Offers important background information about establishing effective character education, sample lesson plans, unit materials for teaching character education, directions for the use of research-based instructional strategies, sample assessment tools and techniques, supplemental resources and directions for establishing safe and supportive school and classroom cultures that promote student learning. 

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Collects supplemental information about school factors that may influence students’ achievement, including items about the length of the school day and year, school enrollment, absenteeism, dropout rates, and the size and composition of the teaching staff. Also collects information about tracking policies, curricula, testing practices, special priorities, and schoolwide programs and problems; and the availability of resources, policies for parental involvement, special services, and community services.

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Provides State child care administrators and other school-age stakeholders with an overview of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, and highlights potential areas for coordination with the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).

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Provides a road map for schools and districts that are launching or adding social, emotional, and academic learning programs and reviews 80 multiyear, sequenced SEL programs designed for use in general education classrooms.

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Summarizes research indicating how Social And Emotional Learning addresses the Safe Schools/Healthy Students core elements of safe learning environments and violence prevention activities; substance abuse prevention; behavioral, social, and emotional supports; mental health services; and early childhood SEL programs.

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Illustrates the relationship between social and emotional factors and bullying; explains how an SEL framework can be extended to include bullying prevention; and provides suggested resources for doing so.

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Provides critical information and resources to help schools in creating safe and healthy environments for students. It is a publication of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students.

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Collects data, that are disaggregated by race/ethnicity, sex, limited English proficiency, and disability, from a representative sample of schools and districts, representing 85% of the students in our nation's schools, on a range of issues including college and career readiness, discipline, school finance, and student retention.

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Examines the influence of teachers’ beliefs about aggression and withdrawal and overall caring and support of students on children’s social behaviors, to include engaging in aggression or withdrawal and reported peer acceptance and self-perceived social competence.

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Explores how and why support groups work so that students can become engaged and succeed in spite of emotional and social protections not available in classrooms. Includes sample activities.

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Demonstrates how Olweus Bullying Prevention, Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, Avid, Second Step, and Steps to Respect can be enhanced by a Connected School approach. Acquaints participants with the Connected School ideas and strategies and how to use these ideas and strategies as a unifying force in implementing best practices for creating and maintaining conditions for learning in their school.

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Identifies communities of practice as a means to sustain positive results after successfully implementing a strategy for improving learning conditions. Describes how communities of practice function and why they are successful, and, provides real life examples.

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Introduces the concept of school climate, providing a description of its variables and a picture of its history. Compares national, regional, and local school climate monitoring in terms of advantages and disadvantages and what types of conclusions can be drawn from each. Presents examples of monitoring from schools in Israel and U.S. Military Schools.

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Provides instruction on demonstrating the connections between school climate and academic outcomes as a means of appealing for the support of the parties in a position to champion and sustain the programs. Provides tips for selecting the best evaluation tools and considerations for presenting the resulting data to various audiences in ways that strategically appeal to their interests.

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Introduces Social and Emotional Learning as well as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and demonstrates their effectiveness in building skills that will help students succeed in all aspects of life and work as they move onto college and beyond. Presents practices that will help implement these behavioral interventions.

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Documents descriptions and links to a variety of guides, briefs, tools, and websites by the school climate content areas of programmatic intervention, measures, school climate (engagement, environment, and safety), and special populations.

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Serves as a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Education and 11 technical assistance units across the United States that supports the implementation of PBIS.  Provides information, tools and resources for a variety of stakeholders including schools, families, and evaluators.

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Houses free products and tools on topic it calls "Safe, Orderly and Healthy Schools" and serves as a membership organization for teachers, providing members a wealth of resources on teaching, including periodicals and videos.

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Supports the implementation of PBIS.  Provides information, tools and resources for a variety of stakeholders including schools, families, and evaluators.

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Disseminates research reviews, provides professional development, and develops tools to helps schools adopt social and emotional learning programs with a proven record of effectiveness.

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Provides information on programs, grants, and policies addressing drug and violence prevention, character and civic education, and physical education.

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Focuses on defining and encouraging effective practices and approaches to quality character education and provides a forum for the exchange of ideas.

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Assists schools in their process of assessment and improvement or provides school climate assessment instruments to schools who want to undertake the assessment process by themselves. Offers consulting and staff development related to every phase of the school climate improvement process.

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An Ohio STEM academy is teaching social skills, such as etiquette and confidence, to fifth-grade students through a 10-week dance program. The Dancing Classrooms program teaches students to do the tango, rumba, waltz, fox trot, swing and merengue -- and particularly targets at-risk students. 

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The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District in California has plans to open a new early-childhood center that will provide diagnostic and treatment services to young children with developmental delays. The center also will operate as a preschool and use the Reggio Emilia education method. Read Story

Students are under more pressure than ever to perform well on standardized tests. However, educators and parents say some students are reacting differently to the stress -- with some students thriving and others buckling under the pressure. This article notes that part of the issue may be genetic, with some students being classified as "worriers" while others are "warriors." Experts say the answer may be exposing students who are anxious to more stress -- if it is the right kind. Read Story

The federal What Works Clearinghouse, which vets evidence on educational effectiveness on behalf the Institute of Education Sciences, found three high-quality studies (out of 46 reviewed) involving more than 100 children with disabilities in early-education programs that included a social skills training approach. Within these studies, the clearinghouse found that students who participated in social skills training improved in both their classroom behavior and assessments of their social and emotional development. Read Story

The Friendship Group -- a club in Bonner Springs, Kan., schools -- brings student athletes and students with disabilities together each week. The club offers students with social, behavioral or emotional disorders an opportunity to practice communication skills and make new friends. About 60 student athletes across three schools participate in the club, and the district soon will make it available as an elective. Read Story

Minnesota schools are trying new ways to keep students in the classroom and out of trouble. State education officials are training teachers to better help students understand how to behave in school and encouraging principals to come up with alternatives to suspension. It's all part of a Minnesota Department of Education initiative called Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports, or PBIS. Read Story

“Some scientists believe that cognitive achievement is 50 percent of the equation and social and emotional skills are the other 50 percent.” Some school districts are taking that idea seriously and integrating the research into teaching practices. Oakland Unified School District, for example, is piloting a program called Roots of Empathy in 20 schools across the district. The program teaches students how to be empathetic by bringing a baby and the baby’s parent into K-12 classrooms. Read Story

Armed with research and a commitment to the whole child, Washington state has transformed the way its agencies work together and in partnership with researchers to address the effects of early adversity on learning and to help disadvantaged children build resiliency and other so-called executive-function skills they need to learn and grow.

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The Open Circle Program at Wellesley Centers for Women, which helps teachers work with elementary-age children to acquire skills to build and maintain positive relationships, came up with the top 25 list of books that connect children to social and emotional learning. The listed books stand out as being especially authentic and memorable and are geared toward children in kindergarten through 5th grades. They deal with self-awareness, self-management, empathy, dealing with conflict, and problem-solving. Read Story

As national education reforms continue to take shape, Montgomery County, Md., public schools are adopting a more rigorous curriculum and altering their definition of what it means to be "college ready." For years, the district has held its Seven Keys to College Readiness, which now will be revised. While the exact changes are still unclear, officials say the standards likely are to focus on more rigorous academic measures, as well as areas that cannot be measured with standardized tests, such as persistence, motivation and communication. Read Story

Early results from a study show students enrolled in Georgia's pre-kindergarten program fared better than their peers nationally. Officials say they hope the findings will encourage lawmakers to continue the program, which is funded by the state lottery. "It is extremely important that the people understand that this pre-k program is not baby-sitting, that it is preparing young people for school, and that it makes a difference on achievement at the end of the day," said former state Senate Education Committee Chairman Fran Millar. Read Story

Teaching students about how beliefs affect resilience to adversity can help students learn positive coping strategies to the challenges in life, social-emotional program developer Renee Jain writes in this blog post. Read Blog

Psychologists with the Child Mind Institute in New York are working with the League School in Brooklyn to see if a positive-behavior discipline technique, sometimes used with parents and children, will work in a school setting. The technique, called teacher-child interaction therapy -- TCIT -- involves a range of strategies, including teachers ignoring problem behaviors such as not paying attention and praising students for desired behaviors. Read Story

Consider questions on how schools can balance teaching students the three R's and "soft skills" such as grit, motivation, and self-regulation, which some experts claim are more critical to student achievement. Learn More

A supportive environment can promote student achievement, and stress can be a hindrance, research and experience show. Read Story

Common Core State Standards do not represent a whole-child approach to education, write Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor, co-directors of the Center for Mental Health in Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. Instead, they write in this blog post, some districts are seeking to fill the void in the new standards by expanding the curriculum to include a focus on social and emotional learning and the challenges many students face such as learning disabilities and poverty.

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Some colleges have started teaching students how to make small talk, deal with conflict, show up on time, follow business etiquette, and communicate with co-workers. Read Story

One in 7 Americans report losing a parent or sibling by age 20, a major factor in why the AFT is now embarking on an awareness and training campaign surrounding the issue of childhood grief. Read Story

There is resistance in life to many great ideas, and resistance to social, emotional and character development (SECD) in schools is one of them. The author of this Edutopia blog offers tips to break through whatever resistance you are finding in your educational setting. Read Blog

Low-income strivers face uphill climbs. Three friends Each showed the ability to do college work, even excel at it. But the need to earn money brought one set of strains, campus alienation brought others, and ties to boyfriends not in school added complications. With little guidance from family or school officials, college became a leap that they braved without a safety net.

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The benefits children reap from Head Start, the preschool program for low-income families, disappear almost completely by third grade. While social support for children in the program is high, academic supports are low.

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Fifth- and eighth graders in the District are pretty well-versed in emotional-health issues but have a lot to learn about the human body, according to results from the city’s (and the nation’s) first-ever standardized test on health, physical education and sex ed. High school students, meanwhile, correctly answered an average of three out of four questions about sexuality and reproduction — but knew far less about how to locate health information and assistance.

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Researchers found that Mexican-American children between the ages of 2 and 3 demonstrated language and cognitive skills that were seven months behind those of white peers, whether they were assessed in English or Spanish. That gap lasted through the beginning of kindergarten. At the same time, however, the researchers found that the social skills of these same children rival those of their white peers, despite their lagging literacy and despite coming from more impoverished households.

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The idea behind the College Readiness Indicator System is that grades and student performance alone are not enough to determine college readiness. And schools can be more effective using a model that allows them to engage proactively with students before they go off-track. The indicator system measures three areas: 1. Academic preparedness - as reflected in grade point average and availability of Advanced Placement courses; 2. Academic tenacity - using attendance or disciplinary infractions to demonstrate effort; and 3. College knowledge - understanding financial requirements for college and other skills needed to access and navigate college.

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After listening to alumni about their experience after graduation, administrators at the Milton Hershey School introduced more practical life-skills training into its programming for high school seniors. Experts say one of the keys to moving the needle on college completion is for schools and community organizations to integrate more non-cognitive, life skills into college- and career-readiness curriculum.

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This year, for the first time in a decade, fewer high-school students admitted to cheating, according to a survey by the Josephson Institute of Ethics. Of students who participated in the poll, 51% said they cheated on an exam in the past year, down from 59% in 2010, and 55% said they lied to a teacher, a drop from 61% in 2010. Officials say the shift is due to a greater focus on character at home and at school. 

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Fifth-grade teacher Sara Wright is using exercise balls instead of chairs to improve students' attention spans and cooperation during class. Studies show using exercise balls improves behavior and "legible word productivity" of students with attention-deficient/hyperactivity disorder. 

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Rather than ignoring students' fears -- such as phobias regarding math or public speaking -- teachers should help students overcome them, writes instructional coach David Ginsburg. In this blog post, he suggests teachers give students the support they need to address their fears. "Let's not just meet kids where they are academically," he writes. "Let's also meet them where they are emotionally." 

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Educator Richard Byrne writes in this blog post about three free software applications that teachers can use to track positive and negative student behaviors. Two of the programs are in beta, but the third, ClassDojo, is a free app being used by teachers across all grade levels to track attendance and behaviors. Teachers using the app can assign access codes to parents so they can look in on their child's progress. Read Story

To make it in college, students need to be up for the academic rigor. But that's not all. They also must be able to manage their own time, get along with roommates, and deal with setbacks. Resiliency and grit, along with the ability to communicate and advocate, are all crucial life skills. Yet, experts say, many teenagers lack them, and that's hurting college-completion rates.

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Successful turnarounds of struggling high schools hinge on fostering environments where teachers and students are supported, and parents and community members are engaged, suggests Charles Payne, a University of Chicago professor and affiliate of the university's Urban Education Institute. "You can create all the pockets of good instruction you want, [but] if the organizational environment doesn't support [the change], it is likely to destroy it," he said. Culture change requires a combination of teacher collaboration, community connections, rigorous instruction, supportive leadership and safe environment, he said.

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Students need a learning environment that encourages success, but how can a teacher create such a place? Teacher Chavi Abramson suggests considering how the physical layout of the classroom, the academic schedule, and teacher behavior in class affects students’ ability to succeed. Classroom practices should provide students with the path of least resistance to academic success. Facilitating students’ cooperation, independence, and ability to focus is the key.

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Early-childhood educators in a Minn. district are bringing new skills to their classrooms and students' homes this year thanks to a partnership with the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children. Educators will use evidence-based strategies to cultivate positive behavior traits, and they will focus on getting children to think about their behavior and whether it follows one of the program's three main rules: be safe, be a friend and be responsible. Read Story

Students with disabilities at Rapid City Central High School in Rapid City, S.D., are learning real-world job and social skills as operators of an on-site coffee shop. Students are tasked with making the drinks, working the register and making deliveries to school staff members. "The experiences and the skills that they've gotten, I couldn't have possibly taught them in my classroom," special-education teacher Amy Heuston said. Read Story

The Michigan Department of Education will pilot the "think.respect" campaign in 23 schools, in part, to help support students who may be struggling academically because of other issues. Funded by a $24 million U.S. Department of Education grant, the schools will spend the next three years creating programs to engage parents and students, prevent bullying and support students who exhibit behavioral issues. Read Story

Educators at a Rhode Island middle school say a program that focuses on students' social and emotional needs has helped to improve students' academic performance. This approach, modeled through the Developmental Designs program, is perhaps best-suited to middle schools, educators say. The National Forum's Schools to Watch Initiative lists four key traits of successful middle schools, including "academic excellence" and "an awareness of and sensitivity toward the unique developmental needs of early adolescents." 

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A Charleston middle school joins the growing number nationwide that use PBIS strategies to teach students how to behave. PBIS values teaching all students appropriate behavior as much as teaching any academic subject. It’s the opposite of what many school rules say: everything students shouldn’t do. It emphasizes creating a common set of expectations for students’ behavior, no matter where they are on campus. The underlying premise: Schools must become predictable, consistent, positive, and safe environments for students.

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The United States must move past its focus on minimum achievement standards for all and put more energy behind identifying and developing the talent of students who are capable of more—especially students from low-income backgrounds and students learning English, the National Association for Gifted Children said in a new directive this week. The report goes into some interesting detail about the psychological and emotional support talented students from minority and low-income families may need.

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They have the right mindset, they understand how to connect with students, and they maintain a realistic perspective. These are just a few of the strengths that excellent educators who teach in challenging schools share, explain Gail L. Thompson and Cynthia Thrasher Shamberger. In their ASCD Express article, Thompson and Thrasher Shamberger explain what can be learned from these strong educators. 

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At what is said to be the first full Montessori education program in the Chicago Public Schools, teachers focus on educating the "whole child," says the school's executive director, Rita Nolan. Students at the school, which teaches kindergarten through second grade. Montessori teaching seeks to instill key values for "educating the whole child," Nolan says, a combination encompassing head, hand and heart. Values such as curiosity, critical thinking, kindness and self-control. Arching over them all is a child's sense of optimism.

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National Character Counts Week, held Oct. 21 to 27, is an opportunity for schools and school districts to focus on the promotion of a positive school culture, K-8 technology teacher Mary Beth Hertz writes in this blog post. She suggests registering on Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics website, which offers resources to help students develop online character and promote anti-bullying efforts.

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Superintendents, school board members, and school leaders from the nation's cities gathered in Indianapolis this week for the 56th annual fall conference of the Council of the Great City Schools. One of the conference's keynotes came from New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman who spoke about globalization, technology, and the United States' role on the world stage. He said that his research has led him to believe that the nation is at risk of losing its global position if it does not improve the academic performance of its lowest-achieving students. But he said there needs to be just as much focus on fostering the imagination, creativity, and soft skills of all.

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Teachers should keep in mind that inappropriate behavior by students is not permanent, write Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist, and Jessica Minahan, a behavior analyst and special educator. They created a plan to decipher and change inappropriate classroom behaviors called FAIR: F is for understanding the function of the behavior, A is for accommodations, I is for interaction strategies and R is for responses. They explain the plan, which includes, among other things, asking what prompts the behavior, considering accommodations and replacement behaviors.

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Districts will be able to earn up to 10 bonus points if their applications include plans to collaborate with public and private partners to help improve the social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students. Considering nearly 900 districts have informed the Education Department of their intent to apply, and only 15 to 25 grants will be awarded, this component could be critical to a district's chance at winning.

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The Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color (COSEBOC) is searching for schools that are demonstrating success with black and Latino boys to highlight through its awards program next year. The organization is platform agnostic when it comes to the schools themselves. They just have to be committed to practices that keep minority boys engaged in school, support their social and emotional learning, and provide high-quality, rigorous academic content and instruction.

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While boredom is a perennial student complaint, emerging research shows it is more than students' not feeling entertained, but rather a "flavor of stress" that can interfere with their ability to learn and even their health. An international group of researchers argues this month in Perspectives on Psychological Science that the experience of boredom directly connects to a student's inability to focus attention.

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First lady Michelle Obama and the vice president's wife, Jill Biden, introduced an initiative this month to help teachers better address the needs of students from military families. The initiative, "Operation: Educate the Educator," will seek to help teachers address the emotional, social and learning challenges that military children face. Already, 100 colleges that offer teaching degrees have signed on to the program.

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Cognitive and executive function skills are needed for children to understand adult perspectives and determine alternatives to fighting and hitting to solve problems, according to a study by researchers from Pennsylvania State University. Researchers say aggressive children who lack the ability to verbalize frustrations are at-risk for long-term consequences, including delinquency, violence, dropping out of school, drug abuse and suicide. 

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A group of five educators from Singapore recently visited schools in Anne Arundel County, Md., to learn how to better serve at-risk students. Representatives from the Assumption Pathway School and Children-at-Risk Empowerment Association visited classes at Lindale Middle School in Linthicum and discussed teaching strategies and other support measures for at-risk students. The Maryland school has specialized programs for students with learning disabilities. 

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The capacity for empathy builds the socio-economic potential for individuals, and, further, likely holds the key for the success of business in the 21st century. Empathy isn’t just about hugs and pats on the back. It is a skill that can make young people more productive in work environments that require cooperation and in a global economy that becomes more complex with each passing day. It is what turns them into future leaders.

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Under a new standardized assessment required by the state to measure how the nearly 184,000 4-year-olds in Florida's voluntary prekindergarten program are doing in early literacy, numeracy, and language development, some early-education providers say key social skills will be discounted as evidence of how well they are preparing pupils for kindergarten. Early-childhood advocates fear that the state's pre-K providers—under pressure to demonstrate children's progress on academic indicators—will focus only on developing those skills.

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A new review of social and emotional learning programs for schools looked at dozens of programs for pre-K and elementary students, highlighting 23 that promote students' self-control, relationship building, and problem solving, among other skills. However the report notes that the outcomes of each program varied. Most demonstrated an effect on students' behavior, with outcomes such as positive social behavior and a reduction in behavior problems, but only some showed an effect on emotional distress and academic performance.

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Researchers have determined that teachers' expectations for their students affect almost every aspect of instruction and can determine whether students succeed. For teachers who want to alter their behavior toward certain students, researcher Robert Pianta suggests that teachers observe how students interact, work to understand what motivates students, engage with students about the individual interests and find out more about students' lives outside of school. 

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Fifth-graders attending schools in which teachers used the Responsive Classroom teaching method performed better on state math and reading exams than other students, researchers say. The social-emotional-learning approach focuses on how teachers' language and expectations can help students with social and emotional learning. Researchers say that of the 24 Virginia elementary schools in a three-year study, the schools that were most committed to using Responsive Classroom practices showed 23-point gain on state standardized tests.

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San Francisco public schools saw a rise in standardized test scores across almost every subject this year, and the city's most underperforming institutions have all shown signs of improvement. Richard Carranza, Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, attributes this success to teachers, a rigorous curriculum, coaching for instructional practices, and supports and inteventions for struggling students. 

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A child's success can't be measured in IQ scores, standardized tests or vocabulary quizzes, says author Paul Tough. Success, he argues, is about how young people build character. Tough explores this idea in his new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character. The difference-maker really depends on the person, Tough says. Mentoring programs that focus on goal-setting can be helpful, and he also says parents should try to help their kids manage stress from a very early age.

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There are social and emotional benefits of Artful Thinking, a program that uses a learning strategy of active participation in the arts to increase student engagement with, and understanding of, concepts across the curriculum, David Markus writes in this blog post. Observing the program at an Annapolis, Md., middle school, Markus writes that public creative expression among students who aren't particularly good at it can increase subject-area knowledge, promote collaboration, create unlikely friendships and be great fun.

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Award-winning behavior specialist Leslie Beal and her Positive Intervention Team at the San Angelo Independent School District in Texas work with students who have varying degrees of special needs and disabilities. The team employs tools such as positive reinforcement and implement structure into students' routines to address their individual challenges. 

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Behavioral management professor Richard Curwin offers tips on how to deal with a classroom situation in which several students or student groups act out at the same time. His "Leader of the Pack" strategy involves three steps: find the leader or leaders, enlist their help in controlling the disruptions, and then create new leaders over time by establishing new classroom groups and giving every student the opportunity to lead. 

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Federal officials are sponsoring a new grant competition designed to promote collaboration between charter schools and traditional public schools that want to work together to improve academic achievement and overall educational services. Department officials say many of the strategies for collaboration, such as coordinating lesson planning for schools with similiar populations, examining how school climate could be improved, or arranging regular meetings to share ideas, won't necessarily cost a lot of money.

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Maurice Elias, a professor in Rutgers University's psychology department, in this blog post shares insights into improving academic achievement for children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. He shares an interview with James Comer, who was successful in raising achievement of students who were from low-income -- primarily minority -- families. In the interview, Comer attributes his success to a collaborative program focused on "climate, the academic program, and staff development."

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A pilot program for New York City students is attempting to stop summer learning loss by providing low-income elementary and middle-school students with the same experiences and opportunities as their more affluent peers. The Summer Quest program, run by the city's departments of Education and Youth and Community Development, combines lessons in English and math with field trips and elective classes in the arts.

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The newly released Kids Count survey on the state of America's children reveals that 22% of U.S. children were living in poverty in 2010 and nearly 24% of students failed to graduate from high school on time in 2008-09, an improvement over the 27% dropout rate for 2005-06. The racial achievement gap continues, the report says, with 58% of white fourth-graders and more than 80% of Latino, African-American and Native American Indian students failing to achieve reading proficiency in 2011.

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Student teachers learn a lot about how to teach in college, but they don’t get much training in how to respond to young children’s emotions, such as frustration, anger, and excitement, according to new research. Regulating emotions is important not only for young children, but for their long-term success as they move into higher grades.

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is proposing to reduce the city's after-school enrichment programs in a budget-cutting move designed to save $19 million, or about one-quarter of 1 percent of the total city budget. The programs slated for elimination run from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and serve 27,000 children, most of them from poor or blue-collar families whose parents may not be able to afford other after-school child care. 

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Summer is one of the prime causes of the achievement gap between low-income and more advantaged children, according to a panel of researchers and educators at a recent education writers conference. On average, students lose a month of learning over the summer, but the loss is much greater for poor children who do not have access to high-quality summer-learning activities. The panel recommended school districts create engaging summer programs that students of low-income families will want to attend. 

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Educators often look for ways to bring quiet children out of their shells, but emerging research suggests schools can improve academic outcomes for introverted students by reducing the pressure to be outgoing and giving all students a little more time to reflect.

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A new study published in the Journal of Educational Psychology finds that teachers may be less inclined to respond critically to work by minority students, thus creating a "positive feedback bias" that may contribute to racial achievement gaps.

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Generally, boys and girls become more polarized through their first years in school. Now, researchers have started to explore how to span that sex divide and are finding that more-equitable coed classrooms can have social and academic benefits for boys and girls alike.

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A new public-private partnership is aimed at increasing arts education as a strategy for turning around eight struggling public schools. The two-year Turnaround Arts Initiative, announced Monday by a White House panel, will enlist celebrities, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and actress Sarah Jessica Parker, in efforts to improve school culture and academic achievement across the curriculum through high-quality, integrated arts instruction.

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While an overwhelming number of elementary school principals believe in the power of recess to improve academic achievement and make students more focused in class, most discipline-related problems happen at school when kids cut loose at recess and lunch, according to surveys. One of the solutions, according to a study released this week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: more, and well-trained, staff on the playground.

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Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley wants school principals to expand the First Class Breakfast Program to 150 more schools. Last year, 20 schools took part in the program, which helps ensure hungry children eat breakfast at school. At schools that have participated, officials say students' grades have improved and the children are more alert in class. 

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Educators at New York City's P.S. 142, where nearly all students qualify for free lunches, take students on neighborhood field trips to help provide real-life experiences and a broader frame of reference to improve their reading and math skills. The strategy was developed by the school's principal, along with a child specialist. It also includes more playtime for younger students to help make learning more fun.

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A program that integrates the arts across the curriculum has led to higher standardized test scores, new research shows. The Developing Reading Education with Arts Methods, or DREAM, is in place in 10 school districts, where educators are trained to integrate arts into lessons and professional artists provide weekly coaching in the classroom.

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The quality of school principals -- like teachers -- affects students' long-term success, suggests Stanford University researcher Eric Hanushek. The findings show that school leaders are not interchangeable, but rather are "pivotal to our schools functioning as networks of opportunity for all children," says Karin Chenoweth, a senior writer for The Education Trust.

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The National Summer Learning Association has just released results of its "Smarter Summers" initiative. The three-year project is supported by a $11.5 grant from the Walmart Foundation, which is used to expand and enhance summer programs in 10 cities, serving around 20,000 middle school students.

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Too many rural minority students are categorized as learning disabled, a new study asserts, attributing that in part to an overly broad method used to identify those children.

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Attempts to boost students' self-esteem by praising minor achievements and effort has not improved academic achievements, researchers say. Some teachers say they are abandoning unearned praise in favor of methods that reward "persistence" and "risk-taking." Some experts say this type of praise leads students to embrace challenges and work harder. 

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A new initiative is aimed at using advocacy by parents and educators to address factors that contribute to a disproportionate number of African-American students being identified as having disabilities. Data show that black students comprise 17% of public-school students but account for 31% of those with intellectual disabilities, 28% of those with emotional disorders and 21% of those with learning disabilities, all diagnoses that could be influenced by bias.

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A new initiative hopes to tackle one of special education's most persistent problems: the disproportionate identification of black children as having disabilities. Now, the National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities will use grant money from the Oak Foundation to train parents how to better advocate for their children and address this persistent disproportionality.

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Nine states will share $500 million in Race to the Top early learning grants, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed this morning. They will get grants ranging from $50 million to $100 million, based on the state's student population, to significantly improve early-education programs in their states.

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In the public schools in Lincoln, Neb., students who passed the district's physical-fitness test were significantly more likely to pass state reading and math tests, according to a recent article from the Lincoln Journal Star.

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Obesity, sleep apnea, behavior and learning difficulties can cause significant dysfunction in children, but a new study suggests these three problems interact with one another, exacerbating the effects of each individual problem.

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Many immigrants come to the United States seeking a better life for their children, but a new report finds those who come to the country illegally face worse social and academic development as they grow.

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The survey aimed to determined how Chicago schools' perform on the following factors: instructional leadership, how teachers work with one another, support from families and the community, the learning climate and a challenging curriculum.

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Many schools cater to disadvantaged children, but Haven Academy is unique because it houses hundreds of counselors in the same building. The school features a small student-teacher ratio, an extended school day, many tutor options and special training to keep teachers consistent in the language they use and their responses to problems.

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Researchers have looked at how bad jobs affect adults’ mental health. One of the first studies to turn a similar lens on schools suggests a bad classroom climate can shape children’s emotional well-being too.

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The results of the FinEdu longitudinal study indicate that both prolonged exhaustion caused by schoolwork and cynicism toward school inevitably lead to an increased sense of inadequacy.

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Secretary Duncan stopped by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Forum to join a panel of school district superintendents, moderated by New York Times columnist David Brooks, in discussing how social and emotional factors support student achievement.

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According to the largest analysis of social and emotional learning programs to date, researchers found that students who took part in social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs improved in grades and standardized-test scores by 11 percentile points compared with nonparticipating students. 

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More and more, research shows young people need the same cognitive and social-emotional skills to complete school and progress in the workplace, and, moreover, that those skills can be taught and tested like any other subject in school.

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School Climate Survey Compendium (as of December 20, 2011)

To assist educators and education agencies in locating a valid and reliable needs assessment that suits their needs, the Safe and Supportive Schools Technical Assistance Center is developing a compendium of student, staff, and family surveys that can be used as part of a school climate needs assessment.  Below is an initial list of school climate survey batteries. (Alternatively, click  here to download a summary table (PDF) of each survey by respondent type.)

Please note that the Office of Safe and Healthy Students does not endorse any particular scale or survey presented in this compendium. Additionally, the database presented is not an exhaustive listing of available measures or survey instruments.  If you would like to nominate a survey that is not currently included in the compendium, click on the link below.

 Nominate a Survey
 

Alaska School Climate and Connectedness Survey