On May 14, 2015, we were joined in Washington, DC, by SEL advocates from Florida, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, who helped us advocate for the inclusion of social-emotional learning (SEL) in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

We also asked for lawmakers’ support of an amendment Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is planning to offer that would define SEL and allow funding for teacher and principal training to be used for SEL programming. On the heels of the unanimous, bipartisan support for an ESEA reauthorization in the Senate HELP committee, this visit is perfectly timed to support inclusion of social-emotional learning when the full Senate debates the bill in June.

A big thank-you to those educators who joined us in DC:

• B.J. Bowden, School Counselor, Brownville Elementary and Marion C. Cook School, Brownville, ME
• Demaris Conner, Education Manager, Mid Florida Community Services Head Start, Brooksville, FL
• Kim Gulbrandson, PhD, Research and Evaluation Coordinator, Wisconsin RtI Center, Milwaukee, WI
• Kyla Krengel, Director of SEL, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Nashville, TN
• Anna Smendziuk, Lead Counselor, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, Charlotte, NC
• Julie Young-Burns, Student Support Services, Minneapolis Public Schools, Minneapolis, MN