Author: wa-case

Some kindergartners and first-graders suspended from school can find it challenging to reverse the negative trajectory in their academic life, says a University of Michigan researcher. These young suspended students — especially boys — are likely to be suspended again later in elementary school, according to Zibei Chen, a research fellow at the U-M School of Social Work, and colleagues at Louisiana State University.  READ MORE

One of the frustrations for teachers and parents of kids with ADHD is getting a child to stop, listen and understand what is being taught or asked of him. These tips and strategies will improve listening skills in children with ADHD — enabling students to listen, learn and contribute in school and at home.  READ MORE

The Senate has approved a spending package that contains funding increases for prominent education programs focusing on disadvantaged students and special education, among several others. Senators voted overwhelmingly in favor of the legislation, which was crafted and approved by House and Senate appropriations leaders last week. The bill for fiscal 2019 includes a $581 million increase in total U.S. Department of Education spending over current levels for fiscal 2018.  READ MORE

The nation’s top special education official is setting a new agenda for the U.S. Department of Education as it works to address the needs of students with disabilities. A framework details a commitment from the Education Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to “rethink anything and everything” in a quest to meet the office’s mission “to improve early childhood, educational and employment outcomes and raise expectations for all people with disabilities, their families, their communities and the nation.”  READ MORE

Hi, everyone. Now before I begin, I am going to give you all a head’s up and let you know this is not going to be the typical article that you are probably used to reading here, but bear with me… I have quite the story to tell. My name is Amy Temple and I have learning disabilities. I was diagnosed when I was 5 years old, but before that, a few members of the medical community sure did try to figure out what was wrong with me. I mean … there had to be something!  READ MORE

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has published the Trauma-Informed Classrooms Technical Assistance Bulletin.

The impact of students’ life experiences on their behavior has garnered increasing attention as schools strive to develop more supportive academic environments that address the needs of at-risk youth and facilitate continued academic engagement. Few events outside the classroom have as profound an impact on multiple domains of student development as traumatic life experiences. Traumatic events can include domestic violence, abuse and neglect, school violence, loss of loved ones, and community violence, just to name a few. The range of student responses to trauma can vary from yelling to isolation. Students who have experienced trauma often have a distorted perception of the world and sense of not being safe. Creating an environment that fosters resilience and offers support to students who may experience a traumatic life event can potentially prevent unwanted disruptive behaviors in the classroom.

This technical assistance bulletin provides a basic understanding of the impact of trauma and adverse life experiences, how those experiences can impact behavior in the classroom, learning how to recognize trauma, and strategies for creating trauma-informed classrooms.
READ MORE

As the new school year moves into gear, one familiar mantra should be self-evident, but is easily put aside: you must build relationships with your students. In the rushing stream of teaching, grading, testing and reporting it is easy to forget that without those connections, you are not likely to get the best out of a student — and probably get much worse.  READ MORE

A new brief from the National Council on Teacher Quality found that a large majority of states haven’t taken steps to make sure their teachers have sufficient knowledge to teach reading. According to the organization, just 11 states require licensing tests for both elementary and special education teachers to measure their knowledge of reading instruction. The other 40 states either don’t have sufficient licensing tests in place for both groups of teachers or have no test at all.  READ MORE

Teachers have had to become data experts in recent years, especially with the shift toward personalizing learning to target students’ individual strengths and weaknesses. But in addition to feeling pressed for time, teachers also express other barriers to making the most of the data available to them. For one, not all data is equally useful. In a survey released last year by ACT, teachers said that school assessments, special education data and district assessments were the most useful, while student, parent and teacher surveys were the least helpful in making data-informed decisions.  READ MORE

A widely cited 2007 study claimed that teachers greeting students at the classroom door led to a 27 percent increase in academic engagement. The problem? It included just three students. Now a new, much larger and more credible study — comprising 203 students in 10 classrooms — validates that claim: Greeting students at the door sets a positive tone and can increase engagement and reduce disruptive behavior. Spending a few moments welcoming students promotes a sense of belonging, giving them social and emotional support that helps them feel invested in their learning.  READ MORE