As a current employee of a school system in Virginia, I am pleased with what I have read in my review of the proposed Virginia Social Emotional Learning Standards document, which provides a simple, comprehensive, and developmentally appropriate approach to foundational skills for learning.  While racial diversity within my district does not seem high, I have seen over and over again how culturally diverse our families are. Every child comes to school with a different tool box to learn and it is clear that we can no longer make assumptions that each student comes to school with the same skills. Those of us working with children need common standards so that we can begin helping those who are missing some skills and to recognize those who have strong competencies. Meeting students where they are takes nothing away from rights of parents to provide real world examples of these skills in action. 

As I review many of the comments on this discussion board, I'm disappointed to see the fixation on the term equity. While equity feels like a buzzword that is popular to love or hate right now, my understanding of the philosophy for SEL is that learning about ourselves, how to regulate our own behavior, and understand how to work with those who are different from us are overarching skills that will benefit our whole community. Equity is a positive byproduct and perhaps we should not lose sight of the forest for the trees.