Policy News You Can Use: November 2017
How legislation and policy changes affect children's well-being
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Election Day Results in Two States Bode Well for C hildren
 
Election night results brought notable changes to governorships in Virginia and New Jersey. Ralph Northam and Phil Murphy  both ran with early learning as a key feature of their respective education platforms. Murphy further focused on having schools attend to the "whole child."
Federal
Help Your Child Be a Better Citizen

 
It turns out that social-emotional skills developed in early childhood not only help increase empathy, self-control, academic achievement, and problem solving, they may also predict civic engagement. Find out why putting yourself "in someone else's shoes" may increase the likelihood of voting by as much as 14 percent. This research dovetails with the framework for the 21st century learning process that is not just about education but about developing citizens who work toward producing a viable economy and culture. Are others you know still not convinced about the need for social-emotional learning (SEL)? Here are seven tips to help.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Announces Pledge for K-12

 
On October 17, 2017, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it will invest $1.7 billion over the next five years on new initiatives that shift away from support of education reforms such as Common Core and focus on assisting states with implementation of evidence-based professional development and support for new curricula and networks of schools. The Foundation realized over time "that what made the most successful schools successful-large or small-was their teachers, their relationships with students, and their high expectations of student achievement". Read Bill Gates' comments here and about how the Gates Foundation is prioritizing SEL   here .
Budgetary (In)Action

On November 2, 2017, Republicans in the House of Representatives released their much anticipated tax-reform bill, "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act", which would lower the corporate tax rate by 15% along with some individual tax rates.  The bill would also eliminate the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes, a step advocates warn could pinch K-12 spending at the district and state level. The sponsors anticipate that the bill will pass both Houses of Congress by the end of the year. At the same time, leadership in the House and Senate are working on a budget deal to complete the FY 2018 appropriations process before the Continuing Budget Resolution expires on December 8.  The issues at stake include substantial cuts to education and social and health services funding in return for big increases in defense spending unless budget caps currently in place are modified.  Find out how children would be affected  here.
Lessons in Principal Development

The National Center on Education and the Economy's (NCEE) Center on International Education Benchmarking released their new report on October 19, 2017, "Preparing to Lead: Lessons in Principal Development from High-Performing Education Systems." The report describes the "five keys to world-class school leadership development." Read more here to find out why investment in American school leadership should be as much a priority in the future of children as an investment in America's students. A number of national education leadership groups are calling on Congress to support ongoing professional development for school leaders.
New National and State Data on Childhood Trauma
 
New data from the National Survey of Children's Health corroborates what many teachers and youth-serving organizations already know. Over one third of children in every state have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) that affects their long term physical, emotional, social and cognitive development making it difficult to learn. National and state ACEs data and an issue brief on the subject can be found  here along with a definition of ACEs and an ACEs resource packet. NPR has posted suggestions to help teachers and schools deal with childhood trauma and here are suggestions about what teachers can do in the face of national trauma.
Recognizing and Preventing Bullying


In an effort to highlight National Bullying Prevention Month in October, First Lady Melania Trump visited a Michigan middle school to underscore her desire to lead anti-bullying initiatives . Committee for Children has two new important resources for prevention of bullying on its website-a policy paper, "Bullying Prevention in the Technology Age" and a new Bullying Prevention Resources page. Understanding technology-assisted bullying is becoming particularly important since young children's mobile use has tripled in the last three years. This is why parents need to know what cyber bullying is and how to recognize it. You can find more background on cyber bullying here.
State
States and Districts Lead the Way on SEL

On October 25, 2017, Committee for Children and the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) hosted a congressional briefing highlighting effective SEL policies, guidelines, and practices in use throughout the country. "States and Districts Lead the Way: How Social-Emotional Learning is Improving Outcomes across the Country" was attended by around 50 legislative staff, policy advocates, and nonprofit leaders. The presentation featured Traci Davis, Superintendent of Washoe County School District, Nevada; Beth Herman, Safe Schools Healthy Students, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; Hanna Melnick, Learning Policy Institute; and Maisha Riddlesprigger, Principal, DC Public Schools and was moderated by Roger Weissberg, Chief Knowledge Officer at CASEL. Click here to view the briefing, and read more about the briefing on our blog.
Washington State Launches New Online SEL Training


Are you a teacher, educator, or parent who wants to know more about SEL? Now you can learn the basics of SEL and practice SEL techniques at home with a new online SEL training developed for the State of Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) by the American Institutes for Research (AIR). You can access the training here.

Washington: One of the Worst or One of the Best States for Education?
 
 
Washington ranks 41st among all states in the country for high school graduation and second worst for closing the achievement gap. At the same time, Washington is hailed as the 7th best state in the country for education. Want to know the real story about how Washington's education system compares to other states? Click here to see the latest data from the Education Trust.

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Other Resources
Video:  
  • Raising Kings: A three-part audio series from Education Week and NPR. Listen to Episode One, online now.
  • The National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (NCSEAD) will be in Tacoma, Washington for a discussion on how the city is integrating school- and community-based approaches to give all students a comprehensive education. If you would like to livestream the state policy session at 2:15 EST on November 9, 2017, click here.
     
  • School Accountability, School Quality & Absenteeism Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). For states that are committing to tackling chronic absenteeism, what are the upsides and what are the pitfalls?
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Founded in 1978, Committee for Children is a global nonprofit dedicated to fostering the safety and well-being of children through education and advocacy. We work on the federal, state, and local level to prevent bullying, violence, and child abuse and to encourage teaching social-emotional skills to children and youth. These newsletters will help you learn the latest news affecting our priorities as well as opportunities to advocate for change.
  
Please forward this newsletter to other colleagues who are interested in these topics. And feel free to submit timely news on these topics from your state or region. I look forward to your feedback!
  
Carol Wood, Advocacy Specialist
[email protected]
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800-634-4449
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