Articles – Social Emotional Learning

Kids go to school to learn how to read, write, think, and reason. But that’s not enough in school and in life, according to many education experts. Students must also know how to understand and manage their emotions and to get along well with others, if they hope to thrive in the rapidly changing world of the 21st century.

Or, at least, that’s what Congressman Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) believes.

On May 8, Ryan re-introduced legislation to encourage social-emotional learning (SEL) in classrooms all over the country. The legislation is called the Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act, and it amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). If passed, this legislation would allow funding for teacher and principal training to go toward social-emotional development, and encourage more classroom and school-wide programs in SEL.

Link to full article: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/tim_ryan_brings_sel_bill_back_to_congress

Seventeen years ago, best-selling author Daniel Goleman and a group of education leaders and researchers tried to instigate a sea change in the American educational system by launching the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

Believing that children need more than academic training to be successful in life, they envisioned schools as places where students learned to better understand and manage their emotions, develop compassionate concern for others, make ethical decisions, handle conflicts constructively, and form positive relationships both inside and outside of the classroom—a set of skills known as social and emotional learning (SEL).