Game-based social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments are quickly becoming more popular. According to SEL expert and 3C Institute CEO Melissa DeRosier, PhD, game-based assessments have five main benefits:

1. Games provide unique opportunities for social interaction.
   It may seem counterintuitive to use games to teach social and emotional skills, but an online game provides a safe space for children to explore different behavior choices. Zoo U, for example, gives students an opportunity to practice six skills in a fictional school environment.
2. Games are well suited for assessment of SEL and 21st-century skills.
   There’s a growing emphasis in education on SEL and 21st-century skills development, along with the recognition that it’s not just what children know but what they do with that knowledge. In games such as Adventures Aboard the S.S.GRIN, children see how their choices affect others and lead to different outcomes.
3. Games are ideal vehicles for formative assessment.
   Formative assessment helps educators and counselors adjust, inform, and plan instruction. When we know where children are having difficulty, we can intervene and focus attention on problem areas.
4. Games provide unique opportunities for “stealth” assessment.
   When children are aware they’re being assessed, they may behave differently than they would in typical circumstances.
5. Games can take advantage of adaptive assessment.
   The technology used in computerized adaptive assessments tailors instruction to each student, adjusting the level of difficulty based on the child’s responses.

An earlier version of this article was published on July 14, 2016. A longer version was published in the Spring/Summer 2016 issue of The Voice, from our partners at Professional Educators of North Carolina.