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Setting School Culture With Social And Emotional Learning Routines (kqed.org)

In recent years, the pendulum of education trends have swung back to emphasize the importance of relationships to learning. Schools are using social and emotional learning curricula to help students develop interpersonal skills and learn ways to solve problems peacefully . But there's still debate around which social and emotional skills are the most important to teach -- such as empathy, e xecutive functioning or persistence -- and some educators feel unprepared to take on a role that seems...

The Dilemma of Teaching Race in High-School Biology [theatlantic.com]

Last spring, Paul Strode gave an unusual survey to his advanced biology students at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado. The first five questions were: Define as best you can: What is a racial group? Define as best you can: What is an ethnic group? Define as best you can: What is meant by the term genetic ancestry? True or False: There is too much overlap between racial groups to use a single biological trait (like skin color) to distinguish one racial group from another. True or...

Trauma-informed classrooms and Vermont’s switch to personalized education [rutlandherald.com]

In an age plagued with addiction, economic disparity and mental illness, where technology is advancing faster every day, professionals say aging educational systems aren’t meeting the needs of Vermont’s growing minds. “We have to re-think everything we do when it comes to educating these kids,” said Mill River Union High School Principal Todd Finn. “We have so much more flexibility with school leadership, and the world is so different for these kids.” Which is why Vermont schools are...

“Punitive Discipline Policies Have Proven to Be Destructive to Children” [truthout.org]

Janine Jackson: Nothing says America 2018 like a spate of stories on how back-to-school shopping includes bulletproof backpacks. Arming teachers and gearing kids up like commandos are presented as more-or-less reasonable responses to concerns about school safety. Any violence in schools is too much, of course, but a conversation about school safety that’s focused on guns and bullets is a narrow and distorted conversation. Recasting our definition of a “safe school environment” could lead us...

How It Feels & How We Heal: Parenting with ACEs Chat Quotes (You Tube, Database, PDFs, Links)

Parenting with ACEs is sharing inspiration, information, and expertise from our chat series in 3 formats. Parenting with ACEs: How It Feels & How We Heal Quote Collection (pdf version below as well) Quotes Database (pdf version below as well) Links to Chat Transcripts and before and after-the-chat blog posts. Thanks to everyone who showed up, who shared, and who is doing the important work that is our mission (prevent ACEs, heal trauma, build resilience). We know that work happens...

A school garden might encourage your kids to eat vegetables. Here’s how to start one. (washingtonpost.com)

Schools across the country are enlisting dietitians to plant gardens, teach cooking classes and train teachers with nutrition education. According to the Farm to School Census, more than 7,000 school gardens have cropped up across the United States. In addition to reading and writing, kids who attend these schools are being taught how to grow and prepare kale, asparagus and zucchini. In an era when Americans take in 57 percent of calories from ultra-processed foods such as chips, candy and...

Teaching the ‘Hard History’ Behind Today’s News (neatoday.org)

“We are more diverse than ever, and different people have different perspectives,” says Maureen Costello, director of Teaching Tolerance at the Southern Poverty Law Center ( SPLC ). The non-profit organization monitors U.S. hate groups and other extremists and also offers programs that help teachers educate children to be active participants in a diverse democracy. “The main job for teachers in this case is to help students discuss controversial issues without turning into enemies,” says...

California lawmakers pass limits on restraint and seclusion in schools (edsource.org)

California school staff would be barred from physically restraining K-12 students or isolating them in “seclusion rooms” unless the student’s behavior creates an imminent physical threat under a bill approved by the Legislature this week. The bill, which now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, also reinstates a requirement that school districts report data on the use of restraints and seclusion to the California Department of Education. And it prohibits certain restraint techniques that are considered...

Youth in Schools Data Available on Kidsdata

Kidsdata announces a comprehensive suite of data, Youth in Schools, including new and updated indicators across more than a dozen topics from the viewpoint of California’s students and school staff. These data are available for state, county, and school district levels, and student-reported data are easily customizable by grade level, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, parent education level and level of school connectedness. Youth in Schools data come from the 2013-2015 California...

Meditative Movement: Nixa Inman Intermediate School students learn basics of yoga (ccheadliner.com)

Downward-facing dog; extended side angle pose; high lunge: they’re learning it all. Teachers Rachel Dunlap and Shannon Petersen plan to give these pupils—from their own homeroom class—a year-long lesson in the techniques of yoga. The yoga lessons begin each morning after announcements and have taken place since the beginning of the school year only three weeks ago, Dunlap said. The teachers have already seen improvements in the students’ yoga performance, as well as in their concentration...

Turning chores into classrooms: New grocery store experiment hopes to inspire learning (whyy.org)

If you’re grocery shopping in Philadelphia over the next year you might run into a cherubic cartoon character named A.J. Though his wide smile and trendy haircut impart a sense of whimsy, A.J. has a serious task. He wants to transform your daily supermarket trip into a learning laboratory. A.J. is the face of “Talk It Up,” a pilot project aimed at inspiring interaction among parents and kids. At strategically placed sites across 10 grocery stores in Philadelphia, A.J. appears on small,...

How to Create Learning Opportunities For Kids on the Bus (kqed.org)

Over the last two years, Google piloted its Rolling Study Halls program, providing grants to help equip school buses with Wi-Fi and stripped-down laptops. Priscilla Calcutt, director of instructional technology for the Berkeley County School District in South Carolina, says the students who live in the more high-poverty areas of her district ride the bus for 90 to 120 minutes each direction. For them, “the Wi-Fi has been a great tool.” The district has filters in place that block certain...

Hundreds of staff brought into Scottish schools to help pupils with mental health problems

https://inews.co.uk/news/scotland/hundreds-of-staff-brought-into-scottish-schools-to-help-pupils-with-mental-health-problems/amp/?__twitter_impression=true The plan was a key part of Nicola Sturgeon's Programme for Government Hundreds of extra nurses and counsellors are to be brought into schools across Scotland to help pupils cope with mental health problems, amid concerns over “devastating” waiting times. The plans will see 600 extra specialist mental health staff working in the nation’s...

Creating Safe and Supportive Schools: 5 Promising Areas for Policy Change [medium.com]

A positive school climate is the cornerstone of a healthy, safe, and nurturing learning environment. To improve school climate, we need to meaningfully examine and address policies and practices that harm or alienate young people or that do not go far enough to advance health equity. This blog post highlights 5 areas in which promising legal and policy levers can transform school climate and promote healthy development of the whole child . When it comes to policy change, school districts are...

Chronic absenteeism pervasive in California and nationwide, report shows [edsource.org]

Nearly 8 million students nationwide were chronically absent during the 2015-16 school year, with California accounting for more than 760,000 of those children, according to a report released last week representing the most comprehensive analysis to date of chronic absenteeism in the nation’s schools. These numbers equate to approximately 15 percent of all students nationally and 12 percent in California, says the report, which is the result of a collaboration among San Francisco-based...

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