DC Update: Summertime and the Living is Busy
As Congress nears its August recess, efforts to educate lawmakers about SEL show no sign of a summer slowdown. Both chambers have used the summer to negotiate proposals and draft language that will shape federal policy for the next decade. The SEL community has stepped up its outreach accordingly.

Supporters are using the summer recess to set up local meetings and school visits to show lawmakers how SEL makes a difference in communities and discuss the role of SEL in federal policy. Education leaders in over a dozen states also collaborated with CASEL to draft state briefing papers for lawmakers. Members of CASEL's SEL Program Providers Working Group have also also ramped up outreach across the nation.

These efforts are generating allies. In the House, 14 co-sponsors representing both parties have signed onto HR 4223.The bill's sponsor, Congressman Dale Kildee (D-MI) chairs the subcommittee all education bills must pass through and has made the SEL Act a priority. Lead co-sponsors Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) have built bridges in the Republican caucus and Appropriations Committee, as well as with colleagues in their home states.

Yet even with progress, raising awareness about SEL remains a major priority. Click here to download outreach materials kit or contact Jeanne Osgood for information.

Sustaining Good Work in Tough Times

A recent issue of The Challenge, from the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, addresses Program Sustainability in Challenging Economic Times. This online resource includes interactive planning tools designed to help districts preserve prevention and youth development initiatives in an era of shrinking education budget. Topics include embedding programs across district objectives, cultivating leaders, assessing progress, communicating outcomes, and leveraging relationships and resources.

OSDFS has also announced the $27.3 million Safe and Supportive Schools Grant Competition to help State Education Agencies implement and measure interventions that improve conditions for learning, increase school safety, an reduce substance use. Five to seven SEAs are expected to win two year awards ranging from $1 million to $12 million annually. The deadline for applications is August 9.

"Positive Action" Gets Results

Researchers from Oregon State University found that Positive Action, an SEL and character development program, improved elementary standardized test scores nearly 10 percent. A three year study in the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness examined 20 ethnically and economically diverse public schools in Hawaii. Ten schools implemented daily 15-20 minute lessons focused on responsible self-management, relationship skills, and self-improvement.

Participants outperformed the control group by 8.8% in reading and 9.8% math on the national Terra Nova test, and had 70% fewer suspensions and 15% less absenteeism. On state tests, these students did 21% better in reading and 51% better in math.

Nan Tobler Award to Durlak and Weissberg

CASEL President Roger P. Weissberg, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Joseph Durlak, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Loyola University, were recently recognized with the Nan Tobler award from the Society for Prevention Research.

The award honors their contributions to prevention science based on their paper "The Impact of Enhancing Students' Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions," which has been accepted for publication in Child Development . See the research summary.

Funding SEL in Your School

Finding funds to support SEL in your school is a challenge, but it can be done. Often, the best place to start is in your own backyard, with local organizations and funders who want your school to succeed. Featured in the latest issue of SEL Exchange is Finding Funding , a list of resources for schools and communities. This resource is not exhaustive and will be periodically updated. To share information, email info@casel.org.

Core Standards and SEL

CASEL has provided input to the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers suggesting how to integrate core SEL competencies into the Common Core Standards now being developed in key academic areas. Visit Edutopia to see how Anchorage's Bowman Elementary School weaves SEL into math instruction.

Ohio: Active SEL Community Gets a Boost from State PTA

With major SEL initiatives unfolding in several districts, a fertile state policy environment and hometown Congressman Tim Ryan championing the federal SEL Act, Ohio began 2010 as a state to watch, and has not disappointed. Early last month, SEL supporters mounted a targeted outreach effort to educate key federal lawmakers about SEL, collaborating with CASEL to develop a short briefing paper highlighting key activities. On April 16, Ohio's State PTA became the second in the nation (after Illinois) to formally adopt a resolution to make SEL a top PTA policy priority.

Promoting SEL in Your Classroom

In the last issue of SEL Exchange, we created a Checklist of Instructional Strategies that promote SEL from our Guide and Toolkit, Sustainable Schoolwide SEL. The checklist offers brief descriptions of 28 classroom strategies that build SEL. By using these strategies, teachers can model and reinforce social and emotional skills while teaching any subject. As a result, SEL becomes part of the life of the school. View our Checklist and find out how to promote social and emotional skills in your classroom today!

Michigan Weaves SEL into School Health

On February 9, Michigan's state board of education approved a Mental Health in Schools policy which encourages the state's districts to integrate social emotional learning (SEL) across the curriculum. Michigan joins a growing number of states advancing SEL through statewide policy or legislation. Implementation plans include a companion toolkit to help districts integrate SEL across the curriculum, and regional support from Intermediate School Districts, using staff who already help districts with coordinated school health. Michigan is pursuing new federal funds to expand the initiative.

Download SEL in a NCLB World in Edutopia

Did you miss Edutopia's February 25 webinar? Don't worry! You can still access the event featuring CASEL Board Chairman Timothy P. Shriver, Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Sheldon Berman, and Boston high school teacher Kati Delahanty. Over 500 people attended Edutopia's biggest webinar ever, making the case for SEL at the classroom, district, and national levels. Read more or check out a series of videos, articles, and online resources highlighting district-wide SEL.

2009 CASEL Forum: Social and Emotional Learning - Ready!

Nearly a hundred influential education, civic, and policy leaders gathered in Washington D.C. to begin framing a national strategy to make social and emotional learning (SEL) central to school reform. The December 9 meeting was built around a theme of Ready! and focused on opportunities to pursue over the next several years to make high quality SEL integral to the learning experience of every child.  Participants rolled up their sleeves to discuss strategies for taking SEL to scale nationwide.

Highlights included the announcement of HR 4223, the Academic, Social and Emotional Learning Act, and a close-up look at district-wide SEL in Jefferson County, Kentucky (see Jefferson County's CARE for Kids booklet) that included the debut of a new George Lucas Educational Foundation Edutopia multi-media feature highlighting the district in its Schools that Work series.

Key Forum Documents

• Pre-Forum Background Document
• Forum Agenda
• Forum Participants
• Forum Report

Forum Photo Gallery (To request high resolution copies of these files, contact: info@casel.org)

• Dinner photos
• Presentation photos
• Breakout group session photos

Forum Presentations
Timonthy Shriver, Sheldon Berman, Roger Weissberg & Mark Greenberg

Federal SEL Legislation: The introduction of the Academic Social and Emotional Learning Act (H.R. 4223) was announced at CASEL's Forum in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 9. Congressman Dale E. Kildee(D-MI), Congresswoman Judy Biggert (R-IL), and Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) sponsored this legislation that authorizes the US Department of Education to establish programs and allocate funds to establish a national technical assistance center for SEL, provide grants to support evidence-based SEL programming, and conduct a national evaluation of school-based SEL programming. To learn more, read the press release and the legislation or legislation summary.

SEL and Bullying Prevention: Just released, this brief illustrates the relationship between social and emotional factors and bullying; explains how an SEL framework can be extended to include bullying prevention; and provides suggested resources for doing so.

U.S. House Testimonies: On Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, Goldie Hawn testified before Congress about the importance of SEL for our children and the country's future. (Hawn testimony). In March, Linda Lantieri testified on behalf of CASEL before the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services. Lantieri argued that SEL is a missing piece of many school reform improvement efforts with a documented track record of producing successful outcomes for students. (Lantieri Testimony).

SEL Events

CASEL Schoolwide Implementation Training

Save the date for one of our 2010 trainings. We will be offering a two-day Sustainable Schoolwide SEL training on June 24-25.

Press Room

Media releases:

The Academic Social and Emotional Learning Act (H.R. 4223): press release; legislation

Story ideas:

• CASEL SEL Stories: Illustrative examples from the field
  • SEL Impacts on Students (Brooklyn)
  • Principal Leadership: A Key to Success (Chicago)
  • Program Implementation: A Key to Success (LA)
  • Assessment and Advancement of SEL Practice (Anchorage)
  • Cultivating the Future of SEL
• Mary Utne O'Brien and Marc Brackett discuss SEL in schools on Minnesota Public Radio. Listen to Audio.
• The Other Kind of Smart: Drake Bennett of the Boston Globe reminds us about the social and emotional lessons we all learned in school, and explains why it's time schools give social and emotional skills the attention they deserve.
• O, The Oprah Magazine, article The New Improved Self- Esteem describes SEL and how it's being promoted in one IL school.
• Chicago Sun-Times series: Calming Our Classrooms (4-part editorial series endorsing SEL in CPS)
• School and District Case Studies
• Edutopia video on SEL in Anchorage, AK. See also other videos on SEL from the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Media kit:

• SEL & CASEL Background Pieces
  • What is SEL, What is CASEL?
  • Youth and Schools Today
• CASEL 15-year Annual Report
• CASEL Logo: jpeg ; tif (transparent background)
• CASEL Staff/Board Biographies