On February 23, 2018, the California Department of Education (CDE) released state-sanctioned guidelines that include social and emotional learning to help students develop a range of skills in addition to cognitive skills. These new guidelines reflect the ongoing shift in emphasis in recent years to the development of the “whole child” as opposed to schools focusing solely on academic achievement.
Through an intentional approach to include social and emotional learning, students and adults would be able to:
- set and achieve positive goals
- feel and show empathy for others
- establish and maintain positive relationships
- make responsible decisions
- understand and manage emotions
The CDE’s guiding principles for developing social and emotional learning in schools include (1) adopting “whole child” development as the goal of education; (2) a commitment to equity; (3) building capacity of adults and children through intentional focus on relationship-centered learning environments and offering research-based learning experiences that cultivate core social and emotional competencies; (4) partnerships with families and communities; and (5) continuous improvement practices and use of evidence to guide decision-making with the aim to enhance the quality of student social and emotional learning opportunities.
Click here for the full text on guiding principles for California’s social and emotional learning.
For more information, please contact a DWK attorney.
