[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 897 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 897
To support evidence-based social and emotional learning programming.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 13, 2015
Mr. Blumenthal (for himself and Mr. Murphy) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To support evidence-based social and emotional learning programming.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Jesse Lewis Empowering Educators
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) To succeed in school, students need to be engaged. They
need to know how to maintain focus and effort in the face of
setbacks, work effectively with others, and be good
communicators and problem-solvers.
(2) Social and emotional skills form a foundation for young
people's success not just in school, but as healthy and caring
adults, productive workers, and engaged citizens.
(3) Not only can these skills be taught, they can be taught
in schools of every type to students of every background by
regular classroom teachers who receive adequate training on
methods for developing their own social and emotional learning
skills and integrating social and emotional learning into the
standard curriculum.
(4) Academic outcomes resulting from social and emotional
learning include greater motivation to learn and commitment to
school, increased time devoted to schoolwork and mastery of
subject matter, and improved attendance, graduation rates,
grades, and test scores.
(5) These positive outcomes increase in students who are
involved in social and emotional learning programming by an
average of 11 percentile points over students who are not
involved in such programming.
(6) Social and emotional learning programming also results
in reduced problem behavior, improved health outcomes, a lower
rate of violent delinquency, and a lower rate of heavy alcohol
use.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT OF
1965.
(a) Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund.--Part A of
title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 2113(c)(2)--
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' after
the semicolon;
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) train teachers and principals in practices
that have demonstrated effectiveness in improving
student achievement, attainment, and behavior through
addressing the social and emotional development needs
of students, such as through social and emotional
learning programming.''; and
(2) in section 2123(a)(3)(B)(iii)--
(A) in subclause (I), by striking ``and'' after the
semicolon;
(B) by redesignating subclause (II) as subclause
(III); and
(C) by inserting after subclause (I) the following:
``(II) addressing the social and
emotional development needs of students
to improve student achievement and
attainment, such as through social and
emotional learning programming; and''.
(b) Definitions.--Section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) is amended--
(1) by redesignating the undesignated paragraph following
paragraph (39) and paragraphs (41) through (43) as paragraphs
(42) through (45), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (39) the following:
``(40) Social and emotional learning.--The term `social and
emotional learning' means the process through which children
and adults acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills
associated with the core areas of social and emotional
competency, including--
``(A) self-awareness and self-management to achieve
school and life success, such as--
``(i) identifying and recognizing
strengths, needs, emotions, values, and self-
efficacy;
``(ii) emotion regulation, including
impulse control and stress management;
``(iii) self-motivation and discipline; and
``(iv) goal setting and organizational
skills;
``(B) social awareness and interpersonal skills to
establish and maintain positive relationships, such as
perspective taking and respect for others,
communication, working cooperatively, negotiation,
conflict management, and help-seeking; and
``(C) decisionmaking skills and responsible
behaviors in personal, academic, and community
contexts, such as situational analysis, problem
solving, reflection, and personal, social, and ethical
responsibility.
``(41) Social and emotional learning programming.--The term
`social and emotional learning programming' refers to evidence-
based classroom instruction and schoolwide activities and
initiatives that--
``(A) integrate social and emotional learning into
the school curriculum;
``(B) provide systematic instruction whereby social
and emotional skills are taught, modeled, practiced,
and applied so that students use the skills as part of
the students' daily behavior;
``(C) teach students to apply social and emotional
skills to--
``(i) prevent specific problem behaviors
such as substance use, violence, bullying, and
school failure; and
``(ii) promote positive behaviors in class,
school, and community activities; and
``(D) establish safe and caring learning
environments that foster student participation,
engagement, and connection to learning and school.''.
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