Blog

Child Trends is now accepting submissions of published or unpublished evaluations, reports, or other documented information about programs, policies, and practices that schools have implemented to identify students who have experienced trauma, link them to care within the school or broader community, or foster environments that avoid re-traumatizing students. This request is part of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project aimed at supporting the development of evidence-informed...

The clock ran out for Promise Academy in its extended battle with San Jose Unified to open a charter school this fall — a delay that reflects escalating tensions between school districts and charter school organizations in California. Over the past year, Promise won two lawsuits involving the district. It obtained a charter from the State Board of Education in January on its second and final level of appeal after the San Jose Unified school board rejected its charter application for a...

There was just one student in the Boulder Valley School District’s teen parent program last year. She graduated in May, and and the district spent the summer turning the program’s nursery into a child care center for staff . In the Englewood district just south of Denver there were no students in the teen parent program last year, and in the western Colorado city of Montrose, the long-standing charter school for pregnant and parenting teens was newly closed because of dwindling enrollment.

We are thrilled to announce the premiere of Wrestling Ghosts , a documentary about breaking the cycle of trauma, at the LA Film festival on Sept. 27th. “Incredible. Haunting and strange and beautiful and incredibly moving.” -Dan Cogan, Founder Impact Partners Wrestling Ghosts follows the epic inner journey of Kim, a young mother who, over two heartbreaking and inspiring years, battles the traumas from her past in order to create a new present and future for her and her family. In this...

The school nurse is your child’s Chief Wellness Officer! So first things first: be sure your school has a school nurse in your child’s building every day. If not, there are 55 million reasons to have one. School nurses have access to 95% of our nation’s 55 million children every day, all day. We are the dedicated, licensed health professionals in your school community, whose eyes and ears are an extension of yours. The history of school nursing goes back more than 100 years, to the tenements...

In 2014, according to U.S. Department of Education projections, the demographics of the nation’s classrooms were set to break a historic barrier: For the first time, the majority of students in America’s public schools would no longer be white. Based on population trends, National Center for Education Statistics predicted that 50.3 percent of the student body for the 2014-15 school year would be people of color — a precursor to the country as a whole becoming majority-minority in the next...

We make countless choices to change how we interact with our job . Each of these choices influences how we feel about teaching. Psychologists call these choices "job crafting." Job crafting, say psychologists Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane E. Dutton, is the actions employees take to redesign their work in order to foster engagement, satisfaction, resilience, and thriving. This means being intentional about how we engage with the tasks, people, and purpose that compose our careers. Approach 1:...

The importance of Social and Emotional Learning is evident. 40 years of research show that kids who master core life skills will succeed in the classroom and beyond, and now finally teachers have great tools to help scaffold and mold their students to do so. When a teacher is standing in front of the classroom modeling how to patiently wait your turn to ask a question, they’re teaching their little ones a core skill for Social and Emotional Learning — impulse control. There are two ways you...

This article is part of the “What’s Working” series, which highlights promising practices for helping to close the graduation gap in communities and states across the country. Help from An Alternative School Luckily, my sister convinced me to change schools before my sophomore year. Her Individualized Education Program case manager had found Paladin Career and Technical High school , which works with students who have had adverse childhood or traumatic experiences. When I was homeless for...

How do you teach kids to be active participants in government? Or to tell the difference between real news and fake news? In their last legislative sessions, 27 states considered bills or other proposals that aim to answer these questions. Many of those proposals are rooted in popular ideas about the best ways to teach civics, including when kids should start, what they should learn and how to apply those lessons. Here's a look at some of those concepts. Start when they're young, go into...

Attention all you happy high school graduates about to go off to college, as well as the many others returning for another year of higher education. Grandsons Stefan and Tomas, that includes you. Whatever you may think can get in the way of a successful college experience, chances are you won’t think of one of the most important factors: how long and how well you sleep. And not just on weekends, but every day, Monday through Sunday. Studies have shown that sleep quantity and sleep quality...

For some students, school is not just a place of learning and growth but also a refuge from abuse. Data suggest that, on average, every classroom has at least one student affected by trauma. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, close to 40 percent of students in the U.S. have been exposed to some form of traumatic stressor in their lives, with sexual assault, physical assault, and witnessing domestic violence being the three most prevalent. These types of stressors,...