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The brilliant education thinker explains why so much of what we're doing to low-income kids in school is wrong. Salon: Your new book “Helping Children Learn” is subtitled “What Works and Why.” But if I may, I’d like to suggest a different subtitle: “Just About Everything We’re Doing to Low-Income Kids in School is Wrong and Here’s the Neuro-Biological Research to Explain Why.” Was it just me or does the research you write about upend some pretty fundamental assumptions? Paul Tough: I was...

The headline: Pittsburgh to transform climate in 23 schools That alone is an impressive statement to read! We may be approaching a cultural shift in the way schools think about their responsibility to build healing relationships for the children and adults in their buildings.

It was powerful, I watched the five minute speech 6 times in a row. There is just so much to it- it's like he wrote a dissertation and a manifesto and somehow managed to tuck it all into a 5 minute spoken word poem! Talent, to say the least!

I wrote an article for Our Parenting Spot on the issue of Child Safety in Schools. I did research on what kind of standards the education system has that assures parents about safety in schools from threats such as fire or bullying. The way we handle these two dangers indicates that although we talk a great deal about bullying, we do not really treat it as a danger. This becomes strange and problematic when we look at the stats on injury and death by fire versus injury and death by bullying.

I'm not sure if this has already made the rounds, but it's such good news, it's definitely worth a repost! "Oakland Unified school board voted unanimously Wednesday night to eliminate willful defiance as a reason to suspend any student and to invest at least $2.3 million to expand restorative justice practices in its schools". What a beautiful commitment to the child, to meeting their actual needs rather than just sending them away with their needs unmet. The funding of RJ practices is huge,...

This week, Dallas Independent School District trustee Miguel Solis proposed a new disciplinary approach that would all but eliminate suspension as a punishment for the elementary grades. He’s right to do so. Suspension rates in Dallas and around the state are much too high, especially for black students. However, for this culture shift to succeed, it is imperative that the trustees give new supports to teachers, administrators and students to better handle difficult situations. Solis’s...

A research team in Chicago has spent a year studying whether students who are taught to be in touch with their emotions do better academically. And they say the initial results are promising. Perhaps counterintuitively, when kids take a break from a classroom lesson on the solar system to spend a quiet moment alone watching a three-minute nature video, or participate in a teacher-guided breathing exercise with their class after lunch, they seem to become better overall students. That’s...

When a child is acting out or not paying attention in school, it might not be because he or she is misbehaving. It might be because a parent was arrested the previous night. Teachers don't always know about the traumatic events a child experiences at home, but a new program being organized in Mercer County could give teachers notice when one of their students need to be handled with care. Andrea Darr, director of the West Virginia Center for Children's Justice spoke May 6 at Mercer County...

It’s Mental Health Month. Check Out These Schools That Are Making Mental Health Services a Priority It’s Mental Health Month. Check Out These Schools That Are Making Mental Health Services a Priority Statistics say that 50 percent of students battling mental health issues drop out of school. That’s why more and more schools and districts are recognizing the very real need to improve the kinds of mental health services offered to students in need. Massachusetts District Embarks on Journey to...

On Friday morning, the Obama administration issued a "Dear Colleagues" letter to the nation's school districts spelling out what they can do to safeguard the civil rights of students at K-12 schools and colleges, based on their gender identity. The administration argues that Title IX, which outlaws sex discrimination for any school receiving federal funding, covers gender identity. The letter does not change any existing laws, but provides what is called "significant guidance." It explains...

School suspension rates have risen in recent years. And since the punishment is linked to more severe problems later in life, such as dropping out of school or ending up in prison, researchers at Stanford University have been looking for ways to prevent it. Researchers asked one group of math teachers to complete a 45-minute online activity about how important it is to respect and humanize students. Meanwhile, another group of math teachers read about how to use technology in the classroom.

It’s long been known that meditation helps children feel calmer, but new research is helping quantify its benefits for elementary school-age children. A 2015 study found that fourth- and fifth-grade students who participated in a four-month meditation program showed improvements in executive functions like cognitive control, working memory, cognitive flexibility — and better math grades. A study published recently in the journal Mindfulness found similar improvements in mathematics in fifth...