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The change can be baffling to many parents: Their young girls are masters of the universe, full of gutsy fire. But as puberty sets in, their confidence nosedives, and those same daughters can transform into unrecognizably timid, cautious, risk-averse versions of their former selves. Over the course of writing our latest book , we spoke with hundreds of tween and teen girls, who detailed a striking number of things they don’t feel confident about: “making new friends,” “the way I dress,”...

The Advancement Project and the Alliance for Educational Justice want police out of schools, according to their new report . The advocacy groups believe school police officers create a hostile environment for Black and Brown students and contribute to the trauma many experience outside of school. Philadelphia was among the cities featured in the report, but the idea of removing school police for some city parents is just unthinkable. Terri Seward, whose daughter attends Bartram High School...

California has made strides to reduce student suspensions for minor classroom disruptions, but a new study concludes the state still has not gone far enough — and in some districts, pernicious disparities remain. Statewide, school districts in 2017 issued some 381,845 suspensions that resulted in an estimated 763,690 missed days of instruction, according to a new report by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA. The number of days lost for minor infractions categorized as “defiance and...

A new study, published in Mindfulness, explores moderating factors on the effects of mindfulness interventions for young peoples’ mental health in school settings. The results of the meta-analysis indicate individual differences in student’s ages, teacher’s experiences, and the delivery method may influence the receptivity and effectiveness of school-based mindfulness programs. There is a buzz about mindfulness in the current culture as research has demonstrated the benefits of mindfulness...

Sample Lesson from Superkid Power Teaching Kids to Understand Self Regulation and Responsibility Key concepts from the curriculum are how to breathe deeply to stay calm and how to use that inner calm to control how to respond to whatever is going on around you. First, we teach how to take deep breaths using a 3D prop, called the breathing sphere, that expands and contracts to represent the lungs and diaphragm filling with air along with the teacher counting out the beats of...

Researchers on Monday released a massive collection of education studies timed to inform the next California governor’s and Legislature’s preK-12 agenda. The big achievement gap for California’s low- and middle-income children relative to their peers in other states starts in kindergarten, indicating a need to significantly expand preschool and quality child care.Among the findings of Getting Down to Facts II: The big achievement gap for California’s low- and middle-income children relative...

Hope Brown can make $60 donating plasma from her blood cells twice in one week, and a little more if she sells some of her clothes at a consignment store. It’s usually just enough to cover an electric bill or a car payment. This financial juggling is now a part of her everyday life—something she never expected almost two decades ago when she earned a master’s degree in secondary education and became a high school history teacher. Brown often works from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. at her school in...

Students who witness violence in school at age 13 are at later risk of psycho-social and academic impairment at age 15, according to a new longitudinal study by researchers at Université de Montréal with colleagues in Belgium and France. In the study, published today in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Michel Janosz of UdeM's School of Psycho-Education and his international team looked at a stratified cohort of nearly 4,000 Quebec high-school students. The researchers...

Drumming for 60 minutes a week can benefit children diagnosed with autism and supports learning at school, according to a new scientific study. The project, led by the University of Chichester and University Centre Hartpury, showed students’ ability to follow their teachers’ instructions improved significantly and enhanced their social interactions between peers and members of school staff. Research involved pupils from Milestone School in Gloucester who took part in a ten-week drumming...

My first month teaching, I peeked in on the first parent meeting of the year, and a lone parent sat listening to the presentation. There were over 500 students in the school. Eight years later, over 300 families attended that meeting. Our biggest challenge had been getting parents—who often didn’t like school themselves—to see us as a loving and supportive community, so we deliberately fostered an environment in which families could feel comfortable. If a serious discussion about a student...

To better get to know her students, Jaclyn Wehmeier ventures outside of the classroom, to visit each of her third-graders at their homes. Home visits are part of the teaching approach at Christel House Academy South, an Indianapolis charter school that aims to serve students from low-income families in underserved communities. During those home visits, Wehmeier can meet her students’ families and learn more about their backgrounds. Seeing more of her students’ home lives has changed the way...

Starting school can be a worrisome event for a kindergartener, so the Davidson County Schools system has launched a new program to help them feel more comfortable and to understand it is OK to be nervous. The district launched the “One Book, One District” initiative that uses the book “Wemberly Worried” by Kevin Henkes to help students adjust to being in the classroom and dealing with their various emotions. All kindergarten classes in the school system are reading the book to their students...