Tagged With "Chief Justice’s Task Force"
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2017 Children's Mental Health Report
Of the 74.5 million children in the United States, an estimated 17.1 million have or have had a mental health disorder — more than the number of children with cancer, diabetes and AIDS combined. Half of all mental illness occurs before the age of 14, and 75 percent by the age of 24. In spite of the magnitude of the problem, lack of awareness and entrenched stigma keep the majority of these young people from getting help. Children and adolescents struggling with these disorders are at risk...
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25 WAYS TO SAVE TIME & TAKE LESS WORK HOME (teach4theheart.com)
"So many teachers take home loads of work each night, yet others somehow find themselves going home empty-handed. What’s the difference? While you may be tempted to say this is due to laziness or a lack of effort (which, unfortunately, is sometimes the case), that’s not always true. Some teachers have really learned the art of being ultra-efficient while they’re at work…..so they can take less home." "6. Focus on efficiency, not speed. If you’re anything like me, when you try to rush &...
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A Conversation with Nadine Burke Harris: How Should Pediatricians Address Childhood Adversity?
Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris is a masterful storyteller. I learned in a conversation with her at Wheelock College before her presentation for the Brookline, MA organization Steps to Success , that before she decided to become doctor, Dr. Burke Harris wanted to be an author. Only after the smashing success of her TED talk: How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime , when she was approached by a literary agent, did she find her way to writing. Her newly released book The...
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Middle school tackles everybody's trauma; result is calmer, happier kids, teachers and big drop in suspensions
6 th grader Cayla White (right) helps lead class meditation with Niroga Institute’s Lauren Banister/ photos by Laurie Udesky During the 2014/2015 school year, things were looking grim at Park Middle School in Antioch, CA. At the time, staff couldn’t corral student disruptions. Teacher morale was plummeting. By the end of February 2015, 192 kids of the 997 students had been suspended -- 19.2 percent of the student population. “I was watching really good people burning out from the [teaching]...
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A South LA high school's journey back from the brink (edsource.org)
Claudia Rojas had a regular routine she followed most days during the 2012-13 school year, the year she took a job as one of three principals at the newly opened Augustus F. Hawkins High School in South Los Angeles. She would get up in the morning, have breakfast and then cry her way to work. Hawkins, as it’s known, is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Pilot School program , which was established in 2007 to relieve overcrowding at Belmont High School in central L.A. The...
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A Town Helps Transform Its School (edutopia.org)
For years, residents in the small, rural community of Pittsfield, New Hampshire, fretted over the state of Pittsfield Middle High School, their only middle and high school. Ranked the fifth-lowest-performing high school in New Hampshire, the 300-student school struggled with attendance, discipline, and general student disengagement. Problems deepened when the neighboring town of Barnstead stopped sending kids to the school, resulting in a 40 percent drop in enrollment and a funding cut from...
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ACEs & African Americans Community on ACEs Connection
ACEs Connection envisions a resilient world where ALL people thrive. We are an anti-racist organization committed to the pursuit of social justice. In our work to promote resilience and prevent and mitigate ACEs, we intentionally embrace and uplift people who have historically not had a seat at the table. ACEs Connection celebrates the voices and tells the stories of people who have been barred from decision-making and who have shouldered the burden of systemic and economic oppression as the...
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ACEs and Education Policy Brief
The Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative is pleased to share three policy briefs on the impact of ACEs in the health, justice, and education systems including promising practices and recommended actions for change. These briefs were developed by members of the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative—system leaders in Illinois who are working from an ACEs-informed lens to improve systems to prevent and mitigate trauma across generations. Rooted in social justice, these briefs are a call to...
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ACEs and trauma-informed teaching in the Netherlands
Over the past twenty years several studies have shown that ACEs are common and that there is a strong relationship of these experiences with various health factors. Although these studies have all been very important in helping to establish the frequency of adverse childhood experiences, very little has actually been asked of children themselves. In addition, never before has a direct link been made with what a large, representative group of children (N = 664) say they have experienced in...
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African-American students with disabilities suspended at disproportionately high rates [edsource.org]
African-American special education students nationwide lose substantially more instruction time due to discipline than their white counterparts, according to a report by The Civil Rights Project at UCLA and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard University. The report , “Disabling Punishment: The Need for Remedies to the Disparate Loss of Instruction Experienced by Black Students with Disabilities,” extrapolated its findings from federal data from 2014-15 and...
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AG Kamala D. Harris Seeks to Better Serve Foster Youth (sdvoice.info)
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues New Guidelines to Encourage Secure Sharing of Information Between Schools and Child Welfare Agencies to Better Serve Foster Youth Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that the California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Children’s Justice (BCJ), the California Department of Education (CDE), and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) have jointly developed statewide guidelines for school districts, county offices of...
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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 Evidence-Based Indictment of Inaction
If schools are to be guided by data, the data says more than 2 of 3 children experience at least one ACE: children of all incomes, all colors, all social levels, all educational levels. It is all of us. Is your school trauma-informed?
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An Evidence-Based Indictment of Inaction
If schools are to be guided by data, the data says that 2 of 3 children experience at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE): children of all incomes, all colors, all social levels, all educational levels. It is all of us. Is your school trauma-informed?
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An imperative for those in "towers" to connect with the realities of trauma in schools
Boosting SEL in K-12's "Ivory Towers" Educational Leadership October 2018 | Volume 76 | Number 2 The Promise of Social-Emotional Learning Those of us in administration must lift our "social awareness" by getting closer to schools and the people inside them. The superintendent's leadership team for the district where I was working had just finished its Monday morning meeting. One member of that team stopped as he passed by my cubicle to view the large poster I'd recently hung up. It displayed...
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An Important Event for Anyone in Higher Education in the Philadelphia Region
The Need for Trauma-Informed Curricula at Institutions of Higher Learning: A Call to Action On October 20th, Children's Crisis Treatment Center , The Philadelphia University Community and Trauma Counseling Program and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey are hosting a very special and important conversation for any one who is involved in training the next generation of service professionals - nurses, doctors, social workers, teachers, lawyers, community health...
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An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States: For Young People (medium.com)
An Indigenous Peoples’ History offers a needed, yet often unheard perspective on United States history. An Indigenous Peoples’ History consistently poses questions that counteract misinformation about Native communities, specifically stories that are usually taught in elementary school. This lends itself to fantastic conversations on whose history is taught in school, and offers students a chance to recognize whose curriculum they’re expected to learn for standardized tests. And unlike many...
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Analysis: What Two New Studies Reveal About Restorative Justice in Middle School — and How It Can Be Done Better (the74million.org)
Two RAND Corp. studies recently evaluated the use of restorative practices to strengthen relationships between students and teachers to build that connection to school. These include teachers and other adult staff soliciting thoughts and ideas from students when making decisions, such as developing classroom norms; expressing their feelings in response to students’ behavior; encouraging students to express and respect their and others’ feelings; addressing not just bad behavior but also the...
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One year ago, Pittsburgh schools committed to relationships over punishment
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.
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Applying an Equity Lens to Social, Emotional, and Academic Development [rwjf.org]
Many students face barriers to healthy social, emotional, and academic development, but a range of strategies can help overcome those barriers. The Issue Social and emotional learning (SEL) equips young people with competencies to lead productive and healthy lives. There are barriers, however, that prevent many students of color and other marginalized youth from developing social and emotional competencies. For all students to benefit, SEL must be grounded in a larger context of equity and...
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At Ron Brown College Preparatory High School, Students Are Kings, Not Kids (npr.org)
We have the story now of a radical new school in Washington, D.C., Ron Brown College Preparatory High School. It's an all-boys public school designed for young men of color with a staff of mostly black men. And that staff is passionately opposed to suspending students. In the early days at Ron Brown, Dawaine Cosey spends a lot of time just trying to get students to follow the dress code. COSEY: I tell the guys here all the time, like, you're going to get love, and there's really nothing you...
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ATN Announces 40 Workshops for National Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference
The Attachment & Trauma Network announces the full agenda of the first National Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference, February 18-20, 2018 at the Washington Hilton in Washington DC. The conference will feature keynotes by Dr. Susan Craig & Melissa Sadin, Robert Hull, and Dr. Mona Johnson. A Building Trauma-Informed Community luncheon will be held on Tuesday. And Jim Sporleder will be our special guest at a screening of Paper Tigers on Sunday night. "We had an overwhelming...
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Oakland Unified to fund Restorative Justice with "at least" $2.3 million!
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,...
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Opportunity to Participate in a Live Twitter Chat on Resilience
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) invites you to join us on Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. EDT for a live Twitter chat and discuss how adverse childhood experiences affect children’s well-being. Film director, James Redford (@jred5562) and educational leader, Jim Sporleder (@SporLin ) will co-faciliate this convening to explore strategies used by educators, therapists, pediatricians, and communities to disrupt cycles of violence and trauma. For those...
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Ordinary Magic-Resiliency Research - The Power of Connection
Resilience and Positive Psychology The message from three decades of research on resilience underscores central themes of the positive psychology movement (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000; Snyder & Lopez, in press). Psychology has neglected important phenomena in human adaptation and development during periods of focus on risk, problems, pathology, and treatment. Attention to human capabilities and adaptive systems that promote healthy development and functioning have the potential...
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Oregon Governor Kate Brown signs landmark trauma-informed education bill into law
A landmark trauma-informed education bill to address “chronic absences of students” in the state’s public schools was signed by Governor Kate Brown last week. The bill, H.B. 4002 , requires two state education agencies to develop a statewide plan to address the problem and provides funding for “trauma-informed” approaches in schools. While bill’s $500,000 in funding falls vastly short of the original $5.75 million requested for five pilot sites in an earlier version (H.B. 4031), it provides...
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Oregon State educators visit Cherokee Point Elementary in San Diego
Cherokee Point Elementary in City Heights (San Diego Unified School District) hosted 12 educators from Oregon on Friday, March 11th. The superintendents, principals and teachers spent the day with Principal Godwin Higa and Resource Specialist Patty Wallach to talk about the school becoming trauma informed, and how it functions. They visited classrooms and had lunch with the students, then met with Dr. Audrey Hokoda, Child, Development Department, San Diego State University and Dana Brown to...
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Osborn School District Board Writes Resolution Supporting Trauma Informed Practices
“It’s my hope that the resolution garners attention, partnerships and funding so that our students can get the best education in Osborn. As a district, we are dedicated to trauma-informed practices and teaching resilience in a manner that is supported by science. At this point, we need our state and national leaders to catch up to the classroom.” says Katie Paetz, Osborn Governing Board President.
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Osborn School District Board Writes Resolution Supporting Trauma Informed Practices
As a district, we are dedicated to trauma-informed practices and teaching resilience in a manner that is supported by science. At this point, we need our state and national leaders to catch up to the classroom.” says Katie Paetz, Osborn Governing Board President.
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Osborn School District Board Writes Resolution Supporting Trauma Informed Practices
As a district, we are dedicated to trauma-informed practices and teaching resilience in a manner that is supported by science. At this point, we need our state and national leaders to catch up to the classroom.” says Katie Paetz, Osborn Governing Board President.
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Peace Rooms and Mindfulness: New School Discipline Philosophy One Year Later [peoriapublicradio.org]
School districts had a year to implement a state law that banned zero-tolerance policies and emphasized restorative justice practices. We check back in with five districts we visited in the summer of 2016 to see how school discipline has changed. On the second day of the school year, Amber Owens got the kind of jolt every parent dreads. She was called to the nurse’s office at Champaign’s Bottenfield Elementary, where she found her 7-year-old son, Simon, sobbing uncontrollably and bleeding...
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
© Elliot Gilfix/Flickr . What happened to Jasmine? . Photo © Jinx!/Flickr When you look inside a...
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Danny
When you look inside a classroom, there are some things you can not see . . .
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
Wiry, active, savvy. Jasmine. There were not many good days. . . only random moments of calm in a violent storm, erupting on a ‘hair trigger’
When you look inside a classroom there are some things you can not see….
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
Photo credit Max Klingensmith at flickr . Jose was one of the calmest, quietest, most peaceful boys in the classroom. The kind of boy everybody loves. ...
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Personalized Restorative Justice Best Way to Teach Traumatized Students, Conferees Told [JJIE.org]
A white board with a giant illustration of the human brain sat in the middle of the room, a constant reminder, participants said, that any real attempts to treat juvenile offenders begins not with detention or tough love, but with science. Many of the teens who find themselves in the juvenile system or alternative school programs have grown up with trauma that directly impacts their cognitive functions, said Pender Makin, assistant superintendent of schools in Brunswick, Maine. Physical...
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PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITEE: STANDARDIZED TESTING HEARING: TESTIMONY NOTES
"We won’t have a successful education paradigm, or even accurately interpret academic success, while ignoring trauma’s overwhelming presence." ...
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Pitt Urban Education Forum Explores Disrupting School-to-Prison Pipeline [diverseeducation.com]
By LaMont Jones, Diverse Education, August 12, 2019 Using education and activism to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline is an ongoing battle that is as fierce as ever, according to speakers at the 2019 Summer Educator Forum presented by the Center for Education at the University of Pittsburgh. In panel discussions and breakout sessions during the three-day event in July, a record 450 students, teachers, administrators, scholars, activists and experts in education, criminal justice and...
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Plymouth County Schools Receiving Trauma Informed Training
This opportunity is for schools and districts to receive training to develop an awareness of the prevalence of traumatic experience, its impact on academic behavior and relations and the need for a whole school approach. For the 2019-2020 school year, Carver, Marshfield, Rockland, Scituate and Silver Lake qualified to receive free training from TLPI.
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Policy Brief on the Impact of ACEs in the Education System
ACEs Policy in Education The Illinois ACEs Response COLLABORATIVE has released a policy brief on the impact of ACEs in Education. It includes promising practices and recommended actions for change. Rooted in social justice, this briefs is a call to action to move upstream, build resiliency, and recognize how addressing inequity and trauma can improve systems while also building resiliency. Read the complete brief here: http://www.hmprg.org/assets/root/ACEs/Education%20Policy%20Brief.pdf This...
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Posltive Pax: Yakima Valley schools embrace program that teaches kids to be good people — and good students [YakimaHerald.com]
In Raul Hernandez’ Discovery Lab classroom in Yakima, his fifth-grade students are in a flurry working on lines for a poem. Then they hear the melodic “zwoop” of a harmonica, and all noise and movement stop in an instant. Hands go up in a two-fingered peace sign. All eyes are on the teacher. This is PAX, and it’s out to change the world. The PAX Good Behavior Game is an evidence-based program to help teachers and students build a safe, teamlike classroom environment, where the focus is on...
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Potential impact of Trauma on special education eligibility
This is a follow up to my previous email concerning the PP v Compton class action lawsuit concerning adverse events and eligibility under the Americans with Disability act. I did a presentation at the Legal Issues in Special Education conference on April 24th. The participants consisted of special education directors, compliance officers and parent advocates The big surprise was that there was huge interest in this issue. It was standing room only in the room. Secondly even though this...
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Pre-parenting curriculum for teens
If you are working with teens to plan bright futures, we would like to offer you a Sample Lesson Plan from our Healthy Foundations for Future Families curriculum. For the past 10 years, our organization Educate Tomorrow’s Parents (ETP), has been working upstream to prevent Adverse Childhood Experiences by educating teens before they form families. Our science-based curriculum meets essential standards for secondary school health education. There are several components, including a student...
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Program offers hundreds of young men, boys safe space to heal from ACEs
Dennis McCollins recounts some of the experiences that caused him to harden against the world as a teenager. “There were times I went to more funerals than birthdays,” says McCollins, who is the clinical director of the School Based Health Center at Greenwood Academy in Richmond, Calif. And it took its toll: “I spent time homeless. I got expelled [from school]. I was so angry and upset and mad,” he says. Dennis McCollins Then a man that he met when he was sent to Job Corps as a teen turned...
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Program shows teachers how to see signs of childhood trauma [TheET.com]
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...
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‘Push Back’: Unified Schools Crowd Faces Down Divisive Fears (timesofsandiego.com)
Kevin Beiser acknowledged what brought hundreds of parents, teachers and students Wednesday evening to a dusty ball field in Old Town — the fear of “what it would be like in Nazi Germany.” But school board member Beiser promised the San Diego Unified School District would “push back” against enablers of hate. Trustee Richard Barrera noted a 950-word school board resolution approved last week “reaffirming values of peace, tolerance and respect for multiple perspectives.” (see attached)...
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Community is at the root of inspiring change through film
I am posting this article in Aces in Education because of the emphasis on addressing ACEs through interconnected community services. Education is one of the six areas of focus. The film series starts on August 18th in Richmond Virginia. If I lived closer, I'd love to go to this. Are there any ACEs in Education members in Richmond? If so, can you contact me about your ability to go to this? I'd love to know more! Leisa Irwin It takes communities to achieve justice By Adrienne Cole Johnson,...
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ConVal High School's Story: Becoming Trauma-Informed for Substance Abuse Prevention
As a student assistance counselor, I regularly receive flashy emails from various organizations promoting materials for drug-free schools. Secretly I roll my eyes and strike the trash icon. “Drug free schools - ha, right?!” It may sound cynical or jaded that I don’t believe in drug-free high schools. It’s not that. The truth is I don’t believe a drug-free high school exists. This isn’t from a lack of effort or concern. As a product of the “Just Say No” era, schools have worked for decades to...
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ConVal’s youth behavior study results in, district implements measures to address issues [LedgerTranscript.com]
ConVal’s director of school counseling presented findings on a nationwide Youth Risk Behavior Survey that high school students participated in last year during a regular school board meeting Tuesday night. Kim Chandler said about 720 ConVal students participated in the survey last year, which measured things like unintentional injuries and violence, sexual behavior, alcohol and other drug use, tobacco use, dietary behaviors, and physical activities. ...A group of people who comprise the...