Washington State bill includes social-emotional learning guidance informed by ACEs science

Governor Jay Inslee visits the Grand Ridge Elementary School in Issaquah, coinciding with introduction of "Summer Step-Up Act" by Rep. Tana Senn

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Washington state representative Tana Senn has introduced the “Summer Step-Up Act” to improve social-emotional learning throughout the calendar year to reduce kids' summer learning loss. Significantly, H.B. 1518 requires a work group to develop guidance for schools in promoting knowledge and skills of social and emotional learning that acknowledges “research around adverse childhood experiences” in addition to incorporating a mental health continuum from well-being to illness. Additional requirements cover promoting positive school climates and parental involvement, among others.

In a media release in advance of the visit, Rep. Senn outlined the major provisions of the bill:
—Increasing access to early learning and meals in the summer for kids in low-income and under-served by early learning areas.
—Extending the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Workgroup to complete their work in developing SEL benchmarks for K-12.
—Establishing the “Summer Step-Up Grant Program” to increase the number of summer learning programs that teach academics combined with social emotional learning.

The legislation builds on a strong foundation of social-emotional learning emphasis in the state, both by the legislature and the governor. Gov. Inslee’s budget 2017-19, for example, includes a section on social-emotional health (see page 20) that supports funding to “increase the number of student support staff and provides time for collaboration and training to maximize their effectiveness.” Schools in the highest poverty areas are targeted.

While the legislative and executive branches in Washington state support  social-emotional learning programs and funding, the situation is more complex than in the state of Illinois where the achievement of recently enacting a state law to require social-emotional screening in school health examinations is tempered by the overall budget situation that adversely affects children throughout the state. One advocate in Illinois said that the inability of the state to approve a budget has led to “an implosion of our social service structure.”