Committee for Children Blog

Social-emotional goals may be the most important goals of all!

Many school districts now encourage student goal-setting conferences in the fall where the child, the parent/caregiver, and the teacher sit down together to establish goals for the student to work on all year long. It is a wonderful time of discussing the child’s strengths and areas to work on academically, socially, and emotionally while teaching the life skill of goal setting.Read More


Empathy and Bullying

Recently, a friend told me an endearing story about empathy. It took place the day before Blue Shirt Day last year (October 1st), on which people are encouraged to wear blue shirts to make a commitment to “Stomp Out Bullying”. My friend’s son received a call from his cousin the night before, reminding him to wear his blue shirt. The boy’s cousin was worried that he might forget to wear one and be picked on for being different.Read More


Bullying in Kindergarten? Prevention Means Starting Early

by Allison Wedell Schumacher

When most of us think of bullying, we think of the stories we’ve seen in the news: high school kids being maligned on social media; middle schoolers shunning or teasing each other.

So when we see bullying prevention lessons that begin in kindergarten, we might think, “Overkill! Those sweet little five-year-olds wouldn’t hurt a…Read More


Book Review: Maniac Magee

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Reading Level: Grades 4-8

Jeffrey Lionel Magee is legendary for so many reasons: he outruns trains, he unravels impossible knots, he outslugs neighborhood baseball stars, and he befriends buffaloes. When it comes right down to it, though, “Maniac” Magee’s most astonishing feat is his ability to connect with people….Read More


Anatomy of Anger

Something happened this week that made me very angry. I won’t go into the gory details. It’s enough to know that it was a letter from my children’s elementary school about a new initiative the district was rolling out without allowing parental involvement. Here follows my step-by-step process of Getting Angry.Read More


Lessons Learned: Setting Up SEL Groups for Success

Recently, two schools in my district were asked to implement a grant that focused on early intervention services for students with behavioral needs. A plan was established, and three of us were asked to implement the idea in two schools.Read More


Reminder from Our European Partners

Articles about the Second Step program in international academic journals hold a special place in our virtual trophy case. We are always delighted to read reports about our programs from another country’s perspective, and this latest article has us smiling. Read More


SEL vs. Noncompliant Kids?

I won’t agree or disagree that “American Schools Are Failing Noncomformist Kids,”as Elizabeth Weil writes in the September 2, 2013, issue of The New Republic. Like all relationships…it's complicated. I will, however, disagree vehemently with her notion that the culprit is the focus on teaching social-emotional skills to all childrenRead More


Establishing Buy-In for the Second Step Program

For the past 16 years, I often have the opportunity to present 15–20 minute overviews of the Second Step program at school staff meetings. Before a school decides to implement the program, I like to make sure that a majority of the staff feels it is a good fit for their needs.Read More


Book Review: Better Than You

Better Than You by Trudy Ludwig. Illustrated by Adam Gustavson.
Reading Level: Grades 1–5

No matter what Tyler does, his neighbor Jake always has to one-up him. Tyler works hard to master a basketball move, but all Jake says is, “Yeah, well, I bet you can’t do this….” When Tyler is excited about his new music…Read More