Emotional intelligence and school success

Despite their ubiquity, standardized test scores do not completely determine student success. Recent research has shown a relationship between emotional intelligence and traditional school success metrics among young adults. This study closes a gap in the literature by examining that relationship in an elementary school setting. A statistical description of the extent to which such relationships exist was derived from bivariate and multivariate regression analyses of two particular metrics. Emotional intelligence was measured using the Emotional Intelligence Test: Youth Version. Terra Nova standardized test percentiles were used as measures of school success. The study sample comprised 61 intermediate elementary students from a single school in suburban Alaska. Significant relationships were found between (a) understanding emotions and reading, language, and mathematics composites from the Terra Nova standardized test, (b) managing emotions and reading composite score, and (c) total scores of both emotional intelligence and school success. No significant relationships were found between perceiving emotions and any of the Terra Nova composites. These results raise the possibility that the emotional intelligence instrument may be assessing reading and language rather than emotional intelligence. In light of the nationwide movement toward improving student performance in an era of increasingly constrained budgets, the need for psychological studies to investigate how school success is related to the emotional state of students has become even more pronounced. Results of this study suggest that, on some levels, such a connection exists. At the elementary school level, early interventions can be designed to incorporate the emotional aspects of how children perceive, appraise, and, ultimately, analyze their own academic success.