Tagged With "Suspension Alternatives"

At the November 2019 Northern California Safe and Healthy Schools Conference at UC Berkeley, Niroga Program Managers Sam Weiss and Fatima Ahmed facilitated a session incorporating the theory and practice of Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind) to a standing room only crowd.

Connecticut has been at the forefront of the national movement to reduce suspensions and expulsions of young children in recent years. School suspensions and expulsions can be harmful for children, particularly in the earliest grades. When a young child’s challenging behavior is met with exclusionary discipline rather than behavioral health support they are at greater risk for negative outcomes in the areas of social-emotional development, behavior, health, and education. In 2015,...

https://www.local10.com/news/m...ns_20151127193144631 Has murder become the norm in our society? Every day, you turn on the news to see who else got killed. I had to disconnect my cable TV because I just got so sick and tired of watching homicide news every day and see no change in our country's policies. No kid is born to become a murderer. Yet, our society somehow does a great job turning them into monsters. How? Liberty and freedom for all! Oh, really? Then why is the U.S. incarceration...

By Carolyn Jones, EdSource, October 29, 2019 More California schools are allowing disruptive students to serve suspensions on campus instead of sending them home. But experts said educators need to provide those students with high-quality behavior counseling for that approach to be successful. Schools throughout the state have embraced in-school suspensions in recent years, as studies have shown that traditional out-of-school suspensions can hurt students’ academic performance and actually...

Where to begin... My heart is full of hope and joy as I watch the trauma-informed schools movement swell across our nation and planet. The science of ACEs is mind-bending to say the least and we are now able to open up a much deeper dialogue about human behavior and health. Ultimately this work is about healing… All. Of. Us. A new consciousness is taking root around ending the “us vs them” construct. The idea is growing that we’re all on this journey together and that no matter where our...

By Risa Johnson, Palm Springs Desert Sun, September 30, 2019 Native American students in California's public schools face higher-than-average suspension rates, according to a new report. A joint effort between California State University, San Diego, and the Sacramento Native American Higher Education Collaborative, the report outlines what it calls troubling trends regarding how school administrators discipline students. Racial disparities in school discipline, particularly for African...

By Fix School Discipline, September 16, 2019 SB 419 will help keep students in school, increase student success, and increase high school graduation Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation to eliminate suspensions for minor misbehaviors and protect California students from discriminatory and harmful school climates. Under Senate Bill 419, which was introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), school districts will no longer be permitted to use defiance or disruption, as justification...

By Carolyn Jones, EdSource, December 13, 2019 Long before California banned suspensions for “willful defiance” or disruption of school activities in K-8 classrooms, Los Angeles Unified embarked on an even more ambitious goal: eliminate defiance suspensions entirely. Six years after it implemented the policy, L.A. Unified officials, advocates and students say they’ve seen dramatic improvements in campus culture at many schools, providing lessons for California as it attempts to reshape school...

I was hoping for an article that would address children adopted from foster care, children with significant trauma backgrounds, now intelligent and healthy adoptive parents who beg for help. Where are resources for significantly mentally ill children?

Here is a post with an article in NM Politics discussing this very issue. https://www.pacesconnection.com/...of-effects-of-damage

Kaci, Go to this web site. Register. https://www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org/ ATN is a non-profit organization that was started by the mothers of adopted children with severe disabilities (some of these children came from orphanages from overseas). When neither parents nor teachers could give answers as to what to do with these kids, their mothers went back to school and started their own research looking for any information possible how to help their children. They started their own chat...

https://www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org/ https://www.attachmenttraumanetwork.org/ Everyone who deals with childhood trauma needs to know this resource. ATN is a non-profit organization that was started by the mothers of adopted children with severe disabilities (some of these children came from orphanages from overseas). When neither parents nor teachers could give answers as to what to do with these kids, their mothers went back to school and started their own research looking for any...

Thanks, Robbyn! Great post! Sharing it on FB.

We do similar work - and our experience is that it is easier to move away from punishments than to move away from rewards...and both cause some harm. What is your experience in helping folks move away from rewards?

Hi Rebecca, tell me if students have any codes of conduct and discipline policies to follow in the schools?.

Sajjad, Our schools have expectations and classrooms have student generated guidelines (which look very similar to adult generated guidelines). The difference is that when someone doesn't follow the guidelines the response is: regulate, relate, reason and then repair the mistake. Of course, safety always comes first which can require removal from the situation (or sometimes even the school) - but the repair is what re-establishes connection and helps reconstruct the community. This is what...

Jody thanks for the prompt response to my question. We used rewards as for both tangible and intangible since last couple of years. Its particularly challenging for problem kids, but its an incentive to get them to do their work, get along better, and make the right choices. I personally feel that sometimes starting with something the student likes to do, rather than giving them something may be a better reward for them. We have to workout as how to help folks move away from rewards.

Sajjad, The frame shift that I think needs to happen is the recognition that these students are not "making choices" when their behavior is inappropriate. As Mona Delahooke explains, it is bottom up behavior. We aren't teaching anything with rewards. When students are self regulated they can choose. When they aren't they cannot. It ends up being demoralizing for kids to tell them to make "good choices" and they do when they can - and when they can't and mess up and later get back into their...

Jody, I really appreciate the way you have explained as how to help folks move away from rewards. I will share the ideas within the local community and see if it works.

Thanks Sajjad, I invited a colleague who has a lovely one-pager on rewards to share it. I suspect she'll post it some time today.

Rebecca, I love your Golden words (we’re all on this journey together and that no matter where our efforts lie, we have an opportunity to be a part of this mission.)

Jody, Thank you very much for sharing the one-page handout on rewards. I will share in the local community schools very soon.