State Superintendent Announces Guide of Social Emotional Learning Resources

SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced last weelk the release of “Social Emotional Learning in California: A Guide to Resources.” The guide was developed by a multi-agency team that included experts in the field and members of the California Department of Education’s (CDE) Social and Emotional Learning State Team, a group that has been meeting since 2016 with the goal of advancing social and emotional learning.

“This new guide offers a toolkit of resources that will assist California educators in serving the social and emotional needs of the whole child,” said Torlakson. “Science confirms that learning is not only cognitive, but also social and emotional. These resources help students develop the skills they need to function well in the classroom, the community, in college and their careers.”

Social-emotional skills include the ability to: set and achieve positive goals; feel and show empathy for others; establish and maintain positive relationships; make responsible decisions; and understand and manage emotions. The CDE is committed to helping educators learn more about social and emotional learning and how to make this a part of every child’s school experience. To support this work, CDE joined the Collaborating States Initiative, a group of eight states that share information, best practices, promising tools, and ideas in the interest of building strong programs in schools across their states. The Collaborating States Initiative is hosted by the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning.

In 2017, the CDE and its partners created California’s Social and Emotional Learning Guiding Principles, a set of statements intended to provide guidance to education leaders at counties, districts, schools, and expanded learning programs. Then it began gathering a comprehensive list of resources aligned with these principles.

This new guide was compiled in collaboration with officials from Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington, and Tennessee. Also included are resources created with the help of staff in California districts leading the way on systemic social and emotional learning: Los Angeles Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, Palo Alto Unified School District, Sacramento City Unified School District, and San Francisco Unified School District.

See the full Guide (PDF) on the CDE’s Social and Emotional Learning web page.