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I entered foster care in Los Angeles when I was five years old. I spent the majority of my time in care with a foster parent whose adopted daughter was like a little sister to me. In the five years I lived with them, many other foster children came and went, but this foster sister was always there. We did everything together at home, but that wasn’t so easy when we left the house. When the family went on vacation, I was not allowed to go with them because of foster care agency restrictions.

Salon: Your new book “Helping Children Learn” is subtitled “What Works and Why.” But if I may, I’d like to suggest a different subtitle: “Just About Everything We’re Doing to Low-Income Kids in School is Wrong and Here’s the Neuro-Biological Research to Explain Why.” Was it just me or does the research you write about upend some pretty fundamental assumptions? Paul Tough: I was struck by that too. Some of the basic principles we have, in terms of discipline, in terms of pedagogy and how we...

Connie Jones of Boothbay was elected chair of United Way of Mid Coast Maine’s Board of Directors. “We’ve set a great course for the future,” Jones said. Jones founded Boothbay Region Senior Services and currently serves as Community Liaison for Miles and St. Andrews Home Health and Hospice at LincolnHealth. Bruce MacDonald of Boothbay, former state legislator, was newly-elected to United Way’s Board of Directors. He has a special interest in their early childhood work. Also elected was...

Grit has been on NPR several times recently, not to mention front and center on the national education agenda . The term expresses the idea that a crucial component of success is people's ability to pick a goal and stick with it. That's the main thrust of research by Angela Duckworth at the University of Pennsylvania, which has earned her a MacArthur "genius" grant, national acclaim and, this month, a best-selling book. [For more of this story, written by Anya Kamenetz, go to ...

Did you know that a playground for elephants needs water, plants, and rhino playmates ? Or that ‘Frogtown,’ the Kermit-friendly analog, needs a rainforest canopy to enable sound sleep and protection for eggs? At least, that was the case during an empathy exercise at Ashoka’s “Bring Your Child to Work Day”. Even at a young age, children understand the multiple facets of wellbeing: safety and physical fitness, but also emotional attachment. As caregivers for the imaginary animals that...

I just finished reading your letter, What if? Thank you for the update on your work. The introductory paragraph is stirring: What if infectious diseases could no longer wreak havoc on poor communities? What if women and girls everywhere were empowered to transform their lives? What if all children - especially the poorest - had an equal opportunity to reach their full potential? I’m on board. What’s not to like? Well, I’ll tell you, Sue. [For more of this story, written by Susan Ochshorn, go...

Burdensome paperwork requirements, limited academic preparation and a lack of adult guidance and support make it difficult for foster and homeless youth to pursue higher education, says a new report by the Government Accountability Office. The GAO, an independent federal agency, called for streamlining federal rules that make it hard for youth to get financial aid or document their housing situation. It also urged studying how child welfare workers and others can better assist them with...

Working with today’s generation of youth involved in the criminal justice system does not provide instant gratification for direct service workers. Today’s generation do not get up to volunteer a seat for the elderly. Today’s generation will curse out their parents, teachers and strangers just because they feel like doing so. We can blame it on social media, lack of parenting and lack of community involvement in the village model. After all the blaming is done, however, how do we empower a...

How do we keep people with mental illness out of jail, instead providing them services that are more appropriate for their needs, with more effective outcomes, at less expense? Mental Health Matters is a collaborative project with KLRU, The Texas Tribune, the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, and the Mental Health Channel. Watch all Mental Health Matters episodes at mentalhealthchannel.tv/series/mental-health-matters and see all Mental Health Channel shows at mentalhealthchannel.tv/series

When U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp arrived mid-way through the May 25, 2016, congressional briefing on the Science of Trauma, she delivered her remarks (starts at 27:48 through 41:45) with passion, humor, and most of all, a sense of urgency to the room full of Capitol Hill staff and a smattering of advocates. Her message was macro as well as micro—change national policy to incorporate what the science tells us about trauma, and see and respond to the needs of those you encounter in everyday...

What if one area of research could prevent some of society's biggest problems? Researchers say an ever-expanding pool of data on the effects of childhood trauma—and how to counteract those effects—might be the key to alleviating countless societal problems. These include criminality, substance abuse, mental health problems and some of the leading causes of death. Those who work with children, in health care and with incarcerated populations in Crow Wing County are seeking to bring local...

In January ‘77, I was old enough to be allowed to watch grown-up TV with my sister, brother, and parents. During our viewings, I would either sit in Mama’s lap, or on the floor, my back resting against her legs because it was comfortable, and because she could easily clasp her hand over my eyes if something was too intense for me to see. On one of those nights, we were all engrossed watching a man named Kunta Kinte try to escape slavery again and again. Suddenly, in one scene, we saw an ax...