For many of us the first day of school is right around the corner. Students and educators across the country are gearing up for another year and this year the issue of bullying and cyber-bullying is not only on the student’s minds but educators as well. This year, 160,000 students will skip school each day in fear of getting bullied. With these numbers as high as they are, it's not a big surprise that academic achievement is an increasing challenge in most schools. If you want take part in making a change in your schools academic achievement and pinpointing where exactly this begins, then you can't miss the first National Conference on School Engagement.
National Center for School Engagement Presents: The National Conference on School Success
Date: October 26-28, 2011
Location: Denver, Colorado
With regestration all conference participants will be given one year free membership to the School Climate Resource Center –Operated by the National School Climate Center
Anderson Williams, Director of Consulting at Cascade Educational Consultants, has written an insightful piece on the language we use in engaging our students and communities in collective action. He asks what is implied when we say things like the following: Youth are our future, Youth are the leaders of tomorrow; Give back to the Community; Pass the Torch; and A Seat at My Table. How does the cliched language we often defer to impact our efforts in reaching youth (and adults) to build and improve our communities, or to get involved in a social cause?
Click here to read the post at the Cascade Matters Blog.
"Practice and policy must work in concert; together we must make the whole child approach to education a national priority so that each child is ready for meaningful employment, continuing education, and active participation in our global society." - ASCD Executive Director Gene R. Carter
Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA) recently introduced H. Res. 1093 to make March "National Whole Child Month". This bill is the first step toward making the whole child approach to education a national priority and ensuring that all children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged in our schools. Congress is expected to vote on H. Res. 1093 within the next few weeks, and it's up to us to get involved and help speed its passage!
Take a second to make a difference. In a country where a student drops out of school every 9 seconds and where every 7 seconds a child is bullied on the playground, your simple act of support and solidarity can make a huge difference:
If you believe in whole child education, now's the time to take action. Visit the Whole Child's website for more information and resources.
This past fall, CSEE began working with a network of six schools throughout the Queens borough of NY to help them assess and improve their school climate. We met with representative leadership teams from all of the schools in early October to begin the process, and each school administered the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) to their students, parents, and staff members to get a deeper understanding of strengths and needs at their particular building. The leadership teams have been working hard since that first meeting to create more positive climates for learning, and we are proud to celebrate their efforts to date!
In our forthcoming issue of School Climate Matters, we will be sharing profiles of two network schools that developed powerful community engagement programs drawing from their training with CSEE. Here is a sneak peek of one of the school's excellent work; along with the profile, written by the school counselor, we're also sharing a video that gives you an inside look into their project and the very positive, very visible impact it had on their school environment.
PS 155: Winter Wonderland, by Tasha Kurs, School Counselor
After meeting for the first time with CSEE, we were introduced to the notion of school climate. Immediately, we formed a School Climate Team and met to discuss ways to boost the atmosphere at PS155.
If you haven't read it yet, be sure to check out Sam Chaltain's excellent article on school accountability and performance posted at the Huffington Post. Sam is a major educational leader who wears many hats: he's a member of the National School Climate Council; an educator; the National Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy, a DC-based major education think tank; and the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project, a national organization that equips local educators with leadership development, coaching and other supports. He's also the recent author of American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community.