26 Jan Case Study: Social and Emotional Learning in the Age of Covid
ABSTRACT: This paper examines how two organizations, Hello Insight and Guitars Over Guns, have teamed up to measure the impact of Guitars Over Guns’ music mentoring programs on their participants and specifically through the lens of Social and Emotional Learning and the Theory of Change. Both of these important concepts are described in the body of this document.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has had huge impacts on not only the young people whom Guitars Over Guns targets with their music mentoring, it has impacted the way we measure the benefits that come from these programs. In addition to disruptions to time series data, many of the baseline conditions for Social and Emotional Learning have been completely altered in world with deliberately high levels of personal isolation.
This paper highlights data collected on behalf of Guitars Over Guns for the period from January 4, 2020 to June 18, 2021. As the Covid-19 Pandemic covers most of this time frame except for the first few weeks, it introduces some challenges in interpreting so-called “pre and post” data, which are data points that contrast a participant’s circumstances at the beginning of the study period versus the end. This paper will highlight the metrics within the much larger Hello Insight study on Social and Emotional Learning that we feel still have relevancy in this environment, and more importantly, demonstrate an improvement in the SEL skills of those participating in the survey.
AUTHOR SUMMARY: Peter D. Gerlings, CFA, CAIA
