Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology; Vol. 5, No. 1; 2015 ISSN 1927-0526 E-ISSN 1927-0534 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 139 Development and Validation of the Social and Emotional Competencies Evaluation Questionnaire Vitor Alexandre Coelho 1 , Vanda Sousa 1 & Marta Marchante 1 1 Académico de Torres Vedras, Torres Vedras, Portugal Correspondence: Vitor Alexandre Coelho, Rua Manuel Agro-Ferreira, 72, R/C 2825-362, Costa da Caparica, Portugal. E-mail: vitorpcoelho@gmail.com Received: February 27, 2015 Accepted: April 2, 2015 Online Published: April 24, 2015 doi:10.5539/jedp.v5n1p139 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jedp.v5n1p139 Abstract This study presents the construction and validation of an instrument for assessing social and emotional competencies in adolescents. The Social and Emotional Competences Evaluation Questionnaire (QACSE) is based on three previous instruments and constructed according to the theoretical framework proposed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (2005). The questionnaire was validated in a sample of 683 high middle school students (7th to 9th grade), with an average age of 12.91 years. Six teachers also participated by filling the teacher version regarding 111 students on the sample. Results showed that the QACSE presents good levels of reliability and validity; including a sound five dimension factor structure. The final version of the QACSE is composed by 39 items, organized into five scales that assess the following social and emotional competencies: self-control, social awareness, relationship skills, social isolation and social anxiety. The QACSE takes around 10 minutes to fill and is appropriate for individual or group use for the evaluation of the aforementioned competencies. This questionnaire assesses most of the key competencies identified by the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (2012). Keywords: Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), self-reports, program evaluation 1. Introduction The number of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) programs has increased exponentially (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011), however, this growth has not been accompanied by the development of appropriate instruments for the evaluation of social and emotional competences or SEL programs (Sandell et al., 2012). This is a persisting problem in the literature, since Merrell (2001) had already warned that there was little evidence of the adequateness of existent instruments in the field, naming only one as being adequately developed for the specific evaluation of social skills: the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham & Elliott, 1990). Presently, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2012) as “the processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions”. These social and emotional competencies are fundamental for success in school and in life (Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg, 2004) and additionally they also have a preventive effect against bullying, peer pressure, inappropriate behaviour toward adults and risk behaviours (Durlak et al., 2011; Sklad et al., 2012). CASEL (2012) recommended that SEL programs should have as goals the development of five key interrelated sets of social, emotional and cognitive competencies, namely: Self-awareness: to be aware of one’s internal states; knowing how to identify and recognize emotions, to be able to perform a realist evaluation of one’s capacities, needs and values; and to establish a sense of self-concept, self-efficacy and self-esteem; Social awareness: to respect and understand what others are feeling, being able to adopt another’s perspective, show respect and consideration for others; to be able to interact in positive way with diverse groups;