Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Guidance Document Change: The 2020 Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 753 directing the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to develop guidance standards for social emotional learning (SEL) for all public students in grades Kindergarten through 12 in the Commonwealth. The Virginia Social Emotional Learning Standards were developed in collaboration with an SEL Advisory Committee, composed of educators, community leaders, agency personnel, and parents. The Virginia SEL Standards are aligned with the Profile of a Virginia Graduate and centered in equity. This intentional focus allows the Standards to explicitly teach the skills needed to be “life ready” and to create more equitable learning environments.

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5/24/21 6:45 pm

Commenter: Concerned Educator

SEL Standards

Who will be responsible for making Virginia’s vision for infusing SEL into every part of the school experience a reality? These are not SOLs. What is the plan to be sure the vision is carried out with fidelity? Will the onus be on school divisions? Where is the money coming from or is this another unfunded mandate? No offense intended to the VDOE – I think you all do the best you can with the resources you have.
The SEL team did arrive at a nice definition: Virginia defines social emotional learning as: “the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”
Banding the SEL “standards” into two grades will be confusing. In theory, nobody teaches mixed grade levels. This very likely is not enough differentiation for ESL and SWD, which I presume was the intent.
I honestly do not understand how anyone thinks a kindergartener is capable of this SeA1:Kb) “I can classify emotions as either comfortable or uncomfortable.” SeM1: Ka, “I can use verbal and nonverbal language to communicate different emotions.” I will not go through every “standard” (these are NOT Standards of Learning and people need to know this) and say why I think these are not realistic. What I will say that is if school divisions are looking for an SEL curriculum (this is the word on the street, or at least how these standards are being interpreted at the local level), why not go with something like the Botvin Life Skills curriculum that is research-based and recommended by SAMHSA? If individual school divisions are required to weave these standards into every content area, it will be viewed as one more thing to do and will cost more in resources than purchasing a curriculum. Where do parents and families fit into this equation? Many of these standards address the ills of society and I am concerned about backlash regarding SEL similar to the mask rebellion.

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