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Nurse @Wendie Skala worked with teens who were victims of street violence — and she always felt she was getting to them too late. Eventually, she learned about something called “adverse childhood experiences,” or ACEs : The idea that trauma early in life can cause disruptive and unhealthy behavior. And that’s when Skala says a “huge light bulb” went on. “Instead of saying, ‘What’s wrong with these kids?’ We could finally say, ‘What happened to these kids that they’re ending...

During and immediately after the 2016 presidential campaign, numerous reports emerged of an uptick in bullying behavior. As the mother of a bullied elementary school student told CBS News just after the vote: "The man that won the election has been modeling that it's OK to bully people ... and now children think it's OK to be mean too." Definitively proving such a dynamic is difficult, but a new study of Virginia schools provides the most compelling evidence yet that the 2016 campaign has...

Lesbian, gay and bisexual students in California’s middle and high schools are much more likely than their straight peers to feel depressed, abuse substances and skip school, according to a new report by Kidsdata .* The report examines data from two state-sponsored surveys, one looking at student wellbeing in grades 7,9 and 11 and non-traditional students, and another that gauges the opinions of staff at elementary through high schools on student behavior, policies and programs, and overall...

Justin Parmenter is a 7th grade language arts teacher at Waddell Language Academy in Charlotte, N.C. He was a fellow with Hope Street Group's NC Teacher Voice Network from 2016-2018 and currently serves on that organization's design team. You can find him on Twitter at @JustinParmenter . A few years ago, researchers at the University of Wisconsin set out to answer the question, “Can compassion be learned?” They wanted to see whether practicing the mindset of caring would lead to more caring...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) CDC Virtual Healthy School is an online, interactive school that provides innovative learning experiences to help make your school healthier. While the Virtual Healthy School’s major themes are nutrition, physical education and physical activity, and the management of chronic health conditions (e.g., asthma, diabetes) in schools—the tool also includes examples of how to incorporate all 10...

You can measure Cheryl Camany’s success by how high the stacks of pink paper are piled around her office. Each slip of paper is a residency questionnaire parents fill out for their kids at the beginning of the school year, and each offers a clue to just how many homeless students there are in this Salinas school district. In the last four years, the number of homeless students in California has increased by more than 20 percent. As that rate rises, some school districts are doing a better...

Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce plans to spend big on babies and toddlers, significantly expanding a range of programs, from helping parents care for their small children at home to identifying developmental delays early. In his first budget proposal, which is due to the Legislature by Thursday, Newsom plans to propose $100 million to expand a home-visiting program — in which nurses and social workers visit young, low-income parents to give health and parenting advice — and another...

School districts laboring under higher mandated expenses would receive a surprise windfall — pension-cost relief — in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first proposed state budget for 2019-20, which will also provide big spending increases for early and higher education. Using surplus money from the state’s General Fund, Newsom would wipe out $3 billion of districts’ rising obligations to CalSTRS, the pension fund for teachers and administrators, including $350 million each of the next two fiscal years.

THE NUMBER OF POOR students enrolled in a particular school or living in a certain school district is one of the most important education data points that exists, and the stakes are high for getting the count right. The figures are used to direct billions of dollars in federal and state aid, and they're a pillar of K-12 accountability systems that ensure disadvantaged students are keeping up with their wealthier peers. But the method that's traditionally used to track them – how many...

More than 4 million children endured lockdowns last school year, a groundbreaking Washington Post analysis found. The experience left many traumatized. School shootings remain rare, even after 2018, a year of historic carnage on K-12 campuses. What’s not rare are lockdowns, which have become a hallmark of American education and a byproduct of this country’s inability to curb its gun violence epidemic. Lockdowns save lives during real attacks, but even when there is no gunman stalking the...

Often ignored in the national conversation about the public school achievement gap, these students post some of the worst academic outcomes of any demographic group, which has been exacerbated by decades of discrimination, according to federal reports . The population is also among the most at risk: Underachievement and limited emotional support at school can contribute to a number of negative outcomes for Native youths — even suicide. Among people 18 to 24, Native Americans have the highest...

Ashley Edwards knew as a teenager that she wanted to make an impact on the world. The 27-year-old started doing social justice work at the age of 14 and was fully steeped in it by the time she reached college. And after Edwards met Alina Liao at Stanford Business School, her passion for helping teens achieve social justice for themselves turned into a business. The women created MindRight , a nonprofit that provides coaching and support for teens via text messaging. It is currently operating...