As an educator for almost 40 years (teacher, school counselor, and now school psychologist) and as an (almost) life long Virginian, thank you for all the thought, research, hard work, and time you all put into creating these important standards. 

As so many have already stated, countless studies show the VALUE of TEACHING social-emotional skills.  There are a myriad of positive outcomes, including that teaching SEL skills increases ACADEMIC engagement.  A good teacher knows that the five skills of Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Decision Making are taught throughout the day, many times a day, no matter the academic subject; AND how very special those moments are both for the student and the adult.

Over my many years in education, I have talked with college administrators, business leaders, and community leaders as to what they want in a student, a worker, a citizen.  What I hear over and over again is they want a person who gets along well with other people, who can work on a team, who knows their own strengths and weaknesses, who knows how to problem solve within a group, who has a good work ethic, and who is respectful of different ways of thinking and doing.   To me, that is what these SEL standards are all about, helping to create and inspire that kind of student, worker, and community leader. 

My only suggestion is to include something about how to become responsible consumers of information, how to separate facts from opinions in this fast pace world of information.

Of course, there are operational questions that need to be answered, but from this educator and Virginia citizen I say thank you.