Student Well-Being

ASCD Petitions for Creating President’s Council on the Whole Child

By Bryan Toporek — February 16, 2012 1 min read
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As part of its Whole Child Initiative, ASCD has created a petition lobbying for the creation of a President’s Council on the Whole Child, which would address students’ social, emotional, physical, and academic needs.

Included in the “whole child” initiative, as noted by the National Association of Sport and Physical Education: physical education and health education.

ASCD needs a total of 25,000 signatures by Saturday, Feb. 18—it’s still about 22,500 signatures short, as of today—to have the White House staff send the proposal to the respective policy experts.

“The true measure of student success is more than just a test score, and such success requires support well beyond effective instruction,” the petition says. “The demands of the 21st century require a new approach to education to fully prepare our nation’s youth for college, career, and citizenship.”

ASCD created the petition through the Obama administration’s We the People initiative, which allows anyone to submit a request to White House staff. If a petition gets 25,000 signatures within 30 days, the White House staff will issue an official response after hearing back from policy experts.

In a blog post announcing the launch of the petition, Walter McKenzie, director of constituent services for ASCD, says the president deserves “expert counsel to coordinate the education, health, and social-service sectors in support of our nation’s youth.”

For those interested, you can sign the petition here.

It may look like a longshot for ASCD to get 22,000+ signatures in the next few days, but it’s not like the odds favored an undrafted, unheralded Harvard graduate leading the New York Knicks to seven straight wins, either.

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Schooled in Sports blog.