BILL NUMBER: SCR 41	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	ADOPTED IN SENATE  APRIL 30, 2015
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 18, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hancock

                        APRIL 13, 2015

   Relative to California's Chess Month.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 41, Hancock. Chess Month.
   This measure designates October as Chess Month, encourages the
people of California to observe Chess Month with appropriate programs
and activities, and encourages schools to include chess as an
educational tool in their classrooms.



   WHEREAS, Designating October as California's Chess Month would
enhance awareness and encourage students and adults to engage in a
game known to enhance critical thinking, determination, self-esteem,
problem solving skills, and serves as a gateway to science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics education; and
   WHEREAS, There are 9,294 members of the United States Chess
Federation in the State of California, and unknown numbers of
additional people in California who play the game without joining an
official organization; and
   WHEREAS, More than one-half of California's members are scholastic
members, and many of the scholastic members join by the age of
eight; and
   WHEREAS, There are more than 80,000 members of the United States
Chess Federation, and more than 2,000 affiliated chess clubs and
organizations today; and
   WHEREAS, In 1992, New Jersey Governor Jim Florio signed into law a
bill to establish chess instruction in public schools and cited, "In
countries where chess is offered widely in schools students exhibit
excellence in the ability to recognize complex patterns and
consequently excel in math and science"; and
   WHEREAS, Former United States Secretary of Education Terrel Bell
encouraged knowledge of chess as a way to develop a preschooler's
intellect and academic readiness; and
   WHEREAS, In Western Pennsylvania, more than 70 schools and a dozen
libraries offer chess programs, reaching several thousand students
each year; and
   WHEREAS, In 2000, a report found that students who received chess
instruction scored significantly higher on all measures of academic
achievement, including math, spatial analysis, and nonverbal
reasoning ability; and
   WHEREAS, America's Foundation for Chess has been working with 2nd
and 3rd grade students and their teachers to promote the use of chess
as an educational tool through their First Move curriculum to
increase higher level thinking skills, advance math and reading
skills, and build self-confidence; and
   WHEREAS, Independent studies conducted by the Kensington Research
Group in partnership with the Berkeley Chess School for the 2011-12
school year in two of Oakland's Title I schools have linked chess
programs to the improvement of student scores in the San Francisco
Bay area in reading and math; and
   WHEREAS, A 2013 independent study conducted by the Department of
Psychology and Cognitive Development of the Graduate School of
Education at the University of California, Berkeley, highlighting
chess skill acquisition and development, showed dramatic increase in
students' fluid reasoning, as well as enhancing students' ability to
better handle stressful situations, which positively influence
decisionmaking; and
   WHEREAS, Chess is a powerful cognitive learning tool that can be
used to successfully enhance reading and math concepts; and
   WHEREAS, Chess engages students of all learning styles and
strengths and promotes problem solving and higher level thinking
skills; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates October as
California's Chess Month, encourages the people of California to
observe Chess Month with appropriate programs and activities, and
encourages schools to include chess as an educational tool in their
classrooms.