Pre-K Kindness for All (CA) Pilot Program Shows Promising Results Among Head Start Students
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FROM SCIL Social Compassion in Legislation
November 2020

84% of students who showed no particular concern or respect for companion and/or wild animals before the program displayed concern/respect for these animals post-program.

We are proud to bring you news from our sister 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Social Compassion, also founded in 2007.

Social Compassion partnered with HEART and Volunteers of America-Los Angeles (VOALA) on creating Kindness for All, the first humane education curriculum designed for children at the pre-kindergarten level aged 3-5. The teaching guide was launched along with a training workshop for Los Angeles-area Head Start instructors early this year. So far, the program pilot is showing encouraging results for all pre- and post-program survey questions completed by instructors for each of 475 student participants to date.

We found that 84% of students who teased their classmates for differences such as race, ethnicity, or religion before the program showed interest and curiosity regarding these differences after the program.

Furthermore, 84% of students who showed no particular concern or respect for companion and/or wild animals before the program displayed concern/respect for these animals post-program.

Finally, 70% of students who never attempted to help a classmate or teacher in the week before the program engaged in helpful behaviors in the week preceding the post-program survey.

Our partner, HEART, is planning to roll out this program to other VOALA regions in the coming year. To support educators who want to teach the Kindness for All curriculum, HEART is developing a virtual video training program based on in-person training for the pilot program, which our group has funded.

We encourage any of you in the education space to utilize these humane education tools to empower children with the knowledge and skills they need to become informed, empathetic, and effective global citizens. Please visit HEART's free library of resources at teachheart.org/library

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