Committee for Children Applauds Governor Inslee’s Signing of HB 2597 Legislation promoted by Committee for Children requiring that school districts factor in sexual abuse when planning to help students in emotional distress has been signed by Governor Jay Inslee.Read More
Committee for Children Applauds Passage of HB 2597 Legislation promoted by Committee for Children is on its way to Washington State Governor Jay Inslee’s desk for signature following a unanimous vote of support today in the Senate. The legislation requires that school districts factor in sexual abuse when planning to help students in emotional distress. Read More
Committee for Children Applauds New Every Student Succeeds Act Committee for Children (CFC), the global nonprofit dedicated to fostering the safety and well-being of children through education and advocacy, today hailed the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA includes language that supports the social and emotional competencies of students throughout the nation, with a strong emphasis on evidence-based practice in schools. Read More
Second Step Social-Emotional Learning Program Chosen for Prestigious CASEL “SELect” List The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) released yesterday its 2015 CASEL Guide: Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs–Middle and High School Edition. Meeting stringent requirements for research, design, and implementation potential, Committee for Children's Second Step: Student Success Through Prevention, a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum for students in grades 6—8, is one of only six middle school programs to earn a spot on the 2015 CASEL Guide's “SELect” list. Read More
Second Step Program Reduces Bullying by Students with Disabilities, University of Illinois Study Finds SEATTLE – A study just published by the journal Remedial and Special Education reveals that bullying by students with disabilities decreased by 20 percent over a three-year period as they participated in Second Step, an award-winning social-emotional learning curriculum created by Seattle-based nonprofit Committee for Children. Read More
Children Are the Safest They’ve Been in 25 Years, Says Committee for Children SEATTLE – April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and according to Committee for Children, a leader in the child abuse prevention field, a recent review of national data trends shows that abuse prevention efforts appear to be yielding results, with US child victimization rates dramatically lower in several key areas since 1990. Read More
Sen. Litzow and Rep. Senn Back Bipartisan Bill for WA Social-Emotional Learning Standards Bill follows new survey revealing 94% of WA teachers want social-emotional learning in schools OLYMPIA, WA—A bipartisan bill recommending statewide standards for social-emotional learning (SEL) was introduced to the Washington State legislature today. This bill comes on the heels of a survey released this week, which shows K–12 teachers in Washington State overwhelmingly support SEL as part of their curricula. Read More
New Program Helps Protect Kids from Sexual Abuse: Research-based training and curriculum teaches adults as well as kids SEATTLE—Committee for Children has released its new Second Step Child Protection Unit, giving parents, teachers, and program leaders research-based tools they need to start these critical conversations and keep children safe from sexual abuse. With staff training, parent materials, and student lessons that can be used in any educational setting, the Child Protection Unit prepares parents, staff, and others to to recognize indicators of abuse and neglect, identify staff violations of child protection policies, respond to a child who discloses abuse, and teach personal safety skills to students. Read More
Elementary School Finds Solutions to Pressing Problems: Social-Emotional Learning Program to Be Rolled Out in All Classrooms TOPPENISH, WA—The Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) team at Kirkwood Elementary recently took a hard look at the school’s needs: achievement gaps in social skills and math, and physical aggression and defiance in the classroom. They determined that these seemingly unrelated problems all have the same main solution: social-emotional learning (SEL). After careful consideration, the team chose to implement the Second Step SEL program and its accompanying Bullying Prevention Unit, which teaches skills for learning, empathy, emotion management and problem solving through lessons, videos, class discussions and games. Read More
Experts Help Parents Make Caring Common SEATTLE—At every stage of childhood, children need adults to help them nurture seeds of empathy and compassion—seeds that are shown by research to be present from very early in life. To help parents with this critical development, the Making Caring Common project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education worked with character development experts and organizations on creating a set of guidelines, using social-emotional learning, for raising caring, respectful, ethical children, along with tips for putting them into action. Read More