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Teens sneak a peek at the internet every chance they get. In fact, the average U.S. teenager spends almost nine hours a day on digital devices. Much of that time is on social media, such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. The sites have become important places for students to interact. But sometimes these connections lead to disconnections. Depending on whether people notice your posts — and how positively they respond — your online interactions may be quite positive. Or not. Social media...

The life of a military family comes with a powerful sense of patriotism and pride, but also definite, daily challenges. Personnel are typically transferred every two to three years, which means their children may attend as many as nine schools during their lives. Add to that the stress these students suffer when parents are deployed overseas, are sent into combat or return home wounded. Military-connected students—compared to civilian classmates—have moderately elevated rates of just about...

The world of education is alive with buzzwords like innovation, inclusion, and mindfulness; another term gaining traction is restorative practices, also called restorative justice. Restorative practices are a burgeoning alternative to traditional punitive justice such as suspensions (both in school and out of school) and other exclusionary forms of discipline. Many states are legislating a movement away from prescribed punitive justice for misbehavior in schools, and restorative practices...

When the New York City Department of Education announced in September that all public school students will now receive free lunch, it joined a growing number of cities around the country trying to ease food insecurity and end the phenomenon of "lunch shaming." Previously about three-quarters of the city's 1.1 million public school students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, but many didn't participate, often because parents hadn't completed necessary forms, or the student wanted to...

Thanks to Alejandra Labrado from First 5 Sacramento for providing the links to these resources! Sesame Street's Traumatic Experiences: https://sesamestreetincommunities.org/topics/traumatic-experiences/ When a child endures a traumatic experience, the whole family feels the impact. But adults hold the power to help lessen its effects. Several factors can change the course of kids’ lives: feeling seen and heard by a caring adult, being patiently taught coping strategies and...

An unprecedented coalition of community members, educators, parents, and students at LA Unified have convened a new task force to urgently address why African-American youth continue to have the lowest test scores and why black students and families continue to feel ignored by the education system. Black students persist in having LA Unified’s highest rates of dropouts and suspensions. They are most likely to be identified as needing special education services, and they are least likely to...

It's Official!! We're hosting the 1st NATIONAL Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference! Join us! There will be workshops for teachers, social workers, therapists and parents...

Radio Atlantic recently examined a question that underpins many, if not most, debates about education in the U.S.: What are public schools for? Increasingly, it seems, American parents expect schools to first and foremost serve as pipelines into the workforce—places where kids develop the skills they need to get into a good college, land a good job, and ultimately have a leg up in society. For those parents, consistently low test scores are evidence that the country’s education system is...

"Social-emotional learning programs teach the skills that children need to succeed and thrive in life," said Eva Oberle, an assistant professor at UBC's Human Early Learning Partnership in the school of population and public health. "We know these programs have an immediate positive effect so this study wanted to assess whether the skills stuck with students over time, making social-emotional learning programs a worthwhile investment of time and financial resources in schools."...

Lately, there's been a surfeit of scary news: Charlottesville, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and now Las Vegas. At NPR Ed we've covered many of the ways that teachers can be helpers, whether the disaster of the day is affecting your students directly or not: trauma-informed education, mindfulness, and yoga to name a few. While the young brain is impressionable to trauma, it can also be resilient , says Pamela Cantor, the founder of a nonprofit called Turnaround for Children. Trauma-informed...

Research shows that mindfulness can alleviate stress felt by students and teachers. This guide by Caren Osten Gerszberg can help you better understand ways to bring mindfulness to the classroom.

After any disaster, parents and other adults struggle with what they should say and share with children and what not to say or share with them. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages parents, teachers, child care providers, and others who work closely with children to filter information about the crisis and present it in a way that their child can accommodate, adjust to, and cope with. No matter what age or developmental stage the child is, parents can start by asking a child...