eNotes
June 2, 2017In this Issue:
- New Resources on Social-Emotional Development Source: Too Small to Fail Initiative
- Social and Emotional Learning Source: Future of Children
- Promoting Social and Emotional Learning in Preschool Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Good Food, Great Kids Policy Research Report Source: BUILD Initiative
- The Condition of Education 2017 Source: National Center for Education Statistics
1. New Resources on Social-Emotional Development
The Too Small to Fail initiative has released a new white paper, Not Just "Soft Skills": How Young Children’s Learning & Health Benefit from Strong Social-Emotional Development (May 2017), highlighting the research on the importance of children’s social-emotional development (SED) starting at birth. In addition, the initiative has developed new resources on SED to share directly with parents and caregivers around the country. These resources are designed to help parents easily understand the concepts behind SED, and how to apply research-based tips to their everyday lives. They include:
- A series of videos showing that every child behavior - including a seemingly random grocery store meltdown - is actually driven by emotions
- A set of complementary tip sheets to encourage talking, reading, and singing with children in sensitive, loving, and responsive ways. The tip sheets also include helpful ideas for understanding and managing a child's behavior.
All of the resources are available in Spanish.
2. Social and Emotional Learning
The Spring 2017 issue of Future of Children, Social and Emotional Learning (Vol. 27, Issue 1), focuses on the "state of the science when it comes to SEL intervention and assessment, while also tackling important policy issues in education. The eight articles are intended to help shed light on how best to support SEL in schools and to explore how SEL in schools might impact important policy questions in education." See also, the accompanying policy brief, Social and Emotional Learning: A Policy Vision for the Future by Clark McKown.
3. Promoting Social and Emotional Learning in Preschool
This 2016 issue recently added to the RWJF Social and Emotional Learning collection (May 2017) examines several evidence-based programs that have effectively promoted social-emotional skills during preschool. The authors reveal that SEL programming during the preschool years can "reduce the school readiness gap and help children become healthy, thriving adults." See full issue here.
4. Good Food, Great Kids Policy Research Report
Chapter 2 of the BUILD Initiative's Good Food, Great Kids Policy Research Report (June 2017) in partnership with the National Farm to School Network explores recent and pending legislation regarding children’s access to healthy food. According to the report, there is a growing number of developmental research studies that have revealed the critical role good nutrition has on early life brain development, educational outcomes, and long-term health. For more information, check out the case studies.
5. The Condition of Education 2017
The National Center for Education Statistics has published The Condition of Education 2017 online. This congressionally mandated annual report summarizes important trends in education using the latest available statistics. The 2017 report includes the following section relating specifically to early childhood education: