Tagged With "March for Our Lives"
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Trauma Resilient Educational Communities (TREC) Model
Learn4Life quickly realized that in order to reach students’ heads, we needed to reach their hearts. So, we designed the Trauma-Resilient Educational Communities (TREC ) Model which is based on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) science and protocols. TREC is an active approach to understanding trauma. We do more than explain the effects of trauma and encourage understanding amongst our teachers, counselors and staff. All our employees are trained and receive credentials in the foundations...
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Students speak out: California educators host first-ever statewide talk about institutional racism [sfchronicle.com]
By Brett Simpson, San Francisco Chronicle, June 18, 2020 On Wednesday afternoon, over 300 California educators, parents, and students tuned into Facebook Live to hear high school students speak honestly about their own experiences of racism, implicit bias, and trauma at school. The “ Student Support Circle: Institutional Racism and Implicit Bias ,” was co-hosted by the California Department of Education and the National Equity Project, and is the first among several initiatives state...
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California reaches milestone with ACEs initiatives pulsing in all 58 counties. Next: All CA cities.
Karen Clemmer, the Northwest community facilitator with ACEs Connection, was already deeply interested in the CDC/Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study when she and a colleague from the Child Parent Institute were invited to lunch by ACEs Connection founder and publisher Jane Stevens in 2012. But that lunch meeting changed everything. Karen Clemmer “Jane helped us see a bigger world,” says Clemmer. “She came with a much wider lens. She didn’t look only at Sonoma County, she...
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kNOw More! online human trafficking education for San Diego County schools.
kNOw MORE! , Point Loma Nazarene University's one-of-a-kind creative human trafficking awareness and prevention program for youth and families, is now available for distance learning! In this moment of pandemic, young people are spending significantly more time online, increasing their vulnerabilities to trafficking. Human trafficking education is more important now than ever. kNOw MORE! utilizes the same student-centered multimedia teaching style with dramas that have shifted to film, live...
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Re: kNOw More! online human trafficking education for San Diego County schools.
This is so awesome and much needed in all our schools.
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Three simple ways to mitigate stress and practice self-care (medium.com/@ClintonFdn)
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create anxiety and uneasiness and impact people’s mental health and overall well-being, a Clinton Foundation partner shares her expertise and resilience-building strategies to use during uncertain or challenging times. This blog post was written by Dana Brown, Organizational Liaison, ACEs Connection. Dana is an ACEs Science Statewide Facilitator, and through the organization, Learn4Life, she works within the Trauma-Informed Work Group and Steering...
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KTLA5 News – Learn4Life providing remote learning and baby supplies to teen parents during COVID-19 (learn4life.org)
HOPE Program Coordinator Staci Roth was featured on KTLA 5 Morning News! Staci talked about how Learn4Life is supporting our students – especially our parenting-students, through home deliveries, virtual parent-circles and so much more. The HOPE program is Helping Parenting Students Excel . To read more of the Learn4Life article, please click here.
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How We’re Helping Underserved Students with On-site Healthcare (learn4life.org)
Among the challenges low-income families face, access to healthcare is just as much a concern as receiving a quality education. We are working to improve healthcare access for our at-risk students through a new partnership that co-locates a clinic at a learning center. “We do everything we can to make wraparound services available so our students can concentrate on earning their diploma,” explained Shellie Hanes, area superintendent. “Most of our teens do not have access to healthcare, so...
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Webinar: Leveling up Google Classroom for Distance Learning (nea.org)
Don’t miss the next installment of our Mastering Distance Learning Webinar Series! Next up: Learn about how to maximize Google Classroom for remote teaching and learning purposes with embedded opportunities for social emotional learning, more complex assignments, interactive learning environments, tools for one-on-one student support, and opportunities to differentiate practice to fit your students' needs. September 28th from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm PDT Register HERE.
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How Parents Can Support Children With Special Needs During Distance Learning (greatergood.berkeley.edu)
Parenting a child with additional learning, attention, social-emotional, or behavioral needs has never been easy—and it’s not exactly getting easier. Distance learning and hybrid learning have created a whole new layer of challenge for the approximately 7.1 million children who receive special education services in American schools. Here are the three most common challenges I have been seeing for children with special needs—and what parents can do when they see these challenges at home. “My...
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New Resource: Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic One-Pager (English & Spanish!)
English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance have co-created a newly developed resource, “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe...
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The Pandemic Is Raging. Here's How to Support Your Grieving Students [edweek.org]
By Brittany R. Collins, Education Week, November 12, 2020 Over the past few decades, trauma-informed teaching has gained ground in the United States, yet rarely is grief included in the conversation. In the midst of a global pandemic, with teachers and students confronting loss in and outside the classroom in new and myriad ways, it is more critical than ever to apply a grief-sensitive lens to our conversations about curricula and trauma in the school system. We are not the people we were a...
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Holiday Message from Doc Childre, HeartMath Institute's Founder (heartmath.org)
The holidays can magnify our care, kindness, and connection… yet they can also magnify energies of separation, like blame, chaos, and emotional instability. It’s helpful to make heart-firm commitments to add compassion, kindness, patience, and latitude as we interact with others and with ourselves. Practicing these heart qualities during the holiday period (or any time) can prevent much stress and lift our spirit for increased clarity, discernment, and intuitive guidance for our highest...
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A resource for teachers during unprecedented times
Following Gov. Ige's furlough announcement for all state employees beginning in January 2021, I can't imagine how this must have impacted our public school educators Stress and anxiety have been experienced by all during COVID-19 and all educators (early education to higher learning) have not be spared. This is an excellent article that sheds some light on the anxiety that teachers are facing and some potential pragmatic strategies to help mitigate the effects of stress during these...
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Rethinking Homework for This Year—and Beyond (edutopia.org)
Homework has long been the subject of intense debate, and there’s no easy answer with respect to its value. Teachers assign homework for any number of reasons: It’s traditional to do so, it makes students practice their skills and solidify learning, it offers the opportunity for formative assessment, and it creates good study habits and discipline. Then there’s the issue of pace. Throughout my career, I’ve assigned homework largely because there just isn’t enough time to get everything done...
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A Guide to Practicing Self-Care with Mindfulness (mindful.org)
The History of Self-Care The “radical” concept of self-care was born during the civil rights era, a time when brave individuals were fighting the relentless enemies of prejudice and discrimination. These American heroes created the first real communities of care, standing strong together in the face of seemingly impossible challenges and unspeakable treatment. It can’t be lost on us that one of the concepts they were fighting for was (and remains) the basic human right to self-care. People...
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Peace Begins With Me (mindful.org)
Adam Avin saw his peers hurting and wanted to help them. In this interview, the now-16-year-old talks about the innovative ways he shares mindfulness skills with other kids and teens, sowing seeds for a happier and more peaceful future. Mindful : In your TED talk you say that your grandfather introduced you to a mindful and positive approach to life. I’m curious, did he call that approach “mindfulness” or was that a word that you learned later? Adam : No, he didn’t actually use the word...
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Black Lives Matter 13 Guiding Principles (DC Area Educators for Social Justice)
1. Restorative Justice We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people. As we forge our path, we intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting. 2. Empathy We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts. 3. Loving Engagement We...
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COVID-19 Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (cdc.gov)
Why are some racial and ethnic minority groups disproportionately affected by COVID-19? Introduction Risk of Exposure to COVID-19 Risk of Severe Illness or Death from COVID-19 Disparities in COVID-19 Illness Disparities in COVID-19-Associated Hospitalizations Disparities in COVID-19 Deaths Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Mitigation Strategies What We Can Do to Move Towards Health Equity Click each link above to learn about underlying health and social inequities that put many racial and...
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A People’s Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching Climate Change and the Environmental Crisis (zinnedproject.org)
A People’s Curriculum for the Earth is a collection of articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics to help breathe life into teaching about the environmental crisis. The book features some of the best articles from Rethinking Schools magazine alongside classroom-friendly readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution — as well as on people who are working to make things better. At a time when it’s becoming increasingly obvious that life on Earth is at...
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Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk Series (socialjusticebooks.org)
In response to the overwhelming number of requests for recommendations of anti-bias children’s books, we are launching the Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk series. Beyond just sharing booklists, we want to share how we select high-quality, anti-bias books so that parents and teachers can do the same. Teaching for Change associate director Allyson Criner Brown is producing the series for parents, teachers, and librarians. She explains, Freedom Reads: Anti-Bias Book Talk is part anti-bias...
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To Reduce Child Poverty, Increase Family Incomes (childtrends.org)
Children are more likely to live in poverty than any other age group in the United States. Poverty undermines children’s development and threatens their long-term prospects. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, 12 million children lived in families with incomes below the federal poverty level; another 15 million lived in families that were one economic shock away from slipping into poverty. The COVID recession has since swelled the ranks of both groups. Money—especially in the form of a...
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Recording Available: Trauma-Responsive Practices During Distance Learning
The February workshop recording from last week is available now for Trauma-Responsive Practices During Distance Learning! You can watch it by clicking here . Learn more about Rise to Resilience on the website by clicking here and access our additional social media links here .
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Lockdown study finds undiagnosed mental health crisis among new mothers [theconversation.com]
By Vicky Fallon, Sergio A. Silverio, and Siân Macleod Davies, The Conversation, February 5, 2021 New mothers experienced worryingly high rates of depression and anxiety during the first lockdown, our new research has revealed. One of the major contributing factors to them feeling this way was the psychological impact of social distancing measures. Our study examined the psychological and social experiences of over 600 women with babies between birth and 12 weeks old during the first UK...
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Five Things We Get Wrong (D'OH) with SEL
SEL. Social-Emotional Learning (SEL). My lil’ ole school counselor heart should be beaming with joy. SEL is FINALLY receiving the limelight it has long deserved in education. Most everyone everywhere is proclaiming the importance of SEL! So why do I want to smack myself upside the head (Homer Simpson style – D’OH) most every time I read about, hear about, or see an SEL effort in a school. Because we keep getting it WRONG! So before I start in with all the ways in which we are screwing it up,...
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How Some Mistakes Can be Generative for Teachers and Students Alike (kqed.org)
With all of the papers, homework and tests that cross a teacher’s desk, you’d think that a healthy relationship to mistake-making would come easy, but it’s not that simple. Messing up does not come naturally for most people, especially teachers who are constantly under the scrutiny of students, guardians, colleagues and administrators. And because teachers are tasked with making an estimated 3,000 non-trivial decisions everyday , it makes sense that some of those decisions will end up being...
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Seeking Middle School and High School Youth Leaders!
We are looking for Middle School and High School student leaders for two new student-led initiatives with the 16 Strong Project. The time is now. Given the raging COVID-19 pandemic that has upended all of our lives, our youth are struggling. It is imperative that we engage and listen to students about their needs. We need to educate them on what it means to face adversity and more importantly, how we can overcome it and thrive despite that adversity. Arguably every single young person now...
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There Is No Vaccine for Grief (nytimes.com)
Anticipatory grief is a well-documented phenomenon in grief counseling, said Dr. Katherine Shear, the founder and director for the Center for Complicated Grief at Columbia University. But usually researchers study anticipatory grief in environments like hospices , where loss is imminent. What many of us are experiencing right now is more nebulous. Dr. Shear cautioned that spiraling into anticipatory grief for a loss that may not even happen is likely to be unhelpful. Of course, even if you...
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Developing Human Capital: Moving from Extraction to Reciprocity in Our Organizational Relationships (nonprofitquarterly.org)
This ecological framework should give us pause as we consider notions of “human resource” and “human capital” in nonprofit organizations. In traditional business terms, a “resource” may be fully extractable, as Berry described, and “capital” may be under the full control of the corporation to expand its resource extraction as much as possible. These terms and their underlying belief systems, if left unchallenged, can lead us into dangerous waters if we are committed to the social sector...
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4 Ways The Pandemic Can Grow Your Character And Career (thriveglobal.com)
The pandemic has created a lot of heartbreak, fear and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the workforce. On top of our personal woes, many employees have grappled with fears of loved ones and themselves contracting Covid-19, not to mention the isolation and burnout of remote working and helping children with schoolwork. Although many of us have endured a lot of stress and mental health challenges, there’s good news on the horizon, known as post-traumatic growth (PTG)—the benefits...
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We’ve changed our name to PACEs Connection!
We have some very exciting news! As of today, ACEs Connection is now PACEs Connection. PACEs stands for Positive and Adverse Childhood Experiences.
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The Culture-Friendly School (ascd.org)
The message in this school is clear: Cultures are welcome and cultural differences are worth embracing. Our public charter school in Washington, D.C., has "international" in its name and cultural competence in its mission statement. But it's not just the classes in Chinese, French, and Spanish or trips to embassies that prepare students to take on the world. Instead, the journey to global readiness begins the first week of 6th grade—when students bring objects from home to share with...
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Opinion: Arts Education Is a Student Right, Especially During a Pandemic (calhealthreport.org)
Students across the country are grappling with difficult feelings, situations and events as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are no easy solutions. A national study published in November found that over 80 percent of young adults reported a decline in mental health during the two months after the start of the pandemic. But arts education has the power to emotionally and academically rebuild students — and the world around us. At the start of this crisis, I saw people in need of a...
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New Resource: Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities
The California Essentials for Childhood Initiative is excited to share a newly developed attached, “Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities: Practices to Improve Resiliency in School-Aged Children and Address Adverse Childhood Experiences”. This new resource is intended to assist state and local public health programs, child-serving systems, non-profits, and philanthropic organizations in their efforts to educate about the need for trauma-informed school policies and practices that...
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Program helps kids manage anxiety with puppets (rutlandherald.com)
A group of puppeteers is taking a creative approach to helping Vermont students manage their anxiety this school year. For almost 40 years, Puppets in Education — a part of the Vermont Family Network — has staged live presentations in schools around the state addressing issues such as bullying, abuse, health and stress. As the pandemic has progressed, so has concern about child mental health Through their presentations, Puppets in Education offers information about anxiety, leads discussions...
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WATCH REPLAY: How We Can All Help Prevent School Shootings-Expert Teen Advocate, Community Leader, So California ACEs Connection Regional Facilitator-Dana Brown
Check out the replay of the wonderful interview DANA BROWN gave me on my transformational talk show, Mary Giuliani LIVE on 2-28-18 on how we can all help prevent school shootings through understanding and implementing ACEs science. I had such a heartfelt talk with Dana Brown, an Expert Youth and Teen Advocate, Community Leader, & Southern California Regional Community Facilitator with ACEs Connection.com. Dana and I discussed the core issues that underlie these horrific school shootings...
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Mind Out Loud: FREE Online Student Event for California Middle & High School Students hosted by Wellness Together, San Diego County Office of Education, and the California Department of Education
Wellness Together School Mental Health, in partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education and the California Department of Education, will host Mind Out Loud – a free three-day virtual event on May 4-6, 2021 from 3:30-5:00 p.m. for middle and high school students to convene and boldly discuss mental health; connect with peers across California; hear from engaging speakers to become equipped with practical tools for wellness; increase mental health awareness and advocacy for...
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PACEs Connection presents the "Historical Trauma in America" series
PACEs Connection's Race & Equity Workgroup will be examining historical trauma in the United States of America and its impact on American society in a series of virtual discussions. This series will highlight each unique region within the United States and outline how unresolved historical trauma has impacted every aspect of American life and directly shapes the socio-political landscape of today as well as the overall well-being of Americans. Discussions will make connections between...
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Human Connection Is the Key to Our Hybrid Future (thriveglobal.com)
The future of the workplace, as many have noted, is going to be hybrid — with most companies opting for some combination of in-person and remote work. Knowing what this hybrid workplace will look like is, in a sense, the easy part. But more important, and more complicated, is the how: How are we going to work together effectively in this hybrid world? How can companies set people up for success and create environments that foster creativity, belonging and a sense of purpose when their...
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How to Meditate with Anxiety (mindful.org)
Explore how mindfulness and meditation can help soften feelings of anxiousness, reduce stress, and calm a panic attack in our new mindful guide to meditation for anxiety. Anxiety is our body’s way of saying, “Hey, I’m experiencing too much stress all at once.” This happens to the best of us. But when that feeling of being “always on alert” becomes background noise that doesn’t go away, that’s when it’s time to seek help. Mindfulness and meditation for anxiety is a growing field that can help...
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The Hybrid Workplace Can Be a More Human Workplace (thriveglobal.com)
The past year taught us valuable lessons about work and well-being. With the abrupt shift to remote work, many of us found ourselves juggling the demands of work, school, and home life in new ways. The pandemic highlighted and magnified the connection between work and overall well-being. It exposed all of us to new sources of stress and different kinds of fatigue. On the plus side, it taught us valuable lessons about how we can reorganize our lives, our work, and our workplaces so that they...
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What's so dangerous about critical thinking? [commonwealthmagazine.org]
By Todd Gazda, CommonWealth, August 31, 2021 ONE CANNOT HELP but be troubled by the events that have transpired across our country over the past few years. The high-profile instances of racism and racial violence we’ve experienced are merely the most recent of in a string of discrimination and injustice brought about by the deeply imbedded systemic racism, violence, and inequity still prevalent in our society today. These incidents dramatically underscore the fact that a substantial amount...
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What Should Be the Purpose of Education? Listen to Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade on The 180 Podcast [tfcusa.org]
NEW EPISODE OF THE 180 PODCAST Listen: Jeff Duncan-Andrade: The Purpose of Education Should Be Youth Wellness "When you find the tenacity and the will to show up to school in a society that teaches you to hate yourself for the color of your skin and the texture of your hair, the language that your parents speak, the neighborhood that you come from, and you still show up? How do we not have institutions that see that as the most important ingredient for intellectual development?" — Jeff...
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A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching the Colonization of the Americas (edutopia.org)
Trauma-informed teaching isn’t just about reaching students who have a history of adverse childhood experiences and may have specific learning needs as a result. It’s also about managing the emotional reactions that both students and teachers may have when sensitive topics are introduced into the classroom. AN APPROACH TO TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES When teaching the history of the Americas, excessive empathy for Indigenous peoples often impedes inquiry and learning. This...
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Three Actions for Building a Culture of Collective Efficacy (ascd.org)
Collective efficacy occurs when teachers in a school believe that, as a team, they have the power to help their students learn more effectively—and this belief is based on their own shared experiences of success. A culture of collective efficacy does not simply happen; it is built intentionally. I have learned this in my work at Lead by Learning , a nonprofit connected with the Mills College School of Education that partners with schools and districts to foster collective efficacy. At the...
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Centering Equity in Collective Impact (ssir.org)
In 2011, two of us, John Kania and Mark Kramer, published an article in Stanford Social Innovation Review entitled “ Collective Impact .” It quickly became the most downloaded article in the magazine’s history. To date, it has garnered more than one million downloads and 2,400 academic citations. More important, it encouraged many thousands of people around the world to apply the collective impact approach to a broad range of social and environmental problems. Independent evaluations have...
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America’s Students Need Us More Than Ever (thriveglobal.com)
As many of our nation’s young people returned to school campuses to reconnect with teachers, coaches, and classmates this fall we rejoiced in their voices and comradery from the bus stops, classrooms, and playgrounds. These sounds take on a greater meaning as we reflect on the significant learning and relational losses that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on students globally. With the recent declaration from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent...
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U.S. Education Secretary is Right on the Money –Make Financial Literacy Classes Mandatory (learn4life.org)
The Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona says personal finance lessons should be mandatory in our schools, and we certainly agree. Learn4Life has been teaching financial literacy to its high school students for the past seven years. Currently only 21 states mandate financial classes in high schools and only a few more require them available as elective courses. During Financial Literacy Month, it’s important to note that graduates of high schools with financial education are less likely to...
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Teen Dad Balancing Baby and Books This Father’s Day (learn4life.org)
We know that 200,000 teen girls give birth every year in the U.S., but what about the other half of the equation – the 200,000 fathers? Unfortunately, only about 33 percent of fathers under 18 stick around to help raise the child. When you consider that 70% of those teen moms don’t graduate – it’s not hard to imagine why. For Father’s Day, we are spotlighting one teen dad who takes his role seriously and is actively parenting his child. Meet Ricky C., 19, who brings his 4-month-old son to...
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What Do Parents Really Want for their Children’s Education? (Learn4Life)
Learn4Life highlights National Parents’ Day to remind us of the importance of the parent voice in educational decisions that impact students LOS ANGELES (July 25, 2022) – Did you know the fourth Sunday of July is National Parents' Day? President Clinton established this day in 1994 to promote responsible parenting and to recognize positive parental role models. And shouldn’t parents’ role in education be a part of this designation? While we rely on parents to make sure their children go to...