Tagged With "schools"
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The connection between trauma and the dropout crisis [The Philadelphia Public School Notebook]
When reflecting on the factors that derailed them academically, Quad’ir Ford and Nalik Lark-Hightower didn’t mention living in poverty or exposure to trauma as factors. But experts have said that these two distinct yet intertwined conditions in children’s lives can go far in explaining the root cause of the dropout crisis. “Trauma is not a singular event; neither is poverty,” said Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend, executive director of the Philadelphia Youth Network and co-chair of Project U-Turn.
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This shamefully ignored school shooting is why kids should walk out for 18 minutes, not 17 [philly.com]
It was a moment of sheer terror that surely none of the hundreds of kids flooding the corridors for the end of the school day will ever forget. One moment, 17-year-old Courtlin Arrington — already accepted to college for the fall, with dreams of becoming a nurse — was seen with another teen student, a wide receiver on the football team. Then came a loud pop as a bullet went right through Courtlin’s heart , ending her life way too short of adulthood. “The last thing I told them was ‘I love...
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One year after Parkland, Philly students, teachers say more counselors needed to deal with trauma from gun violence [whyy.org]
Thursday marks one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which set off a wave of activism across the country, as students and youth called for more gun control and safer schools. Young people in Philadelphia and other urban areas seized the opportunity to bring long-awaited attention to gun violence and trauma that impacts them on a regular basis. But some activists, students, and teachers say one year later, not much has changed in the way of...
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Wagner Middle School makes a difference in students’ lives [phillytrib.com]
The best leaders lead by example. At the Gen. Louis Wagner Middle School at 1701 Chelten Ave., students are able to come into their own, succeed in the classroom, and prepare for their future because of the leadership roles and innovative thinking of the administration and teachers at their school. “Some of our goals this school year was continuing to improve our attendance and providing trauma informed training for everyone,” said principal Maya Johnstone. “Last year, we improved our...
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What can Pennsylvania schools do to address the prevalence of trauma among students? [pennlive.com]
Childhood trauma is a widespread issue. According to Child Trends, nearly half of children in the United States and in Pennsylvania have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, or ACE, which often leads to traumatic stress. Research is clear that traumatic stress in children can negatively impact cognitive, academic and behavioral outcomes. Yet schools are not equipped to address these problems. A recent ACLU report notes that 90 percent of U.S. public schools do not meet the...
Ask the Community
Philadelphia Collaborative Teacher Center offering collaboration grants
PCTC/PhilaSoup Collaboration Grants are designed to encourage teachers in Philadelphia public schools to look for innovative, fun and effective ways to increase teacher collaboration, improve teacher and school morale, and establish stronger cultures of cooperation, collaboration and support within their schools. Applications are due on March 14th. For more information, please click here .
Calendar Event
First Annual Greater Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference
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Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Yes, money matters in Education. Money is absolutely necessary, but money is Not sufficient. A key variable has been missing from the discussions about a new Education Paradigm: Childhood Trauma. Childhood trauma is broad in scope and...
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How One Philadelphia After-school Program Works to Be Trauma-informed [youthtoday.org]
On an afternoon in October, kids in the Sunrise of Philadelphia after-school program made tissue-paper marigolds, assembled little altars and created masks. It was the Day of the Dead celebration held by Sunrise partner, Fleisher Art Memorial . They wrote poems about people who were no longer with them, either lost to death or simply separated across distance — a possibility in this largely immigrant and refugee community. The activity gave them a chance to explore loss and sadness, which —...
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
© Elliot Gilfix/Flickr . What happened to Jasmine? . Photo © Jinx!/Flickr When you look...
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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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Be part of a breathtaking tipping point !
. Education Equity for trauma-impacted children: from failing funding to fair funding. Be part of the solution! Background A heartfelt tip of the hat to the Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC) of...
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City's Office of Education releases findings from community school meetings [Philly Voice]
Strengthen city support for schools. Empower parents and community members. Increase access to and opportunities for neighborhood resources. Those are the three most important things that Philadelphia residents want from Mayor Jim Kenney's community schools initiative, findings based on months of discussions with stakeholders and the Mayor's Office of Education. On Wednesday the office released a report on its findings after 14 roundtable discussions with principals, teachers, students,...
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CLICK FOR RESOURCES: TRAUMA-INFORMED EDUCATION
These trauma-informed education resources are linked to narrative illustrations of the same topic at LucidWitness.com. The narratives are designed to be used as 'Public Service Announcements' in social media, to help grow broad, general-public awareness of developmental trauma.
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Coming soon: Philly School District families will have access to grief counseling, coronavirus support [inquirer.com]
For Philadelphia students and families having trouble coping with the loss of months of in-person school amid the trauma of a pandemic and a changing world, help is on the way. On Monday, the Philadelphia School District and Uplift, the Center for Grieving Children, will launch the Philly HopeLine, a hotline that will connect district children and families to grief support services, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said at a news conference Thursday. The resource comes in response to a...
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Could we have a revolution in Philadelphia Schools?
School District of Philadelphia staff - teachers, counselors and administrators - have been filling every available opening in the Institute for Family Professionals' trauma trainings that are offered to the school district and others through funding from United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Rebecca Pepper Sinkler- former editor of The New York Times Book Review and editor of SafeKidsStories shares the perspective of staff who attended in "Could We Have a...
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Defending Childhood
Common Sense Millions of injured children whose pleas are not being heard are waiting at the intersection of the “Defending Childhood” Report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Congress’s rewrite...
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District finds that creating more trauma-informed schools requires a change of culture [thenotebook.org]
“The world of thinking about trauma, the importance of school climate and social-emotional learning is 20, 30, 40 years behind the world of instruction." Joanna Schwartz, a 2nd-grade teacher at Eliza B. Kirkbride Elementary School, was about to take a scheduled break and desperately needed a place to have peace and quiet. But the only place she could find was a broom closet. A few years earlier, in another school, Schwartz said teachers were baffled by a 3rd grader who continually fell...
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Do Children have a Right to be Safe ?
A comparison survey of government and departmental treatment (legal vs. healthcare, vs. education) of child safety given prevalence of childhood trauma. http://lucidwitness.com/2014/0...-right-to-be-safe-2/
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Work Group Meeting
The Workforce Development Workgroup of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force met on Wednesday, May 18 th at the United Way. There were several members in the room who were either new or who have not been able to attend meeting recently so the group caught up on current work. The group began with an update from the subcommittee that is working to develop focus groups with teachers and administrators in from the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) to better understand how they are using...
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PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing 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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School counselors take on at-home trauma in the classroom [WHYY]
Cristo Rey faculty get one full day a week to collaborate and strategize about how to meet the specific needs of individual students. (Bas Slabbers/for WHYY) By Kevin McCorry School counselor Pam Turner-Bunyon had been warned: This new, incoming student had a dark profile and was prone to very erratic behavior. "When he first came to us, he ran out of the building, the first day — the very first day — instead of coming in, he ran," she said. Turner-Bunyon learned what happened and...
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School District of Philadelphia Open Position: Director Trauma Informed Practices
Please help to spread the word about this vital opening in our city's school district. https://ats4.searchsoft.net/ats/job_board_form?op=view&JOB_ID=4600169492&REPRESENTATIVE_COMPANY_ID=00002581&COMPANY_ID=00002581
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Speak Out For Safe Schools! The Talk to Your State Senator Statewide Video Contest
School Violence - In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, the topic has gained more and more attention. Although members of the national media tend to focus on gun violence, the percent of school children who are affected by school shootings remains very small; not a great comfort to those who experience such a tragic event. Instead, it is far more likely for students to be affected in their day-to-day lives by other threats or acts of hostility that make them feel unsafe.
Calendar Event
Trauma-Informed Schools Conference - Penn State
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Re: CLICK FOR RESOURCES: TRAUMA-INFORMED EDUCATION
Daun Kauffman thank you for your site! An excellent source of resources and information!!
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Re: City's Office of Education releases findings from community school meetings [Philly Voice]
Greetings! I will be out of the office starting 7/8/16 through 7/17/16 returning 7/18/16. If you need immediate assistance during my absence, please contact Barbara Wilhelmy at bwilhelmy@pottstowncluster.org . Otherwise I will respond to your emails as soon as possible upon my return. Warm Regards, Jenn Brown PCRC, Director of Support Services
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Re: One year after Parkland, Philly students, teachers say more counselors needed to deal with trauma from gun violence [whyy.org]
I fully agree, as a school nurse working at John Moffet School. We see students everyday who are impacted emotionally and physically by gun violence, and one or two other traumas that have occurred in their lives as well. These children need our help. As a healthcare provided I support the findings of the ACE study performed in Philadelphia may years ago. Our community members health outcomes have been affected by trauma, and will continue to be if they are not given support, information and...
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Thank you for presenting this testimony to City Council. I'd love to know how they reacted, and what type of questions they may have had for you.
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Hello Nick, City Council reacted with much interest, and maybe a little surprise, and (I am hoping) eventually some follow through and action. Time will tell. Their questions to-date are all about statistics, or quantitative research learning. I take the fact that they are even asking questions, as a hopeful positive signal. Daun
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Thanks, Daun. This does sound hopeful; I wonder if if/how our ACES community can help maintain some momentum with keeping local politicians engaged?
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Great question ! Not sure yet. Thinking . . . I'm a little sensitive about being too aggressive, too fast.
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General board hearing Thursday likely to focus on school officers and reopening plans [thenotebook.org]
The Philadelphia Board of Education is holding an open public hearing Thursday afternoon, one of two that it is required by the City Charter to conduct annually on general topics. The three-hour meeting, which starts at 4 p.m., has no agenda except hearing from speakers. Student activists plan to renew their calls for police-free schools. Many others have registered to air their concerns about the conditions under which schools will resume in the fall, said Board President Joyce Wilkerson.
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Philly school board hearing report: speakers seek fewer police, more support services [thenotebook.org]
Teachers, counselors, parents, and national activists added their voices to students’ call for “police-free schools” at a general public hearing held by Philadelphia’s Board of Education on Thursday. The board holds two of these hearings annually, as the City Charter mandates; the only agenda for the meetings is to hear speakers. At the hearing and at a virtual “rally” held during the hour before, members of the Philadelphia Student Union and their allies repeatedly said that reform of the...
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No more ‘police’ in Philly schools; ‘safety officers’ in new uniforms coming this fall [inquirer.com]
School police will no longer patrol city public school halls come September. Instead, “school safety officers” in less severe uniforms and with different job descriptions will be stationed throughout the Philadelphia School District. The move comes amid local and national pushes to remove police from schools. A handful of big-city districts, including those in Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, and Oakland, have severed or backed away from relationships with police departments in the wake of the...
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Re: Philly Youth Speak Out: Transforming Trauma & Violence in School
This event is hosted by Black Lives Matter Week of Action - Philly @BLMPhlED
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In-person classes have stopped. Shootings haven’t. So Philly schools are taking trauma support online [billypenn.com]
When students came to class in person, the private St. Malachy School in North Philadelphia was equipped with a robust emotional support program to help kids deal with trauma. The 11th and Thompson building offered its 275 students access to a space called the Peace Room. It was stocked with bean bag chairs, books, music, snacks — even an elliptical, in case they needed to get some energy out. There were two full-time staffers working the room at all times, one of whom is a counselor. When...