One of the eight content areas assessed by the COR Advantage Assessment is social-emotional development. Social-emotional development is a critical foundation for success when children enter kindergarten. It helps children build the skills needed to manage emotions, form positive relationships, and navigate social environments. Children who are socially and emotionally prepared are better able to cooperate with peers, follow directions, resolve conflicts, and persist through challenges. These abilities support not only healthy interactions but also academic readiness, as children who feel safe, confident, and connected are more open to learning. A strong social-emotional foundation lays the groundwork for a positive school experience and long-term success both in and out of the classroom.
Children begin expressing their emotions and sensing those of their caregivers as infants before they have the words to describe them. As they grow, children gradually learn to recognize and manage their feelings. With the help of language, they move from simply reacting to being able to talk about their emotions. Through adult guidance and increased self-awareness, children also begin to understand that others may have different feelings from their own. As their sense of self develops, so does their appreciation for others. Much of early learning occurs through social interactions with both adults and peers, making a child’s earliest social and emotional experiences a foundation for lifelong well-being
BGCC Director
The key developmental indicators of social-emotional development evaluated throughout the year include emotions, building relationships with adults, building relationships with other children, community, and conflict resolution. COR Advantage provides an eight-level scoring scale that allows teachers to track developmental changes. The information below will focus on the scoring levels with sample anecdotes for emotions and social conflict.
Infants show emotions with their whole bodies, facial expressions, gestures, and sounds. As children develop language, they begin to put their feelings into words with the help of adults. Understanding and talking about their feelings is an important step in gaining control over how they express their feelings which also allows them to understand and explain the emotions of others.
Level 0: Child expresses emotion with face and/or body.
Child A smiled and clapped their hands when the music started.
Level 1: Child expresses an emotion by initiating physical contact with another person.
When the teacher comes back from her break every day, the child runs to the teacher and smiles and gives the teacher a big hug!
Level 2: Child names an emotion.
The teacher and child were reading Llama Llama Misses Mamma and the child said “Llama sad”.
Level 3: Child explains the reason behind an emotion.
When asking children during morning message how they are feeling, child A said “I am happy because I like my new class.
Level 4: Child tries to control how they express an emotion but resort to physical expression.
Child A was helping clean-up and a friend started helping pick up the items they were using. Child A immediately grabbed the item from the friend and said, “that is mine. I want to clean it up.”
Level 5: Child controls expression of feelings.
Example of a score of 5: During work time, child A was talking to the teacher. Another child tripped and pushed child A over. Child A landed on their bottom with a surprised look on their face. Teacher asked “Are you okay?” and child A responded “Yes, I’m okay. It was an accident.”
Level 6: Child uses a wider range of words to describe an emotion.
During work time, a tower of blocks fell and made a loud noise. Multiple students, including froze and looked at each other. Child A said, “That surprised me!” The children gave each other a shrug and continued playing.
Level 7: Child describes why others feel differently about the same situation.
I was excited to get covered in mud on mud day, but my friend wasn’t because they said the mud feels weird.
Social Conflict
Social conflicts are a daily occurrence in an early childhood classroom. With adult support, children learn how to recognize a social problem and take an active role in finding a solution that is accepted by everyone involved. This requires practice.
Level 0: Child continues their action in a conflict situation.
While playing with a ball, another child took his ball and set a truck down by him. He reached for the truck and continued playing.
Level 1: Child reacts to conflict by withdrawing, crying, kicking, hitting, or biting.
During choice time, the child began to cry when another classmate took their letter blocks.
Level 2: Child attempts to deal with conflict in a simple way (vocal or physical).
During choice time, the child told a classmate “no, that’s mine, have this one” and handed them a different baby blanket.
Level 3: Child request help from an adult to resolve conflict.
Child A approached the teacher and said, “____ won’t let me have a turn on the bike.” The teacher asked Child A if they needed help asking when it would be their turn. Child A nodded and went with the teacher to talk to the classmate.
Level 4: Child engages in conflict resolution with adult support.
During work time, child A was playing in the home area and making food. Another child came up to child A and took the mixer child A was using. Child A came up to the teacher and told the teacher what happened, and that they weren’t happy. Child A and the teacher walked over to the home area and were able to find a compromise.
Level 5: Child engages in conflict resolution without the support of an adult.
During work time, child A and child B were playing together. They didn’t agree on where pieces should go on the light table. They talked to each other about where they wanted to put it and came to a solution together.
Level 6: Child anticipates whether a solution will work and explains why.
During work time, child A and child B both wanted to use the blanket. When child A suggested child B use a scarf instead, child B said “I need the blanket for the roof of my fort. The scarf is too small. It won’t work.
Level 7: Child helps mediate conflict between peers.
Child A helped two other children solve a problem about using the same loose parts. Child A stated the problem and asked each child what they needed the loose parts for then suggested they divide them equally.
Fostering social-emotional development in early childhood is essential for building the foundation children need to thrive in kindergarten and beyond. The COR Advantage Assessment allows educators to observe, document, and support children’s growth in this area through a clear progression of developmental levels. By tracking how children express emotions and resolve social conflicts, teachers can provide targeted support.