Committee for Children Blog

In a Rush? A 30-Minute Overview of the Second Step Programs

Learn how the research-based Second Step Suite can empower students and schools to be successful by teaching social-emotional skills, preventing bullying, and protecting children. Early Learning through Grade 8.Read More


The Second Step K-5 Suite: Improve Academics, Support Students, and Create a Positive School Climate

Join us to learn how our evidence-based social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum integrates with our Bullying Prevention and Child Protection Units to create the Second Step K-5 Suite. These programs work seamlessly together to improve academics, support students, and create a positive school climate.Read More


Think Outside the Kit

In addition to the materials included in each kit, we offer engaging tools to help strengthen learning and the application of Second Step skills. Use mindfulness to manage your classroom and boost Second Step skills with Mind Yeti; explore the fundamentals of making friends with ParkPals; infuse Second Step skills schoolwide with unlimited staff training and the Principal Toolkit.Read More


Second Step Middle School Program: Navigating Adolescence

Middle-schoolers need help navigating the turbulent waters of adolescence, including peer pressure, substance abuse, and online bullying. The evidence-based Second Step program provides age-appropriate lessons to teach kids in Grades 6–8 important skills for success in learning and in life.Read More


Second Step Early Learning Program: Improved Behavior, Improved Learning

Help your littlest learners harness their potential by teaching them to listen, control their behavior, and get along with others. Students enter kindergarten set up for success with the self-regulation and social-emotional skills taught in the research-based Second Step program.Read More


Ideas to Boost Student Motivation in 2017

Why do some students stop using their social-emotional learning (SEL) skills after they’ve learned them? The answer to this question has a lot to do with us, the adults, and not just the students. We need to offer ongoing support to students to help them use their SEL skills. Modeling, practice, and positive feedback play a role in this, but if we stop there we miss something important: motivation.

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Building on Martin Luther King’s Powerful and Profound Empathy

What role do educators play in creating a more empathetic world? ? In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day, Committee for Children’s executive director Joan Cole Duffell and Dr. Calvin Watts, superintendent of the Kent School District have written a gripping op-ed in an effort to urge school systems and the country at large to do the work that’s needed to build on Dr. King’s profound and powerful level of empathy. 

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