Advancing Our Equity Work

As part of our journey to advance our equity work, Committee for Children is dedicated to ensuring our programs and supports facilitate social-emotional learning (SEL) experiences that are inclusive of the diverse communities we serve. As an organization committed to providing every child with high-quality, effective SEL, it’s our responsibility to continuously learn and improve, to address racial injustice, and to remain steadfast in our efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In service of this commitment, our research team recently evaluated our Second Step® Early Learning and Second Step® Elementary materials to ensure cultural relevance and assess representation. In this evaluation, the team used emerging research and client feedback to identify photos and videos in our programs that contribute to harmful stereotypes about Black students, Indigenous students, and other students of color.

To ensure our programs more accurately reflect the communities we serve, our organization’s values, and emerging research, we’re replacing the materials identified in this effort. The materials include several lesson cards, unit cards, and Home Links, in addition to a video. We’ll provide replacements free of charge to Second Step® users with registered classroom kits.

We’ve also partnered with education leader and anti-racism expert Baionne Coleman to create a new resources web page. The web page features curated, research-based resources and lesson alignments that support district administrators, school leaders, and educators in implementing anti-racism and anti-bias work in their schools and aligning SEL strategies with those efforts.

How to Order Free Replacement Materials

These updated Second Step materials are currently available online in digital format. You or a representative from your school can request replacement print materials for the classroom kits in your school. We’ll begin shipping requested quantities of these classroom kit materials in early January. Visit the FAQ to learn more about what has been replaced and access the link to the order form. Please coordinate your order through your principal or SEL coordinator to receive your replacement materials more quickly.

New Anti-Racism and Anti-Bias Resources

We’re excited to share this new resources page! These resources can help support your efforts to implement SEL in a way that builds on students’ cultural assets, critically examines systems of power, and allows us all to construct better ways of teaching, learning, and being.

Featured Resource: Teaching Tolerance Alignment Chart
Committee for Children has curated a set of Teaching Tolerance lessons that are aligned to Second Step Elementary and Second Step ® Middle School, as well as to the CASEL core SEL competencies. We recommend teaching these lessons in tandem with your Second Step implementation to incorporate diversity, equity, and social justice work into your classroom’s SEL plan.

Thank you for your partnership as Committee for Children continues our efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion work inside and outside of our organization.

Sincerely,

Andrea Lovanhill | Interim Chief Executive Officer

Committee for Children