DESSA 2 Competencies

Overview

The DESSA 2 measures six social and emotional competencies essential for success in school and throughout life:

• Self-Awareness: the ability to understand emotions, thoughts, and values and how they influence one’s behavior; recognize strengths and limitations; and develop healthy identities and a sense of purpose. 
• Self-Management: the ability to manage emotions and behaviors across different situations and environments and to demonstrate agency as one works to set and achieve personal and collective goals.
• Social Awareness: the understanding of social norms for behavior; the ability to empathize with, respect, and take the perspectives of others; and the feeling of connection and belonging with family, peers, schools, and community groups.
• Relationship Skills: the abilities to establish and maintain healthy and positive relationships including effective communication, collaborative problem-solving, negotiating conflict, and demonstrating helpful and supportive behaviors. 
• Responsible Decision Making: the ability to make careful, reliable, and constructive choices about personal and social behavior that are appropriate across diverse situations; to consider the personal, social, and collective impact of one’s actions; and to demonstrate curiosity and an open-mindedness to learning. 
• Optimistic Thinking: the belief and demonstration of confidence, hopefulness, and positive thinking regarding oneself, others, and one’s life situations in the past, present, and future. 

These competencies have been updated to focus on the foundational skills needed for learning and lifelong success. Since the first edition of the DESSA was created in the mid-2000's, the CASEL framework (for which the DESSA is based) has undergone revisions. New research has informed our understanding of how these skills develop, and there are more instructional resources to teach them. In addition, state and local standards have emerged to ensure every student has these important skills before they graduate. As a result, the DESSA 2 competencies and associated items were updated to make sure the assessment data matches today's district and school priorities.

DESSA First Edition vs DESSA 2 Competencies

The following table shows how the DESSA First Edition competencies were streamlined into the new DESSA 2 competencies. 

DESSA First Edition	DESSA 2
Self-Awareness	Self-Awareness
Self-Management	Self-Management
Goal-Directed Behavior
Social Awareness	Social Awareness
Relationship Skills	Relationship Skills
Personal Responsibility	Responsible Decision Making
Decision Making
Optimistic Thinking	Optimistic Thinking