Examining the Relationship between Social and Emotional Skills and ACT Composite Scores in Students with Disabilities. ACT Research. Data Byte

Numerous studies have demonstrated that social and emotional skills (SE skills) can predict academic achievement, including grades and test scores, and prior research at ACT has shown that stronger SE skills are associated with higher ACT scores. However, despite the abundant evidence that SE skills are beneficial for students in general, less is known about the relationship between SE skills and academic achievement among students with disabilities, who make up approximately 15% of all public school students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2023). In this study, the relationship between SE skills and ACT scores among students with and without disabilities was examined. Using data from the Mosaic™ by ACT® Social and Emotional Learning assessment, two matched groups of 410 students each were created, one whose members had disabilities and one whose members did not. Findings show a positive relationship between SE skills and ACT Composite scores in both students with disabilities and students without disabilities.