What it Means
The Social & Emotional Learning Program Quality Assessment (SEL PQA) is a tool used in programs serving children in Grades K-12. It measures research-identified best practices that support programs to be safe, supportive, interactive and engaging for school-agers and youth. The tool was created by the Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality.
Why it’s Important
The SEL PQA was chosen for Great Start to Quality to use with programs serving school-agers to measure safe environments, but to go a step further and look at the engagement and interactions in the program to lift up school-agers socially and emotionally. The needs of school-age youth are much different than young children and so a tool that specifically measures quality for school-age programs is important.
How is SEL PQA used?
SEL PQA observations will be conducted by trained and reliable observers focusing on a rich, engaging environment, and effective interactions. This could be a Great Start to Quality Assessor or an Approved Assessor.
Who can use SEL PQA?
The SEL PQA is used in out-of-school time only programs that serve children ages 5-12 years.
Threshold Scores
Programs observed using SEL PQA only must score a 3.5 or above for each group or classroom observation to reach Demonstrating Quality. If other tools are used, all scores must meet threshold scores for each tool.
Resources and Training
The SEL PQA tool is available to anyone to download for free. Visit the Weikart Center website to fill out the form to download the tool. The Weikart Center also offers a full menu of trainings and supports for school-age staff to support quality improvements for school-agers.
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