QTurn’s Quality-Outcomes Design and Measure (Q-ODM) toolbox includes a comprehensive suite of evidence-informed measures designed to assess the quality and impact of out-of-school time (OST) programs. This manual provides information about a self-report survey measure designed to assess children’s and adolescents’ socio-emotional skills. We also provide some technical information about the measure and general guidance about how to administer, score, and interpret it.
The Youth Report of Socio-Emotional Skills (YRSS) was developed from extensive practitioner input and academic research about the socio-emotional behavior of school-aged children and adolescents1 and the socio-emotional mental skills likely to influence that behavior. The YRSS items were created, selected, and/or adapted from wide range of similar measurement instruments that were designed to assess youth’s beliefs about their own socio-emotional skills.
The YRSS can be used within the context of most types of OST program offerings. It can be completed by youth shortly after they first enter a program offering, in order to assess their baseline socio-emotional skills, and shortly after or near the end of a program period, in order to assess socioemotional skill growth. We generally recommend using the YRSS as a secondary outcome variable for typical OST program impact studies, and over longer periods of time between baseline and follow up, because we believe that it is less likely to detect socio-emotional skill growth than measures that are based on behavioral observations of youth (like the Adult Rating of Youth Behavior).
Please keep in mind that the YRSS does not provide a clinical assessment of children or youth. It is intended only for lower-stakes planning, improvement, and program evaluation purposes (e.g., where low scores signal areas of focus and support for children and youth but not failure, sanctions, or other disciplinary action).