School’s out for the summer. But that apparent distinction – school versus no school – is not so distinct. All year long, what happens in neighborhoods affects schools, which in turns affects what happens in neighborhoods – and beyond.

Consider one example: violence. Students can’t learn in unsafe schools or when they are traumatized from exposure to violence outside the classroom. Research is clear that violence disrupts the social networks crucial for maintaining supportive learning environments. The students feel it with stress, anxiety and fear. They can’t concentrate. They might miss school. They miss out on learning.

Our whole society feels the effects of violence with depressed graduation rates, students’ unrealized potential and lost productivity. Most immediately, the effects of violence are felt in the schools by students, teachers, principals and volunteers.

[For more of this story, written by Lori Dorfman from Berkeley Media Studies Group and Rachel Davis of  the Prevention Institute, both member organizations of CA Essentials for Childhood,  go to http://edsource.org/2015/news-...-and-education/82895