Blog

Can we talk about childhood trauma for a sec? More specifically… How it's impacting your students' learning and behavior in the classroom? The reason I bring this up is that before the global pandemic, childhood trauma was already at epidemic-level proportions. That was before Covid... (Yeah, I know.) Since the pandemic, we can estimate that those numbers have skyrocketed. What does this mean for teachers? Well, on one hand you've got more children walking into your classroom under the...

By Linda Jacobson, Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, The 74, June 23, 2022 This summer marks the third time in eight years that the U.S. Department of Education is overhauling its policy on how school districts should handle student discipline. And while the controversy surrounding the issue hasn’t changed, the pandemic offers up a troubling new context: Districts are reporting spikes in student misconduct , violent attacks on school employees and blatant disregard for school rules.

By Javiera Salman, Photo: Terrell Clark/The Hechinger Report, The Hechinger Report, June 9, 2022 C ierra Kaler-Jones wasn’t your traditional dance teacher. When Kaler-Jones taught dance, her students didn’t come just for the dance lessons. Her classes involved lessons on Black history and women’s history, as well as wide-ranging conversations about was happening in the world. Many of Kaler-Jones’ students — most of them Black — weren’t taught about important Black figures or positive history...

By Hannah Natanson and Moriah Balingit, Photo: Cedar Attanasio/AP, The Washington Post, June 16, 2022 A Florida teacher lost her job for hanging a Black Lives Matter flag over her classroom door and rewarding student activism. A Massachusetts teacher was fired for posting a video denouncing critical race theory. A teacher in Missouri got the ax for assigning a worksheet about privilege — and still another, in California, was fired for criticizing mask mandates on her Facebook page. They were...

By Carolyn Jones, Photo: Screenshot from article, EdSource, June 16, 2022 Five years ago, Fremont High in East Oakland had some of the highest discipline rates and lowest attendance in the city. Fights and conflicts were common occurrences. Only 1 in 4 graduates were qualified to attend public college in California. One in 3 dropped out entirely. But Fremont High is – literally – a different place now. With a newly rebuilt campus and an intensive focus on improving campus climate, Fremont...

By Peter Yeung, The 74, June 20, 2022 In 2004, Maxence Arcy moved with his family to Bellefontaine, a poor suburb of the French city of Toulouse. Limited by what he could afford, the father of six bought a place on a sprawling housing estate in the neighborhood which had catchment schools with the worst educational record in the region. “At the time, there were only Mahgrebians and Africans living on the estate and going to these schools,” says Arcy, who originally migrated from Morocco in...

Announcing upcoming courses for educators! Join Trauma-informed Education or Supporting Marginalized Students this summer!

16 Strong Project is excited to be recruiting for our third Youth Advocacy Board! We are looking for youth ages 14-24 who are passionate about mental health education, want to learn more about ACEs, and who are ready to inspire change in their communities.

Maddy R. had a tough childhood, being in foster care, living with various relatives and the ensuing trauma and anxiety that left her feeling lost. “Striving for academic success was the only thing that kept me alive for many years and Learn4Life sort of became my way out,” she explained. “I got the one-on-one time and patience that I needed and deserved. I had to learn that it was okay to ask for help.” Now, Maddy is helping current students learn that important life skill. After graduating...

Of the approximately 74 million youth under age 18 in the US, two-thirds have experienced a potentially traumatic event by age 16 . Traumatic experiences can impact a child's ability to learn and have lasting adverse effects on mental and physical well being. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already urgent need for more trauma-informed support for students and their families. Recognizing the need for schools to better identify and support students who have experienced traumatic events,...

June is Pride Month in the United States, commemorating the Stonewall riots which began on June 28, 1969. According to research by Public Broadcasting Service writer Beatrice Alvarez , the riots marked a turning point in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and queer (LGBTQ) movement for civil rights. "The riot began when a group of people at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, were being harassed by police officers. The harassment by police wasn't new to the bar's patrons, but...

Thousands of parents, pediatricians, social workers, educators, community advocates, kids, judges, police, district attorneys know exactly what led to Salvador Rolando Ramos running into a school and slaughtering 19 kids and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. And what could have derailed his path, as well as the path of all other recent mass shooters. To people educated about the consequences of too many childhood adversities and too few positive experiences, what happened in Uvalde is not a...