Tagged With "standardized testing"
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New Resource Guide for Child Sexual Abuse/Exploitation Prevention
Greetings, ACN Community! I wanted to share this fantastic new resource guide developed by one of the work groups from the Georgia Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force. This guide provides background on best practice, principles of prevention, identifying resources for the classroom, developing a prevention plan, age appropriate teaching suggestions, analysis of specific programs, and guidelines for implementation and evaluation. It is really quite thorough and is full of excellent ideas...
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New snapshots of school district achievement, drop-outs and discipline [California -- EdSource.org]
If you’ve got some time on you r hands and a yearning for school district data, check out a new tool announced Monday by the California Department of Education that tracks how well districts and schools have done from 2012 to 2014...
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Nowhere to Hide: The Elephant in the [Class]room
We are trying to scoop water out of a boat which has gaping trauma-holes in the bottom.
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Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Developmental trauma changes the architecture of the physical brain, ability to learn and social behavior. It impacts two out of three children, but I didn’t even know what it was…
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Beyond Paper Tigers: The Heart of the Matter
Graphic artist Anne Nelson created this visual roadmap during the partner showcase, capturing the "heart of the matter" for each community member Teri Barila, co-founder and CEO of the Children’s Resilience Initiative and the igniting force that brought change to a quiet corner of southeast Washington, kicked off last month’s Beyond Paper Tigers Conference by sharing one of her “aha” moments. In 2007, she attended a conference in Winthrop, WA, where Dr. Robert Anda spoke about the CDC-Kaiser...
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Black students and families need more support — and they need it now. An unprecedented coalition dives in with a new LAUSD task force. [laschoolreport.com]
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...
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Brain Development and Academic Achievement
"As much as 20% of the gap in test scores could be explained by maturational lags in the frontal and temporal lobes. ... The influence of poverty on children’s learning and achievement is mediated by structural brain development. To avoid...
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Can a nonprofit turn around a school in a juvenile detention facility? (hechingerreport.org)
New Orleans: As recently as a decade ago, the Youth Study Center would have been unlikely to attract an educational pioneer to their juvenile detention facility. The roughly 40 teenagers held in the flood-damaged center rarely made it to class because they were often on lockdown 23 hours a day. The staff had a reputation for incompetence. The building itself was plagued with bugs and mold. But this summer, the Orleans Parish School Board signed over operations of the school to the national...
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Cedar Rapids exploratory program provides project-based learning for high school students [LittleVillageMag.com]
Imagine the countless hours spent in high school classrooms: blackboards, textbooks, lesson plans. Now imagine if you could spend half of that typical day in real-world offices, solving real-world problems. That’s exactly what the students in the Iowa BIG program get to do every school year. Iowa BIG began as a collaborative effort between area business leaders and the Cedar Rapids Gazette Companies to begin to reimagine the typical approach to education. Its pilot kicked off in 2013, with...
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‘Change in culture’: New California guidelines aim to help teach social, emotional skills [Press Democrat]
The nation’s schools long ago broadened their missions beyond the teaching of academic subjects and participation in extracurricular activities. Educators have for decades been entrusted to teach students a wider range of life skills, including those that touch on emotions, empathy and relationships with other people. Now, a new state guide , released Wednesday, offers a slew of resources for teachers and administrators seeking to bolster kids’ social and emotional development. “Science...
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Children's Self-Control Improves When Cooperation with Others' Results in Rewards [psychcentral.com]
By Rick Nauert, PsychCentral, January 31, 2020 New research finds that children are more likely to control their immediate impulses when they and a peer rely on each other to get a reward than when they’re left to their own willpower. Investigators say their experiments are the first to show that children are more willing to delay gratification for cooperative reasons than for individual goals. In the study, researchers used a modified version of the “marshmallow test,” a classic...
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John Wetten Elementary School offers traumatized kids a springboard to hope (pamplinmedia.com)
In the past four years, the staff at John Wetten Elementary has done pioneering work to build an education model to support students who experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which include physical, sexual and emotional abuse; household substance abuse; adult mental illness; separated, divorced, or incarcerated parents; and domestic partner violence. To begin the Culture of Care program, CareOregon and MODA provided $80,000 grants in 2014 and '15 to enable Wilson and her team to...
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LA Unified not directing enough money to help low-income students, report charges (edsource.org)
Despite some incremental progress, Los Angeles Unified officials continue to “evade” the requirement of the state’s education funding formula to spend substantially more on schools serving low-income children and other students who generate additional revenue for the district, authors of a study released on Tuesday wrote. In their fourth annual analysis of spending in the state’s largest school district, the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and Communities of Los Angeles Student Success, a...
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Learning Through Play [TheAtlantic.com]
Google the definition of play and the first thing that pops up is this: “[To] engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.” Jack Shonkoff, the director of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, finds that language supremely frustrating. “It’s not taking a break from learning when we talk about play,” he told me, rattling off a litany of cognitive, physical, mental, and social-emotional benefits. “Play is one of the most...
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LucidWitness: Increasing Public-Awareness of Developmental Trauma
LucidWitness blogposts are designed for social media to help grow awareness of developmental trauma among your network(s).
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Many Students Are in Crisis. So Is America's School Counseling System. [Governing]
By Mattie Quinn, July 2019, Governing Janine Menard is moving quickly through her busy day. On a Monday morning at Pueblo del Sol Elementary, a dual elementary and middle school in West Phoenix, she visits a fourth-grade classroom that’s getting a lesson in understanding “different perspectives.” Menard, the school counselor, goes over scenarios aimed at tapping into the children’s empathetic side. They discuss ways to bridge gaps in understanding using emotional intelligence. An hour later,...
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Mental Health in Finnish Schools: So Close to Perfection [thelancet.com]
By Cassandra Coburn, The Lancet, August 30, 2019 Finland's educational system is routinely praised as among the best in the world, achieving superb results through methods regarded by other scholastic systems as unorthodox. Among the differences that single it out for praise is the delayed start to education, with compulsory schooling beginning with a pre-primary education for children at 6 years old, and full-time schooling only starting at age 7. In contrast to the battery of tests faced...
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The Importance of Physical Activities, Yoga, and Mindful Based Practices for Young Children
The topic of this blog post is the importance of physical activity for children. In terms of physical activity, I chose to focus on yoga practice for young children. I believe that children are a big part of our society and their health is a reflection of their surroundings, which is why children’s health is so important. I researched three unique and professional studies that show how yoga builds resilience, self-awareness, self-image, self-esteem, quality of life, and dramatically reduces...
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The kids aren’t all right [revealnews.org]
To listen to this podcast, click here . Federal law requires colleges and universities to track and disclose sexual assaults on campus. It’s different for kindergarten through 12th grade, where there are no similar requirements for cases involving assaults between students. In elementary, middle and high schools across the U.S., the Associated Press found a shocking level of sexual violence among students, including on U.S. military bases. On this episode of Reveal, we delve into the results...
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The Purpose of Education—According to Students [theatlantic.com]
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...
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The Real Crisis in Education: An Open Letter to the Department of Education by Krista Taylor
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20202 Governor John Kasich Riffe Center, 30th Floor 77 South High Street Columbus, OH 43215-6117 Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria Ohio Department of Education 25 South Front Street Columbus, OH 43215-4183 Dear Secretary DeVos, Governor Kasich, and Superintendent DeMaria: I write to each of you, in my position as a teacher in the Cincinnati Public Schools, to ask for...
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The Relentless School Nurse: Finding Flowers and Hidden Biases
When one of my four preschools celebrated Cinco de Mayo, they held a parade to kick off the fiesta. Since all of my students were marching in the parade, of course, I joined in the fun and provided extra support as we marched 60 students around several city blocks. I was the caboose at the very end of the parade line as we marched two by two in the neighborhood. My partner, 4-year-old Janielys (the name is changed), seemed very excited to be marching with the nurse! My students are primarily...
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The Relentless School Nurse: When the Health Office Pass Includes Emotions
The collaboration between school counselors and school nurses creates safe spaces for students at school. Building a coalition between school counselors and school nurses creates a safety net for our most complex and challenging students while benefiting the whole school community. Promoting connections through intentional relationship building, and ensuring a school environment that is physically, emotionally and psychologically safe changes the culture and climate. Read about an amazing...
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Reminder: Live Chat with Donna Jackson Nakazawa
"It's really not survival of the fittest - it's survival of the nurtured." Donna Jackson Nakazawa Date: Tuesday, November 14th, 2017 Time: 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST Where: Here / Chats ( featured chat ) Hosted by: @Jane Stevens Topics to be Covered: Parenting with ACEs. What parents need to know. Affordable self-care for stressed and busy parents. Healing from ACEs & family wellness. How to Attend Online Chats: M embers of ACEs Connection : Go to Chats (top of page). Find...
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Rural Oregon County Integrates ACEs Screening in School-Based Trauma-Informed Health Centers
For the last two years, nearly all students referred for mental health services in seven school-based health centers in Deschutes County, OR, have taken the 10-question adverse childhood experiences (ACE) survey.
It didn’t take long to realize why this was good idea.
“The average ACE score for a student being seen by a Deschutes County clinician was 5 out of 10,” says Elizabeth Fitzgerald, supervisor of school-based health centers at Deschutes County Health Services.
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Santa Rosa school embraces mindfulness to improve focus, boost grades (Pressdemocrat.com)
Lisa Moore rattled a rainstick before urging her Cook Middle School students to shut their eyes or look down. “Let what’s stressing your mind go,” she said between deep breaths. “As you breathe out, let all that stuff go.” Students exchanged glances. Some giggled, distracted by classroom visitors. Ultimately, the eighth-graders sank into their seats, closed their eyes or looked at their feet as their teacher’s soothing voice led them through their afternoon “mindfulness” session. Twice a...
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Re: Trauma Training For Educators (Free)
Thank you Kris for sharing this training video. I really liked the scenarios and visual examples as to how to interact with a student who is emotionally upset. I also liked the study guide for further opportunities to dive deeper into truly understanding trauma and the strategies that are most effective. When I was at Lincoln, I knew how important it was to provide time and space for students to de-escalate, but was not aware of the power of breathing as an effective strategy and tool to...
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Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
This is awesome information, Daun!! I especially like the part where you explain why teachers cannot become trauma-informed on their own. I'm reposting for ATN. Melissa
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Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Congratulations on an impressively well-organized and comprehensive presentation of a large mass of useful information! This might make a good DVD for widespread distribution.
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Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Outstanding article Daun, and great timing with school around the corner.
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Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Dr. Felitti, Thank you so much for your kind words and your suggestion. I am very honored and the DVD idea is quite intriguing! Daun Kauffman
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Re: Nowhere to Hide the Elephant in the [Class]room
Thanks so much Jim! I appreciate all your support. Take care of those beautiful grandchildren :-)
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Re: Cedar Rapids exploratory program provides project-based learning for high school students [LittleVillageMag.com]
Project-based learning brings life to the classroom. Lecture, take notes, test ... confines the potential in so many of our students. This model teaches collaborative and problem solving skills in which being wrong is safe, and leads to solutions. High stakes testing has taken us away from hands on projects and discovery. Encouraging to see a school(s) moving in this direction.
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Re: LucidWitness: Increasing Public-Awareness of Developmental Trauma
This index is phenomenal Daun! Thank you for your continued commitment to and passion for creating trauma-informed schools and being part of the solution in spite of, or perhaps because of, the very hard work you do every day!
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Re: LucidWitness: Increasing Public-Awareness of Developmental Trauma
Wow! Thanks so much Leslie!
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Re: Why school climate matters with a President Trump [PsychologyToday.com]
I agree that there are many issues that need to be addressed and solutions need to gain momentum. However, we have an elephant in the room that goes unaddressed by both political parties. We've seen legislation on Bullying and Harassment, we are starting to see legislation on school discipline and limiting excessive out of school suspensions, and in some states we are beginning to see a focus on trauma Informed practices with pilot school programs which is very encouraging. However, I...
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Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
In response I'd like to share this article about a program I work with: http://www.theatlantic.com/nat...-nonviolence/277893/ Not spoken in this article - is this dramatic change - a 90% reduction in violence and police calls - came from training only the adults in the building. We changed how the adults interact with the kids and got these results! We've since returned to train the students also. Roger Kluck
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Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Sorry, having trouble with the link Mr. Kluck. Daun
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Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
OK, got the link to work. Thank you for sharing. Results seem impressive ! Would you fill in some blanks on total student population before/after ? number of "engagement coaches" ? class size before/after ? have you gotten same results at other schools ? Did you get the same results in 2013/2014 school year ? Are you still there for 2014/2015 year ? Did you share results/get response from SDP ? Daun
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Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Thank you Daun for this insider's summary regarding the elephant in the room named TRAUMA. I have made the comment that really the public school is the largest social service agency we've got but nobody but me views it that way (I guess that sounds like a bleeding heart liberal). The remedies seem overwhelming, but your emphasis on an environment of safety instilled by training the adults make sense. As a mental health professional who has had some experience working in public schools, I...
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Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Thank you Wendy ! I couldn't agree more regarding both teacher training and schools(and teachers in classroom) providing social services. My post on "Do children have the right to be safe ?" contains a section on the U. S. Educational System shortfalls (vs. legal and healthcare systems). In spite of seemingly being the most broad, most frequented, most convenient (neighborhood), and probably most crucial system to receive children in efficient 'brain states. Acknowlegement of, and response...
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Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Wendy, also see my comment at the end of RWJF blog on Culture of Health http://lucidwitness.com/2014/0...a-culture-of-health/
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Re: Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Greetings All - I am jumping in as I have what may be a somewhat unique perspective on the topic of funding (or fueling) the work we are generally engaged in from within various roles. As a central office admin for 10 years I knew that content literacy (ie, reading, math, science, etc) was important. From a resiliency and asset management perspective, I also knew that learners impacted by trauma/neglect/ACE's were at a distinct disadvantage with peers who did not contend with such adversity.
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Re: WHAT'S MORE IMPORTANT ? TEST DATA OR LIFE DATA ?
I think the elephant in the room is profit$. The testing environment for teachers and students is not grounded in evidence-based research. The points that Daun brings out has a depth of research behind it. I was in a school yesterday that has been labeled by the state as a school of improvement. They have a fifty page document in which they have to complete for the state to show how they are going to raise student test scores. The principal was in tears, the teachers I talked to were in...
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Re: Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
Great article, Daun. You have wonderful insight. I wish you well in sharing it out with the education world. I've recently posted information on a free video Trauma Training for Educators - that highlights many of these same points regarding children and trauma. If you're interested in seeing it - www.ciscentraltexas.org/resources/traumatraining/ Best of luck to you, Kris
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Re: Educational Trauma
I was a teacher for the last 7 years and have had to leave permanently because I felt the stress created by the education system was causing real harm to the students, their families, and myself. The environment triggered me because it reminded me of my own dysfunctional family - never talk about the real problems and push all issues under the rug, and find a worthy scapegoat. The scapegoat was the administration. I tried everything to stay in education - I adored working with the kids - but...
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Re: Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
I was riveted by this post, Daun. You write so well and with so much passion and knowledge. Thank you for sharing this. I am forwarding immediately to our trauma-informed schools team.
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Re: Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
Wow ! Thank you so much Louise for your support, encouragement and your kind words. The 'partner' piece is on ACEsConnection and at my blog, LucidWitness.com : "Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine". That piece primarily highlights hyperarousal and hyper-vigilance. Daun
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Re: Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
I will certainly take a look at that. I'm wondering if you are considering coming to our conference in March?http://www.echoparenting.org/professional-services/conferences It's a national forum on trauma-informed schools and we were hoping that we could form some 'learning circles'. We have lots of experts who have applied to do workshops (people who usually train in this stuff) but we were also looking for practitioners to lead a circle to discuss challenges, best practices, etc. with no...