As the beginning of a new school year looms closer, we start to think about things like test-taking, grades, and report cards. Although these conventional methods of measuring intelligence and academic achievement are necessary for compliance with state and national standards, they shouldn’t be considered the be-all and end-all of a student’s success. Over the years, research has proven that social/emotional intelligence is just as important as academics for achieving success in the classroom and beyond.
In his book Working With Emotional Intelligence (1998), Daniel Goleman explains that the rules for success in the workforce are changing. He states that the new yardstick for measuring success is not meant to measure one against the old standards such as general intelligence, training, and experience, but rather against how one handles oneself and others. Goleman goes on to state that these new rules have little to do with what we were told was important in school, such as academic ability. He states that the new yardstick disregards having enough intellectual ability and knowledge to perform the job. Instead, it takes into account other personal qualities; specifically, social/emotional intelligence.
The Conover Company has been researching and developing social/emotional assessment and training tools for over 20 years. Our Personal Skills Map was created and developed in 1976 by two counseling and consulting psychologists, Dr. Darwin B. Nelson and Dr. Gary R. Low. Our Personal Skills Map, which is the core of our Success Profiler Program, now boasts well over 50 doctoral-level research reports and over 2 million administrations. Our research document chronicles several studies on how improving social/emotional learning improves academic performance and workplace success.
A more recent study in Child Development chronicles 213 school-based studies, covering 270,000 students from Kindergarten through Grade 12. The results of the study show that students who participated in social/emotional learning performed better on standardized tests, scoring on average 11 percentile points higher than nonparticipating students. This evidence is overwhelming in terms of what it means for academics. Improving social/emotional skills results in increased academic performance.
Do you want to take a closer look at our social/emotional learning programs? Find out what the Conover Company Social/Emotional Learning Programs can do for the success of your students in school and beyond.
Durlack, J.A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D. and Schellinger, K. B. (2011), The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82: 405-432. doi: 10.1111/j. 1467-8624.2010.01564.x
