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This article focuses attention on a critical need for more evidence-based social emotional learning (SEL) programs for middle school students. First, we explore the definition of SEL, pointing out how it has evolved as our world has changed. We review key SEL domains and skills and describe universal school-based SEL programming as one approach to fostering students' SEL competencies. We highlight the ongoing need for evidence-based middle school SEL programs by demonstrating how few programs meet the rigorous What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), and Blueprints standards for evidence. We extend our summary of these programs by noting that even when positive effects have been demonstrated, these effects were often observed in a single domain, such as substance use, or outnumbered by null effects, which undermines efforts to understand program effectiveness. We conclude by considering the unique developmental needs of early adolescents and providing recommendations for the development or refinement of SEL programs that target middle school students.

Contents Introduction: China and Climate Change China in Context China's Energy Sector China's National Greenhouse Gas Emissions GHG per capita GHG Productivity or Intensity China's Contribution to GHG Concentrations GHG […]

China's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and policies are frequently invoked in Congressional debates over appropriate climate change policy. This background report describes Chinese GHG emissions and some of its mitigation efforts. It touches briefly on China's international cooperation. China and the United States are the leading emitters of GHGs, together responsible for about 35% of global emissions. A lack of official and reliable data makes any ranking of country emissions difficult to verify for now. China has released one GHG inventory, for the year 1994. Chinese CO2 emissions are high due to the country's large population, strong capital investment and urbanization, and heavy reliance on coal, but are constrained by low incomes. Current forecasts are speculative but foresee Chinese emissions to grow rapidly with its economy. In June 2007, China released its National Climate Change Program, a plan to address climate change. The Program outlines activities both to mitigate GHG emissions and to adapt to the consequences of potential climate change. Within the Program, perhaps most challenging is China's goal to lower energy intensity 20% by 2010. The country fell short of its annual milestones, set in energy policies, in both 2006 and 2007; in July 2008, Premier Wen Jiabao and the State Council warned that meeting its energy intensity and emission reduction goals "remained an arduous task." Related goals include more than doubling renewable energy use by 2020, expansion of nuclear power, closure of inefficient industrial facilities, tightened efficiency standards for buildings and appliances, and forest coverage expanded to 20%. The Chinese, and some international observers, claim that China has been more proactive on climate change than some developed countries, though others are cautious of China's ability to achieve its goals. Meanwhile, Chinese business opportunities in clean and low carbon energy are expanding rapidly. Chinese negotiators adhere to the principle of "common but differentiated" responsibilities, agreed in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They argue that emissions per person in China are low and that raising incomes must be their highest priority, and that industrialized countries bear primary responsibility for the historical buildup of GHGs in the atmosphere and should thus lead in mitigating emissions domestically. Industrialized countries also, they say, should assist developing countries to mitigate emissions and adapt to coming change. Debate on potential climate change legislation in the United States has been influenced by China's surging GHG emissions, and uncertainty over how and when China might alter that trend. There is concern that strong domestic action taken without Chinese reciprocity would unfairly advantage China in global trade, and fail to slow significantly the growth of atmospheric concentrations of GHGs. The governments of both China and the United States have indicated some closure of their gap on future actions to address climate change. Some observers believe that the next Administration and the 111th Congress will seek more active measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]