SFK-Success for Kids Launches New Curriculum

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) - Based Curriculum Provides Children with Sense of Responsibility for Themselves and Others

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SFK-Success for Kids, Inc. (SFK) recently unveiled its new curriculum that is being implemented in classrooms throughout the country and around the world.  Although the SFK program has been around since 2001, its curricula has gone through regular revisions based upon lessons learned and evaluation feedback.  The latest version continues to reflect the best practices in education and social emotional learning standards.

Children who participate in the SFK program go through three levels of development to meet the organization's mission to empower at-risk children and adolescents to become resilient, productive citizens. By delivering research-based programs that enhance four personal strengths (interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, problem-solving skills and improved self-sufficiency), students are given students a greater sense of purpose in their lives and see a marked difference in their personal relationships and academic performance.

• Level 1 – "The Game of Life": SFK teaches students that games and life are very similar as they both have comparable components: a purpose, goals, players, challenges, and rules.
• Level 2 – "Exploring the Journey of Life": This course reveals that change starts with each of us. Through stories, discussions, and experiential activities students see how their choices either move them toward their destination on their map of life or block them from moving forward on their path to being the best they can be.
• Level 3 – "Service Learning": After students have an understanding of who they are and how to utilize the tool of sharing as a means to fulfillment, the Service Learning program is an opportunity for students to go out into the world and apply their SFK knowledge - A key component of the project's process involves consistent self-reflection by students.

SEL enables children with the tools to recognize and manage their emotions to make positive choices that produce the results they desire and benefit them for a lifetime. These choices involve caring about themselves and others, behaving responsibly, and developing positive relationships with others.  The personal characteristics developed through the program are transferred to their academic performance, as they are able to use the tools from SFK to set higher standards for themselves and tackle challenges in a productive manner.

"Through our research and that of the RAND Corporation, we've learned that using Social Emotional Learning (SEL) approaches such as SFK within the school curriculum improves many areas of children's character and academic performance.  They learn to become self-aware and take responsibility for their actions and see how they impact the lives of others," said, Heath Grant, CEO, Education and Curriculum, SFK-Success for Kids.

As part of its commitment to ongoing review and development, SFK is assembling an Educational Advisory Board of leading experts in SEL and education to review all curricula and products and plans for "scaling up" educational operations with quality.

SFK Curriculum Development Team

Curriculum Development Team: Mia Adler; Jessica Goldberg; Heath Grant, Ph.D.; Laila Hasan, Ph.D.; Tausha Kutcher; Marilu Menasche; Rachel Stone; Delia Vernassa; Wanda Webster; Evan Zekovsky.  More on the curriculum development team can be found at http://www.sfk.org/sfk-curriculum-development-team.

CONTACT: Latoya  Henry, 646.382.4511, [email protected]

SOURCE Success for Kids