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Educating the Whole Child

This blog series explores research, policy, and practices to support students' healthy growth and development.

Educating the Whole Child blog series art

Showing 10 of 12 results
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Blog series: Educating the Whole Child. Restorative Justice at Fremont High School by Sarah Klevan
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| Fremont High School in Oakland, CA, is among the many schools seeing benefits from adopting restorative practices in place of exclusionary discipline policies such as suspensions and expulsions, which disproportionately impact students of color and students with disabilities. Since implementing these policies, Fremont has reduced suspension rates and increased enrollments.
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Graphic with text over background of stylized people in pastel rainbow colors: "Blog Series - Educating the Whole Child - Students Need Social and Emotional Learning"
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| Parents, teachers, and researchers agree: Students need social and emotional skills to reach their full potential. Students may face hardships that impede their ability to learn, such as discrimination, housing insecurity, and school safety. Schools can enact polices that support whole child development to help their students’ through difficult times.
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Blog Series: Educating the Whole Child, on Attendance Matters by Hedy N. Chang
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| Early data suggest chronic absence has doubled nationwide. Sixteen million students—or one out of every three—are now missing so much school that they are at risk academically. Fortunately, research and experience offer effective strategies for addressing chronic absences.
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Blog Series: Educating the Whole Child. Mitigating Poverty's Impact on Student Success by Peter W. Cookson Jr. and Linda Darling-Hammond
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| More than 5 million children in the United States are living in deep poverty, but their economic circumstances do not have to determine their life chances. By leveraging three key strategies—funding adequacy and equity, community schools and partnerships, and a whole child teaching and learning culture—schools and school systems can mitigate the impact of poverty on student success and well-being.
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Educating the Whole Child blog series: Communicating about SEL by Sheldon Berman and Linda Darling-Hammond
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| Polarizing and inaccurate framing of social and emotional learning (SEL) has caused concern for some parents. The authors examine a Fordham survey that sheds light on why and discuss how to help parents understand that SEL and academics are inextricably connected and not an either/or choice.
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Educating the Whole Child blog series: Expanding Learning Opportunities
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| The convergence of disruption, innovation, empowerment, and new funding offers an unprecedented opportunity to reimagine how we "do school." This includes expanding access and broadening the scope of summer learning and before- and after-school opportunities to be more responsive to students and families and offer creative, project-based learning and enrichment activities that build skills, expand horizons, and lead to a wide range of positive student outcomes.
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Educating the Whole Child blog series: Supporting Newcomer Students by Amber Hu
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| Oakland International High School is a sanctuary for recently arrived immigrant students, preparing them academically and linguistically for their new lives in the United States. Through its community school infrastructure, commitment to supporting the whole child, and explicit focus on English language acquisition and preparation for college, the school is raising expectations and expanding opportunities for its students.
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Educating the Whole Child blog: The Power of Shared Learning by Roberta Furger
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| Through an innovative learning initiative that includes in-person school site visits and virtual learning sessions, engaged community leaders, parents, students, advocates, and others are building their capacity to advance evidence-based and equitable practices that promote authentic learning, foster relationships of trust and respect, and chip away at structural inequities that undermine opportunities for historically marginalized students.
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Educating the Whole Child Blog series art: California's Early Learning Assessment System by Cathy Yun
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| High-quality early childhood experiences depend upon ongoing formative assessments. High-quality assessments enable teachers to monitor each student’s changing skills and competencies and to tailor instruction to reinforce children’s strengths and support individualized growth. Aggregated assessment data can also be used to identify system-level patterns, strengths, and gaps that can inform equitable resource allocation and investments in early childhood and elementary programs and initiatives.
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Educating the Whole Child blog series
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| A positive school climate can be an effective counter to harassment, bullying, and other forms of social identity threat that many students experience. This blog explores how strong, trust-based relationships and other “whole child” strategies can facilitate a student’s sense of belonging. This improves learning, development, and wellness among students, especially for those who are harassed or marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or sexual identity.