During my 25+ years in education, I have often heard the adage, "You can tell what people value by what they measure." So, then, why, in education, have we no reliable measure for Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and/or Social Emotional Growth.  Why do school districts across the globe use as measures of their efficacy, in the area of SEL, discipline referrals? Especially when those referrals only apply to some students some of the time and do nothing to offer true insight into the behaviors -- among both the students and the adults -- that led to those referrals? I wanted to really know how our students were faring, and I wanted to really know if the adults, like me, were meeting the social emotional needs of our students.  So, I created and piloted an assessment. Along the way, I invited parents, staff and students to participate.   The 10 steps we took: Make a list of SEL skills, using as references varied existing tools and the values of our school Think of a fo...