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Almost seven years ago, the School District of Philadelphia revised its student discipline policy, instructing schools not to suspend students for certain types of nonviolent behavior such as failing to follow classroom rules or making obscene gestures. To examine what happened after the policy changed, Mathematica’s Johanna Lacoe teamed up with Matthew Steinberg, an education researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. What they found provides the strongest evidence to date that when...

Tessa McIllraith wanted to amplify the voice of school nursing, so she took a risk and sent a hilarious message to a nurse podcaster about what happened on a given Tuesday in her school health office. Christine, the Nurse Practitioner who hosts Antidotes - Stories in Medicine Podcast was so intrigued by Tessa's message, she invited her on the show. Take time to listen to this entertaining and honest account that Tessa shared in one of the best podcasts I have heard about school nursing.

My little ceramic heart, glued back together, yet missing a piece I never found after that violent outburst, represents the beauty of my healing journey. Broken, then mended. Scarred, yet beautiful.

What an absolute joy it was to chat "across the pond" with the beautiful, hilarious, and inspirational Jaz Ampaw-Farr. From her TEDx talk to her international motivational presentations, she is empowering others along their healing journeys. Thank you, Jaz for helping leave this world a better place - from your Tampax donation in the school bathroom to your work in prisons to your ability to make us laugh - your enthusiasm is contagious.

In our professional lives we constantly talk about mindset. Positive mindset, worth mindset, goal-oriented mindset, focused mindset. This list is long. We all have mantras, affirmations, activities and favorite quotations we use to shift our state of mind. Of course, a positive mindset is a good thing. But ever wonder why we struggle with mindset in the first place? Why is it a constant battle for you to stay efficient, focused and effective? Safety First What if our primary mindset started...

I was thrilled when Ms. Magazine published my article about #MeToo. Here’s an excerpt: Try this: Think of your deepest, darkest secret. The one you can’t imagine telling anyone. We all have at least one. Imagine that if you tell this secret, something terrible is going to happen. People you love deeply, upon hearing your secret, will leave you. That is why we survivors [of childhood sexual abuse] fear telling our stories.There’s a long list of other reasons. They’re all steeped in fear, too.

P laying for Team Human today, the economy’s equivalent of an outsider artist, Of Two Minds blogger and author of Money and Work Unchained, Charles Hugh Smith. Charles will be talking to us about the market, universal basic income, and distributed prosperity. You can learn more about Charles at his website and blog, Of Two Minds . [For more on this story by Douglas Rushkoff, go to https://medium.com/s/teamhuman/investing-in-community-with-charles-hugh-smith-448ec19fde22 ]

" What we need is social workers and psychologists and psychiatrists in schools to help those kids, " said Rep. Mike Sturla , Policy Committee Chair, (D-Lancaster). Those kids are ones who have dealt with adverse childhood experiences. " Death in a family, a parent that's incarcerated, illness, people being separated, " said Rep. Sturla . [For more on this story by Michella Drapac, go to...

Emerging research suggests both families and schools play a vital role in improving an adolescents’ confidence even in the midst of turbulent parental relationships. In a new study, Pennsylvania State University researchers examined how a variety of factors affected adolescents’ self-efficacy. Self-efficacy describes a person’s confidence or belief that they have ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. In this case, investigators studied a teen’s confidence in having...

As it is, more and more researchers studying the healing power of rhythmic movement on people who’ve experienced trauma from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, or parental mental illness or substance abuse issues. Among these researchers is Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist and senior fellow at the Child Trauma Academy in Houston who advocates dance, drumming, walking and other rhythm-based movements to help kids with trauma. In a book about trauma and the power of...

M agic happens when we engage with our inner worlds from a place of curiosity rather than fear. All those horrible human tangles of anxiety, doubt, resentment and pain can unravel when pen meets paper in the spirit of enquiry. What’s more, when we choose to share this kind of writing with the world, it helps others free themselves from their own emotional traps. Carefully chosen words can ease pain, and they do so for both writer and consumer. You’re reading this article on Medium, so...

The connection I’m building with my students starts every day with a box of Cocoa Puffs. Name-brand cereal may not sound all that special, but it’s something most of my students can’t afford. It’s something I remember longing for when I was a kid. Even though our school serves breakfast in the classroom to all students, I bring a group of boys from our K-4 school together for a special breakfast to fuel their day with a dose of self-esteem. We eat and we talk, and they get to start their day...