NoVo Foundation gives $6 million to Chicago-based Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Buffetts call for social and emotional learning in every US school.

CHICAGO (March 03, 2009) /PRNewswire/ — NoVo Foundation, led by Jennifer and Peter Buffett, has announced a $6 million investment in social and emotional learning (SEL) through a gift to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). CASEL is the world's leading organization seeking to establish social and emotional learning as an essential part of education from preschool through high school (Pre-K-12). The gift responds to CASEL's recent summary of research, which finds that social and emotional learning can significantly raise students' scores on standardized achievement tests, build attachment to school, improve interpersonal attitudes and behaviors, and decrease negative behaviors, such as violence and substance abuse.

Although historically NoVo Foundation has given very quietly, Peter Buffett, who co-chairs NoVo Foundation with his wife, Jennifer Buffett, believes calling attention to the CASEL gift is important. "Not enough people know about social and emotional learning and CASEL," he says. "Sometimes giving the money is enough. But sometimes advocacy behind the money can be even more valuable. Our hope is that CASEL's work will bring a version of social and emotional learning to every school in every state."

Often called "the missing piece" in school improvement efforts, the field of social and emotional learning (SEL) reflects the growing recognition that healthy social and emotional development advances children's success in school and life. CASEL research shows that schools can teach children core skills of self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship building, and responsible decision-making, integrated with core academic subjects. CASEL President Roger P. Weissberg, PhD, who is Liberal Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago explains, "When children have these social and emotional competencies, their self-confidence, their connection to school, and their classroom behavior all improve – and so does their academic achievement."

CASEL has set standards for well-designed SEL programming, which call for sequential and developmentally appropriate lessons and effective school policies from preschool through grade 12. SEL skills should be delivered through explicit instruction, positive and personal relationships with teachers, and caring and supportive classroom environments, in schools where educators receive ongoing SEL professional development, and families and schools partner to promote children's social, emotional, and academic success. CASEL's work on standards is reflected in the Illinois Children's Mental Health Act (2003), which recognizes social and emotional development as an integral part of the mission of schools, and by state learning standards developed and approved for all Illinois school districts by the Illinois State Board of Education, in response to this legislation.

CASEL was established in 1994 by Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, educator/philanthropist Eileen Rockefeller Growald, and like-minded colleagues Timothy Shriver, Mark Greenberg, Linda Lantieri, and David Sluyter. The group pioneered an informal collaborative model that convenes experts from diverse fields to share their work and bring the science of social and emotional learning to the Pre-K-12 education agenda. As the collaborative grew, it adopted a more formal structure. In 2006, CASEL emerged as independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to the belief that the science of child development provides the foundation for effective classroom pedagogy and sustainable school improvement.

CASEL Executive Director Lindsay Friedman believes the NoVo funding comes at a critical time: "There's so much energy and momentum behind this work around the country," she says, "and NoVo will help us maintain that momentum as we move toward putting social and emotional learning on the national education agenda."

For more information, please contact the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning at 815 W. Van Buren, Suite 210, Chicago, IL 60607. Phone: 312-784-3888 www.casel.org