Tagged With "Governor Tom Wolf"
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2019 School Mental Health Webinar Series
Join the Pacific Southwest MHTTC for upcoming distance learning opportunities on key school mental health topics. Together we will advance our understanding of how to build wellness, resilience, and success for the whole school community. Upcoming Webinar: Mental Health and Student Learning Outcomes: An Introduction Mental Health & Student Learning Outcomes Series - Webinar 1 Thursday, March 21 6-7 p.m. ET / 3-4 p.m. PT / 1-2 p.m. HT / 9-10 a.m. ChT Register Are you a school...
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An Epic Battle for Public Education: A Front Line View
As one single example of one key complexity (there are many others), children in our Public School classrooms have massive rates of trauma, described by a U.S. Department of Justice report as an “epidemic” and by past Surgeon Generals as “national crisis.”
The Center for Disease Control(CDC) says it is critical to understan
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An open letter to Governor Wolf:
Childhood Trauma: "The elephant in the [class] room".. . and it doesn't "just go away" Dear Governor Wolf and Education Secretary designee Rivera : I write regarding injured, marginalized children in our schools, to ask that you include them explicitly in a broad, “Healthy State” paradigm in your new administration. Read more at: WHYY NewsWorks http://lucidwitness.com/…/childhood-trauma-versus-public-e…/...
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Dear Teacher
Dear Teacher I remember you and I would imagine you remember me well. I am your student. We have shared space for many years yet have never come to know one another. Although I have known you over twenty years and spent more time with you than even my closest friends and family, our relationship has remained transactional, tense, contentious and at times violent. We have cursed, threatened and insulted each other, I have thrown chairs and spat at you and you have restrained me multiple...
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Education resources, including mental health, for kids, families during coronavirus pandemic
We have an abundance of helpful links and posts swirling online to support families and school systems as we adjust to our new normal of learning while self-isolating at home. Thousands of free academic resources from the NYT student writing prompts, to the Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppressive Homeschool Resource list, to this excellent collection from BuzzFeed, and the ever-growing crowd-sourced collection aptly named Amazing Educational Resources are being shared. Our schools do so much more than...
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Five Ways to Support Students Affected by Trauma [greatergood.berkeley.edu]
For some students, school is not just a place of learning and growth but also a refuge from abuse. Data suggest that, on average, every classroom has at least one student affected by trauma. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, close to 40 percent of students in the U.S. have been exposed to some form of traumatic stressor in their lives, with sexual assault, physical assault, and witnessing domestic violence being the three most prevalent. These types of stressors,...
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Guide - Creating Trauma-Informed Policies: A Practice Guide for School and Mental Health Leadership
Author, Leora Wolf-Prusan, EdD, School Mental Health lead for SAMHSA's Mental Health Technology Center Pacific Southwest http://mhttcnetwork.org/mhttc/mhttc-psw.html Creating compassionate policies is a cornerstone strategy of educational leadership. This guide provides a deep dive into developing, implementing, and evaluating trauma-informed and compassionate school policies. It highlights four "choice points" for education and mental health leadership: Choice Point 1: Names &...
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How a False Belief Hinders Kids’ Academic Achievement [PSMag.com]
Are we all born with a stable, unchanging level of intelligence? Or can we grow smarter through study and hard work? New research from South America suggests a student’s answer to that question can hugely impact how well they do in school — particularly if they come from poverty. “Students’ mindsets may temper, or exacerbate, the effects of economic disadvantage,” a group of researchers led by Susana Claro of Stanford University writes in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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How good is your kid's school? A new color-coded system will tell you (ocregister.com)
From 1999 to 2013, California’s Academic Performance Index boiled down everything about the state’s K-12 public schools to a single number between 200 and 1,000. That type of accountability is going away, to be replaced by a more nuanced system that is under construction. In the old model, the desirability of neighborhoods or even whole communities hinged in part on their school’s API score. Careers were made or lost based on how far a school or district was from the magic 800 target number.
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"I feel invisible": Native Students Languish in Public Schools (nytimes.com)
Often ignored in the national conversation about the public school achievement gap, these students post some of the worst academic outcomes of any demographic group, which has been exacerbated by decades of discrimination, according to federal reports . The population is also among the most at risk: Underachievement and limited emotional support at school can contribute to a number of negative outcomes for Native youths — even suicide. Among people 18 to 24, Native Americans have the highest...
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Strategies to Help Your Students Feel Heard (edutopia.org)
Regardless of how busy we are, we cannot underestimate the importance of cultivating a classroom culture in which students feel valued and respected because if our students aren’t learning, the other tasks are meaningless. And one way we can build this solid foundation for learning is to listen to our students. ELICITING STUDENTS’ THOUGHTS What are you thinking? M y students know that I care about what they think because their insights lead us all to deeper understanding. Fostering real...
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Supreme Court to hear special education case [www.usatoday.com]
Richard Wolf, USA TODAY Photo: KAREN BLEIER, AFP/Getty Images WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to decide what standard of education schools must provide to students with disabilities. The case presents the court with the difficult task of determining whether school districts receiving federal funds must offer a "substantial" education or merely make an effort to educate children under theIndividuals with Disabilities Education Act, originally passed in 1990. The law requires...
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‘Change in culture’: New California guidelines aim to help teach social, emotional skills [Press Democrat]
The nation’s schools long ago broadened their missions beyond the teaching of academic subjects and participation in extracurricular activities. Educators have for decades been entrusted to teach students a wider range of life skills, including those that touch on emotions, empathy and relationships with other people. Now, a new state guide , released Wednesday, offers a slew of resources for teachers and administrators seeking to bolster kids’ social and emotional development. “Science...
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The Lasting Effects of Bullying [PSMag.com]
The psychological effects of being bullied don't necessarily stop when the bullying does. That's the conclusion of a newly released study published in the journal Pediatrics. "Students who expressed more frequent peer victimization in fifth grade were more likely to have greater symptoms of depression in seventh grade, and a greater likelihood of using alcohol, marijuana, or tobacco in 10th grade," reports University of Delaware psychologist Valerie Earnshaw , the study's lead author. She...
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Resource List - Webinars
Webinars that address integrating trauma-informed and resilience-building practices in schools. If you recommend any others besides those listed here, please leave a comment with a link and/or information.
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School Bullying Increased After the 2016 Election in Areas That Supported Trump [psmag.com]
During and immediately after the 2016 presidential campaign, numerous reports emerged of an uptick in bullying behavior. As the mother of a bullied elementary school student told CBS News just after the vote: "The man that won the election has been modeling that it's OK to bully people ... and now children think it's OK to be mean too." Definitively proving such a dynamic is difficult, but a new study of Virginia schools provides the most compelling evidence yet that the 2016 campaign has...
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School districts step up protections for immigrant students [EdSource.org]
As fears mount about a federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants, a growing number of California school districts are trying to reassure students they will be able to attend school without the intrusion of federal authorities. Last week, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson again urged school leaders throughout the state to declare their districts “safe havens” to protect immigrant children. In December, he urged district leaders to use Sacramento Unified’s “safe...
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Re: An Epic Battle for Public Education: A Front Line View
Powerful...in Canada...certainly British Columbia...a similar movement is at work in the political sphere it would seem. Wrote about the lack of regulation and the support of operating like a "business" in private schools in BC. For those interested see http://www.amazon.com/Teaching...ssroom/dp/0994082029
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Trading Pencils for Hammers: These Kids are Getting Jobs Right out of High School (nationswell.com)
“Kids get really hungry for being able to answer that age-old question in math of ‘When am I ever going to need to know how to use this?’” Burke said. Geometry in Construction provides an answer. Geometry in Construction was first offered in 2006 by Scott Burke, an industrial technology teacher, and Tom Moore, a math teacher, at Loveland High School in Loveland, Colorado. A cohort of 80 students built a 640-square-foot home, which now sits in the mountains outside of Woodland Park, Colorado.
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Trauma Informed Care -- Workforce training framework
A colleague of mine -- here in New Zealand!! -- recently passed the attached PDF, from Scotland, onto me. It concerns a relatively recent, and still developing, proposed trauma training framework. This might be helpful to others wishing to go further in introducing TIC in their own services. It includes a consideration of ACEs. Naturally, it needs to incorporate culture-specific additions or modifications to suit your local conditions. The document as it is likely has broad application.
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U.S. Department of Education begins investigation into discrimination against Native students in Montana’s Wolf Point School District (newsmaven.io)
After years of documented instances of anti-Native racism — including the use of racial slurs and harmful stereotypes by white administrators, faculty, and staff — in a school where 94 percent of Native students are below proficiency in reading, compared to 49 percent of white students, the U.S. Department of Education is starting an investigation into discrimination against Native students in Montana’s Wolf Point School District. Investigators with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office...
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Webinar- Trauma-Informed Instruction: The new foundation for a positive school climate
Trauma-Informed Instruction: The new foundation for a positive school climate Please join us for a free one-hour webinar next week on Trauma-Informed Instruction for K-12 educators and administrators. We hope you'll consider joining us on Wednesday, September 7th at 2:00pm Eastern. In this webinar, Leora Wolf-Prusan, Ed.D. (School Climate & Student Support Specialist at WestEd) and Lara Kain (Senior Director of Transform Schools at Los Angeles Education Partnership) will discuss: The...
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you are one of the cool kids
We spend a great deal of our energy on fitting in. While insecurity and ego are sometimes part of this effort, it’s inappropriate to think of “fitting in” as a weakness or a crutch. The drive to connect is built into the essence of being human. Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk in his (one of the best I’ve read in the last five years) book, “The Body Keeps the Score,” says, “Our culture teaches us to focus on personal uniqueness, but at a deeper level, we barely exist as individual organisms. Our...
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Re: For parents who want to talk to schools
Hello Ariane, I have some suggestions: Chapter 4 of The Connected Child (attached with permission) shows the disarming of fear to create felt safety in what I think is an approachable way that is easy to share with teachers. An Article of "Trauma Informed Classrooms" from Adoption Advocate (attached with permission) gives some practical framework to what is needed in a classroom setting TBRI® Animate: Toxic Stress & The Brain - is helpful as well. I provide resources for Southern...
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The Traumatic Impact of Racism on Young People and How to Talk About It [Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg]
Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg (Keynote speaker from the recent Creating a Resilient Community Conference) shared the excerpt from his book Reaching Teens titled The Traumatic Impact of Racism on Young People and How to Talk About It. This is a valuable resource for anyone interacting with youth and we are providing the excerpt as an attachment here for you to read and share. Also, Dr. Ginsburg will be coming back to our community (virtually) and you’ll be invited to his workshop. Look out for the...
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A Better Normal- Education Upended, Special focus on School Mental Health
I am SO excited for our next episode, and you should be too! Join us Thursday 9 /3 as we welcome our speical guests Leora Wolf-Prusan and Livia Rojas from the SAMHSA funded Pacific Southwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) . We will get an exclusive preview of the soon to be launched School Crisis Recovery & Renewal project, discuss the upcoming virtual learning institute focused on Grief Sensitivty as well as explore the many amazing FREE resources the MHTTC has to...
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How to Maslow Before Bloom, All Day Long [Edutopia.org]
Morning meetings are a good place to start, but what you really need is a toolkit of strategies to meet your students’ social and emotional needs all day long. By Tom Berger September 23, 2020 “Maslow before Bloom”—we hear it all the time. The idea that educators should meet students’ basic needs for safety and belonging before turning to challenging academic tasks is one that guides the work of many schools. In this era of high-stakes testing and inflexible curricula, that’s not as easy to...
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Perspective | Supporting trauma-informed practices in schools [ednc.org]
By Mary Ann Wolf and Elizabeth DeKonty, Photo: Pexels, EdNC, February 7, 2022 As we continue our focus on the whole child and student mental health, it is important for us to consider how a child’s experiences affect their brain and their behavior. When I think back to teaching two decades ago, the research about Adverse Childhood Experiences had not yet come out. I remember some of the behavioral challenges, in particular, about my students; and I often wonder about how I may have been able...
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Join us for a 2-Part Series on School Crisis Recovery and Renewal
Join Education Upended April 28th and May 17th, 2022 for a 2-part conversation about a SAMHSA funded project which explores the School Crisis Recovery and Renewal process through a trauma-informed lens. April 28th join guests Leora Wolf-Prusan and Yesmina Luchsinger from the School Crisis Recovery and Renewal (SCRR) team. We will discuss the School Crisis Recovery and Renewal concept and framework through a lens of systems change, policy, and school mental health crisis leadership. May 17th...
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Watch Part 1 of the conversation about School Crisis Recovery and Renewal, register for Part 2!
If you missed my Education Upended conversation last week with School Crisis Recovery and Renewal (SCRR) Project Director Leora Wolf-Prusan you can watch it here on YouTube! This conversation was on FIRE ! We discussed not only what it means for schools to experience and recover from a crisis but also what it means to go through the process of RENEWAL. How do school communities make meaning of what happened so they can go beyond coping and begin healing? How do school leaders set up systems...
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Perspective | Principals and the support they provide [ednc.org]
By Mary Ann Wolf, Photo: Liz Bell/Education NC, EdNC, May 16, 2022 I have had the opportunity to work with hundreds and hundreds of principals over the years, and I am often reminded about the very unique — and often lonely position — that principals have as school leaders. They are the only one in their building with their role, and they are the one who students, teachers, parents, and community members turn to when they’re concerned about what’s going on within a school. Principals are...
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Register now for the self-paced encore of PACEsConnection Trauma-Informed School Leadership Institute
Are you ready to transform your school to become a trauma-informed and healing-centered environment? An institute specifically tailored for school leaders and leadership teams who want to understand the HOW of trauma-informed schools. Join us for an encore of PACEsConnection Trauma-Informed School Leadership Institute. Speakers included current and former building leaders engaged in the work as well as other national experts supporting schools through this transformation process.