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Apparently the 8th grade teacher thought that by crumpling the student’s essay and then tossing it into the trash, he was effectively making the point that the student needed to be “better prepared for high school.” At least this is what he told the student as he made the histrionic gesture, and later the parent when she questioned his methods. “He is ready, he’s here,” replied the parent. That the child had suffered a deeply traumatic event earlier in his life was not unknown to the teacher...

The monthly New York State Board of Regents meeting Monday Nov. 13, 2017 in Albany, N.Y. (Photo: Skip Dickstein/ Times Union) _____________________________ ALBANY — Over a year ago, Schenectady schoolteachers and administrators began trying something new. When a student acted out, instead of asking "What is wrong with you?" they started asking "What has happened to you?" As soon as educators started to consider that trauma — a parent's death, a father in prison, physical or sexual abuse,...

As a teenager, Michael McLaughlin wanted to go to college. He had several disabilities, including dyslexia and bipolar disorder, which threatened to make the road ahead more difficult. He sometimes had trouble paying attention in class and understanding directions. He also had an IQ of 115 — on the upper ranges of what is considered average. With help, he should have been able to graduate alongside his classmates, ready to pursue higher education. But instead of graduating from Bartlett High...

After successfully reducing expulsions in its K-12 schools , California is now moving to restrict the practice with even younger children — at the preschool level. To that end, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation last month that bars state-subsidized preschool programs from expelling kids unless an exhaustive process aimed at supporting the child and family is followed first. Children can be expelled from preschool as a result of any number of aggressive behaviors that could jeopardize the...

Punishment or Consequence: A Trauma Informed Approach is an upper-level training focused on the implementation of Trauma Informed practices. This training is aimed at teachers and nonprofit professionals who already have a basic understanding of trauma and its impact. By the end of Punishment or Consequence, you will be able to recognize the difference between punishments and consequences and understand and apply a trauma informed approach to consequences. Where: Urban Promise Academy Sprit...

"It's really not survival of the fittest - it's survival of the nurtured." Donna Jackson Nakazawa Date: Tuesday, November 14th, 2017 Time: 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST Where: Here / Chats ( featured chat ) Hosted by: @Jane Stevens Topics to be Covered: Parenting with ACEs. What parents need to know. Affordable self-care for stressed and busy parents. Healing from ACEs & family wellness. How to Attend Online Chats: M embers of ACEs Connection : Go to Chats (top of page). Find...

A comic strip depicts how one New Orleans school’s emphasis on student safety and emotional well-being has helped a 13-year-old navigate a family crisis. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/10/the-educators-helping-students-through-trauma/544188/

Cissy's note: This article was written by the same @Claudia Gold who was the featured guest in one of our Parenting with ACEs chats . Here are excerpts from her article published in Psychology Today.

The jury is decidedly out on the academic track record of Head Start, the education-oriented pre-school program for low-income families invented in the 1960s and federally proliferated in the early 1980s. Critics will point to large impact studies that show early academic gains fade by third grade. Proponents will say that those gains would stick if the students ended up in better public schools. But Youth Services Insider had never seen Head Start mentioned as a possible preventer of foster...

School suspensions and expulsions in California public schools have dropped dramatically among all racial and ethnic groups over the past five years but a significant gap remains for African-American students, according to new state data released Wednesday. In the 2016-17 school year, the suspension rate of African-American students in California public schools was 9.8 percent. Still, that rate was significantly lower than it was in 2011-12, when the rate for African-American students was...

A young man told clinical therapist Marissa Snoddy recently that when she calls him a leader, she got it all wrong. “He said, ‘I just came from Juvenile Hall,’ I’m not a leader.” But, she said, “We just kept giving him love. And we said, ‘You’re courageous for showing up and being here,’” The very fact that he was there, she explained, showed he was a leader. Snoddy related the anecdote recently for 80 people attending the Trauma and Learning Series launch led by Rising Youth for Social...

Join us in Washington Dc in February, 2018 for the first ever National Conference on Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools. Early Bird Registration is still open. www.creatingtraumasensitiveschools.org/conference A flyer is attached. Please spread the word!