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TNDOE also said that these SEL standards would be integrated into every area of learning, but then claimed there would be no assessment and no student data collection. It is nice to see that they may be listening to the main concerns, even if only in an effort to deflect them, from many organizations and parents across the nation. However, research from Joy Pullman of the Heartland Institute, Jane Robbins and Emmett McGroarty of the American Principles Project, and Shane Vander Hart of Truth in American Education as well as from us here at Education Liberty Watch and our related organization, The Florida Stop Common Core Coalition, make that highly unlikely if not impossible to believe. SEL with affective data mining is the Holy Grail for Common Core, for corporations seeking a compliant workforce, and for government busy-bodies. Here is an example of another prominent group besides CASEL pushing SEL via Common Core:
 

ASCA [American School Counselors Association]  "Mindsets & Behaviors align with specific standards from the Common Core State Standards through connections at the competency level."

As all of these documents show, social emotional standards are highly subjective and dangerous to freedom of thought and conscience, as well as privacy. They also perpetuate the false notion that it is the government schools' responsibility to inculcate these values in place of parents and religious institutions; allow for indoctrination on controversial non-academic issues; and place more emphasis on job skills than on academics.

Many thanks to the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACTN), Tennessee Eagle Forum (TNEF) and Tennessee Against Common Core for standing up to protect the families of Tennessee in this matter.  All three groups alerted their members and warned legislators. Here is part of apodcast from FACTN:

This initiative is a potential Trojan Horse for social engineering in our schools.  If we do not take action and contact our legislators, our children may be taught values at school that conflict with values being taught at home.

TNEF alerted its members with this information from the EdWeek article about the multistate effort and its many problems (problems admitted even by this very pro-government and Gates Foundation-funded education publication):

What about that tricky issue of measuring social-emotional learning? The controversial approach has been heavily discussed lately because the Every Student Succeeds Act, t or ESSA, requires states to add an "additional indicator" to their school accountability systems in addition to traditional factors, like student test scores...But many prominent researchers have questioned the validity of self-reported student surveys, which are most commonly used to measure SEL. And some have said it's problematic to use those surveys for high-stakes accountability purposes.

 

 

Tennessee Against Common Core also sent out an important and helpful alert.
 

Although we are very happy that Tennessee was able to reject the CASEL  standards, and there may be more good news coming from other states soon, these are the first battles in a long war. Tennessee  is using other SEL standards and these must be fought just as vigorously. As Dr. Effrem stated:
 

Let us celebrate this victory in a battle, but continue the fight of the long war. Stay tuned for more updates. As Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, so wisely said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Thank you for all you do to protect the hearts and minds of our children! And to CASEL, we say, "Game on!"