SEL Rubric Builder

Build an SEL rubric that assesses CASEL competency development through observable behaviors and student reflection. Designed to support growth and self-awareness, not compliance or surveillance.

SELAdvisoryElementary (K–5)Middle School (6–8)High School (9–12)

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When to use this template

  • Assessing CASEL competency development in dedicated SEL units
  • Documenting growth over time in social and emotional skills
  • Student self-assessment of SEL skill development
  • Portfolio documentation for SEL programs
  • Any SEL context where you want assessment to support growth, not compliance

Template sections

Identify the competency and define what it looks like in observable, school-appropriate behaviors.

Primary CASEL competency:

Specific skill within that competency:

Observable behaviors that demonstrate this skill in school:

Contexts where you will observe these behaviors:

Define the observable behavioral criteria you will assess.

Criterion 1 (e.g., Emotional identification): Observable behaviors at each level

Criterion 2 (e.g., Strategy use):

Criterion 3 (e.g., Perspective-taking):

Will this be a teacher rubric, student self-assessment rubric, or both?

Write behavioral descriptors at each level, framed in developmental and growth-oriented language.

Criterion 1:

Growing toward: [beginning behaviors]

Developing: [emerging behaviors]

Practicing consistently: [reliable behaviors]

Demonstrating leadership: [applying to support others]

(repeat for each criterion)

Design the student self-assessment version of the rubric.

Student-friendly language for each criterion:

Evidence students can cite from their own school experience:

Reflection prompts:

How often will students self-assess?

How will you use self-assessment data?

Document how this rubric protects student privacy and avoids inappropriate surveillance.

What is in scope (school behaviors, classroom interactions):

What is out of scope (home behaviors, family relationships, personal trauma):

How data will be stored and shared:

How families will be informed:

What students should and should not disclose on this assessment:

The Flip Perspective

SEL assessment should support student self-awareness, not create a performance or compliance dynamic. This builder helps you design rubrics focused on observable behaviors and student reflection, tools that help students see their own growth rather than feel evaluated on who they are.

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Adapting this Template

For SEL

Apply SEL Rubric by adapting the phase timings and prompts to fit SEL's unique content demands.

For Advisory

Apply SEL Rubric by adapting the phase timings and prompts to fit Advisory's unique content demands.

About the SEL Rubric framework

Assessing social and emotional learning requires a fundamentally different mindset than assessing academic content. The goal is not to rank students by emotional competency. It is to help students develop self-awareness and a growth orientation toward their own SEL skill development.

Why SEL assessment is different: Academic assessment asks "What does this student know and can do?" SEL assessment asks "How is this student growing in their ability to understand and manage themselves and others?" The purpose is developmental documentation, not comparison or ranking.

Observable versus internal: SEL assessment should focus on observable behaviors, not internal states. You can observe whether a student uses a calm-down strategy; you cannot observe whether they feel calm. Rubrics that assess feelings rather than behaviors create privacy concerns and inaccurate data. Observable behavioral criteria like "uses at least one self-regulation strategy when frustrated" and "acknowledges someone else's perspective before sharing their own" are valid and appropriate.

Self-assessment as the primary tool: For SEL, student self-assessment is often more valuable than teacher assessment. Students have access to their own internal experience in ways that teachers do not. A well-designed SEL self-assessment rubric helps students develop accurate self-awareness about their own competency development, which is itself a central SEL goal.

Avoiding surveillance: SEL assessment rubrics should never feel like surveillance of students' personal lives or emotional states. Criteria should focus on school and classroom behaviors that students understand as relevant to their learning and relationships, not on their home lives or private experiences.

Growth documentation: The most useful SEL assessment tracks growth over time, not single data points. An SEL rubric used at the beginning, middle, and end of a unit or semester allows teachers and students to document genuine development, which is more meaningful than any single assessment score.

Self-Assessment Rubric

Design rubrics students use to assess their own work and learning, building metacognitive skills, encouraging honest reflection, and creating a genuine feedback loop between student self-perception and teacher assessment.

Holistic Rubric

Design a holistic rubric that evaluates student work as a whole, giving a single overall rating based on a comprehensive description of quality at each level. Faster to score, ideal for lower-stakes work.

SEL Unit

Plan a Social and Emotional Learning unit that develops CASEL competencies through structured reflection, community-building activities, and skill practice, integrated into your classroom culture rather than added on top of it.

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Frequently asked questions

Grading SEL competencies is ethically complicated and often counterproductive. It creates a compliance dynamic that can undermine the authentic self-awareness SEL is meant to develop. Most SEL practitioners recommend using rubrics for formative documentation and student self-awareness rather than for summative grades.
Keep criteria focused on school contexts, behaviors, and interactions, not on students' personal lives or family situations. Be transparent about what you are observing and why. Give students agency in their self-assessment. Emphasize growth over judgment.
Use the discrepancy as a conversation starter, not a correction. "I noticed something different. Can we talk about what you were experiencing in that moment?" This creates more learning than simply overriding the student's self-assessment with yours.
Yes, with concrete, observable language and visual supports. K–2 students can self-assess using smiley face scales, simple "I can" statements, or picture-based descriptors. The key is making the target behaviors visible and concrete enough for students to understand and observe in themselves.
This is why behavioral rubrics must be differentiated from compliance rubrics. An SEL rubric should document growth relative to the student's starting point, not compare them to a neurotypical standard. Document what strategies a student is developing, not whether their behavior matches a normative expectation.
Active learning naturally surfaces social-emotional skills because students are working together, managing disagreements, and regulating their own focus. An SEL rubric helps you document these observable behaviors as they happen during collaborative tasks. When students work through a Flip mission that requires teamwork and problem-solving, you see self-regulation, perspective-taking, and relationship skills in action. This rubric gives you the structure to track that growth over time, and Flip missions give students the collaborative context where social-emotional skills become visible and practiceable.
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