Alignment empowers educators to foster and assess students’ social and emotional development
Charlotte, N.C. – June 17, 2015 – As part of its commitment to educating the whole child through academic and social & emotional learning (SEL), Apperson Inc., a K-12 leader in assessment tools and software solutions that are designed to assess performance and measure success in students while streamlining workflow for educators, has partnered with Open Circle, a leading provider of evidence-based curriculum and professional development for social and emotional learning in elementary schools. Through the partnership, Apperson will align the skills from its Evo Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) assessment with skills and practices from the Open Circle Curriculum. This will allow educators to measure and track outcomes from implementing Open Circle programming as well as refine and target Open Circle instruction based on identified student strengths and needs.
“For more than a decade, Open Circle has been at the forefront of working with school communities to help children develop foundational social and emotional skills,” said Bill Apperson, chairman of the board of Apperson. “This partnership allows Apperson to provide educators with an assessment solution that gives them better insight into student emotional competence and resiliency. Together, we can proactively develop students’ social and emotional skills, and build a community where children feel safe, cared for and engaged in learning.”
“Educators are striving to employ data-based decision-making across all areas of study, “ added Nova Biro, co-director at Open Circle . “This partnership equips schools with practical tools for effective implementation and continuous improvement in social and emotional learning.”
Apperson Evo cloud-based assessment solutions are designed to make a positive impact on the whole child through comprehensive measurement of academic and social & emotional strengths. Evo SEL is an award-winning assessment system that allows educators and after school providers to measure social and emotional competence, school achievement and lifelong success in order to focus on students’ SEL skills development. The system is based on the Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA), a strengths-based assessment designed to universally screen students for social and emotional competencies in less than a minute per child. The DESSA also assesses specific SEL strengths and needs and monitors progress towards SEL skill acquisition over time.
Open Circle is a universal, evidence-based social and emotional learning program to help grades K-5 students develop social and emotional skills across the domains of recognizing and managing emotions, empathy, positive relationships and problem solving. The Open Circle Curriculum contains 32 core lessons, 27 supplementary lessons, 80 community-building and mindfulness activities and practices, 27 skill mini-posters, 18 family newsletters, and more than 250 children’s literature titles that connect to specific SEL topics.
To learn more about Evo SEL, visit www.apperson.com.
To learn more about the Open Circle Curriculum, visit www.open-circle.org.
About Open Circle
Open Circle is a leading provider of evidence-based curriculum and professional development for social and emotional learning in elementary schools. Since 1987, Open Circle has reached two million children and 15,000 educators. Open Circle is currently used in over 300 schools across the United States. Open Circle is a program of the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College.
About Apperson
Apperson’s K-12 assessment solutions help educators develop a 360° panorama of the student and his or her strengths, as well as areas of opportunities, that can inform curriculum decision-making and create positive learning outcomes. Whether it’s DataLink scanners, or the Evo assessment platform, Apperson’s products support and encourage a holistic learning and development approach by helping teachers turn assessment data into actionable information.