This report is one in a continuing series of progress reports on the effort to increase the general level of emotional competency in the state of Rhode Island. This initiative, involving several departments of state government and other agencies comprising the Rhode Island Emotional Competency Partnership, is being targeted at various segments of the population. This report specifically focuses on school-age children and the teaching of emotional competency as an integral part of the educational experience. The five major competencies of emotional intelligence are identified in the report as self-awareness, emotional self-regulation, self-monitoring and performance, empathy and perspective taking, and social skills in handling relationships. A call to action was issued by one of the leaders in this field, Mark Greenberg, in presentations he made in Rhode Island in 1997 in response to an invitation from the Emotional Competency Partnership. One of his speeches constitutes a major part of this progress report. In his speech, Dr. Greenberg highlights the disturbing percentage of children at risk for engaging in damaging behaviors. He offers a persuasive rationale for the importance of teaching competency skills to all children, and demonstrates the why and how of social and emotional competency training in the educational system. (GCP)