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It’s not every day I get to bring an entire pizza party to 30 kids, but a few weeks ago, that’s exactly what I got to do. I went to visit the youth leaders at Cherokee Point Elementary School , San Diego’s first trauma-informed elementary school. We were celebrating a major accomplishment. A few months ago, I wrote about my visit to Cherokee Point to visit youth leaders and talk about Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month, which occurs every April. During my initial visit in March, youth...

ESSA requires that states incorporate at least one non-academic factor—such as school climate and safety, student engagement, or others—into their accountability systems. This research brief seeks to bring educators’ voices to the table as issues related to school climate & culture and student social and emotional well-being are increasingly discussed and debated across America. The brief seeks to display the findings of the research in an objective fashion, while wrapping up with a...

New federal data show a continuing deep gulf between the educational experiences of traditionally disadvantaged student groups and their peers on a broad range of indicators, findings that follow years of efforts by government and advocacy groups to level the playing field in U.S. public schools. Black and Latino students are still more likely to be suspended, more likely to attend schools with high concentrations of inexperienced teachers, and less likely to have access to rigorous and...

Nearly a year ago, pro-bono lawyers from Los Angeles-based Public Counsel made national headlines by launching a landmark class-action lawsuit against Compton Unified School District in federal court in Los Angeles, arguing that the district had failed to address issues of childhood trauma that prevented students from receiving a quality education. In September, a federal judge agreed with arguments filed on behalf of five students and three teachers in the school district and declared that...

During the safety briefing on every plane journey adults are reminded that, in case of an emergency, they are to secure their own oxygen masks before they help their children fit theirs. Why? Because it helps you look after children more effectively. The same is true of mental health, and it is something teachers should consider. After all, it is difficult to discuss good mental wellbeing in front of class if we, as adults, do not practise it ourselves. Action to improve the mental health of...

Children living in poverty often are exposed to high levels of constant stress that can be debilitating, not only in terms of their physical health but also their ability to learn. So what are schools to do? Below, two writers argue — in their own voices, first, and then together with one voice — that schools and health providers must join forces to make sure children are getting the help they need. Sheila Ohlsson Walker, who studies the intersection between stress and educational outcomes,...

‘They need that strong relational attachment with their teacher and that’s how you can feel secure and safe at school.’ Third grade teacher Anita Parameswaran is no stranger to students who have experienced trauma. She has taught kids who have experienced the effects of abuse, neglect and divorce. She had one student experience a huge setback when he learned his father was arrested and sent to jail. The student then became violent, throwing things, and hurting other students, according to...

(Image Credit: Tribune News Service) Back in the late 1960s, almost every automobile sold in America was built by General Motors, Ford, Chrysler or American Motors (later merged with Chrysler). Then the energy crisis hit in the 1970s, and cheap, reliable Japanese compacts made huge inroads, especially against such junkers as Chevy’s Vega and Ford’s explosion-prone Pinto. U.S. companies had become complacent with the lack of competition and were shocked when drivers enjoyed alternatives. The...

Closing the so-called achievement gap between poor inner-city children and their more affluent suburban counterparts is among the biggest challenges for education reformers. The success of some schools’ efforts suggests that meditation might significantly improve children’s school performance – and help close that gap. In 2007, James Dierke, then the principal of the Visitacion Valley Middle School in a troubled neighborhood in San Francisco, was determined to improve both the quality of...

Putting a cold financial price tag on the impact of school discipline practices, researchers have calculated that a 10th-grade California student who drops out because of suspension could end up costing the public $755,000 in lost tax revenue and increased health care and criminal justice expenses over the life of the student, according to a report released Thursday by the UCLA Center for Civil Rights Remedies. The researchers amalgamated decades of studies to produce what they said was the...

This article -- The Education Practice That is Costing Taxpayers Billions of Dollars -- is about what may happen to students who are suspended from school. While not everything bad happens to all students who are suspended, there are enough of them to have a societal impact. The problem is that the societal impact is far enough into the future that it becomes disconnected from the event that might cause it. Or maybe there are a lot of events that might lead to the result, but we aren't aware...

“Allow Breathe Curious” is a mother-daughter collaboration that emerged from Anne’s growing interest in mindfulness and meditation and her daughter Ellie’s belief that art is a powerful tool for change. The project began when Anne developed a list of words to help with mindfulness during sleepless nights. Starting with “Allow” on the in-breath, the list grew over time to include all of the letters of the alphabet. She shared the idea with her daughter Ellie, whose mind instantly swirled with...