Take Action on No Child Left Behind
May 7 is the deadline to tell the U.S. Senate what matters most to you in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), currently known as No Child Left Behind. Education stakeholders have been invited to email comments to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee at ESEAcomments@help.senate.gov.
Supporters of evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) are using this opportunity to educate Senate leaders about the positive impact quality SEL can have across many outcomes, including school climate, behavior, commitment to learning, and academic achievement.
How to Take Action
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Email your comments about reauthorization directly to ESEAcomments@help.senate.gov. We encourage you to include real stories of how SEL has had a positive impact on your students, school, or district. Address your email to Senate HELP Chairman Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Senator Michael Enzi (R-Wyoming). Download a sample letter of support to help you get started.
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Fill out this form to quickly and easily send an additional letter of support to your own senators and members of the House of the Representatives about supporting the SEL Act (see below).
SEL and the ESEA
Many schools and organizations are urging the Senate to introduce a companion bill to HR 4223, the Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act. HR 4223 was introduced with bipartisan support in December 2009 to extend the benefits of SEL to more students by creating grants for district-wide SEL initiatives, rigorously evaluating these efforts, sharing the lessons learned nationally, and establishing the infrastructure to support high-quality SEL implementation in districts, communities, and states.
A deep base of research has shown that evidence-based SEL can have a profound impact on student success and school reform. Rapidly growing interest in SEL means a federal commitment should ensure that SEL is adopted with the quality needed to truly serve children.
