The Other Side of the Report Card: Assessing Students' Social, Emotional, and Character Development

Integrate social-emotional learning and character development into your grading system with guided exercises for analyzing existing report cards, suggested new designs, case studies, and testimonials.

Maurice J. Elias, Ph.D. is Professor in the Psychology Department at Rutgers University, Director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab, and Academic Director of The Collaborative Center for Community-Based Research and Service at Rutgers. He is Past President of the Society for Community Research and Action/Division of Community Psychology (27) of APA and has received the SCRA Distinguished Contribution to Practice and Ethnic Minority Mentoring Awards, as well the Joseph E. Zins Memorial Senior Scholar Award for Social-Emotional Learning from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the John P. McGovern Medal from the American School Health Association, and the Sanford McDonnell Award for Lifetime Achievement in Character Education.

Maurice lectures nationally and internationally to educators and parents about students’ emotional intelligence, school success, and social-emotional and character development. Among Dr. Elias’ numerous books are ASCD’s Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators (ASCD), the Social Decision Making/Social Problem Solving curricula for grades K-8, the new e-book Emotionally Intelligent Parenting, and a book for young children, Talking Treasure: Stories to Help Build Emotional Intelligence and Resilience in Young Children (Research Press). He also writes a blog for on SEL-related topics for the George Lucas Educational Foundation at www.edutopia.org.

With colleagues at the College of St. Elizabeth, he has developed an online credentialing program for Direct Instruction of Social-Emotional and Character Development (SECD) programs in classroom, small group, and after school settings (sel.rutgers.edu), and for School-Focused Leadership and Coordination of SECD and School Culture and Climate (SELinSchools.org).


Joseph J. Ferrito recently earned his doctoral degree from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. He is a native of Monroe Township, New Jersey and a graduate of Marist College where he majored in psychology. Clinically, J.J. trained and worked across levels of care ranging from public schools and in-home services, to residential and inpatient treatment facilities. His clinical work has focused on children, adolescents and families, particularly those who have been exposed to various traumatic experiences. He completed an APA-accredited internship at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, California and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.

Throughout his graduate training, J.J. taught several undergraduate courses and conducted research under the mentorship of Dr. Maurice J. Elias through the Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Lab at Rutgers University. Developing feasible methods for assessing SEL and related skills in schools has been a focus of this research and this work has generated several publications in various forms. J.J. hopes to continue this work and combine it with his interest in trauma and resiliency to enhance evidence-based methods of prevention and promotion on a national and international level.

Take a look at a review on The Other Side of the Report Card, published by the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists here. 


Dominic C. Moceri graduated with his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. While at Rutgers, Dominic′s research focused on quantifying the dissemination, implementation, sustainability, and scalability of evidence-based practices in schools and other settings. Dominic was co-principal investigator of the initial SEL Report Card Indicator studies, the foundation for this book. Additionally, he was the lead creator of the Schools Implementing Towards Sustainability (SITS) scale, a user-friendly and scalable measure of the system of sustainable implementation framework (Moceri et al., 2012). He received his M.S. in clinical psychology from Rutgers and his B.A. with honors in psychology from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Moceri currently practices cognitive-behavioral therapy and conducts psychological assessments with children, adolescents, and adults in his home state of Michigan. He assesses and treats a wide variety of presenting problems, including anxiety, depression, inattention, hyperactivity, oppositionality, and rage attacks. He specializes in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, and tic disorders using exposure and response prevention and habit reversal training.

Take a look at a review on The Other Side of the Report Card, published by the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists here.