Sarah Butcher, Parent Member, Testifying on Behalf of WSPTA

WSPTA Member, Sarah Butcher

Testifying on behalf of WSPTA in favor of legislation on social and emotional learning (HB 1518) and family and community engagement coordinators (HB 1618), parent Sarah Butcher urged House Education Committee members on Monday, February 13, to look favorably on the bills and to vote them out of committee. Butcher is a member of the state work group that has been developing benchmarks for social and emotional learning. 

Social Emotional Benchmarks Report

Washington State PTA has worked on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as a top legislative priority for several years*. During the 2015-17 biennium, SEL has been a top five priority. In June of 2015, the Legislature provided funding for a workgroup to develop Social Emotional Learning Benchmarks (SELB) for K-12 education based on the foundational work done in early learning. The workgroup began their work in October of 2015 and completed their work in September of 2016 resulting in recommended Washington State Social Emotional Learning Benchmarks. The report to the Legislature is the culmination of the work completed by the Social Emotional Learning Benchmarks Workgroup (SELB), containing background information, research, and recommendations regarding social emotional learning (SEL). Final recommendations consist of a statewide SEL Framework (guiding principles, standards, and benchmarks) for K-12 students, as well as actionable next steps to further develop SEL in Washington. 

We want to thank our PTA members who participated on the workgroup: issue submitter and lead, Sarah Butcher and PTA representative Sherry Krainick. Read the complete report here.

*During the 2016 Legislative Assembly, October 21-22, WSPTA delegates voted Social Emotional Learning as the first issue on the 2016-18 Top Five LegislativePlatform.