News and Events

• SEL Events: Seeds of Compassion; AERA Conference; CASEL Forum
• SEL News: SEL-in-action video clips; New parenting book; ASCD Whole Child
• Press Room: News releases, story ideas, media kit

SEL Events

Promoting the Science of Compassion

Seattle, WA. On April 11-15, 2008 a group of international experts in research and education and the Dalai Lama of Tibet met to discuss what science can tell us about how to build a compassionate society. Over 100,000 people partook in the event's educational sessions and activities, and millions more worldwide watched events broadcast in 28 languages. This gathering, called Seeds of Compassion, was an unprecedented effort to engage the hearts and minds of the Washington community and others worldwide by highlighting the vision, science, and programs of early social, emotional, and cognitive learning. Seeds of Compassion sought to promote awareness and galvanize the public will to address the social and emotional wellbeing of children around the globe. Bringing social and emotional learning to families, caregivers, and schools was presented as a key vehicle for creating more compassionate children, communities, and societies.

CASEL leaders were proud to play central roles in this historic event sponsored by the Kirlin Foundation. The Foundation's Executive Director, and CASEL Board member, Ron Rabin served as the primary organizer. CASEL Board member Mark Greenberg and CASEL President Roger Weissberg joined the Dalai Lama on the featured scientific panel (see picture top right). CASEL Board member Linda Lantieri led a session on building inner resilience.

Organizers plan to extend the impact of the event by working with state civic, business, education, and government leaders to develop policies and practices that build from the knowledge shared there. You can watch video presentations of many of the event's sessions on the Seeds of Compassion web site.

American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference and SEL SIG

This March, AERA held its annual meeting in NYC, and the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Special Interest Group (SIG) sponsored its first-ever set of papers, posters and symposia there. At the business meeting were educators, researchers, mental health professionals, graduate students, and policy makers from many different countries, and foundation staff. Audience members suggested a number of task forces or topic areas they'd like to see the SEL SIG address, including teacher preparation, assessment, PR/strategic communications, policy development, and cultural competency as a key area of SEL skill development that needs further work and attention. 149 people have joined thus far, and we hope you'll consider joining the SEL SIG. The larger the SEL SIG membership, the larger the number of SEL-focused submissions allowed on the conference program.

• View the PowerPoint used by Mark Greenberg’s during his keynote presentation at the business meeting.
• Read the June issue of the SEL SIG's newsletter

CASEL Forum: A Big Hit in the Big Apple

• Event background
• Event presentations
• Video interviews
• Full Forum report

Event background: On Monday, Dec. 10, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), a not-for-profit organization based at the University of Illinois at Chicago, hosted 75 global leaders in education and related fields for a day-long forum in New York City to raise awareness about social and emotional learning (SEL) and introduce important scientific findings related to SEL. By the end of the day, the participants in general expressed appreciation for the importance of the event and its potential to move the field of SEL forward in significant ways.

The forum was moderated by CASEL leaders Daniel Goleman (best-selling author of Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence), Mark Greenberg (Endowed Chair of Prevention Research at Penn State), and Timothy Shriver (CEO of Special Olympics and the chair of CASEL's board of directors). Attendees included leading educators, policy makers, scientists, philanthropists, business leaders, foundation leaders, and representatives of the media.

Event presentations: One highlight of the forum was CASEL President Roger P. Weissberg's presentation on the significant positive impacts of SEL on students' social development and academic success from a recently completed meta-analysis. The full report of this study will be available Spring 2008. (See also the Education Week article, Social-Skills Programs Found to Yield Gains in Academic Subjects for more on this study and presentation.)

The other keynoter, Richard Davidson, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin and one of Time's 100 most influential people in 2006, spoke about the latest neuroscience research on emotion and its implications for learning. You can watch the Davidson presentation on the Edutopia web site.

Video Interviews: The George Lucas Educational Foundation also created video interviews on SEL featuring some of the presenters:

• Emotion in Education: An Interview with Maurice Elias
• Selling SEL: An Interview with Dan Goleman
• EQ Meets IQ: An Interview with Roger Weissberg

Forum Report: Read the full report about the event.

SEL News

• Educating Hearts: Anchorage, AK
• Cooperative Arithmetic: How to Teach Math as a Social Activity

New SEL Parenting Book
Building emotional intelligence: Techiques to cultivate inner strength in children.(2008). Lantieri, L., and Goleman, D.
"In Building Emotional Intelligence, pioneering educator Linda Lantieri joins forces with internationally renowned psychologist Daniel Goleman to offer a breakthrough guide for helping children quiet their minds, calm their bodies, and identify and manage their emotions. Now available to the public for the first time, here are Lantieri's proven techniques arranged according to age group, complemented by a spoken-word CD with exercises presented by Goleman." (Amazon Review)

ASCD Whole Child Initiative
CASEL is very pleased to share information about and serve as a partner in The Whole Child Initiative of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).  ASCD is a 175,000-member organization active in 119 countries whose mission is to advance policies and practices that support the success of all learners. The Whole Child is ASCD’s major new multi-year initiative to propose and support "...a broader definition of achievement and accountability that promotes the development of children who are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged."  Promoting physical, social, and emotional health as the foundation for success in school is the essence of the approach defined by The Whole Child.  ASCD’s document, The Learning Compact Redefined: A Call to Action, recommends a new compact with our young people. The Compact asks local, state, and national policymakers to ensure conditions that support comprehensive approaches to learning — for engaging the whole child.

Press Room

News releases: forthcoming

Story ideas:

• O, The Oprah Magazine, article The New Improved Self-Esteem describes SEL and how it's being promoted in one of the IL schools CASEL works with.
• School and District Case Studies
• Edutopia video on SEL in Anchorage, AK. See also other videos on SEL from the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Media kit:

• SEL & CASEL Background Pieces
  • What is SEL, What is CASEL?
  • Youth and Schools Today
• CASEL Annual Report
• CASEL Logo: jpeg ; tif (transparent background)
• CASEL Staff/Board Biographies