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Committee for Children and The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning to Host Congressional Briefing

MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Shauna McBride, smcbride@cfchildren.org, 206.612.8718

 

Committee for Children and The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning to Host Congressional Briefing
The Importance of Employability Skills: How and Why Educators Should Teach These Skills

 

Employers in every industry sector emphasize the need for employees with certain foundational skills. These include strong academic fundamentals like reading, writing and math. But equally important to their success now and in the future is their mastery of employability skills like teamwork, problem solving, work ethic and integrity – skills that are taught through social-emotional learning. All these skills can be taught and research shows that students and adults with these skills do better in school, in the workplace, and in life. Join our congressional briefing and learn how and why Committee for Children and The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) are working to ensure social-emotional learning and employability skills are prioritized in education.

Want more details on the importance of employability skills? Read our briefing paper and one-page summary for additional information on the topic.

SPEAKERS:
• Welcome:
Joan Cole Duffell, Executive Director, Committee for Children
Karen Niemi, President & CEO, CASEL
• Presenters:
Timothy P. Shriver, PhD, Chairman of the Board, CASEL & CEO, Special Olympics
Janice Jackson, PhD, Chief Education Officer, Chicago Public Schools
Stanley Litow, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs & President, IBM International Foundation
R. Keeth Matheny, Teacher, Austin, TX Independent School District

WHEN: Wednesday, September, 14 2016 at 3:30PM EDT

WHERE: Senate Congressional Visitors Center (SVC) – Room 203

WHY SEL: The social-emotional learning movement is growing every day. State and local education agencies, as well as schools are all embracing the importance of SEL at unprecedented levels. This includes:
• A surge in uptake of SEL programs in schools (noted by program providers nationally).
• Cost-benefit analysis by Columbia University indicating an $11 return on each dollar invested in evidence-based SEL programming (Belfield et al., 2015).
• A survey of educators indicating they believe SEL works with diverse groups of students and provides critical foundations for all students to be college, career, community, and life ready (Bridgeland et al., 2013).
• Compelling data from meta-analyses of K-12 SEL programming documenting that SEL improves positive attitudes and social behaviors, reduces conduct problems and emotional distress, and enhances academic performance – including an 11-percentile point improvement in academic achievement performance in program students relative to students in comparison groups (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011).
• Research-based descriptions of SEL in the new 37-chapter Handbook on Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice (Durlak, Domitrovich, Weissberg, & Gullotta, 2015).
• Large districts – such as Anchorage, Atlanta, Austin, Cleveland, Chicago, El Paso, Nashville, Oakland, Sacramento, Oakland, and Washoe County – implementing systemic SEL district-wide.

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About CFC
Founded in 1978, Committee for Children is a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering the safety and well-being of children through education and advocacy. CFC is the world’s largest provider of research-based education programs that promote social-emotional skills and prevent bullying and sexual abuse. Today the organization’s curricula reach schools in over 70 countries, including 30 percent of all U.S. elementary schools. Each year, more than 10.6 million children benefit from these programs. Learn more at cfchildren.org

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