range: 0–48). Both instruments covered five components: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Key model fit indices were reported, including Chi-square (χ²), RMSEA, CFI, TLI, and SRMR.

Results: The results showed that the rating scale for the social and emotional skills assessment had content validity ranging from 0.67 to 1.00, discriminatory power ranging from 0.231 to 0.545, and reliability of 0.86. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the model was consistent with the empirical data (χ² = 440.511, df = 264, χ² /df = 1.669, RMSEA = 0.041, CFI = 0.903, SRMR = 0.046). The situational assessment also demonstrated acceptable quality with content validity ranging from 0.67 to 1.00, discriminatory power ranging from 0.219 to 0.530, and reliability of 0.82. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model was consistent with the empirical data (χ² = 176.846, df = 94, χ² /df = 1.881, RMSEA = 0.048, CFI = 0.924, TLI = 0.903, SRMR = 0.044). The developed norms showed that T-scores ranged from 19.85 to 75.66 for the rating scale and from 22.02 to 77.98 for the situational judgment test. When combined, the overall T-score ranged from 22.02 to 80.15, indicating adequate coverage of students’ ability levels. The interpretation criteria were defined as follows: T ≥ 65 (very high), 55–64 (high), 45–54 (moderate), 35–44 (low), and ≤ 34 (very low). The distribution of students across levels was as follows: 21 students at a very high level, 95 at a high level, 154 at a moderate level, 92 at a low level, and 27 at a very low level.

Conclusion: The developed social and emotional skills assessment for upper primary school students demonstrated acceptable quality in terms of validity, reliability, and model fit with empirical data. The constructed normal criteria can be used to interpret students’ social and emotional skills levels effectively.