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In 2007, at the start of my son’s fourth grade year, the teacher who I will call Ms. L, gave the class an assignment. They were to write letters to their “future selves” outlining the things they envisioned and hoped for over the course of the coming year. Ms. L. would give the letters back to the children at the end of the year so they could see how their “future selves” aligned with the vision they held at the start of the year. Though my son, ten at the time, showed no outward signs of...

Achievement First charter school is seen Saturday, March 7, 2020, in Providence, R.I. A new study from researchers who have analyzed charter school performance over two decades finds that the publicly funded, independently run schools are now outperforming traditional public schools. David Goldman/AP To read more of Libby Stanford's article, please click here, Charter Schools Now Outperform Traditional Public Schools, Sweeping Study Finds (edweek.org) Chart er schools have evolved over the...

In this screenshot from a livestream broadcast by the State of Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs a bill, Monday, June 12, 2023, at Harold Washington Library's Thomas Hughes Children's Library in downtown Chicago. The new law will require the state's libraries to uphold a pledge not to ban material because of partisan disapproval, starting on Jan. 1, 2024. If they refuse, they will not receive state funding. Pritzker said the law will make Illinois the first state in the nation to outlaw...

Norah Weiner (L) and Erika Young (R), the grand-prize winners in grades 5-8 of NPR's Student Podcast Challenge, at Presidio Middle School in San Francisco. Talia Herman for NPR To read more of Sequoia Carrillo and Janet W. Lee 's article, please click here. School shootings, social media, beauty standards and fast-changing fashion trends – say that five times fast. Adolescence has always been tough, but the acceleration of modern forces makes it more stressful than ever. In the words of two...

To read more of Simone Marean and Takai Tyler's article, please click here. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its Youth Risk Behavior Survey report in March, outlining the severity of the nation’s adolescent mental health crisis, building school connectedness was a cornerstone of its recommended solution. It even outlined school-based suggestions for improving curricula. But this approach to alleviating severe mental health concerns, complex trauma, sexual violence...

[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site — abuseresearch.info — that focuses on the effects of abuse, and includes research articles on PACEs. Every month, she posts the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs, PCEs and PACEs. Thank you, Harise!! — Rafael Maravilla] Domestic Violence – Effects on Children Makris G, Eleftheriades A, Pervanidou P. Early Life Stress, Hormones, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Horm Res...

Ben David, co-chair of the North Carolina Chief Justice's Task Force on ACEs-Informed Courts, shares plans to sustain the work done during the two-year term of the Task Force, to "care for our own" speaking of North Carolina's children, youth, families, communities, victims of crimes, members of law enforcement, the judiciary and court officers and staffers. He also shared Chief Justice Paul Newby's hopes of "getting ACEs-informed courts" into the culture, and said a national conference for...

Amy Read of Coastal Horizons introduces the panel following a viewing of "Resilience: The Biology of Stress, The Science of Hope", at the Pender Resiliency Task Force Mini Conference Thursday, June 8 ,at Heide Trask High School in Rocky Point. A "dream team" of subject-matter expert panelists (L-R) were Ryan Estes of Coastal Horizons, Ben David, district attorney for Pender and New Hanover counties, Judge J. H. Corpening, district court judge for New Hanover and Pender counties, Taylor...

Image: Trauma-resilient care is becoming an essential tool for educators, especially at the high school level. To read more of Ann Abajian's article, please download the attachment to this blog post. LOS ANGELES ( June 1 , 2023) – Trauma-resilient practices are the next step in helping teachers effectively support students affected by childhood trauma, a growing epidemic among our youth. A new program that trains and certifies schools and educators called Trauma-Resilient Educational...

PACEs Connection is excited to roll out our summer 2023 *CRC* curriculum dates. Members who complete the CRC will qualify for a fall 2023 fellowship program.

Jordyn Zimmerman. PHOTO: LORI SAPIO To read more of Lizzie Hyman's article, please click here. For the first 18 years of her life, Jordyn Zimmerman, who is nonspeaking and has autism, says she was treated as "subhuman" in the classroom and was controlled by others who assumed she was incapable of meaningful communication. But since receiving access to effective augmentative communication, she had the tools she needed to challenge the educational status quo. "I was in a perpetual state of...

Enrique Echeburúa at his office, in San Sebastián, Spain. © Javier Hernandez Juantegui (EL PAÍS) To read more of Daniel Mediavilla's article, please click here. Enrique Echeburúa (San Sebastian, Spain, 72 years old), Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), says that when a suicide occurs, there are other victims beyond the deceased, and they do not receive adequate support. “The first thing [we need to do] is make it easier for the family...