HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	204
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

urging the department of education to create a SUBSECTION of social-emotional learning standards for grades K-12 under ITS current health standards.

WHEREAS, social-emotional learning is defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) as "the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions"; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education has no set social-emotional learning standards for grades K-12, despite the Department specifically stating in the Department's School Social and Emotional Learning Guide that "social and emotional learning is an integral part of education and human development"; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education and other organizations already have existing guidelines and suggestions in place to teach and determine social-emotional learning competence, which can be used to develop social-emotional learning standards in the State; and

WHEREAS, the Ecological Approaches to Social Emotional Learning Laboratory has organized non-academic skills in the following six domains: cognitive, emotion, social, values, perspectives, and identity; and

WHEREAS, CASEL has organized non-academic skills into the following five competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education has organized non-academic skills into the following seven topics: self-management, social awareness, sense of belonging, growth mindset, grit, self-efficacy, and emotional regulation, which are all assessed by the Panorama Student Survey; and

WHEREAS, the Panorama Student Survey shows that, in a Fall 2023 survey of 31,280 Hawaii students in grades 3 through 5, results per skill varied, with the highest being sense of belonging, where seventy-two percent of students chose a favorable answer, and the lowest being emotional regulation, where fifty-one percent of students chose a favorable answer; and

WHEREAS, the Panorama Student Survey shows that in a Fall 2023 survey of 65,146 Hawaii students in grades 6 through 12, results per skill varied, with the highest being self‑management, where sixty-nine percent of students chose a favorable answer, and lowest being self-efficacy, where forty‑seven percent of students chose a favorable answer; compared nationally, the self-efficacy score is near the twentieth percentile; and

WHEREAS, in relation to the Fall 2023 Panorama Student Survey, it is important to recognize a significant difference between sense of belonging scores from elementary and secondary students, where elementary students' scores were higher by 24 percent, which is a common trend for other Panorama Student Surveys from 2021 to 2023; and

WHEREAS, in relation to all available Panorama Student Survey results, it is important to recognize that scores have not improved for both elementary and secondary students from 2021 to 2023; and

WHEREAS, the current Department of Education standards for health education are similar to the ideas of social-emotional learning and can be further developed with social-emotional learning standards; and

WHEREAS, the creation of social-emotional learning standards will allow for all grade levels in Hawaii's public schools to have set benchmarks through the Department's health curriculum to help students develop social‑emotional skills; and

WHEREAS, teaching social-emotional skills will allow students to have important conversations about identity, microaggressions, different perspectives, and more; and

WHEREAS, teaching social-emotional skills will ultimately promote positive learning environments for all students; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Education is urged to create a subsection of social-emotional learning standards for grades K-12 under its current health standards to guide educators in teaching social-emotional skills; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Education and Superintendent of Education.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Department of Education; Social-Emotional Learning Standards