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Almost four million American teenagers have just started their freshman year of high school. Can they learn better ways to deal with all that stress and insecurity? New research suggests they can. Though academic and social pressures continue to pile on in high school, teenagers can be taught effective coping skills to skirt the pitfalls of anxiety and depression. David S. Yeager, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and a leading voice in the growing...

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...

A Silicon Valley educational technology company and researchers from Harvard have teamed up to launch a new series of animated videos next month about the importance of empathy , intended for teachers to use in building students’ social and emotional skills. Developed by ClassDojo’s Big Ideas program and researchers at the Making Caring Common project at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, the series of three short videos, called “Empathy,” are the latest manifestation of a push to move...

Imagine you're working at a school and one of the kids starts to act up. What would you do? T raditionally, the answer would be to give the unruly kid detention or suspension . But in my memory, detention tended to involve staring at walls, bored out of my mind, trying to either surreptitiously talk to the kids around me without getting caught or trying to read a book. If it was designed to make me think about my actions, it didn't really work. It just made everything feel stupid and unfair.

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...

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016 Contact: Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov The U.S. Department of Education is awarding more than $6.5 million in grants to fund four regional Equity Assistance Centers to support schools and communities creating equitable education opportunities for all students. These centers, authorized under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, will provide technical assistance in the preparation and implementation of plans for the desegregation of public schools...

During a recent event at the White House focusing on how schools should be addressing the traumatic experiences of girls, and girls of color in particular, a Latina student talked about the childhood abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather. “I never really coped with my anger. I thought [the teachers] don’t care about you,” she said. But then she received help from counselors through a trauma-informed approach , called PACE, which stands for playfulness, acceptance, curiosity, and...

With just four months remaining in the Obama presidency, the White House assembled leaders from 14 states and the District of Columbia and key administration officials for a day-long conference, “ Trauma Informed Approaches in Schools: Supporting Girls of Color and Rethinking Discipline.” Last summer’s White House meeting, titled “Rethink School Discipline,” covered issues related to the CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study and trauma, but transforming schools through trauma-informed approaches...

At Cherokee Point Elementary School, first-grade teacher Hagit Patolai roams her classroom to asses student progress on a “fact versus opinion” writing assignment. She crouches down to read over the shoulder of a boy, asking him to point to the words (beautiful and cool) that indicate his illustrated story about a rainbow is based on his opinions. Why are people’s opinions important, she asks. It’s a question that gets at more than the lesson at hand. Patolai keeps detailed records on the...

Henry Zavala slowly expanded a plastic rainbow-colored sphere in front of his classmates at Davis Elementary School. The first-graders sat in a circle at the front of the classroom with crossed arms and eyes closed as they all took a deep breath in sync with the colorful expanding toy. The "breathing ball," as it's known among the students, is one of several mindfulness techniques the Carrollton school has adapted within the past three years. Lisa Williams, the school's principal, said she...

The Aspen Institute announced Tuesday it has launched a commission to accelerate the transfer of research about social and emotional skill-building — which includes developing the interpersonal skills that organizers say contribute to success in school, college and work — into teaching practices across the nation. Seven Californians are members of the National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development. Linda Darling-Hammond , president of the Learning Policy Institute, is one...

Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin, a program of Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and Winnebago County Department of Human Services invites you to a free screening and guided discussion of "Paper Tigers". A documentary that follows a year in the life of the Lincoln High Alternative School, "Paper Tigers" explores the impact of adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress on struggling teens. The school is a testament to what the latest childhood adversity research is proving: one caring adult...