A Crisis in the Making: Education's Responsibility to Inspire Future Leaders

Online, March 21, 2011 (Newswire.com) - SFK-Success for Kids today released a white paper, A Crisis in the Making: Education's Responsibility to Inspire Our Future Leaders. The paper highlights the importance of instilling a sense of purpose in children and teens through evidence-based social emotional learning programs to improve academic performance and reduce risky or destructive behavior. The paper suggests that through Social Emotional Learning (SEL), students learn within the context of how their education can improve their lives and the lives of the people in their communities.

To that end, a consortium of community, business and education experts converged to begin dialogue on the importance of using evidence-based social emotional learning to instill a sense of purpose in students to improve academic and personal performance. The distinguished educators and social emotional learning contributors include:

• Dr. Heath Grant, Ph.D. - CEO, Education and Outreach, SFK
• Dr. Marybeth Gasman, Ph.D. - Professor of Higher Education, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania
• Dwayne Ashley, CEO, Global Operations, SFK
• Albert E. Dotson - Chairman of the Board 100 Black Men of America, Inc.
• Jose Antonio Tijerino - President & CEO, Hispanic Heritage Foundation

Evidence-based social emotional learning helps children understand, manage, and express their emotions and experiences to enable the successful management of life tasks such as learning, forming relationships, solving problems and adapting to the complex demands of growth and development. Highlights from, A Crisis in the Making: Education's Responsibility to Inspire Our Future Leaders:
• Social Emotional Learning helps children and teens develop a sense of connection or empathy toward one another, which reduces bullying, criminal acts and dropping out of school.

• A sense of purpose in life helps children see their challenges as opportunities and develop optimism about the future. It also helps children understand that working toward a goal is important, and with a clear understanding of that goal, they do not need immediate gratification to be happy.

"When children are vested in the learning process they can succeed. Social Emotional Learning programs help children identify their talents and see how they impact the world and those around them. This learning is key to children's academic and personal success," said, Albert E. Dotson, Chairman of the Board 100 Black Men of America, Inc. and Jose Antonio Tijerino, President & CEO, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, in a joint statement. "SFK's comprehensive approach provides children with the life skills to embrace the power they have in their own lives and encourages behavior that facilitates their ability to move toward their goals."

The consortium's goal is to affect change within the current school system to infuse evidence-based social emotional learning platforms into schools so that students are self-aware, identify their talents and have a better sense of self. For more information about SFK-Success for Kids, go to http://www.sfk.org.