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*We originally published this post near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some things have changed since then, the activities in this post are still great skill-builders for young children!
As schools close due to COVID-19 concerns and new guidelines on social distancing take effect, many parents are home with their young children-and looking for new ways to keep them occupied while building on the skills they've been learning in the classroom. Keeping kids engaged and active (without overusing screens!) can be tough during an unexpected break like this, especially when new safety recommendations put a temporary hold on play dates, restaurant trips, and visits to crowded parks, zoos, and other places kids love.

If you're a parent of young children-or if you work with families-today's post is tailored especially for you. We're bringing you a collection of 24 at-home learning activities parents can use to boost their child's academic, motor, communication, and social-emotional skills while they're home from school. Adapted from some of our best books on early childhood development and education, these fun and inexpensive activities will keep kids learning and give you easy ways to connect with them during this unexpected break in routine.

Please share these ideas with any families who might benefit, and if you have a favorite at-home activity to share, add it in the comments below!

Give mealtime a math infusion. Do your kids like to help out in the kitchen? Meal prep is the perfect time to get children counting, measuring, estimating, comparing, and recognizing shapes. Ask your child to measure and count cups of ingredients, count how many plates and utensils are needed for the whole family, and figure out who has more or less mashed potatoes. Get creative with math during cleanup time, too: you can have your child name the shapes of the dishes and sponges, count the number of steps they took to complete the cleanup task, and predict how many dishes will fit in the dishwasher. (Want more ideas? Download this free tip sheet for 24 ways to have fun with math at home .)

Supercharge your storytimes. Your daily book reading sessions are golden opportunities to actively build early literacy skills. To boost vocabulary knowledge, watch for words you think your child may not know and briefly define and talk about them. When you reread a book, ask your child if they remember what the word means, and try to use the new words at other times of the day to reinforce knowledge. To build letter recognition skills, try pointing to letters as you say their names, singing a slowed-down ABC song while you point to each letter in the book. Turn to random pages in the book and see if children can name and point to the letters themselves. You can follow up by having your child make their own ABC book, finding or drawing pictures for each letter.

Reread all your child's comfort books. When you're home together and it seems like life is slowing down, sink into some comfort rereads of favorite picture books. Kids love hearing the same book many times, and the repetition is actually beneficial to their developing literacy skills, since it gives them multiple chances to absorb the language of the book. If you want to make the most of repeated readings, choose high-quality books with words that stretch your child's vocabulary and language knowledge.

Make a museum. Your child but can make a museum at home with a little imagination and a few simple materials. If your child has collected little treasures over the years (rocks, shells, toy dinosaurs, buttons, etc.), show them how to arrange their collections in themed displays using shoe boxes, small jars, or egg cartons. Help children label their treasures-a great way to practice letter writing and recognition-and build their language skills by encouraging them to give "tours" of their personal museum to visitors. (While you're teaching young children at home, a virtual museum tour might also be a fun way to spark conversations about art and history.)

Start a language-rich restaurant at home. If your kids love restaurants, why not start one at home, and use it to help teach language and literacy skills? Stock your play area with empty boxes, food containers, and restaurant props with writing on them, such as takeout menus, placemats, or a newspaper circular. Read the menu with them, or help them create their own menus from scratch. Help kids make a sign with their restaurant's name. As children play, point out words on the restaurant props and encourage them to spot familiar letters and words.

Measure their masterworks. Are your kids passing the time by making a long cardboard road for their cars, or building a tall tower with blocks? Dig out your ruler and incorporate a little measurement lesson into their play. Show them how to use the ruler to measure the length of their road or the height of their tower. They might have fun predicting how many inches long or feet high their creations are.

Have an adventure-without leaving your living room. Sit with your kids on a rug or couch and pretend you're leaving for a big adventure on a magic carpet, submarine, or school bus. Ask them to share their ideas on where they want to visit, and take turns concocting a story about your adventure. Describe the sights you see and ask kids questions that invite their creative participation: "Look, there's a circus! Can you see the elephants? What are they doing?" "Do you see that school of fish? What do you think fish learn about in school?" This is a great way to strengthen communication skills while having fun with kids who feel cooped up.

Put on a play. Encourage your kids to collaborate on a short play using a few puppets. They can adapt a familiar story or fairy tale, or create their own story together. After they put on the play, talk with them about the story and characters, and ask them questions about how they developed the play.

Set up a home office for kids. This is an indoor activity kids love-they'll enjoy the chance to be "just like you." Set up a pretend office in a corner of your home where kids can make calls, write letters and "send" them, and type important emails. Be sure to provide lots of varied materials for them to work with: an old keyboard to type with, file folders and paper, a calculator, an old phone (toy or real), pens and pencils, tape, envelopes, rubber stamps, and notepads. Then pretend with them-give them a "call" and ask when the mail will be arriving, or ask to have a face-to-face meeting in their office.

Start your own store. Open your own department store in your room or in the playroom. Encourage kids to play different roles-shopper, sales clerk, cashier-and communicate with each other in character (or you can play one or more roles). This is an ideal activity to try if you've been doing spring cleaning; children can browse the items you're getting rid of and "buy" a few items with pretend money.

Have some flashlight fun. This activity can help boost communication skills while easing your child into bedtime. Once your child is in bed, give them a flashlight and play with it together in the darkened room. Take turns shining the light on different things. Ask your child questions about the items in the room, and talk about what you see. Whisper and laugh together, and make up a silly story. Bedtime chats like these hone language skills while helping your child feel safe, secure, and calm.

Open your own "art school." Start by reading your child some favorite picture books and talking about the different techniques the artists used for the illustrations. Then have the child practice fine motor skills by making books or illustrations of their own, using materials such as watercolors, paste, paper, cloth scraps, ribbon, foil, string, stamps, greeting cards, and box tops. When they're done, your kids can hang their masterpieces in a special gallery area or "read" their illustrated books to you or each other.

Make egg carton caterpillars. If you use up lots of eggs, here's a fun fine-motor activity to do with those leftover cardboard egg cartons. Cut the egg section of the cartons into strips, one for each child in your house. Have each child choose a caterpillar body and decorate it with paint or markers or by gluing on different colors or textures of paper. Pipe cleaners make great antennae, and children may even want to add some pipe cleaner legs to their caterpillar. Remind them to draw or glue on a face!

Outline an animal. Does your child have a favorite animal? Draw a simple silhouette of the animal on a big piece of paper and give your child some glue and a bowl of Cheerios or uncooked pasta shapes. Then have the child outline the animal by gluing the cereal or pasta pieces to the page, following the lines you drew. (Always supervise carefully when children are working with small items that could be a choking hazard.)

Social-emotional skills

Have regular emotional check-ins. During challenging times, young children can easily pick up on the stress and worry of the adults in their lives. Disruptions to regular schedules, troubling news stories, and overheard adult conversations can leave a child confused and concerned about the future. Set aside time to check in and connect with your child every day. Talk about your day and what will happen tomorrow. Ask them simple questions: "What was the best part of today?" "Were there any hard parts?" "How did you feel?" "Do you have anything you'd like to talk about?" Listen carefully to what your child says so they know their thoughts and emotions are important to you. (For more social-emotional skill-boosters for children ages 2 months through 5 years, print these free ASQ:SE-2 activity sheets .)

Pound some dough together. Mushing, squeezing, and pounding dough is a great activity for helping kids process feelings of anger, frustration, and helplessness (and housebound grownups might find this just as therapeutic). Mix up some cookie dough (like these "Get the Mad Out" cookies on the PBS website) and mash and knead it together. Or if baking isn't your thing, let the kids smush and pound play dough or clay. They'll let off steam in a safe way and hone their creativity at the same time.

Encourage nurturing play. When the world feels scary, nurturing dolls and stuffed animals is a good way for children to refocus their feelings and practice caring behavior. Set up toy cribs where children can put their "babies" to bed, water tables where kids can bathe their dolls, and places where the babies can be fed with old bottles, sippy cups, and spoons. Help children create caregiving scenarios and praise children for their TLC. (Be sure to include kids of all genders in this activity-every child can benefit from practicing their caring skills.)

Try some therapeutic art, too. Art activities are more than just fun-they can provide children with a powerful outlet for their emotions. Alice Honig describes one example in her book Little Kids, Big Worries : "Lonnie drew a bus and then scribbled all over it with a brown marker. The teacher was puzzled. She did not act disappointed by his scribbles. She did ask him gently to tell her about his picture. The child soberly explained, "That is the ambulance that took my dad to the hospital.' The brown scribbles over Lonnie's picture expressed his dark scared feelings about his father's illness." Teach children how art can be a healthy way to process difficult emotions, and provide them with lots of different materials they can use to express whatever they might be feeling: pages from magazines, photos, stickers, paint and markers in vivid colors, etc.

We hope this post gave you some new ideas to try with kids, and we wish you and your loved ones continued good health and safety. Please let us know how else we can support you in the weeks to come!

20 Stress-Busters for Young Children (designed for early childhood classrooms, but many of the activities can be adapted for home use)
Sample ASQ-3 Learning Activity Sheets Sample ASQ:SE-2 Learning Activity Sheets
The activities in this post were adapted from and inspired by the following books:

Activities 1 and 8: by Donna Kotsopoulos and Joanne Lee

Activities 2 and 3: Connecting Through Talk by David K. Dickinson & Ann B. Morse

Activities 2, 4, 9, 15, and 22: by Betty Bardige

Activities 5-7: Blended Practices for Teaching Young Children in Inclusive Settings, Second Edition, by Jennifer Grisham-Brown, Mary Louise Hemmeter, and Kristie Pretti-Frontczak

Activities 10, 11, 14, and 16: ASQ®-3 Learning Activities by Elizabeth Twombly and Ginger Fink

Activities 12, 17, and 18: Early Literacy in Action by Betty H. Bunce

Activities 13, 19, and 24: ASQ®:SE-2 Learning Activities by Elizabeth Twombly, Leslie Munson, and Lois Pribble

Activities 20,21, and 23: Little Kids, Big Worries by Alice Sterling Honig

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24 At-Home Learning Activities to Share with Parents of Young Children - Brookes Blog

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We originally published this post near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. While some things have changed since then, the activities in this post are still great skill-builders for young children! As schools close due to COVID-19 concerns and new guidelines on social distancing take effect, many parents are home with their young children-and looking [...]

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NICHQ - National Institute for Children's Health Quality

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Families have an unmatched impact on their child's health, especially during the early years of life when children's rapidly developing brains are laying the groundwork for their future health and wellbeing. To be the best advocates for their children, families need the right supports, whether they be access to public assistance programs like Medicaid and housing, opportunities to build a strong relationship with their child's health provider, or resources that empower them to support their child's social and emotional health. Right now, the NICHQ-led Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems CoIIN ( ECCS CoIIN) and other initiatives across the country are seeking to answer a critical question:

How do we improve these supports and their underlying systems to build families' capacity to promote their child's healthy development?

Pediatricians, early learning experts, state officials, and public health professionals all have important ideas and invaluable experience. But unless families are in the room for the conversations that affect them, the answers to this critical question being posed by ECCS CoIIN and others will remain limited. Only families themselves truly understand their own unique circumstances and needs, and only families can tell their own stories. This is one reason why engaging family partners is critical for any improvement effort.

True family partnership means families are at the table from the start. Organizations and improvement teams that embody that principle enlist families as experts and ask them to share their unique experiences and perspectives about their families and their communities, and about problems and solutions.

But how do we get families to the table? And how do we engage with them meaningfully as equal partners in improvement? Last fall, we received a number of emails asking these questions. To find the answers, we put our advice into practice and reached out to our ECCS CoIIN family partners (those who most understand what can best support their involvement) and fellow team members (those currently working with them as partners in improvement). Below, we've compiled five strategies for developing meaningful family partnerships.

Thank you to the amazing New Jersey ECCS CoIIN team who shared their insights in this article: Ericka Dickerson, Nicole Hopkins, Deepa Srinivasavaradan, Laura Taylor, Erin Markan, Ariana Nunez, Karen Benjamin, and David Armstrong.
1. Make your approach personal
Reaching out to potential family partners individually and acknowledging that their personal experiences can make a real difference, our family partners share. Start with your own circle of friends-those you already know and share a personal connection with. Who are the parents and caregivers that would benefit from connecting at a deeper level? Who might already be interested in learning more about early childhood development? Who has a personal story or experience that might make this work resonate with them? Consider reaching out directly to these individuals to start a conversation about your work.

Don't lead with the 'ask' though, cautions Karen Benjamin, New Jersey's Essex County team lead; empathy matters. "It's important that you care about the family, and work to first understand their needs. Whether the person is a close friend or someone you only know in passing, you can talk to them about their story, and then connect them with the appropriate resources."

New Jersey Family Partners

These personal conversations provide a genuine foundation to ask families to get involved with your improvement work. It shows how the initiative directly connects to their own experiences, the resources they need, and the supports that will benefit the health of their children and the children in their community.
2. Leverage existing community groups and partnerships
"Our relationships with community partners have been invaluable for connecting with parents already motivated to do this work," says Laura Taylor, Middlesex County team lead. These families can also inspire critical cross-sector collaboration, she continues, helping bridge the work of the initiative with the work currently happening in the community.

"For example," says Taylor, "our Family Success Centers are currently working to infuse early childhood development and literacy into the offerings at their centers. It was natural for ECCS CoIIN to partner with them to host education and training for Family Success Center staff on developmental milestones and screening tools."

Similarly, online communities, such as local moms or parenting Facebook groups, can be an important place to connect with passionate families, says Middlesex County Family Partner Erin Markan. And just like in face-to-face settings, she recommends taking a personal approach when reaching out to group members, first engaging with their conversations, offering encouragement, and directing them to resources.
3. Create (flexible) family partner job descriptions
Getting involved in an improvement project is a big ask for parents and caregivers who are already time-strapped and balancing hectic schedules. Developing job descriptions with clear, realistic roles and expectations can help potential partners make informed decisions about their participation.

Descriptions should include details on logistics-expected time commitment, meeting locations, etc.-and describe why family perspectives are needed and will be influential in informing the work. These descriptions validate family partners' critical role on the project and can even help teams pitch participation as a resume builder, which can be another incentive for busy parents, says Markan.

Markan also recommends developing different types of job descriptions that vary depending on the parent's or caregiver's time, resources, knowledge and comfort level. Offering potential partners different tiers of engagement and different roles to choose from can increase participation. And the more parents at the table, the more comfortable and empowered to speak parent partners will feel.
4. Make participation as convenient as possible
Try to accommodate family partners' schedules once they've signed on to the work, the New Jersey family partners urge. Hosting meetings outside of regular work hours and providing childcare on-site can help remove some attendance barriers; but teams should also include opportunities for engagement that don't require in-person attendance. Meetings that family partners can call into, surveys and questionnaires, helping promote events and sharing information are all alternative forms of engagement that can still capture parent's voices and energies. For any of these activities, be sure to provide as much notice as possible (Nicole Hopkins, state team lead and passionate parent advocate, recommends creating a shared family engagement calendar that lists activities six months in advance).
5. Empower family voices
For family engagement to be successful, family partners need to feel comfortable sharing their opinions. David Armstrong, Essex County family partner, recommends providing resources and education on early childhood development, such as CDC's Learn The Signs Act Early training and the Ages & Stages Questionnaire. These resources empower parent voices, not only on the project but also with other families and their communities.

"Once I learned about the science, I felt comfortable walking the walk as a parent leader and talking to other families about child development," says Armstrong. "Everything is data driven-once you have the data to back up your story, you feel more prepared to get in front of those who are decision makers."

Skill-building opportunities can also help family partners develop their voice, explains Deepa Srinivasavaradan, who works for New Jersey's SPAN Parent Advocacy Network and is the New Jersey team's parent lead. Letting family partners build the agenda and run internal meetings, bringing them to state conferences, and giving them opportunities to participate on local or state panels all help empower them in their capacities as leaders on the initiative. Similarly, she recommends inviting family partners to connect with Family Organizations in their state, such as state Family-to-Family Health Information Centers, which can provide support, skill-building opportunities, and training on how to share their stories and engage in policy advocacy.
Interested in hearing more from our family partners? Listen to their presentation on family engagement in this video from a recent conference. And be sure to check out Armstrong's Four E's to Empower Parent and Family Leaders.

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Five Strategies for Engaging Family Partners

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Only families truly understand their own unique circumstances and needs, and only families can tell their stories. This is one reason why engaging family partners is critical for any improvement effort. How do we get families to the table though? How do we engage with them meaningfully as equal partners in improvement?

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A school activity is any activity that takes place within a school setting, whether it is related to academics or not. School activities can be organized by the school itself, by teachers, parents or by students. They can take place during the school day, after school, or on weekends. The purpose of school activities is to provide students with a well-rounded education and to help them develop skills and interests beyond the classroom.There are several reasons why a variety of impact family engagement activities are important for schools:

ademic outcomes: Research has shown that students tend to perform better academically when their families are actively involved in their education. This is especially true for students from disadvantaged backgrounds , who may not have the same resources and support at home as their more affluent peers.

Stronger relationships: Family engagement activities help to build strong relationships between schools, families, and communities. When families feel connected to their child's school, they are more likely to be involved in their education and to advocate for their child's needs. ​

Increased involvement: Family engagement activities can help to increase the overall level of involvement among families. This can include participation in school events, volunteering, and decision-making processes

Greater sense of community: Family engagement activities can help to create a sense of community within a school, which can lead to a more positive and supportive learning environment for students.

: Family engagement activities can help to improve communication between schools and families, which is crucial for ensuring that students have the support they need to succeed.

Plant the seeds of school improvement in your local schools with activities for your families every week of the school year! Research has shown that high-impact family engagement is critical for student success, and the provide a framework for effective parent engagement in schools. To facilitate family engagement in your schools, here are dozens of family engagement activities, events, and strategies aligned with each of the Six Slices of Family Engagement that can be implemented during the 150 days between Six Slices of Family Engagement and Public School Volunteer Week National Parental Involvement Day - or anytime of the year!

Parental Involvement Toolbox

Slice 1. Welcome All Families

Unlock the potential of parent engagement in your school community with the Events and Activities: ​. The Family Engagement Toolbox. Our comprehensive program is designed to help schools mobilize National Parental Involvement Day & Red Carpet Treatment - Welcome Atmosphere Walk-Through, to create a welcoming environment for parents and students​. Public School Volunteer Week, to increase the involvement of the parents in the school community high-impact family engagement to improve student outcomes. Each toolbox includes a branded Parent Engagement Pledge and Parent Engagement Report Card, tailored to your school's logo. Our research-based and effective model meets district, state and Title I ESSA mandates and helps schools organize parent responsibility effectively.

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32. Metrics Schools ThatCount

Schools can count the number of parent and family volunteers by using a standard hourly rate to calculate the value of the time contributed by parents and families. The average value of volunteer time is $29.95 an hour. This is based on the Independent Sector's value of volunteer time, which is an annually updated estimate of the average hourly value of volunteer time in the United States.

By tracking the number of volunteer hours contributed by parents and family members and multiplying that number by the hourly rate, schools can estimate the monetary value of the time these volunteers have donated to the school. For example, if a parent volunteers for 10 hours in a month, that would be equivalent to a donation of nearly $300 based on the hourly rate of $29.95.

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3. Give Families the Red Carpet Treatment!

Welcome families to your school with the Red Carpet Treatment, an innovative tool designed to create a more welcoming environment for all families. As part of the Family Engagement Toolbox, the Red Carpet Treatment is a family-friendly walk-through process that brings educators, parents, community members, school board members, and administrators together to identify ways to improve the school for families.

By taking the time to walk through the school and consider how it looks and feels through the lenses of all families, including parents of children with disabilities, you can create an environment that truly welcomes and supports every family. This toolkit provides a step-by-step guide to conduct the walk-through, and the checklists and questions to use during the process.

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6. Breakfast or Coffee & Pastries

Set up tables to welcome families and community members to your school. Make available membership forms to enroll new PTA members.

Make special name tags for members that say, "Ask me about the PTA'" or "Join the PTA Today."

Provide "Welcome Bags" with school information, PTA brochures, and goodies gathered from local businesses or organizations. Include a bookmark with the dates of PTA meetings and special PTA sponsored school events.

Have a chart with a list of volunteer opportunities so parents can take the Pledge and sign up to help. Man the table with a volunteer to encourage sign-ups!

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26. Celebrate Dads' Involvement

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30. Family Engagement Game

The Family Engagement Game is an effort, whether online or in-person, to invite meaningful discussion and create a rich learning experience that evokes participation and problem-solving from all learners. The purpose of is to allow practitioners opportunities to collaborate, reflect, try out new ideas, and take risks in a space that is both fun and safe. When designed within the lens of professional development, games provide an opportunity for co-creating learning experiences that capitalize on practitioners' diverse expertise. From the Global Family Research Project.

You can also ask families to bring their favorite board games to play together. You might also call local stores to donate games for this event. Provide a light dinner or dessert night. Some easy and fun ideas are any type of card games (Uno, Go Fish, War, etc.), Pictionary, Charades, Dominoes, Connect 4, etc.

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When educators and schools use culturally and linguistically responsive family engagement practices, they demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of families' cultural backgrounds and linguistic needs. This, in turn, can help to build trust and create stronger relationships between families and schools, which can lead to increased parental involvement.

In addition, when schools engage in two-way communication with families, actively seeking input and feedback, parents feel valued and are more likely to become partners in their child's education. This can lead to increased parent-teacher communication and collaboration, which has been linked to improved academic achievement and higher rates of school attendance.

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Hosting a successful school open house or parent night is a great way to connect with the parents of your students, familiarize them with your teaching style and classroom, and let them know what you expect from their children in the coming year. Additionally, it's an excellent opportunity to get parents involved with the school and volunteering. However, since open houses and parent nights typically have limited time, it's important to plan ahead and make the most of the event.

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21. Home-to-School, School-to-Home Communication

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This event is designed to promote engagement between parents and children, and the games are suitable for all ages, ensuring that everyone can participate. Whether you are at home or at school, you can enjoy these games and help your child learn in a fun and engaging way.

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14. Reaching Out w/Brown-Bag Lunches

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23. Evaluate: Parent Perceptions Scale

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28. Communicate Your School's Event

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Slice 3. Support Student Success

Our comprehensive But the real value comes from the economic impact of the pledge. According to U.S. Department of Education data, Parent Engagement Pledge asks parents to volunteer 10 hours each in their local school and spend 15 minutes each night reading with their children, creating a positive impact in the education of their children. you can achieve a response rate approaching 80%. 43% of K-12 parents volunteer at school. Independent Sector has announced that the estimated value of a volunteer hour in the United States reached $29.95 in 2022. That means, that each parent who takes the Parent Engagement Pledge is generating $300.00 in volunteer impact. Imagine the impact if 43% of the families in your community volunteered in your schools by taking the pledge! That's an impact of over $100,000 for your school.

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18. Parental Involvement Report Card

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20. Traveling Family Engagement Workshop

Promote Project Appleseed's family engagement for schools. Our expert, Kevin Walker, will lead the training and provide evidence-based strategies for involving parents in their child's education. From teacher home visits, parent-teacher conferences to volunteer opportunities, learn how to effectively communicate and collaborate with families to improve student success. Utilize our resources, such as the Parent Engagement Pledge and Inventory of Volunteer Interests, to tailor activities and involve parents in unique ways. Sign up for our workshops now to strengthen family-school partnerships in your community.

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Attendance an Mental Health

We are excited to invite you to our upcoming Parent Advisory Council event, where we will delve into two crucial topics: attendance and mental health. Join us on National Parental Involvement Day as we explore strategies to support our children's well-being.

During this engaging session, expert speakers will share insights on how attendance positively impacts academic success and overall development. We will also discuss practical ways to address barriers to regular attendance and strengthen our children's commitment to their education.

Furthermore, we will shed light on the vital topic of mental health, providing guidance on recognizing signs of distress, fostering resilience, and accessing resources available within our community.

Your voice matters, and we value your input! Join us to collaborate, share experiences, and collectively create a supportive environment for our children. Together, let's empower our children to thrive academically and emotionally!

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Calling all young dreamers and storybook enthusiasts! We are excited to invite you to an unforgettable evening filled with captivating tales and cozy bedtime fun.

Here's what's in store for you:

Bedtime stories: Our talented teachers and special guests will bring beloved stories to life, transporting you to magical worlds and igniting your imagination. Interactive performances: Watch as characters from classic fairytales step right off the pages and into our school, captivating young and old alike.

Craft activities: Unleash your creativity with fun crafts inspired by the stories you hear, allowing your imagination to soar even further.

Milk and cookies: No bedtime routine is complete without a sweet treat! Enjoy milk and cookies as a delightful bedtime snack.

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10. Shine-A-Light Night ​

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13. Mentoring and Tutoring

Through this program, students will have the opportunity to gain valuable skills and knowledge from experienced mentors, who can help guide and support them in their academic and personal growth. The program is designed to give all students the resources they need to succeed, and it is a great way for parents, college students and high school students to give back to the community.

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25. Come to School With Your Student Day

This event, commonly known as "Bring Your Parent to School Day" or "Take Your Parent to School Day," provides an opportunity for parents and caregivers to gain a deeper understanding of their child's daily school experience and to see firsthand the teaching and learning taking place in the classrooms. It allows them to observe the teacher's teaching style, the curriculum, and the interactions between the students and the teacher.

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33. TikTok Gratitude Contest

Dallas ISD is celebrating Nov. 17, National Parent Involvement Day all week long with events hosted by the Family and Community Engagement department. It's important that our parents feel valued and below are ways students can highlight the powerful contributions that parents and guardians provide at school and at home to support student success.

TikTok Challenge Rules:

The TikTok challenge is only open to secondary Dallas ISD students. All submissions must follow guidelines and will be judged on originality and creativity. Use the hashtag #DISDPARENTS to enter.

TikTok must be focused on thanking parents/guardians.

TikTok length: 30-to-60-second video.

Appropriate sound: No profanity or inappropriate language.

Appropriate skit/dance/appearance: no inappropriate gestures or clothing.

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24. Involve Parents in School Health

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Join with families to identify health promotion projects in the community that could involve parents. For example, invite family members to participate in physical activities at school or in the community, such as runs or walkathons. Kick off National Parental Involvement Day & Public School Volunteer Week with a special welcome for new students and families in the community. Host discussions about how parents can support healthy behaviors at home. Such discussions might be held at open houses and back-to-school nights, at parent meetings, and during parent-teacher conferences.

Reaching students with the message about the importance of fitness isn't enough. Go for the gold with events designed to bring in students and their families too. Involve the Physical Education teachers to plan physical activities in the gym like karate, kick-boxing, aerobics, dance, yoga, Pilates, hip hop, Zumba, and body sculpting. In the main hallways provide information tables work with a local community clinic to bring their bus and provide free health screenings for families. Especially popular with students are the opportunities to try physical activities.

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19. Promote Healthy Behaviors

Suggest ways parents can make family outings fun learning experiences and promote healthy behaviors (e.g., picking fruit or hiking). Ask parents to engage their children in health-related learning experiences, such as cooking dinner and packing lunch together, shopping for healthy foods, and reading labels on over-the-counter medicines.

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Slice 4. Speak Up for Every Child

27. Parent Involvement Policy Meeting

Promote the creation of a parent involvement policy within your school or district. Begin by implementing Project Appleseed's Parent Engagement Pledge, a learning compact that clearly communicates the school's commitment to involving families and the community in the education of their children. Establish a parent resource center as a hub for families to access information on relevant topics, connect with one another, and interact with school staff. This center can serve as a valuable resource for promoting and facilitating ongoing parent involvement.

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District Advisory Council

Join our District Advisory Council and be part of the decision-making process. Together, we can strengthen the family's voice and create policies that benefit our children and community. Let's build strong connections and raise concerns together. #SharedDecisionMaking #FamilyEngagement

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Family Engagement Activities | Appleseed

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Each day, each week, represents an opportunity to engage parents. School activities build strong relationships between schools, families.

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Parent involvement in early childhood education services is influenced by the opportunities and resources made available by the setting. Here we compile a range of methods used by early childhood settings to engage parents in partnership, as reported in research. However, bear in mind that this research does not usually explore the detail of parents' and teachers' interactions or in what ways particular interactions are understood and experienced by parents and teachers. For example, while teachers and services can be working hard on particular forms of communications for partnership work such as noticeboards and newsletters, some research indicates that parents do not find these forms particularly interesting or engaging and, when asked, do not request more of these forms of information. The following are some potential strategies for providing families with information and encouraging them to participate in the settings activities, assessment and planning.
Settling-in conversations are about teachers and families getting to know each other and should aim to initiate a relation of mutual confidence which will be consolidated over time.

Tips for implementation:

Examples from early childhood settings:

Initial visits in which parents accompany their child.

Guided tours.

An open-door for parents' visits.

Handbooks for general information.

Orientation DVDs, in English and other key community languages.

Parent-teacher contracts

A parent-teacher partnership contract can be used to help prioritise and communicate expectations for teacher-family collaboration. Such an agreement can help families to understand that they are recognised and respected as equal partners with teachers in supporting their children's learning.

Tips for implementation:

Examples from early childhood settings:

Setting up contracts with families on enrolment. Once the family is aware that they are valuable contributors to the learning, teachers work with them on shared goals that increase the family's involvement and ownership of their child's learning experience.

A keyworker system allocates a particular teacher special responsibility for coordinating planning and assessment activities for an individual child, working in close partnership with the child's family.

Tips for implementation:

Prioritise individual relationships so that families can become confident and comfortable in their relationships with a particular teacher.

Match keyworkers to families based on attendance, previous relationships, languages spoken and so on

Examples from early childhood settings:

'Family group teachers' with responsibility for assessment and planning for a particular child (coordinating contributions from the whole team), meeting and liaising with their families, and documenting plans.

Informal conversations

The brief and informal interactions that parents experience daily on entering and leaving the early childhood setting are very significant for relationship-building, and help build families' trust and confidence in the service and its teachers.

Tips for implementation:

Roster staff members to greet and farewell children and families.

Use short exchanges to build rapport with families, and to learn about home routines and families' child-rearing practices.

Discuss the child's day with parents at pick up time.

Use informal conversations for complex information such as families' aspirations for their child. Families state that notes cannot substitute for daily conversations with a teacher.

Examples from early childhood settings:

Dedicated time for greetings and information-giving in the morning, and in the evening for parents and children to share a book or a game the child has been enjoying in the day.

An open invitation for parents to join their children for lunch.

Forms can be a useful way to collect information from families about their child, whereas surveys can canvas parental opinions on the setting's environment, processes and programme. Some research suggests that parents want to be asked their opinions and to be able to put forward suggestions through the use of surveys and forms.

Tips for implementation:

Examples from early childhood settings:

'Parent voice' templates for families to share information about children's activities, experiences and milestones. One setting found this encouraged more families to share information.

Surveys for parental input into the programme. For example, one setting surveyed parents to gain information on parents' responses to the initiative of a choir, and the child's musical experiences at home.

Newsletters can be informative of children's current learning and learning plans, and specifically request family participation. They can also build a sense of community, particularly when they highlight the achievements and activities of particular groups of learners.

Tips for implementation:

Examples from early childhood settings:

Newsletters emailed for increased contribution and collaboration. Parents often respond to these emails with requests and ideas.

Documentation shares information with families about children's activities in the setting and can highlight children's learning so that families come to understand the curriculum and programme better. Documentation can also be carried out by families or through teacher-parent collaboration.

Tips for implementation:

Examples from early childhood settings:

Individual home contact books, in which children store and revisit their work to create dialogue between parents and children.

'Quotes' books, in which parents and teachers collect interesting things that children have said.

'Home books', sent for a week with different children for parents to share things about their child (a day in the life of a child, photos of special events) on a page. The home book is shared with the larger group at mat-time.

Parents regard wall displays as helpful for demonstrating what children have learned, and as important for children to learn from. Displays can be collaboratively produced, with parents and children making decisions about what learning should be exhibited.

Tips for implementation:

Consider location. Ensure displays that are intended for families to see are clearly visible, for example, in entrance ways. Consider spaces in the community where you might also display children's work (with permission).

Make displays visually appealing with lots of large photographs, and space well to reduce clutter.

Examples from early childhood settings:

'Aspirations whiteboard'.

An emergent curriculum notice board to display the current focus of the programme, and inviting parents to share their expertise and resources.

Curriculum plans displayed on a wall or noticeboard, although note that some studies indicate parents find these plans too generalised and difficult to understand.

The use of digital technologies can facilitate a greater flow of information between settings and families. Families can gain a better understanding of their child's learning and be reassured that their child is settled. ICT can also enable families and teachers to engage in shared planning and assessment and can stimulate conversations about children's learning. However, making children's experiences and activities visible through digital technology does not guarantee that families will understand what learning is taking place or contribute to its development, so teachers need to capitalise on the interest generated by the use of digital technologies for these purposes.

Tips for implementation:

Use multimedia, especially video, which has been found to increase discussion about learning and strengthen relationships. Foreground learning by adding a commentary to visual media that highlights the learning that is occurring.

Encourage children to take photographs and share and discuss them with their families. Photographs support children to share many more details about their day.

Explore new technologies before use with parents and children - for example, by creating a teacher-only blog.

Ensure families understand how use of the technology benefits their child, show them how to use it and make the technology and software available to families (with a handbook or leaflet).

Email daily diaries and learning stories or use an e-portfolio or blog to offer channels for communication outside of busy pick-up times. Ask parents to share information and advice, or to discuss goal-setting and ways to support or extend ongoing learning and be sure to follow these up. Give parents the responsibility of adding material to blogs or e-portfolios.

Share documentation using ICT across the service for all teachers, children and families to view. Use ICT to connect with local schools, other early childhood settings and community groups.

Examples from early childhood settings:

Slideshows playing in the setting, and photos sent home electronically.

Videos of children's learning.

Emailed 'daily/weekly diaries' including photos and the occasional YouTube clip.

Blogs as eportfolios. Blogs for children to communicate with the wider world and other early childhood settings, both nationally and internationally. Whānau blogs sharing learning experiences in the setting and at home.

Individual movies of images and video clips of children's learning.

Digital diaries as a chronological record of children's learning electronically using photo, video and audio.

Shared planning and assessment of a child's learning is a very powerful use of parent-teacher partnership, enabling the development of appropriate and relevant plans that take account of a wide range of perspectives on the child's learning, and supporting a continuity of learning experiences across the home and early childhood setting.

Tips for implementation:

Examples from early childhood settings:

Showing parents Te Whāriki goals and discussing these in relation to the child to develop programmes.

Individual programme plans that include observations made in the setting, and parents' observations from home, and shared goals for the child.

Parents and children planning together at home for play in the setting.

'Parent helpers' observing / videoing their child's learning during session.

Shared decisions about which cultural festivals to celebrate and how.

Meetings offer an opportunity for information sharing, discussion and decision-making with families at a time dedicated to listening and contributing.

Tips for implementation:

Ask parents personally to come to meetings and make it important that they be there. Insist that their contribution will be significant and genuinely valued.

Ensure that the content of the meeting is important and positive.

Get parents planning activities for meetings as a means of securing their participation.

Welcome families with a warm atmosphere. Ensure each family is able to express, in their own individual way, their questions, concerns and ideas.

Allow time for teachers and families to get to know each other.

Avoid meetings in which you present information, but rather facilitate information-sharing and discussion.

Where possible, provide dinner or transportation to make it easier for families to attend. Invite children, and have an activity or supervision for children during the meeting.

Examples from early childhood settings:

Personalised interviews with parents on transitions to discuss expectations and aspirations.

Meetings to explore philosophies of development and education, and/or educational values and aspirations for children.

Annual strategic planning sessions.

Parent 'cafés' in which groups discuss key questions (such as 'how do you help your child manage her strong emotions?') with 'table hosts'.

Project planning meetings for small groups of parents of children that have similar interests.

Fathers' evenings planned and advertised by fathers.

Collaborative professional development

Unlike parent education, in which teachers support parents by teaching them specific skills or giving professional advice, collaborative professional development (PD) involves teachers and families in developing their knowledge and skills together.

Tips for implementation:

Use collaborative PD as a way to bring together people from home environments and education environments in a shared endeavour. This has been seen to create interesting interactions in which participants discuss needs and interests and negotiate appropriate practices.

Link professional development to family's community and home knowledge and practice, for example, by identifying opportunities for learning in home routines. Some research indicates that parents hold back from participating until they are shown specific strategies they can use.

Examples from early childhood settings:

Workshops with parents and whānau based in the early childhood setting, to improve learning interactions in relation to the practice of story-reading.

Some parents are keen to be involved in sessions, on an occasional or regular basis, especially if there is a clearly demarcated role for them.

Tips for implementation:

Give parents clear instructions as some parents find it difficult to determine how they are to help their children and assist with the programme without direction.

Avoid giving domestic tasks such as food preparation or tidying up, but focus parent helpers on tasks that will develop their understanding of their child's learning and the setting's programme.

Examples from early childhood settings:

A parent help roster as a way of connecting families with the work of the setting.

Encouraging parent helpers to observe and video their child's learning during the session.

References & further reading
Billman, N., Geddes, C., & Hedges, H. (2005). Teacher-parent partnerships: Sharing understandings and making changes. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30 (1), 44-8.

Hatherley, A., Ham, V., & Evans, L. (2009). Effective learning in early childhood education? The impact of the ECE ICT PL programme: A synthesis report. Retrieved from http://thehub.superu.govt.nz/assets/documents/41444_ECE-ICT-PL-Synthesis-Report_13082010_0.pdf

Higgins, A., & Cherrington, S. (2017). What's the story? Exploring parent-teacher communication through e-Portfolios. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 42 (4), 13-21.

Meade, A., Robinson, L., Smorti, S., Stuart, M., Williamson, J., Carroll-Lind, C., ... & Te Whau, S. (2012). Early childhood teachers' work in education and care centres: Profiles, patterns and purposes. Wellington, NZ: Te Tari Puna Ora o Aotearoa/New Zealand Childcare Association.

By Dr Vicki Hargraves

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13 ideas and activities for promoting partnership in early childhood settings - THE EDUCATION HUB

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A set of practical strategies that can be used to develop partnerships with parents and whanau in ECE.

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Classroom Partnerships bring MCC's collaborative creative approach straight to New York City public schools and to students and young adults who don't have access to the theater arts. We pair passionate and experienced teaching artists with partner schools to develop complimentary, custom-tailored arts education curriculum that meets the specific needs of each school's students while cultivating a deep appreciation and interest in theater.

Teaching artists focus on developing dynamic theater skills that stoke imaginations, excite minds, and break down barriers to understanding curriculum. Emboldened with new-found knowledge and confidence students are inspired to express themselves, provoke and engage in conversations with each other, and apply what they've learned to their every-day lives.

Resident artists bring a passionate dedication to their work and to their students, making them deeply valued and vital members of our partner school communities, inside and outside the classroom

Classroom Partnership Programs

MCC Makes It Real
Teaching artists use classroom performances, live-readings, personalized writing prompts, improvisation, and other dynamic theater-based exercises to ignite student imaginations and help them crack open ELA texts in exciting new ways. Shakespearean classics, young adult novels, poetry, long-form essays-nothing is out of reach from the unbridled power of young minds once they've been activated to engage, study, question, and provoke conversations.

Language Learners Live
Developed over decades of experience working with international students, teaching artists liven up ENL classes with theater-based improvisations, narrative explorations, role playing, and other dynamic exercises that help students expand and enhance their vocabulary while empowering them to feel more comfortable with English language texts. Each semester culminates in personalized classroom projects in which students activate their own creativity and put to work what they have learned to interpret and expand upon texts in their own unique ways.

The Stage Is Yours
Teaching artists partner with classroom teachers to bring the provocative power of MCC mainstage theater productions straight to students. Pre-show workshops put students center stage with discussions and activities to help them unpack key themes and to develop deep connections to the play before they see it. Classes then visit MCC theater to see the play live and then partake in a post-show conversation and reflection. (All classroom visits would take place virtually at this time and are subject to scheduling and availability).

Our Partners

Since 1999, we have developed lasting relationships with several schools and continue to expand our programming. Our partners include:

Manhattan International High School
A small school for students who have recently immigrated to the Unites States, Manhattan International prepares English Language Learners for college.

George Washington High School
A model for the reorganization of large schools into smaller, more effective ones, George Washington High School gives students who are poorly prepared for college the tools to succeed.

Baruch College Campus High School
A school dedicated to providing a challenging interdisciplinary liberal arts education.

The High School for Public Service
A small public high school in Brooklyn focused on a dedication to community service in the classroom since 2003.
Interested in bringing Classroom Partners to your school? Contact dhughes@mcctheater.org.
Making It Happen

Classroom Partnerships are made possible with generous support from the Wells Fargo Foundation, The New York Council on the Arts, New York City Council, The Emily Davie and Joseph S Kornfeld Foundation, Harold & Ruth Newman, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Tiger Baron Foundation.
Learn how you can help us make classroom projects happen. Contact bvinoya@mcctheater.org

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Classroom Partnerships bring MCC's collaborative creative approach straight to New York City public schools and to students and young adults who don't have access to the theater arts. We pair passionate and experienced teaching artists with partner schools to develop complimentary, custom-tailored arts education curriculum that meets the specific needs of each school's students while cultivating a deep appreciation and interest in theater.

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We bring together diverse talents and backgrounds to personalize learning for students everywhere.

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Classroom partners work to support students and instructors such as subject area teachers, special education teachers, and other related service providers.

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The Graduate School of Education and Human Development

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Collaborative learning - the practice of breaking students into small groups to answer questions, work on projects and learn from one another - has become one of the strongest core philosophies operating in classrooms today.

The concept is not new; much of the early research on collaborative learning (also called cooperative learning) was done in the 1980s and 1990s when most classrooms favored the traditional teacher lectures and individual student work. But with the growth of technology and the increasing value society places on the ability to work in teams, collaborative learning has become more common. Here are 10 strategies for encouraging the success of collaborative learning:

1. Deliberately select which students will work together

Left to their own devices, students will sort themselves into groups of friends who share common bonds. However, when a teacher creates the groupings, he or she can match students by strengths and weaknesses, deliberately mixing ability, diversity and social capability.

2. Size the groups for maximum effectiveness

If a group is too small, ideas and discussion may not be diverse or energetic enough; if too large, some students won't get involved. Optimum group size tends to be four to five.

3. Teach your students how to listen to one another

Among young learners, active listening isn't a natural skill. Taking time to discuss and practice listening skills with your students - teaching them to make eye contact, avoid interruption and repeat important points - has both short and long term benefits.

4. Set the rules of language and collaboration

There will always be one or two students in each group who will be more likely to take the lead - or take over. Take the time to teach students how to clarify issues, how to paraphrase, how to disagree constructively and how to build on what others have contributed.

5. Make goals and expectations clear

Specific goals and expectations are important. If students are not clear on the goals they are expected to meet, group work has the potential to trail off into socialization or apathy.

6. Assign roles to the members of each group

With roles delineated, students are able to better understand what is expected of them. With roles like leader (directs the group's actions for the day), recorder (takes notes and does all writing), encourager (enables discussion and gives positive feedback) and checker (checks the work and hands it in), its clear how each student needs to fulfill his or her responsibilities.

7. Use real-world problems, not imaginary ones

With practical, real-world assignments, students find information through research and forming real opinions. If you find a scenario that they feel involved in - an environmental issue, a recent Supreme Court case, a complicated social issue - they will take more ownership of the project. Even better, select a problem from the students' own community and challenge them to solve it.

8. Consider giving each group a different task

Delegating tasks gives each group a sense of importance and emphasizes the fact that large problems are solved by people working together. By solving different pieces of an issue, your student groups will have a more personalized learning experience and will better refrain from ill-spirited competition or "borrowing" each other's work.

9. Play a game to get students warmed up

This is particularly helpful for younger students, who may not be sure of their roles in the group or the classroom. Cooperative games require children to use the same skills that they do in collaborative schoolwork, and they can see results quickly. For example, Teach Hub offers cooperative classroom games that are appropriate for grades 1-3, grades 4-6 and grades 7-8.

10. Evaluate each group on its own merit

If you judge groups in relation to each other, students will feel like their success or failure is not entirely in their own hands. Try a system where you can give grades per how well each group met its goals, and/or how each student performed the duties of their assigned role. You can also reward by category, as in best discussions, best research or most original solution.

The Changing Trends of Education

Collaborative learning is just one of the countless ways in which education is changing today. To learn more about how you can develop your leadership potential and enhance your career with a Master's in Educational Leadership and Administration, Education Specialist (EdS) and Post-Master's Certificate from the George Washington University, request information or call 202-994-9283.

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10 Strategies to Build on Student Collaboration in the Classroom | The Graduate School of Education and Human Development | The George Washington University

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Collaborative learning, breaking students into groups to work on projects and learn from one another, has become ! of the core philosophies in classrooms today.

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Elementary School Programs
SEP matches UCSF volunteers with SFUSD teachers to plan and co-teach a series of lessons in kindergarten through 5th grade classrooms. Professional students from Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing and Physical Therapy Schools tend to support lessons on human body or health. Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and faculty generally support hands-on biological, physical, and/or earth science lessons.

Middle and High School Programs
SEP matches UCSF volunteers (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists, and faculty) with SFUSD teachers to plan and co-teach a series of investigative science lessons around biological, physical, and/or earth science topics. Generally, one teacher partners with two to three UCSF volunteers to teach a minimum of four lessons.

New for 2023: STEM Storytime (grades K-5): 30-60 minute visit
During this one-time interaction, UCSF volunteers read a selected STEM picture book to a classroom of students, lead a short demo or activity related to the book, and host a brief Q&A with the students. Selections of grade-level appropriate STEM picture books are made by SEP. These offerings do not require planning between teachers and scientists other than scheduling.

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Classroom Partnerships | Science and Health Education Partnership

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Elementary School Programs SEP matches UCSF volunteers with SFUSD teachers to plan and co-teach a series of lessons in kindergarten through 5th grade classrooms. Professional students from Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing and Physical Therapy Schools tend to support lessons on human body or health.

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I love when students learn from one another and I hear the buzz and hum of engaged learning conversations. When partnerships are successful, it's amazing what learning occurs!

It's taken me awhile to adjust, and readjust how I form learning partnerships.

In my classroom, I assign long-term partnerships in math, writing, and reading. These partners get to know each other as learners and work together to build their skills. It's a great day when students successfully and purposefully learn from each other!

Read on as I share some tips that I've used to help manage long-term partnerships and make them more purposeful in my classroom.

1. Before assigning partners, have the students help you form a list of 'partner agreements.' My students loved working in their table groups to decide what their partnerships should look like and what the expectations should be.

2. Assign students with a partner that they don't sit next to in class. This way, if things get heated, they are able to take a break from their partner during the rest of the school day.

3. Praise successful partnerships in front of the class. Students love to strive to be the 'partnership of the day.' I award one partnership with that title and share what they did that I really loved.

4. Videotape successful partnerships to show to the class. Show students real examples of successful partnerships. They love seeing themselves on screen!

5. Have students assess how successful their partnership was for the day after the lesson. I have my students give me a fist-to-five to score how successful they were with meeting the day's objective with their partner (five being the highest).

If students give themselves a low score, I discuss it with that partner group. If the low score is reoccurring, I may rethink that partnership or go to another intervention.

6. Don't frustrate high students with assigning them with a low student. Some of my high students love being a teacher to students who really need the extra help, but I feel it's not the best situation for students to be in on a daily basis.

Here's how I assign purposeful long-term partnerships:

I list my students from highest to lowest in a subject area. For example, after a math assessment, I list students from the top score to the lowest score.

I then cut the list in half and match up both halves. This allows for a better match-up of skill level.

List students from highest to lowest.

Cut the list in half, then match up.

7. Celebrate success and keep up the positive energy! I feel like my partnerships are successful because I continue to praise and build on the success of students.

I love partnerships because I can be students' coach rather than their leader. My students want to work well with their partners because they know I will sing their praises.

I know I've mentioned being positive several times, but it is really the foundation to purposeful partnerships in my classroom.

8. Have one group of three with a sub if you have an odd number. I am lucky to have an even number of students as of now, but a couple weeks ago, I had an odd number.

I made one group of three with a high student who I knew liked being a helper.

If a student was absent, it would be their job to partner-up with that student. This student loved their job and was sad to give it up when a student left, leaving us with an even number of students.

Need a free worksheet to make your own partner groups too? Grab it below!

Click here to email your freebie

How do you manage partnerships in your classroom? I'd love to hear other tips to keep learning positive and meaningful!

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Creating Purposeful Classroom Partnerships | Organized Classroom

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I love when students learn from one another and I hear the buzz and hum of engaged learning conversations. When partnerships are successful, it's amazing what learning occurs! It's taken me awhile to adjust, and readjust how I form learning partnerships. In my classroom, I assign long-term partnerships in math, writing, and reading.

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What is a Community School Partnership? - Institute for Local Government

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Community Schools Partnerships offer communities the opportunity to support the needs of children and families with an ...

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Integrated Student Supports

Increasingly, education systems are being challenged to address both the academic and non-academic needs of students. Our evidence-based model helps educators balance the needs of the whole child through targeted resources, programs and services for the students who need them most.
Learn More

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The Power of Partnership - Communities In Schools

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Increasingly, education systems are being challenged to address both the academic and non-academic needs of students. Our evidence-based model helps educators balance the needs of the whole child through targeted resources, programs and services for the students who need them most. Learn More

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How Schools Can Engage Community Partners | Rethink Together

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Local businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies can play a valuable role in your school culture and student success. Here’s how to attract and engage community partners.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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For the past decade the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative has asked schools to work in partnership with community- and faith-based organizations to support children's learning during the hours after school and during the summertime. Consequently, there has been tremendous growth across the nation in intentional efforts to forge meaningful partnerships between schools and afterschool and summer programs.

Increasingly, the field is recognizing that these partnerships are essential to efforts to expand when, where, how, and what students learn (Little, 2011). This article begins with an overview of the benefits of school-community partnerships to students, schools, and community organizations. It then examines the role of partnerships in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, reviewing national data on the numbers and kinds of partners that 21st Century Community Learning Centers nationwide are engaging with to support student success. The article concludes with a discussion of four features of effective learning partnerships.

The Benefits of School-Community Partnerships

When schools and community organizations work together to support learning, everyone benefits. Partnerships can serve to strengthen, support, and even transform individual partners, resulting in improved program quality, more efficient use of resources, and better alignment of goals and curricula (Harvard Family Research Project, 2010).

First and foremost, learning partnerships can support student outcomes (see, for example, Little, Wimer, & Weiss, 2008). For example, the Massachusetts Afterschool Research Study found that afterschool programs with stronger relationships with school teachers and principals were more successful at improving students' homework completion, homework effort, positive behavior, and initiative. This may be because positive relationships with schools can foster high quality, engaging, and challenging activities, along with promoting staff engagement (Miller, 2005).

In addition to supporting student learning directly, partnerships can have additional benefits to students and their families. They can

provide continuity of services across the day and year, easing school transitions and promoting improved attendance in after school programs;

facilitate access to a range of learning opportunities and developmental supports, providing opportunities for students and teachers alike to experiment with new approaches to teaching and learning;

facilitate information sharing about specific students to best support individual learning; and

provide family members with alternative entry points into the school day to support their student's learning.

Learning partnerships can also greatly benefit schools. They can

complement the academic curriculum with a wider range of services and activities, particularly enrichment and arts activities that may not available during the school day;

support transitions across the school years, particularly the critical middle to high school transition, which research indicates is a key predictor of high school graduation (Neild, Balfanz, & Herzog, 2007);

reinforce concepts taught in school without replicating the school day, often exposing classroom teachers working in the after school program to new pedagogies;

improve school culture and community image through exhibitions and performances that help "shine the light" on students whose talents may not be apparent in the classroom; and

gain access to mentors, afterschool staff, and other resources to support in‐school learning and improve the teaching and learning in the classroom itself.

Finally, learning partnerships with schools can strengthen and support community partners. They can

help gain access to and recruit groups of students most in need of support services;

improve program quality and staff engagement, particularly when there is crossover between school and community organization staff;

foster better alignment of programming to support a shared vision for learning, one which aligns curriculum to support state and local standards; and

maximize resource use such as facilities, staff, data, and curriculum.

Using Partners to Complement Program Offerings

Being a Lifelong Achiever Starts Today (BLAST) is a 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative program in Atlanta, Georgia. It has an effective collaboration with Atlanta Memorial Hospital and New Attitudes Health and Fitness Center. Students are taught and mentored to help improve their lifestyle by making dietary changes and exercising properly and regularly. Students have access to a full array of health professionals and services at the center and can participate in a 10-week wellness program. At the end of the 10-week course, known as "The Body Shop," the student who has made the greatest transformation receives a New Attitudes membership. This membership provides access to the entire wellness and fitness center for one year. Many students also learn how to swim and overcome their fear of the water. Since there is no community pool or community gym available, this partnership has made resources available to students that would otherwise not be available to them (Manhattan Strategy Group, 2011).

The Role of Partnerships in 21st Century Community Learning Centers

Partnerships are a critical component of 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and each year since 2006 the number of partners has continued to grow. By 2010, the 3,450 funded grantees engaged over 30,000 partners, with an average of almost 9 partners per grantee. Community-based organizations were the most common partners in 2010, almost three times higher than any other type of partner. For-profit corporations and school districts were the second and third most utilized partners, with colleges and universities also playing a main partnership role.

Partners perform a number of important roles: They offer programming, provide in-kind services, and provide paid and volunteer staffing (see Table 1). Further, Table 1 illustrates that more partners have steadily made more contributions to 21st Century Community Learning Centers over the past 5 years.

Table 1. Number of grants with a partner providing a given contribution type across 5 years of annual performance reporting.

Over the past 5 years partners have contributed over $1 billion to support 21st Century Community Learning Centers programming.

Analysis of the financial support that partners contribute by providing the services listed above reveals that in 2010 alone, partners contributed over $230 million to the 3,450 initiative grantees. Over the past 5 years partners have contributed over $1 billion to support 21st Century Community Learning Centers programming.

Together, these data suggest that partners are an essential component of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative and they have been growing significantly in all dimensions over the past 5 years. Partners provide vital in-kind services and supports, as well as real dollars, which add significant value to the work of 21st Century Community Learning Centers. As centers consider bringing on more partners it is important that project and site directors understand how to develop and cultivate effective partnerships. The next part of this article discusses the features of effective partnerships.

Community Partners Can Support School Partners

Roger Williams, a Title I School in Providence, Rhode Island, is one of three anchor schools for a wide range of afterschool programs in the South Side/West End AfterZone supported and coordinated by the Providence After School Alliance (PASA). While Roger Williams struggles to make AYP, its partnership with PASA, city agencies, and community-based organizations to expand afterschool services has contributed to improved school performance. The partnership with PASA has played a critical role in improving the scale and quality of afterschool services at Roger Williams, currently reaching more than 360 youth in 45 different programs. Funding and staffing support from PASA has provided resources to expand academic and enrichment program options and double the number of participants. PASA also improves program quality by supporting partnerships with high quality providers that include community- based organizations, individual instructors, the school district, and the local police department (Providence After School Alliance, internal communication, 2011).

Features of Effective School-Community Partnerships

There is emerging consensus on an inter-related set of features that help promote and sustain healthy school-community partnerships (Harvard Family Research Project, 2010):

A shared vision for learning and developmental outcomes for students. This vision acknowledges the critical, complementary roles of schools, community partners, and families. A shared vision also helps partners avoid working against each other and instead pursue a common vision of student success. When school leaders embrace a vision for student success that considers students' physical, emotional, and social well-being in addition to academic outcomes, the partnership is more likely to be successful than when competing agendas operate during the expanded learning day.

A diverse set of partners with effective communications mechanisms and relationships among multiple staff at multiple levels. Strong and sustainable partnerships need relationships that are built at multiple levels (for example, at the district, school, and classroom levels) and among multiple school staff, including district and nonteaching staff. Working with partners at different levels helps the afterschool and summer programs become integral to the daily life and culture of the school at all levels, from the principal to the custodian. In addition, relationships at various levels can help mitigate the effects of staff turnover at other levels; for example, strong relationships with teachers can help sustain the partnership in the event of a change in principals.

Intentionally blended staffing with role clarity to promote understanding of how the work is relevant to all. For afterschool and summer programs, this means hiring staff who have legitimacy in the school building and who are skilled at building relationships with school staff. Some programs do this by hiring licensed teachers, people who "speak the same language" as school-day teachers, can substitute and consult in classrooms, and can participate in professional development activities. Hiring licensed teachers who also teach at a host school facilitates information sharing and forges connections with other teachers who might not otherwise make time for "outside" programs or services. Blended staffing may also mean a liaison who serves an important bridging function between the school and the afterschool or summer program.

Clear data-sharing processes and agreements. One feature of a strong collaboration is the ability of partners to access information and data from each other, including, if possible, student-level academic data (e.g., test scores and grades). Afterschool and summer programs can use these data both to track and strengthen student performance and to demonstrate the impact of their services. In addition to getting data from schools, some programs provide their own data to schools to promote reciprocal data sharing.

As efforts to expand learning opportunities and time continue to grow under a variety of approaches and models-whether afterschool, summer learning, expanded or extended learning day or year, or out-of-school time-it is important that all these efforts build on the strong base of effective partnerships already present among schools and afterschool and summer programs, capitalizing in particular on the rich history of partnerships advanced by 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

School Day Staff Can Support Student and Staff Recruitment Efforts

The City Day Extended Academy Mentoring Program is a 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative program in Salt Lake City, Utah. To create cohesion between the school-day and afterschool programs, school day teachers are highly involved in the planning and implementation of programs, and all afterschool staff must follow the same policies and procedures regardless of site. Staff are recruited for specific roles within the programs. The Project Director creates a list of required qualifications for particular programs that principals must heed when hiring afterschool staff. Along with the Project Director's recommendations, consulting teachers in the district complete staff observations and provide a list of individuals who have demonstrated skills and characteristics that may be well suited to the afterschool program. Principals make a concerted effort to hire program staff who have been with the district for 3 or more years and who have appropriate professional licenses; new teachers, or those changing grade levels, are not actively recruited in order to allow them sufficient time to get acclimated before gaining additional responsibility within the district (Manhattan Strategy Group, 2011).

For More Information
School-Community Partnership Resources
References

Harvard Family Research Project. (2010). Partnerships for learning: Promising practices in integrating school and out-of-school time program supports. Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/publications-resources/browse-our-publications/partn...

Little, P. (2011). Expanded learning opportunities in Washington state: Pathways to student success. Retrieved from http://www.schoolsoutwashington.org/UserFiles/File/ELO%20Policy%20Brief%...

Little, P., Wimer, C., & Weiss, H. (2008). Afterschool programs in the 21st century: Their potential and what it takes to achieve it (Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluation No. 10). Retrieved from http://www.hfrp.org/content/download/2916/84011/file/OSTissuebrief10.pdf

Manhattan Strategy Group. (2011). High school promising practices project for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, Addendum 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

Miller, B. M. (2005). Pathways to success for youth: What counts in after-school. Retrieved from United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley website: http://supportunitedway.org/

Neild, R. C., Balfanz, R., & Herzog, L. (2007). An early warning system. Educational Leadership, 65(2), 28-33.

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School-Community Learning Partnerships: Essential to Expanded Learning Success

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For the past decade the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative has asked schools to work in partnership with community- and faith-based organizations to support children's learning during the hours after school and during the summertime.

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Schools and school districts are being asked to provide more and more services to students while being given few additional resources. This brief discusses how school districts can use partnerships with outside organizations and agencies to help provide those additional services.

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By: Jennifer Larson
Studies of successful schools indicate that a high rate of parent involvement is a major factor in their success and can even help close the achievement gap between groups of students. Yet while 85 percent of parents feel they could personally make "a lot" or "a fair amount" of difference in their child's learning and academic progress, 46 percent of parents wish they could do more to support their child's education.

The key to productive and positive parent engagement is a good flow of communication between school and home, and that communication should encompass every stakeholder, including parents, teachers, administrators, specialists, club leaders and coaches, and the parent-teacher organization. The strategies here can help you increase parent engagement at your school.

Understanding the Common Challenges

Ensuring good communication between school and home has become more challenging in recent years due to a number of key trends impacting parent engagement. First, the diversity of family living arrangements continues to increase, so educators cannot assume students are living at home with two parents. Second, families move a lot; in fact, the U.S. has one of the most mobile populations in the world. Third, many school communities include immigrants from multiple countries who speak a variety of languages. Finally, the rise of student support teams means there are often many educators working with each child. Due to these factors, and others, communications efforts by schools can often hit roadblocks, despite good intentions.

Here are some common challenges that impact outreach:

Lack of accessibility: School communications that are accessible only via computer (but not mobile) or only in one language may be overlooked by a significant number of parents.

Too many tools: The typical student has eight different teachers, and each teacher may be using a different communication tool, which can cause parents to feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

Too many buzzwords: Parents don't necessarily understand "edu-speak," so communications full of jargon will fail to resonate.

Too much (or fractured) communication: Communications emanating from multiple sources and via multiple platforms can cause parents to miss important information and make it difficult for them to sort through and prioritize.

Strategies to Improve School-Home Communications

Schools have made great strides in increasing the frequency of communication with families, taking advantage of digital tools to give parents more visibility into their child's day. However, as the challenges listed above indicate, the proliferation of tools has now fragmented communications to the point of leaving parents overwhelmed and unsure what to do with the information they receive. Parents appreciate the school's effort to communicate, but if they can't act on the information and the school isn't sure if it was even received, nobody achieves the desired results.

With this in mind, the next level of innovation is required: rather than concentrating simply on parent-teacher communication, we need to instead design ways to improve the whole-school focus on communications, simplifying the process for all stakeholders and promoting consistency in communication between educators and families. This includes giving teachers fewer tools to manage, reducing the number of places parents need to look for information, and making information more clearly actionable. By ensuring parents have an easier time receiving communications from the school, it will help school leaders gain buy-in for goals and initiatives, help teachers foster the parent engagement desired in the classroom, and help students get the support they need from their families.

Here are some strategies for leaders to establish positive and productive communications right from the start of the school year:

1. Pick one tool: School leaders ought to conduct a communications audit to get a handle on how teachers are communicating with parents, and then provide clear direction on which tool to use, as well as some general communication protocols. Finding one platform that every educator can use and explaining why this is a priority will increase buy-in from all stakeholders, and, collectively, your staff and faculty can enhance their success in engaging parents.

2. Issue shorter, more frequent communications: Don't kick off the year with one long communication or wait until the end of the term to reach out with an extensive recap. Just as schools have moved to more frequent assessments of students, school communications should also be concise and frequent to keep parents in the loop on an ongoing basis.

3. Personalize: Personalization isn't just for students. Parents expect it, too, and new technology tools can help parents customize how they're connected to their children's schools. This is especially important since not all parents can come into school at designated times. Personalization features include giving parents the option to "subscribe" to the channels featuring updates they wish to receive―personalizing the information, not just the delivery method―which ensures they get the information they feel is relevant without it getting lost amid other information overload.

4. Set the tone: Encourage teachers to share a bit of information about themselves at the start of the year, perhaps at parent night, to set the tone for an open exchange with students' parents and caregivers. They should develop and communicate a process for regular, ongoing communication throughout the year so parents know what to expect.

5. Build relationships: Teachers should focus on building relationships with parents to establish trust and foster those relationships throughout the year. Schools should also ensure that parents have opportunities to build rapport with their child's support network, which can include a whole team of people, including learning specialists.

6. Share accountability: Make it clear that all faculty members are expected to participate in the school's communications efforts. By providing clear guidance on this expectation, along with the proper tools and protocols to make it actionable, leaders can make it a reality. Administrators should also lead by example, demonstrating that they are equally accountable for executing the plan.

7. Invite parents to be partners: If educators don't already know the school's parent body, they should be sure to reach out and learn more about them. Teachers should invite parents to share information about their child's strengths and weaknesses, what type of support system they have at home, and whether anything going on in the child's life may impact classroom behavior. Information like this can be essential in equipping teachers to meet students' needs.

8. Empower parents to opt in: Design opportunities where parents can opt in (or out) of certain information or updates that are relevant, or irrelevant, to their child. Bombarding every parent with every update is just as ineffective as under-communicating, and parents will find it impossible to keep up, if they don't tune out entirely. By giving parents the power to opt into the communication "channels"―however your school is able to define them―that are relevant to them, they will feel a much greater level of control and ability to truly engage.

9. Provide actionable information: Providing information for the sake of keeping parents up-to-date is recommended, but schools also need to make sure they are sharing information that parents can act on. This can include opportunities for parents to support or prepare their child for classroom assignments, or information about upcoming extracurricular activities and special events.

10. Share the positive: Often, communication will focus on the basics such as daily schedules, homework assignments, upcoming events and in some cases behavioral updates. Parents may dread the rare phone call home, so it's important to find opportunities to communicate good news, as well.

School Communications as the Glue

A strong school culture leads to a thriving school community where every teacher, parent, and student has the opportunity to connect and be actively engaged, and that culture starts with communication. Therefore, a school-wide focus on communication is key to creating equitable opportunity for all parents and students. A whole-school communications plan ensures that all faculty members are conveying important information in an accessible way, and making sure all parents have access to school-based opportunities. With these strategies in mind, you can transform school communications and experience a new level of parent engagement.

For more, see:

Jennifer Larson is co-founder and CEO of Hive Digital Minds, the creators of . She is a technology entrepreneur, charter public school founder, and mother of four. Follow Jennifer on Twitter @startupjen
Featured image is the Parent & Community Center at Valley High, Santa Ana USD Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive our weekly newsletter, Smart Update.

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10 Strategies for Schools to Improve Parent Engagement

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By Jennifer Larson - The key to improving parent engagement is a consistent and simplified flow of communication between school, home and all other stakeholders.

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The following was written by Rosa Guerra, Ed.D., director of MTSS & Interventions in Garvey School District. It originally appeared in the January/February 2023 issue of Leadership magazine.
The school year holds many opportunities to engage our parents beyond the one time events planned throughout the year. We have all experienced the disappointment of planning a workshop, a socialization activity, preparing for open houses, or scheduling parent conferences and not having the turnout or engagement that we had hoped. How do we keep our parents engaged throughout the year, so that they can take advantage of the resources we offer and we can cultivate a true partnership?

We know that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs tells us that if basic survival needs are not met, a person is unable to attain self-actualization or transcendence. In the last two and a half years, our families have experienced a series of life-altering events, a shared trauma that continues to be the on-going pandemic, caring for sick family members and extended family, loss of friends and loved ones, job loss, moving/relocation of residence whether temporarily or permanently, inflation and so many other stress-inducing experiences. It is no surprise that their focus has been on getting their basic needs met. However, it is also true that it has become challenging to connect with and keep our parents engaged throughout the school year to support students and be true partners with their child's teachers and within our schools or programs. It is understandable within the context of the global pandemic that we continue to experience and the ensuing economic realities that have negatively impacted our families. Our parents truly deserve recognition for what they have been able to accomplish during these challenging times, in spite of it all, as do our dedicated staff who have continued to serve our students despite their own personal challenges.

We understand the importance of having a whole child and whole family approach, therefore our priority continues to be to find ways to include and engage our families so that we may achieve the school readiness outcomes for our littlest learners, and ensure successful outcomes in their educational journey, while also strengthening families so that they may reach their family goals. So, where do we start?

Trust - The foundation of any relationship

Essentially, we are asking our families to trust us with their child, their child's education, their child's well-being. How do we build trusting relationships? We follow through and keep our word. We check-in and don't assume. We take time to get to know each other and make time and put in the effort to get to know children and families by name and need. We find out what goals, hopes and dreams they have for their child and for themselves and we work together to help them achieve those goals. We give timely and accurate information, whether on the phone or in our handouts and flyers. Our office and staff are well-informed and provide accurate information and are friendly and empathetic. They understand their role in ensuring that they provide excellent customer service. These are basics, but they go a long way to building trust and being attuned to how to best serve our families. Trust is built one person at a time, one interaction at a time and over a period of time. We build individual and organizational trust one interaction at a time and this then, builds the public trust.

Meeting the Need - Access to Resources

We need to ask parents what their goals are for their children and for themselves. Based on these goals, we can mobilize our program, school and community resources and plan accordingly to be as responsive as possible. Helping to build strong families must be a core of our programs and schools. Ensuring access to a high quality early childhood education program that includes toddler care, preschool and beyond is key as our families seek to further their own goals. In addition, actively seeking out and forming relationships with community partners that can best meet the needs of families whether through medical care, mental health services can make a difference in the lives of our families. These types of community resources are essential in supporting our families as they work towards their own individual goals and improved outcomes.

We need to make these resources available and inform our families about what is available to them. We can form collaboratives within our community. Create a collaborative and meet monthly (EDD, SS, HUD, social worker, Mental Health, WIC, Regional Center, philanthropic foundations, faith-based groups, ESL classes for parents, tech classes for parents, partnerships with colleges, family coaches, transportation). We can start by having our parents identify barriers they encounter and search out services and programs that might be able to partner with us. In order to meet the needs of our students, we need to meet the needs of our parents and families. It is a whole child/whole family approach to engaging our families that will strengthen our communities and ties to our families and programs. It really does take a village to be able to meet the needs of our community.

Ask, don't assume

We need to ask parents what they need to support their children. The responses will vary, and are often obvious and predictable, but we need to make sure that parent input is being actively solicited, acknowledged and acted on. Developing parent surveys and analyzing data is important in ensuring that we are giving a voice to our families and understanding the barriers and needs they experience. We are far better equipped to support families and manage resources when we obtain input from our families. We also have the Parent, Family and Community Engagement Framework that outlines elements for a strong program with parent engagement as our aim. Each of these areas can be a focus for upcoming parent workshops and training. We know that parents have questions about setting appropriate boundaries, and about a child's developmental milestones, and stages of growth, or how to support literacy and math at home and transitions. There are online resources and printable checklists already available online for you to send out to families regarding developmental milestones.

These topics along with workshops where families can learn about governance, leadership and advocacy can empower our families to be involved. The standard stand alone parent workshop or parent training may no longer be sufficient to meet the needs of our families. We may want to consider offering a series that builds on the previous information provided and re-branding the "parent workshop" to "parent university" that provides brief, but informative, pre-recorded videos that support families in a variety of topics such as the importance of parent involvement and engagement and the impact on their child's efficacy, achievement and self-esteem or explaining ways for parents to engage and participate within our schools and programs. Also, providing opportunities for our parents to connect with various services, resources and community partners within the training or workshop is a way to bring an added value approach to the time they are able to dedicate to being involved and engaged in school matters. See this example from NYC.

We need to inform parents with plenty of time of upcoming opportunities for them to engage with our programs and provide details regarding the event. Families need to know how they might participate with enough notice so they can have plenty of time to plan their schedules accordingly. They need to know the purpose and what the intended outcome will be (i.e. grow in advocacy strategies, participate in shared governance and oversight of the program or school, engage with other parents to provide input on parent engagement plan, learn foundational reading strategies to support literacy, etc.). We often provide information about upcoming meetings, but do not provide the context or purpose or even frequency of those meetings and who should attend. Most of our meetings and offerings are regular occurrences that we assume parents should know that all parents are invited to attend and that they will find some benefit from having participated, but it is an assumption and there is a communication gap that needs to be filled by the school to ensure that it connects with our intended audience and to explain its relevance. In addition, taking the time to invite parents personally, whether by telephone or during morning drop off or after school pick up should not be underestimated. There is a difference between sending out the information to our families and actually having a personal conversation with our families inviting them to attend. The personal touch does go a long way and makes a difference! When asked why a parent actually attended a meeting, a standard reply is often, "The teacher asked me to, or the principal called me." It is also respectful and lowers the affective filter for those families who may not be as comfortable with engaging with our schools or programs.

Just in time access

Parent academies and parent universities can be a way to provide just-in-time information to our families on a variety of topics. Through surveys and parent input, we can garner information as to topics that may be of interest to our families. Parents often express that they are eager to learn more about how to best support their children's learning at home. They are interested in learning about their children and their various milestones. They want to know what is typical in terms of speech and language acquisition, or in cognitive development. Providing valuable information that is accessible to them throughout the year, whether in person or accessible to them online via our websites so that the information is readily available when parents have the opportunity or need, can be a way to foster engagement. This can be a proactive way to reach all families, but especially those who are unable to attend our workshops, trainings or other offerings. Families appreciate the information and want to support their children through the strategies, games and activities that they can use at home to support their child in their learning but want access during a time that works best for their schedules and busy lives. Our websites need to become a "go-to" repository of information and resources that families can access asynchronously, when needed.

Building a community with technology

The last few years have been intense and have truly stretched all of us! Students, parents and teaching staff have moved out of their comfort zones to embrace technology to support instruction and learning. Our parents have grown their skills and added to their toolbox as they have supported their children with learning and technology from home via connected learning/distance virtual learning and accessing online resources.

We all understand the importance of in-person, face-to-face interactions in building connection and community, however we have also found that technology can enhance these interactions. We can build a sense of community using programs such as Class Dojo that are free and serve to help us disseminate information, highlight and showcase students or families, and provide easy access to principals, directors, teachers and parents through email. This program also has built-in translation and it translates the message for the reader in their preferred language. As we work towards overcoming barriers to engagement, communication, and trust, we need to take advantage of all that technology can offer that supports us in our goal of engaging families. Applications such as Remind can help us send group texts and keep our families informed of important events in a timely manner. Programs such as these can help us stay connected and build a virtual community engagement that we trust will help in bringing about the in-person and active engagement that we strive to create within our communities and families. If language is a communication barrier, there are other technological devices that can assist with translation, whether it is through Google Translate, or a hand-held translator, or a translating pen that can be used by a parent to have translate written material.

These devices can help us with communicating with our families in real-time, especially when we may not have staff readily available who speak the language.

Having a plan and working the plan

We need to have a parent engagement plan that we revisit regularly. The best of intentions will not effectively serve our communities, if we have not intentionally brought in the voices of our parents and staff, analyze our data, identify goals and objectives we would like to improve upon, and assign staff that will be accountable to work towards achieving those goals. When we brainstorm with our teams, we open up a world of possibilities and together, we are able to problem solve. Through the cycle of continuous improvement, we work together to identify needs, brainstorm, solicit input and co-create solutions that can best meet the identified needs. Setting high expectations and goals for ourselves and our families, along with the allocation of the resources needed to achieve those goals will create the conditions for success. Nothing great happens without intention, and without a plan. Here are two examples of a parent engagement plan available online: Albuquerque Public Schools and Mt. Vernon Elementary.

Measuring Progress

We need to have a common understanding of what the end goal or outcome looks like and agree to evaluate ourselves and our progress. Rubrics can be useful in informing our progress and next steps. Developing a rubric together with our various stakeholders can lead to valuable insights, clarity and inform our plan. As part of this process, establishing clear timelines for revisiting and reviewing progress is essential. In this way, the plan is not forgotten and stored away, rather it is constantly revisited and we are engaging all of our stakeholders in the important conversation and problem-solving sessions as challenges arise and in this way, we are able to make needed and timely adjustments. Here is an example of a rubric available online.

Shared Accountability

The execution and success of the plan is not just one person's responsibility. It is a collective responsibility. We agree to shared accountability. The success of the plan is everyone's success, and in the same vein, the team is accountable when we do not reach our intended outcome. Falling short of the goal is not a failure if we have been working together throughout the year and we have all been responsive to the needs of our stakeholders and have implemented the plan as close to fidelity as possible. Even best laid out plans do not always yield the desired results, however, it is when the plan has been forgotten, and not "worked upon" that questions need to be asked as to how the plan was monitored, who was responsible for a particular action and by when, what support or resources are needed and by whom, what does success look like and agree upon the frequency of progress monitoring meetings. These are important accountability steps that must be part of our intention to increase parent engagement and involvement.

Stay resilient in the face of challenges

We need to stay resilient despite the challenges and sometimes, disappointments. Even with the best of intentions and well articulated and implemented plans, we may not be able to engage all families or bring about the involvement we seek. However, it is important to keep in mind the successes and the many families who have been positively impacted through your efforts and the collective efforts of the school community or program. This is what continues to motivate us day in and day out as we follow up with yet another personal telephone call, or wait for the parent at the classroom door before or after school, and as we send another flyer or letter home. Providing our families with the support and resources they need and having them see us as caring professionals who are committed to serve and committed to being spokespersons for our programs, organizations and advocates for our students, families and communities, will inevitably increase interest and engagement.

The techniques and strategies we have used in the past work for some, but not all. Realizing that no matter what we try, it will not work for all is likely the first step because it helps us understand that not one size fits all, and that we truly do need to differentiate our approach. Sending home flyers, automated telephone calls and highlighting the information on our marquee are all good practices and should not be discontinued. Instead, we need to ask: Who are we not seeing at our events and why? What do we need to do to make sure they are able to attend? If they cannot attend, how can we make the information accessible? How do we empower families to overcome challenges, meet their goals, and be the best caregivers that they can be for their children? How do we support families and caregivers to support them in the greatest of challenges that impact their children? What else can we do? What is an outside of the box idea we can try? What we have always done is great, but it isn't enough. We have to do all of that and more, regularly and with gusto! It is a call for continued action as we continue to strive to strengthen our practices and engage all families so that they can thrive and be advocates for their children as they support them through their academic journey.

Our families were faced with so many difficult decisions and challenges. They have many competing priorities. We know they love their children and want the best for them. We also know that we will need to continue to be innovative and persistent as we work towards re-engaging our families and having them be actively involved in our programs and schools. to participate in the various options available for families to fully participate in and take full benefit to maximize all that our schools and our programs have to offer.

While these strategies are not revolutionary, they are impactful when used systematically, and relentlessly.
Dr. Rosa Guerra was born and raised in the Pico-Union neighborhood of Los Angeles. Dr. Guerra began her career in education in 1994. She is a former Director of Child Development and is currently Director of MTSS and Interventions PK-8. She has taught graduate students as an adjunct professor for Point Loma of the Nazarene University. She holds a doctoral (Ed.D.) degree in Educational Leadership from Azusa Pacific University. Dr. Guerra serves on the Board for the Center for Leadership, Equity and Research (CLEAR) and as Director of the Social Justice Leadership Mentoring with CLEAR, and is a facilitator/presenter with PRAXIS, Lead, Equity. Dr. Guerra is committed to social justice and enjoys presenting on topics that include mentoring, parent engagement, MTSS & Interventions, cultural proficiency and equity, among other topics. She serves as an ACSA Region 15 Member-at-Large/Membership and a Vice President of Programs for the ACSA NWSGV charter, and is the ALAS Networking & Knowledge Mobilization Committee Chair.

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We Tried That, Now What? Increasing Parent Engagement in Our Schools

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These family engagement strategies can help educators achieve school readiness outcomes for our youngest learners, and ensure successful outcomes in their educational journey, while also strengthening families so that they may reach their family goals.

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Parents are the experts on their children. Yet, district leaders know that promoting family engagement is far from a simple endeavor.

Educators and administrators play a large role in shaping family-school partnerships. When schools elevate families as true partners and the experts that they are, students benefit significantly. When districts support families through thoughtful, equitable policies and programs, it encourages broader community engagement that can help to enrich student learning and optimize student success.

Decades of research outline a clear need for parent involvement in a child's educational experience. When families are engaged in school, their children are more likely to succeed.

However, the research also shows that there are many common barriers to parental involvement. These barriers-such as a lack of time, childcare needs, and negative perceptions about school and staff-can make it difficult for families to engage in their children's education.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to family engagement. However, it's crucial to ensure families have a voice in their child's educational experience. Random acts of engagement are not enough; districts must look to systematically involve families across all grade levels.

This guide will equip you with the strategies and tools you need to meaningfully and continuously engage families in their children's learning and development. By the end, you'll understand common barriers to engaging families, equity-centered and technology-supported strategies for connecting with caregivers, and methods for enabling family engagement with survey data.

Download Now: the Panorama Family-School Relationships Survey

1. What Is Family Engagement? 2. The Power of Parent Involvement 3. Identifying Barriers to Family Engagement 4. Strategies for Supporting Family Engagement in Schools 5. Family Engagement Resources
What is Family Engagement?

Family engagement is the shared responsibility of family members, schools, and communities. District and school leaders often consider family engagement a two-way process that begins in early childhood education, persists through high school, and occurs across multiple settings where children learn.

Relational trust, mutual respect, and cultural responsiveness are pillars of systemic family engagement. The Global Family Research Project, led by researchers at Harvard University, identifies systemic family engagement - that is, parent engagement that is integrated into school structures and educator professional development - as a core component of educational goals, such as student achievement, school turnaround, and school readiness.

Family engagement requires a commitment from school leaders and educators to:

Create and sustain partnerships that are ongoing, mutual, built on trust and respect

Focus on supporting family well-being and student achievementHonor and support the strengthening of parent-child relationships, which are central to a child's healthy development, school readiness, and well-being.

To recognize the many different types of family configurations, researchers and youth-serving organizations tend to include parents as well as other adult caregivers in the definition of "family." For instance: many early childhood education centers describe family engagement as including biological, adoptive, and foster parents; grandparents; legal guardians and informal guardians; and adult siblings.

Questions to Consider

1. How does our district define "family engagement"?

2. Which types of families in our community need support in advocating for their child? How can we identify the supports that these families need?

3. How can we equip families with resources to empower them to practice social-emotional learning at home?

The Power of Parent Involvement

Why is Family Engagement Important?

Research shows that involving families in their children's education is paramount to student success. When families are meaningfully and continuously engaged in their children's learning and development, it has a positive impact on their child's health, academic, and well-being outcomes. Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that family involvement can benefit all students, especially those less likely to succeed in school.

Cumulative evidence from decades of research indicates that strong relationships among schools, families, and community members can positively impact student achievement and social-emotional health.

Family involvement has been shown to benefit children from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. For instance: Latino youth with parents who provide encouragement and emphasize the value of education as a way out of poverty tend to have higher grades.

Schools that engage families find that their students have higher grades, show faster rates of literacy acquisition, attend school more regularly, and are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college.

Children in grades K-3 whose parents participate in school activities tend to develop high-quality work habits and task orientation compared to children whose parents did not participate.

At a more holistic level, many studies support the importance of partnerships among families, schools, and the broader community.

Adolescents whose parents monitor their academic and social activities have lower rates of delinquency and higher rates of social competence and academic growth.

Emerging research suggests that teachers, parents, and administrators can play an instrumental role in facilitating successful partnerships and improving relationships to enhance student achievement.

Research shows that a lack of trust is often what keeps historically marginalized families (which includes families of language learners) from spending time at school.

Parental involvement tends to decline as children progress through elementary school and into middle and high school.

Questions to Consider:

1. Does our staff understand the importance of community engagement?

2. Is our staff equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to support family engagement? If not, how can we better support our staff?

Identifying Barriers to Family Engagement

We know that engaging families is critical for student success-in academics and social-emotional learning- as well as for the overall school climate.

Now, let's discuss the barriers that can prevent families from effectively engaging with school. Many of these barriers - such as families perceiving school staff as too busy to interact with them or that the school doesn't properly communicate opportunities to be involved - are areas that administrators and teachers can improve when they understand the underlying obstacle or challenge.

Common Barriers to Family Engagement

The following factors are commonly cited in research as barriers preventing families from engaging in their child's educational experience:

Busy work schedule for parents

Childcare needs

Staff and school seem too busy

Fears that adults at school will treat their children differently if they raise a concern

Lack of trust

Lack of information about involvement opportunities

Lack of guidance on how to communicate with the school

Transportation-related challenges

Low feelings of belonging with the school community

Measuring Family Engagement

In order to better collaborate with families, districts and schools need to better understand the needs, obstacles and challenges facing caregivers. Too often, educator perceptions of family engagement barriers do not align with families' experiences.

Conducting bi-annual, district-wide family surveys is one way to collect robust data that can elevate family voices and experiences.

By conducting a survey of your families, your school or district can hear from a representative group of parents and guardians, rather than relying only on the perspectives of parents who are already highly engaged in advisory committees or PTA groups.

Panorama Education's Family-School Relationships Survey - developed in partnership with Dr. Karen Mapp and researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education - provides districts with a clear picture of family attitudes about a wide array of topics, including:

School Fit: Families' perceptions of how well a school matches their child's developmental needs (e.g., how well do you feel your child's school is preparing him/her for his/her next academic year?)

Family Efficacy: How confident families are with regard to key parenting skills (e.g., how confident are you in your ability to support your child's learning at home?)

School Climate: Perceptions of the overall social and learning climate of their child's school (e.g., to what extent do you think that children enjoy going to your child's school?)

Barriers to Engagement: Factors that can create challenges for families to interact with their child's school. (e.g., how big of a problem are the following issues for becoming involved with your child's current school?)

In aggregating our dataset of responses of over 18,000 parents and guardians from diverse school communities across the country, several themes emerged in terms of common barriers to engagement for families. The most common barrier to engagement is a lack of time, with 54 percent of parents and guardians reporting that their busy schedule is a "medium" to "very large" problem for becoming involved in their child's school. Other top barriers to engagement include:

Childcare needs

A perception that school staff seem too busy

A belief that school staff will treat their child differently if the parent or guardian raises a concern

A lack of information provided from the school about involvement opportunities

Questions to Consider:

1. Are we inviting feedback from all families in our district? If so, are we asking the right questions to truly understand their obstacles and challenges when it comes to engaging with their child's education?

2. Are caregiver voices influencing our family-school partnership programs?

Strategies for Supporting Family Engagement in Schools

Ground your district's strategic planning in an evidence-based family engagement framework

Invite families to share priorities, concerns, and feedback

Bring families into the decision-making process

Assess all family engagement initiatives through an equity lens

Offer flexibility and a variety of options for family involvement

Leverage a variety of tools to facilitate meaningful, two-way communication

The work doesn't stop once your district has identified the barriers or obstacles to family engagement. With survey data readily available, family engagement coordinators and district leaders can take targeted steps to reduce these barriers through targeted strategies that build authentic family-school partnerships.

A strong family engagement plan consists of thoughtful, culturally-responsive, and equity-centered strategies that are grounded in feedback from both caregivers and as educators.

Ground your district's strategic planning in an evidence-based family engagement framework

The Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships is a valuable resource to consider when developing family engagement strategies.

Based on existing research and best practices, the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships is designed to support the development of family engagement strategies, policies, and programs. Developed by Dr. Karen Mapp and a team of researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the framework provides the goals and "essential conditions" necessary for districts to chart a path toward effective family engagement efforts that support student achievement and school improvement.

As one example of this framework in action, Baltimore City Public Schools created a program that sent pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students home with bags containing award-winning children's books and resources for parents on how to promote early childhood literacy at home.

Invite families to share priorities, concerns, and feedback

Using family surveys, administrators can invite caregivers to document their perceptions of their child's experience in school. The data gathered can help districts better understand the experience of all caregivers, delve into potential disparities occurring on demographic and socioeconomic lines, and institute policy and programmatic changes accordingly.

Families can also share any skills or contributions they would like to offer to the school community. School leaders can then provide families with volunteer opportunities to match those skills and interests.

Bring families into the decision-making process

Successful family engagement programs are built on a foundation of joint decision-making and goal setting. Inviting families to take part in this work can increase caregiver engagement and reinforce that their involvement will have a direct impact on their children's education and well-being.

Some districts invite caregivers to be part of their decision-making process through specific councils or committees that are tasked with setting school policies or developing enrichment programs.

Other districts create advisory committees composed of teachers, administrators, parents, and community leaders to solicit and provide input on educational initiatives and policy.

Assess all family engagement initiatives through an equity lens

Your district's family engagement initiatives must be responsive to the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of all families. No matter a family's race, ethnicity, culture, or socioeconomic status, every family has both aspirations and concerns for their children's success. Families are the foundation from which teachers build their students' voice, agency, and academic development. Without this understanding, the most well-intentioned efforts can fall short of establishing authentic partnership with families.

In linguistically and culturally diverse communities, it is of particular importance for districts to recognize and honor the traditions and sacrifices of all families. Families of color typically rely heavily on familial and social networks, including extended family members.

Consider the following when evaluating your district's family engagement programs:

In addition to high-quality early learning opportunities for children, is it possible to offer postsecondary education for families through a community partner?

Is it possible to provide economic supports to families in need through grants or fundraising?

Are there formal and informal networks of support for all families, especially those who may not be able to engage with schools in traditional ways?

What assumptions are district leaders, school leaders, and educators making about class, culture, or language that might detract from well-intentioned family engagement initiatives? This is especially important to reflect on when planning ways to welcome parents and families into the classroom.

Are we using plain terms when communicating with parents? How might communication practices or language reflect power versus partnership?

Offer flexibility and a variety of options for family involvement

Flexibility is key. Not all parents have time to visit school in the middle of the day or to attend meetings on school nights. Although some parents may want to be involved in projects or committees, they may lack the time, resources, or social capital to engage.

Here are examples of ways to set up flexible pathways for parental involvement.

Offer supplementary educational resources to support learning at home (both for academics and social-emotional learning) via a school newsletter, social media updates, or in-person workshops. Families should receive frequent, digestible information on curriculum, instructional strategies, student assessment data, and overall student progress.

Set up online and mobile event registration and/or host events for parents online to make it easier for parents to participate. Also consider recording these sessions to share with parents who could not attend live.

When asking for help with fundraising, event planning, or field trip coordination, always include multiple options for parent participation. For example, provide options for helping during and after school hours. Ask parents to recommend community organizations that the school could collaborate with. Make it clear that any and all help-no matter how small the contribution-is valued.

Set up a parent-teacher home visit program. Research points to numerous benefits when teachers visit the homes of their students, including increased connection between teachers and parents, more parental engagement in a child's academics, increased trust and communication, and better student behavior.

Launch a literacy-themed family teacher night, similar to the one that Wake County Public School System piloted (details in this blog post).

When schools offer flexible options for parents to get involved, and parents can start to see the positive benefit of investing in school initiatives, engagement efforts are far more likely to be successful.

Leverage a variety of tools to facilitate meaningful, two-way communication

When implemented effectively, parental engagement strategies employ consistent, two-way, meaningful communication to ensure parents are viewed as full partners in their children's education and included (and truly heard) in decision-making processes that involve their school's various education programs.

According to a 2018 report on community engagement, parents want timely and impactful communication from their child's school. They want to be kept informed without feeling overwhelmed.

Two-way communication (correspondence that goes back-and-forth between parents and educators as equals) is crucial to conveying care and building trust. One-way communication (communication that only flows from the school to the home) is inadequate for deeply attending to families' experiences, strengths, and needs. Districts need to allow for both school- and family- initiated communication that is timely and continuous, focuses on a child's educational experience, and reflects each family's language preference.

In the past decade, technology-enabled family engagement has emerged as a new option for schools. When assessing which tools or mediums are a best fit for your district's unique context (and your families' unique needs), consider some of our favorite options:

Communication Tools: Apart from the main social media platforms, tools such as Remind and ClassDojo make it possible for teachers to virtually bring parents into the classroom. These apps allow teachers and parents to communicate and share information quickly. Both options offer translation capabilities. Another app, Ready4K, offers evidence-based text messages for parents that can deliver an entire family engagement curriculum via SMS.

Video Tools: In addition to connecting with families via Zoom, educators can share news about student work or create lessons for families to view online using platforms such as Educreations, Flipgrid, or Screencastify. These tools also allow educators to record videos of announcements, record lessons to share with parents, or capture student learning through digital portfolios.

Virtual Classroom Spaces: Kidblog, Padlet, and Edmodo are all popular tools that can create a classroom space in the form of a blog or a class website. The goal is to create a centralized location for families to bookmark and refer back to when they have questions or want to see updates from the school. Maintaining a blog or website can help alleviate the barriers of time and lack of information, as families can refer to these spaces when convenient.

Questions to Consider:

1. What is our district vision for family engagement?

2. How do we ensure that families, staff, and students have a voice in establishing this vision?

3. How can we ensure communication is parent friendly and truly two way?

4. How is our district addressing challenges such as childcare, English-language proficiency, non-traditional work hours, and access to transportation?

5. How can we use the cultural backgrounds of our families to enrich instruction and school climate?

6. What might make a family feel unwelcome or uncared for at our school? How can we address this?

7. What are we doing to actively build trusting relationships with families?

Additional Family Engagement Resources

This guide is just a starting point for exploring the topic of family engagement. Here are some resources to explore next:

There are many other organizations and researchers that specialize in this area. Here are some articles and resources worth bookmarking:

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Family Engagement in Schools: A Comprehensive Guide

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Parents are the experts on their children. Yet, district leaders know that promoting family engagement is far from a simple endeavor. Educators and administrators play a large role in shaping family-school partnerships. When schools elevate families as true partners and the experts that they are, students benefit significantly.

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39236

1. Programs and Teachers Build Relationships with Families

2. Communication
Reflective Practice

3. Moving from Parent Involvement to Family Engagement
Family Engagement as Parent Involvement

4. Programs and Teachers Value the Primary Role of Families in Promoting Children's Development.

5. Programs Create a Climate in Which Family Members Feel Empowered and Comfortable as Advocates for Their Children.

6. Programs Support Teachers' Responsiveness to the Families' Goals for Their Children's Development and School Readiness.

7. Programs and Teachers Use Effective Communication Strategies That Reflect the Diversity of Families Served

Honest, caring, understanding, and respectful exchanges with family members lead to their sharing important information with teachers that help to inform how to care and support each child's learning and development. Taking the time to find out from family members about their child's unique characteristics and needs plays an important role in providing teachers with the information needed to set up appropriate learning environments for individual children. Establishing positive relationships with families helps to bridge children's experiences between the program and home, and it fosters children's sense of belonging in the early education setting.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): When there is a trusting relationship that values the family, it is easier for parents to trust the care of their children to early educators.[1]

Teachers view families as children's first teachers and seek their assessments of a child's needs, interests, and abilities. Different families and communities have different views and expectations of three through five-year-olds. The effective early childhood educator recognizes, understands, and respects the values of children's families and communities and attempts to make the environment as congruent with those values as possible. In high-quality early childhood programs, the teacher speaks frequently with family members and, whenever appropriate, strengthens the links between the home and program. Frequent communication between program staff and family members is important, especially in the case of children with disabilities or other special needs. Through collaboration with families, preschool teachers can gain insight into ways in which they can be important contributors to the child's learning and development. To support children's learning across home and school contexts, the program can encourage family participation in activities at the early care and education program.[2]

Note [3]

"Family engagement with schools has been linked to important outcomes for children of all families, including families with children who are dual language learners . . . Numerous positive developmental child outcomes have been associated with family engagement, including early literacy skills, cognitive and language development skills . . . socio-emotional skills . . . and academic achievement."

Source: State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care 2013, Paper 4, Family Engagement, 121.

Programs and Teachers Build Relationships with Families

Programs convey an important message to families when they seek their views and collaborate with them in the care of their children. This message helps family members understand that their preferences and their concerns about the learning and development of their child are important to teachers and program leaders. When a teacher has open, honest, and understanding relationships with family members, the resulting links between the home and the early care and education setting often help their child feel safe and comfortable.

Programs

Support the participation of all family members, being responsive to their cultural, linguistic, and economic differences, as well as to any disabilities or special needs of the children or a family member.

Involve family members in making decisions about the program and its policies.

Recognize and acknowledge that teen parents are still adolescents developmentally even though they are in an adult role as parents.

Provide a way for families to give feedback to the program, such as regular evaluations or opportunities for informal discussion.

Schedule regular meetings, social times, and other special events for families so that they can learn more about the program, get to know each other and staff members, and build a sense of community

Communication

Engage in a two-way exchange of ideas, preferences, and child-rearing philosophies during the first meetings with family members, setting the tone for future communication.

Listen, reflect, and respond when family members communicate concerns and ideas about their child.

Initiate discussions with families to understand and resolve issues when they arise.

Engage in communication with family members at the beginning and end of each day about the child's care, activities, interests, and moods.

Communicate to family members that they are always welcome to visit or call to check on their child.

Reflective Practice

Explore in discussions with family members both families' and teachers' assumptions about young children and how they learn.[4]

Moving from Parent Involvement to Family Engagement

Family Engagement as Parent Involvement

Parent involvement refers to parent participation in the systems and activities the early childhood education program in ways that support them as the primary educators, nurturers and advocates for individual children and for all children enrolled in the program. Parent involvement refers to opportunities for parent participation in a variety of program activities that support child and adult development, including policy and program decision-making.

Family engagement refers to ongoing, goal-directed relationships between staff and families that are mutual, culturally responsive, and that support what is best for children and families both individually and collectively. Staff and families share responsibility for the learning and development of children, the progress toward outcomes for children and families, and for parent involvement in the program. Parent involvement is a part of this larger construct of family engagement.

Parent Involvement

Family Engagement

Parent Involvement is primarily the responsibility of family services staff (or parent involvement specialists, home visitors, or transition specialists).

Family engagement is embedded in the work of all staff members, management systems and leadership priorities.

Parent involvement might revolve around outputs-for example, the number of parents who show up at a meeting.

Family engagement focuses on evidence of positive, goal directed relationships, for example, that result in family progress in one (or more) of the seven outcome areas.

Parent involvement works with a small % of families involved in leadership opportunities (policy council, parent meetings, special events).

Through ongoing relationships, family members are engaged in a variety of goal directed ways related to Parent and Family Engagement Outcomes.

Programs that involve parents collect data from children and families-for example, information about parent participation.

Programs that engage families use child and family data to improve services. These programs help families understand and use child data to support their children's progress and development.

Engaging and Collaborating with Families

Recognize that working with families promotes children's development.

Build relationships with families to ensure meaningful two-way collaboration, supporting the children's learning and development and helping families to understand child development.

Attentively greet family members when they arrive and depart from the program setting, and use those opportunities to exchange information about the family's child.

Contribute ideas and resources to promote each child's learning and development in the home and community.

Collaborate formally and informally with families and colleagues to share observations, describe children's accomplishments, plan for children individually and as a group, and address concerns about children.

Support families as decision makers for and educators of their children.

Actively solicit and listen to families' goals, aspirations, and concerns about their children's development.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Children thrive when their families are engaged and included in their early childhood education program.[6]

Home Language

Programs and Teachers Value the Primary Role of Families in Promoting Children's Development.

The family is central in children's lives, as it is through their experiences with their families that children learn about themselves and the world around them (adapted from CDE 2006, 56). Family member is used to define the people who are primarily responsible for a child, including extended family members, teen parents, or foster families (text adapted from CDE 2006, 56). Programs support the healthy growth and development of the child within the context of the family by creating continuity between the home and the early care and education setting. Programs are responsible for learning about the children's home life through communication with family members and, when possible, home visits. As part of this process, programs will learn to work with diverse family structures, including those headed by grandparents, foster families, same-sex parents, and teen parents. An essential aspect of high-quality programs is finding ways to support the growing relationship between the child and the family, and adapting to the strengths and needs of each child-family relationship (CDE 2006, 57). By getting to know families and understanding the importance of children's relationships with caregivers at home, programs and teachers can support the primary role of the family in children's learning and development.

Knowledge of Families

Parent-Child History and Relationships

Programs Create a Climate in Which Family Members Feel Empowered and Comfortable as Advocates for Their Children.

When programs and teachers engage in open, respectful communication with family members and strive to develop positive, collaborative relationships with them, family members feel included and empowered. The experience of authentically contributing to their children's experiences in preschool helps family members become advocates for their children both within the program and in interactions with other service providers. For example, they are more likely to seek or request services for their children, such as referrals to special education, when needed or appropriate.

Programs can help families with dual language learners recognize their families' cultural and linguistic strengths and learn the skills to ask for the types of services that they think will benefit their children. Families should be encouraged to share their strengths with the program and be asked to participate in joint goal setting and decision making about their children's education. The entire program benefits when educators incorporate diverse cultures, languages, and talents of families with dual language learners into the program's learning environment and curriculum. Once family members feel their contributions and opinions are valued, programs will benefit from their knowledge and experience.

Empowerment of Families

Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\): When families are welcome in the early education environment, their children thrive.[8]

Programs Support Teachers' Responsiveness to the Families' Goals for Their Children's Development and School Readiness.

The most successful opportunities for parent engagement are those that address the ideas of parents about their roles in their children's education and their sense of efficacy in helping their children to succeed in early childhood programs (Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler 1997). Working with parents to define shared goals helps to strengthen the home-school partnership. In particular, when programs and teachers work to integrate school and family experiences, implement school-readiness practices, and identify strategies for school readiness and transitions, both families and their children benefit.

Researchers have found that preschoolers achieved at higher levels when families and teachers shared similar child centered beliefs and practices. Thus, it is important that programs ask all families to collaborate and participate in joint goal setting for their children, and to ask families with dual language learners and those families who have children with disabilities or other special needs, about effective strategies and the contexts in which their children learn best.

Integrating School and Family Experiences

Implementation of School- Readiness Practices

Strategies for School Readiness and Transitions

Programs and Teachers Use Effective Communication Strategies That Reflect the Diversity of Families Served

Honoring diversity strengthens relationships with families and children, thereby enhancing the quality of care and education for preschool children (adapted from CDE 2006, 57-58). Being responsive to cultural, linguistic, and economic differences and how these differences affect the ways in which programs and teachers communicate with families demonstrates a program's commitment to each family's unique strengths. Programs and teachers can work to enhance their communication strategies, attending carefully to individual differences in family preferences for communication.

Two-way communication strategies have been found to be particularly effective with families with dual language learners who may otherwise feel disconnected from the program. Two-way communication allows both parties to share information about the learning progress and well-being of the dual language learner and to collaborate on ways to help the child reach important learning goals. This type of communication works well during one-on-one meetings with the teacher or in a more informal setting such as in the community or in a group setting with other families with dual language learners of similar linguistic backgrounds. Regular two-way communication may be the first step toward increasing family engagement and key to developing strong dual language learner family-program partnerships.

Communication Strategies

Figure \(\PageIndex{4}\): Open communication is vital to the relationships between families and teachers.[9]

Family Preferences for Communication

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7.1: Building and Maintaining Positive Relationships with Families

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Page ID 39236 Programs and Teachers Build Relationships with Families Communication Reflective Practice Moving from Parent Involvement to Family Engagement Family Engagement as Parent Involvement Programs and Teachers Value the Primary Role of Families in Promoting Children's Development. Programs Create a Climate in Which Family Members Feel Empowered and Comfortable as Advocates for Their Children.

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Developing positive partnerships with the families of the children you teach is one of your most important tasks as a teacher. It can also be among the scariest or the most challenging tasks! I offer five Rs-respect, responsiveness and reassurance, relationship, reciprocity, and reflection-to help you build trust and promote positive family engagement in your preschool classroom.

Families Want Respect

Showing families respect is more than being polite-it is esteeming or honoring families. Family members want to feel respected as their child's first and most important teacher; they also want to see that you respect their family values, culture, and home experiences. Respect does not equate to agreeing with every decision made by families. It means being aware of your own biases and making sure that your own ideas, beliefs, and opinions don't interfere with your work to understand each families' choices and circumstances.

Respect also calls on educators to embrace a strengths-based approach to their interactions with children and families. In other words, a strengths-based approach demonstrates respect for families by recognizing, appreciating, and celebrating what they bring to a program or school. Families are viewed as contributors, creators, and participants.

Here are strategies you can utilize to develop respect:

Listen to families. First and foremost, allow enough time to truly listen to families. This confirms for families that their thoughts, suggestions, and opinions matter and are valued.

Maintain constant communication with families through apps and other means. Use an app (like Seesaw or Bloomz.com) or design a private, secure webpage that includes the classroom newsletter, weekly plans, photos of the children, a resources and upcoming events section, a forum for asking questions, and an activity for families to complete with their children each week. Activities should be meaningful and doable, such as an "all about me" questionnaire (which you might complete first to help introduce yourself to children and families). You can also share photos and videos. Include the same items on a family bulletin board inside or near your classroom.

Foster classroom community with a Family of the Week backpack. To foster cross-cultural learning and deeper relationships in an ongoing way, ask family members to complete an "all about my family" activity that you package in a backpack. Ask families to include items that are important to them in the backpack and to unpack it in class as they share information about each item and answer children's questions. If family members are not able to join in person, don't worry. They can join virtually using video conferencing (like Zoom) or share a recorded video of themselves unpacking the backpack and explaining the items they pull out. If families are unable to participate directly, the child can share the backpack while showing pictures of their family. Suggest that families include items that represent their culture, a favorite family memory, and a family interest or hobby.

Use the information and experiences shared to connect with the broader curriculum so that families' funds of knowledge are integrated into learning in meaningful and sustained ways. For example, find children's literature that mirrors cultures, languages, and experiences shared. (Check out weneeddiversebooks.org or tfcbooks.org/best-recommended/booklist to find children's books that celebrate diversity.)

Families Want Reassurance and Responsiveness

Family members need to be reassured that you care about meeting their child where they are and that you are knowledgeable about their child as an individual and as a part of social and cultural communities. They want to be reassured that their child will not be singled out, labeled, forgotten, or harmed-but will be kept safe and be engaged in activities that are suited to their child's unique strengths, interests, preferences, and needs. They also want to feel that you are responsive and that they can trust you to address their concerns and questions. For educators to be responsive, they must embrace flexibility. Educators who are flexible in their understanding, their expectations, and their responses to the families they serve will build that trust.

Here are strategies you can utilize to offer reassurance:

Take a lot of photos and videos. Keep a device nearby to take photos and video recordings (and keep in mind which families have agreed to have their children photographed and what types of sharing they are permitting). Families want to know what their child does during the day, who they play with, the activities they enjoy, and how they are progressing. Most love keeping up with these things through photos and videos. Sharing photos and videos weekly gives every family regular opportunities to peek into their child's daily school routine, which also helps to reassure them that their child is happy and is learning at their program. Make sure you gather documentation for every child on a regular basis to share with their families. (To learn more, read Experiences Can't Go Home in Cubbies: Using Digital Technology and Documentation to Connect with Families, by Stephanie Haney.)

Provide daily or mid-week talking points. Unlike more thorough weekly updates, talking points can be just a few sentences to let families know topics, concepts, or vocabulary words that their children are learning and how to expand on those things at home.

Pick up the phone. Responding to family members is the most important and easiest way to develop a trusting relationship with them and to reassure them that you are on their team. Respond to phone calls, emails, and other messages within 24 hours. Returning these in a timely manner reassures families because it shows that their questions, thoughts, and concerns are important to you.

Families Want a Relationship

Creating and maintaining partnerships with families is a critical component of developmentally appropriate practice and for good reason: families have expertise about their children, and they play a critical role in their child's growth and learning. When families do not feel that they are part of the classroom community, they might distance themselves from the school or program. This might impact their willingness to interact with you and to volunteer in classroom activities.

Here are strategies you can utilize to build relationships:

Say "Hello!" It is amazing how far a simple Hello! will go toward building a positive relationship. Just by acknowledging a family member's presence, you are being welcoming. Short, inviting conversations can lead to positive relationships and family engagement.

Invite family members into your classroom community. Some families may not know whether they are allowed to be involved in their child's classroom and may not be clear about how to support their child's learning at home. This provides a great opportunity to help the family become engaged with your program's community and to share activities for extended learning. Invite families to serve as a mystery reader or a mystery guest speaker (virtually or in-person). Ask children to guess the mystery reader or speaker by providing clues. For at-home learning, provide a weekly calendar (such as the one provided at RIF.org) of activities families can do at home with their children.

Make it easy for families to ask questions. Offer opportunities at the program and online for families to communicate any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions they may have. You could create forum space on your classroom webpage, in your newsletter, or on your family bulletin board. You could also have a comment box in your classroom for families to share more private communications.

Families Want Reciprocity

Reciprocity often involves a shift in thinking about engagement and communication because it relies on interdependence, or depending on each other to accomplish something. One member of a relationship must coordinate their thinking and actions with others to reach shared understanding and decision making. Such coordination involves being flexible with our approaches and expectations. When we do so, we can foster a supportive and trusting relationship with families and enhance their motivation to communicate and participate.

Here are strategies you can utilize to practice reciprocity:

Involve families by dialoguing and including them in making decisions. Inquire about a family's goals and expectations for their child, their child's teacher, and their child's school. Telling families about their child is a one-way form of communication. Two-way forms of communication give families opportunities to collaborate with you and to actually talk about their concerns, wants, goals, and dreams. In addition, keep them informed about upcoming plans or changes, with sufficient time to consider their options and preferences, to ask questions, and to communicate with you. As stated in NAEYC's position statement on advancing equity, educators should "uphold every family's right to make decisions for and with their children."

Consider culture, language, and literacy when communicating with families. This means knowing about the families and ensuring that accommodations are made so that every family can access and respond to the information you share. Translate documents into families' home languages and use interpreters to help strengthen the two-way engagement and communication between you and families.

Families Want Teachers to Reflect

True reflection is ongoing and an essential part of assessment and teaching. Reflecting helps teachers engage children and families intentionally instead of falling into routines. You may find it most useful to reflect daily or weekly (such as taking an extra 10 minutes before you write your weekly update for families). As long as you find time to reflect while your memories are still fresh, you'll have new insights that will positively impact your instruction and your interactions with each child and their family.

Here are strategies you can utilize to promote reflection:

Ask yourself: How well do I know each of the children and their families, and how can I learn more about them? How often do I interact with each family? What strategies do I use to ensure they know they are an important part of the learning community?

Ask family members: How would you like to be involved in the classroom? Is there a book you would like to read to the class, a cultural tradition you would like to share, or an activity related to your job or a hobby (like bird watching) you would like to lead? What do you think your child needs to have an even more enjoyable and educational experience in the classroom?

Ask your colleagues: How do you engage families? Is there something we should do together-like host a family science and art night-to get to know family members better and show ways to extend learning at home?

Conclusion

At its best, early childhood is a time when teachers, children, and families open themselves to each other, inviting joyful play, collaborative inquiry, thoughtful observation, and deep caring. Together, families and early childhood educators nurture positive social, emotional, and intellectual development.

One More R: Sharing Resources with Families

By using the five Rs, educators can build trust and foster positive family engagement. Families will know that you have their child's best interests in mind, and they may want to learn about resources they can use at home. Here are strategies you can use for sharing resources:

Include family-friendly resources on your website or family communication app and bulletin board. Free events, concerts, educational websites, local places of interest, book fairs, and more are examples of valuable resources for all families. In addition, list (and regularly update) support services and organizations, like food banks, the local United Way office locations, and clinics offering free dental care, eyeglasses, and flu shots.

Create a monthly Family Fun calendar. To support playful learning at home, you could create a monthly calendar with suggested activities that may be completed by families to supplement their child's classroom learning. Suggest easy-to-use apps along with readily available non-digital materials at home that promote learning and engagement. For example, check out:

Rif.org/literacy-central/calendars-This literacy-based website equips educators with interactive calendars. Each day on the calendar provides either information about that day, an activity to complete with an adult, or a question to ponder.

Pbskids.org-This interactive website offers resources and tips for families. In addition, the free website includes games and videos.

Readingrockets.org-This literacy website provides articles, videos, blogs, and PBS television shows related to reading.

Recommend family-oriented magazines. Highlight available magazines and articles related to child development, parenting, or early education during family conferences and back to school night. Also display them on your bulletin board, online communication platform, or in the waiting area during family conferences. Many have free subscriptions: Family Magazine, Family Fun Magazine, Working Mother, and Highlights.

Photograph: © Getty Images.
Copyright © 2022 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC.org/resources/permissions.

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Five Rs for Promoting Positive Family Engagement

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I offer five Rs-respect, responsiveness and reassurance, relationship, reciprocity, and reflection-to help you build trust and promote positive family engagement in your preschool classroom.

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Build Relationships with Families

Before watching this video, read the text below. When instructed, watch the video from the beginning to end.

A child's social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development is strengthened when educators and families work together. When a child sees a positive relationship developing between educators and family, the child recognizes that the important people in his or her life are working together and trust each other, and he or she will do the same. This collaboration also provides a strong foundation for communication about children's learning. To foster family involvement, interactions between educators and families should be positive, purposeful, reciprocal, and consistent.

Communicate with families often.When there is good communication between educators and families, learning is collaborative, accomplishments are acknowledged, problems are recognized, and solutions are provided.

Communicate the positive and the negative. Families will have a better sense of their child's behaviors and accomplishments if all behaviors are reported (not only those that are negative or challenging).

Foster two-way communication. It is as important for the educator to hear from the parent or caregiver what the child is doing at home as it is for the parent or caregiver to hear what the child is doing in the early learning program. Share what children are learning and how parents and caregivers can offer support. Ask for feedback from families about the child's academic and social development outside of the program.

Use multiple modes communication. Create a constant flow of communication. Engage with families in person at drop-off and pick-up, keep a journal for each child that families can read and contribute to, set up a Parent Information Board, write regular newsletters or blog posts, and send emails or text messages.

Understand each family's expectations and views about their involvement.What parents and caregivers view as family engagement may differ from family to family. For example, in some cultures families believe that the most respectful way to treat an educator is not to question, suggest, or share information. Be explicit about the kind of involvement that you expect and welcome from families, but also honor the limits families may want to maintain.

Approach the relationship with respect. Treat the educator and family relationship the way you would treat any important relationship in your life. Work to create a respectful and reciprocal relationship-one in which families feel valued and supported.

In this video, you'll see educators use various strategies to build strong relationships with families. As you watch, look for effective strategies used by the educators in the video and jot down answers to these viewing questions in your Learning Log.

How do the educators keep families informed of their child's learning and activities?

How do the educators engage with families?

Review Why is it important for you to build relationships with families?

Families and educators each have unique knowledge about a child.

A parent or caregiver can share information with educators about how the child feels, thinks, and learns outside of the formal learning environment.

An educator can offer insight about how the child learns and behaves in group situations, as well as on his or her own.

Strong relationships between educators and families can strengthen children's emotional health. They show children that they can trust the adults in their lives because those adults trust each other.

Children's academic growth benefits from instructional coherence (when the learning in the program is supported by the learning at home and vice-versa).

Respectful relationships between educators and families provide children with models for how to create positive relationships with others.

What are some helpful ways to share information about what children are doing and learning?

Set up a Parent Information Board in the drop-off and pick-up area to post learning objectives, key vocabulary words, and explicit examples of ways parents can reinforce the learning. For example, Today we read a book about scientists. We learned how scientists look, touch, smell, listen to, and learn about the world around them. On your way home, ask your child to look, touch, smell, and listen as he or she practices being a scientist.

Use blogs, newsletters, text messages, and social media pages to keep families up-to-date on learning, provide ideas on home connections, share photos, and encourage families to share home experiences with educators.

Keep a journal for each child. Educators can write weekly entries about each child, highlighting a new project, a new learning, a new challenge, or a new development. Family members can read and contribute to the journal.

Reflect
Think about the learning environment at your own program as you answer these reflection questions in your Learning Log.

How do you build positive and collaborative relationships with families?

What did you learn that you will put into practice in your own learning environment?

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This site provides exciting, engaging media-rich learning opportunities for parents and educators of children ages 0-5. From detailed lesson plans to simple, everyday activities, you will find everything you need to help your children succeed.

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Think back to the the biggest, most important endeavor you've ever taken on. Perhaps you were presenting to the Board, running a marathon or taking an entrance exam in hopes of getting into your dream university. Now the critical question-did you just wing it?

In most areas of our life, we wouldn't dream of just throwing ourselves into something with no advance preparation and seeing what happens. We'd ask for advice, learn and discover strategies to perform better, and practice, practice, practice.

Yet for some reason, we feel hesitant to take the same approach to parenting. There's a perception that mothers and fathers should just know what to do naturally-that everything will fall into place if we just love our children enough. The catch? It's not always so intuitive which decisions are the right ones.

Parenting Classes Can Make a Big Difference

If you want to set your child up for success, it can be enormously helpful to take a parenting class or attend a workshop. Parenting classes can help you:

1. Master the Basics

Most parents, no matter their background or socioeconomic standing, are somewhat frightened when they welcome their first child into the world. Learning to feed and care for an infant is one challenge you'll face. Preparing your child to enter and thrive in school is another.

Parenting classes can help parents learn more about what to expect in the coming years and prepare for each developmental stage. Since confident, decisive parents tend to raise confident, secure children, parenting classes can give you a much-needed skill set and help decrease your feelings of anxiety. Mastering the basics is well worth the time you might spend in class.

2. Stay Abreast of the Latest Research

As a busy parent, it can be hard to stay up-to-date on the latest scientific findings-but it's so important to learn what you should be doing to set your children up for success.

For example, researchers have found that it's easy for parents to accidentally cause harm with how they praise their children. Many parents instinctively tell their children that they are smart when they do something impressive or right on the first try-but research has shown that this can actually be counterproductive.

Motivation researcher Carol S. Dweck has found that when children are told that they succeed because they're smart, they become discouraged when they are unable to solve a challenge. Instead, Dr. Dweck recommends parents should focus their praise on hard work and target specific parts of the project where your child specifically excelled at solving the challenge.

Attending a parenting workshop, such as our Parents as Partners parenting workshops, can help you stay abreast of discoveries such as these. You'll get a chance to learn about parenting best practices from experts and ask them your questions-and then be able to apply their advice the next day.

3. Learn How to Engage

Recent research has shown that parental involvement is one of the most important factors in a student's academic achievement. In a study which included more than 10,000 students,parents, teachers and administrators, researchers at North Carolina State University, Brigham Young University and the University of California, Irvine discovered that parents can make their children more likely to succeed in school by regularly checking-in, being involved in their homework and attending school events.

From giving advice on the questions you should be asking your child, to sharing strategies on how to engage meaningfully with your kids' studies, parenting classes can help you learn ways to get more involved in your child's learning experience.

4. Discover How to Match Your Parenting Style to Your Child's Personality.

As a parent, you've quickly learned that a big part of parenting is matching discipline, praise and other parenting strategies to your child's individual needs. In fact, how well your parenting style matches the personality of your child has a major impact on how well-adjusted they become later in life. According to a University of Washington study, parents can halve their child's tendency toward depression or anxiety by using parenting style geared toward the particular personality of their child. Conversely, parents who use a style ill-suited to a child's personality can double the likelihood that they'll become depressed or anxious.

Naturally, most parents try to understand the needs of their children, but it's not always easy to figure out, especially when behavioral or emotional problems enter the mix. Parenting classes geared toward children with specific needs, or of specific ages, can really help you nail the parenting style/personality mix that best suits your child.

5. Gain Confidence

Being a parent requires a whole lot of mustering courage and going for it-and pretending to know what you're doing. In fact, confidence is crucial to good parenting. Your kids must believe you know what you're doing, or they could feel insecure and have a harder time trusting others (which is regularly cited as a crucial factor in lifelong success).

Where do parenting classes come in? These classes can give you confidence in your actions so you can telegraph that confidence to kids. You'll learn that you're doing it right most of the time, get a chance to meet other parents who are in the same boat and discover strategies you can use when you do need help.

6. Develop a Support Network

Let's face it, parenting is just plain hard sometimes! That's why it's important to meet other parents who face the same challenges you are. While learning new parenting strategies is important, sometimes you just need the listening ear of someone who knows what you're going through. Whether you've got an 18-month-old who won't let you set him down or a 10-year-old who is determined to take on the world, parenting classes can help you find other parents who understand what you're going through.

There's one caveat to this benefit: a parenting class isn't the same as a support group. Don't go into a workshop expecting the discussion to center on your feelings and challenges the whole time. Instead, use the class as an opportunity to learn new skills while simultaneously getting support. Sometimes it's enough to just be in the company of other parents who are going through the same experiences.

Parent Your Way to Happier Children

Parenting workshops aren't just for young or inexperienced parents; they're for everyone who wants to be a better parent. Even if you keep up with parenting books and blogs, read the latest research and are very involved in your child's education, parenting classes can give you access to a wealth of knowledge you'll have a harder time accessing on your own. By choosing to spend a couple evenings in the company of other parents and parenting experts, you'll gain access to the collective sum of their experience and knowledge.

At the end of the day, it's true that every child is different. What works for one child may not work for another, and parenting classes can't solve everything. They can, however, give you strategies that you can apply in your everyday life, help you meet other parents in the same boat and increase your confidence in your own parenting ability.

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6 Compelling Reasons to Take Parenting Classes

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Think back to the the biggest, most important endeavor you've ever taken on. Perhaps you were presenting to the Board, running a marathon or taking an entrance exam in hopes of getting into your dream university. Now the critical question-did you just wing it?

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It can be helpful for moms and dads to receive parenting guidance every now and then. We reviewed the best online parenting classes to help better the relationship between you and your child.

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Online Parenting Classes - Active Parenting

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Our online co-parenting classes are recognized in over 1400 counties.
Online parenting classes satisfy most national standards
forparent education programs.

Verify Your County

The only way to truly understand how children are affected by divorce is to hear their stories. OnlineParentingPrograms.com proudly features video documentaries by Professor Child.

For courts and professionals
Recognized in over 1400 courts, our program is easy to implement and a great resource to offer to high risk families in your county.

Select your online parenting class, create an account and pay using any major credit/ debit card for instant access.

Interactive classes allow you to progress at your own pace in order to complete at once or over the course of multiple sessions.

Review a series of multi-choice questions related to the subject chosen. You may retake the exam for free if you do not receive a passing score.

4Receive Your
Certificate

Certificates are free and available for immediate download upon completion of your online class.

How It Works

Financial Assistance

OnlineParentingPrograms.com provides discounted programs to qualified parents. Complete ourFinancial Verification Form and one of our OnlineParentingPrograms.com moderators will review your information and provide a response within two business days.

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Online Co-Parenting Classes and Parenting Skills Classes - Online Parenting Programs

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Our online co-parenting classes are recognized in over 1400 counties. Online parenting classes satisfy most national standards forparent education programs . Verify Your County The only way to truly understand how children are affected by divorce is to hear their stories. OnlineParentingPrograms.com proudly features video documentaries by Professor Child.

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Our programs and services are focused on our primary areas of impact that help people achieve their goals and strengthen communities. With our breadth of offerings, you can find the support you need and help your neighborhood thrive.

We help young people to grow into healthy, thriving adults by offering supportive education and leadership programs, team sports and camps.

We support individual and community well-being. People of all ages, interests and skill levels can find the fitness classes, family activities and group interests they need to lead active, vibrant lives. The Y also collaborates with community leaders to bring healthy living within reach of all people.

Through community programs, local outreach and global engagement, we provide support and inspire action in our communities.

One Thing Congress Can Do to Help Working Families Today

In an op-ed for Newsweek, President and CEO Suzanne McCormick urges Congress to pass supplemental child care funding to help ensure that providers like the Y have the support they need to hire and retain skilled staff and keep programs affordable and accessible for families.

We Are All Connected

Advancing Equity for All

In observation of Native American Heritage Month, guest writer Les G. Peters of the YMCA of Greater Long Beach, Community Development Branch reflects on his life experiences as a Native American/Indigenous person and how the ability to embrace both a Western and a Native worldview helps him to best serve his community and live a fulfilled life. Read the latest in our blog series "Advancing Equity for All."

We are committed to strengthening communities. Learn more about our mission, vision and the core values that guide us each and every day.

When you support the Y - the leading nonprofit committed to strengthening communities - you give young people a chance at a better future, foster healthy lifestyles and help build vibrant communities right where you live.

A Safe Space for Children and Teens

The safety and well-being of the children and teens in our care always has been and always will be a top priority.

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YMCA of the USA - A Leading Nonprofit Organization

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YMCA is the leading nonprofit committed to strengthening individuals and communities across the country. Learn how you can get involved, donate and advocate.

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Welcome

Jack and Jill of America, Inc. boasts 252 chapters, representing more than 40,000 family members making a difference in communities nationwide.

Regions

Jack and Jill of America is comprised of 252 chapters that are divided into seven geographical regions across the country. Select your region and discover the chapter(s) closest to you.

Membership

We appreciate your desire to join our organization. Jack and Jill's success is based on the depth of commitment, vision and confidence of its members. Find out how to join a chapter and if there isn't a chapter in your region, find out how to start one.

Foundation

The Jack and Jill of America Foundation fulfills its shared vision to invest in the future of our children, supporting programs that create opportunities and challenges for children to learn and practice leadership skills and building character.

Spotlight

Learn about a few of our outstanding Members, Alumni and Father Auxiliary Committee Representatives.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, The Atlanta Mayor has gracefully arrived on the national stage and has been recognized as a leading Woman of the Year in many outlets

Tyler Mitchell is an accomplished photographer who was thrust into stardom following a Vogue photoshoot of Beyonce.

Sterling K. Brown The incomparable actor, known for his brilliant work in "Waves" and "Black Panther" as well as TV, continues to stay relevant in ALL that he takes on.

Our Chapters

Jack and Jill of America, Inc. boasts 252 chapters nationwide, representing over 40,000 family members. Here are a few.

Jack and Jill of America, Inc

Enjoy a brief history of Jack and Jill of America, Incorporated's founding, growth and continued influence made by our Far West region's Sacramento chapter.

See what's going on with some of our other chapters

Jack and Jill of America, Inc. is a membership organization of mothers with children ages 2-19, dedicated to nurturing future African-American leaders by strengthening children through leadership development, volunteer service, philanthropic giving and civic duty.

To us as mothers, [Jack and Jill] has become a means of furthering an inherent and natural desire ...to bestow upon our children all the opportunities possible for a normal and graceful approach to a beautiful adulthood.

We will move forward with transparency, accountability, and sustainability. I am humbled that you have placed your trust in me to lead this organization, and I am optimistic about our future. I am committed to remaining focused on the children as our first priority. Together, we are dedicated to ensuring Jack and Jill remains revered and prepared for many generations to come.

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Jack and Jill of America, Inc. boasts 252 chapters, representing more than 40,000 family members making a difference in communities nationwide. Jack and Jill of America is comprised of 252 chapters that are divided into seven geographical regions across the country. Select your region and discover the chapter(s) closest to you.

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Research shows that when schools, parents, families, and communities work together, students:

This is true for students of all ages, all backgrounds, and across race and ethnicity. Furthermore, a variety of supports cutting across the spectrum of social, health, and academic needs may be necessary for school success. High quality schools have demonstrated track records connecting with community resources and families to improve student outcomes in all domains of development.

Although schools may interpret lack of involvement of immigrant or non-English speaking families as "not caring" about their children's education, this is most often NOT the case. Bilingual resources and staff, programs to help parents understand how to support their children's education, and parent liaisons who can connect the school and families to linguistically and culturally diverse community resources can be highly effective strategies for developing partnerships between schools, families, and the community.

Foundations for academic success begin in early childhood and are further developed during elementary school years. Conversely, patterns of failure and disengagement also begin early. For example, struggling readers are likely to continue to experience ongoing difficulties in secondary school if they are not supported early in their development. Continuity with family engagement strategies and partnerships with community programs from Pre-K/Elementary School to middle and high school can help support academic achievement throughout students' school tenure.

Adelman, H. & Taylor, L. (2007). Fostering School, Family, and Community Involvement. The Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence & Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Available at: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/publications/44%20guide%207%20fostering%20school%20family%20and%20community%20involvement.pdf

Epstein, J. L. et al. (2009). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action. Third edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Family Support. (n.d.). National Education Association. Available at https://www.nea.org/student-success/engaged-families-communities/family-support

Handbook on Family and Community Engagement. (2011). http://www.families-schools.org/downloads/FACEHandbook.pdf

National Family, School, and Community Engagement Working Group: Recommendations for Federal Policy . Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project; 2009. Available at https://archive.globalfrp.org/family-involvement/publications-resources/national-family-school-and-community-engagement-working-group-recommendations-for-federal-policy

National Network of Partnership Schools' (NNPS). (n.d.). Available at https://nnps.jhucsos.com/

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Family-school-community partnerships are a shared responsibility and reciprocal process whereby schools and other community agencies and organizations engage families in meaningful and culturally appropriate ways, and families take initiative to actively support their children's development and learning.

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Disaster: Helping Children Cope

No. 36; Updated September 2023

Events such as an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, fire, flood, or violent acts are frightening to children and adults; however, children will need help from their caregivers during these events. Children may not understand the event, or how to keep themselves safe, and may not even be able to fully express their fears. Disasters can lead to many abrupt changes in the lives of families including the loss of a home, changes in schools, and even harm or death of loved ones and pets. Parents talking about the event with children in words they can understand can decrease their child's fear and lessen a sense of being overwhelmed. Time viewing the events in the media, such as the internet or television, may cause additional distress. Seeing repeated images of a disaster or hearing it over and over in the media can be frightening, so consider limiting the amount of time you and your children watch media coverage.

Many factors affect childrens' responses to a disaster including age, what they experienced themselves, what they saw during a disaster and the amount of time the disaster lasted. Children respond to watching their parents' reactions. Children are aware of their parents' worries most of the time, but they can be even more sensitive during a crisis. Parents can talk to their children about how they are coping with the disaster in order to keep them as safe as possible. Pretending there is no the danger will not end a child's concerns.

A child's reaction also depends on how much destruction and/or death he or she sees during and after the disaster. If a friend or family member has been killed or seriously injured, or if the child's school or home has been severely damaged, there is a greater chance that the child will experience difficulties. Children who were directly exposed to a disaster can become extremely distressed if they see or hear reminders of the disaster.

A child's age affects how the child will respond to the disaster. For example, six-year-olds may show their worries by refusing to attend school, whereas teens may minimize their concerns, but argue more with parents, show a decline in school performance, and/or have changes in their sleep pattern.
After a disaster, parents may note one of more of these changes in a child's behavior: In Preschoolers:

Distress and fear when separated from their parent

Return of outgrown behaviors such as bedwetting

Difficulty falling asleep

Tantrums

In School-age children:

Loss of concentration and irritability

Behavior problems, for example, misbehaving in school or at home in ways that are not usual for the child

Refusal to return to school and "clinging" behavior, including shadowing the parent or caregiver around the house

Sleep disturbances such as nightmares, screaming during sleep (such as fears about being permanently separated from parents)

Physical complaints (stomachaches, headaches, dizziness) for which a physical cause cannot be found

In Adolescents:

Withdrawal from family and friends, sadness, listlessness, decreased activity, and preoccupation with the events of the disaster

Jumpiness or being startled easily

Continuing fears about the event

Following a disaster, some children and adolescents may develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), after witnessing, or participating in an overwhelmingly traumatic (frightening) event. Children and adolescents with this disorder have repeated episodes in which they re-experience the traumatic event. Children often relive the trauma through repetitive play. In young children, upsetting dreams of the traumatic event may change into nightmares of monsters, of rescuing others, or of threats to self or others. PTSD rarely appears during the trauma itself. Though the effects can happen soon after the event, the disorder often surfaces several months or even years later. Fortunately, there are therapy treatments that can be very helpful for children and adolescents

Parents who are concerned about their children can ask their pediatrician or family doctor to refer them to a child and adolescent psychiatrist for an evaluation.

For more information:

Related Facts For Families

Other AACAP Resources
For additional information see:

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A catastrophe such as an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, fire, flood, or violent acts is frightening to children and adults alike.

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Teens text, tweet, snap, and post like crazy. In fact, about half of teens use social media every day, and for some, this means checking Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat dozens (or hundreds!) of times a day. While many teens find connecting with friends online a positive experience, social media can affect kids' mental health - especially tween girls. The tricky part for parents is identifying the tipping point between a healthy relationship to social media and its negative effects. You can do this by understanding how your kid uses various platforms, helping them learn to recognize their own limits, and supporting them in finding a healthy balance of online and offline socializing.

Though fear of missing out (FOMO) is a classic sign of social media distress, it's hard to know what's natural teen angst and what's cause for concern. Many parents have observed their previously outgoing teen grow increasingly withdrawn as they become more immersed in social media. But research into a potential link between increased smartphone and social media use and teen mental health diagnoses has yet to pinpoint a direct cause. Still, the correlation is strong enough to suggest parents approach social media with care, especially if your kids are in a high-risk group.

Simply being aware of what your kids are doing, what kinds of experiences they're having, and how they feel about their interactions can go a long way toward protecting your kid. If you see your kids struggling - maybe they're always stressed out after being on the phone or they're staying up too late texting - step in. Here's what you can do:

Listen. It can be easy to dismiss social media stress as superficial, but for many tweens and teens, social media is social life.

Don't judge. Snapchat seems a little dumb, doesn't it? But for tweens and teens, connecting with their peers is a normal part of child development. For you, it meant hours on the phone. For them, it means lots and lots of rainbow vomit. Accept that this is important to them.

Encourage their offline lives. FOMO can chip away at kids' self-esteem, but the best defense is a strong sense of what makes kids unique, worthy, and valuable. Help kids participate in sports, clubs, drama, volunteer work, or even online hobbies to help them weather the ups and downs of social media anxiety.

Set limits. Listening and validating are important, but parents also need to set some basic limits around when and where the phone or computer can be used. Start with turning phones off an hour before bedtime and storing them in your room to help kids resist the temptation to stay up late texting. You can suggest they tell their friends they'll be signing off at a specific time, so they won't be expecting a response.

Shift the focus. If kids are feeling overwhelmed by keeping up with all the online social stuff, encourage them to focus on doing something. Maybe they can create their own memes, choreograph their own dances, or design their own games. Encouraging kids to use the creative side of social media tools can shift their focus to a sense of accomplishment.

Use social media settings. All apps have settings to help you keep a lower profile. You can turn off your status so friends don't know that you're online, mute people to disengage for a while, and go into "ghost mode" so your friends can't find you. Some apps even have features that limit your time or remind you to take a break. Using these settings lets you take some control over your use, which can help relieve anxiety.

Ask open-ended questions. You don't need to solve their problems for them. But you can help them think about what is and isn't working for them. Here are some questions to try:

Are there any habits you might want to change? (Such as not checking your phone before bed.)

What would happen if you turned off your phone? For an hour? A day?

Have you thought about rewarding yourself for not checking your phone or social media for a certain amount of time? (Make a game of it!)

What are the pros and cons of using Instagram and other social-networking apps?

What would happen if you unfollowed or unfriended someone who was making you feel bad on social media?

Do you notice that you have better or worse reactions to posts or messages depending on how you feel that day?

The Child Mind Institute contributed to this article. Learn more at childmind.org. To learn more about how young people have been using social media and digital health tools to take care of their mental health during the pandemic, see Coping with COVID-19: How Young People Use Digital Media to Manage Their Mental Health.
Looking for more mental health support? Check out these mental health stories and resources from Kidsburgh.

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Practical tips for easing kids' social media anxiety

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Teens text, tweet, snap, and post like crazy. In fact, about half of teens use social media every day, and for some, this means checking Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat dozens (or hundreds!) of times a day. While many teens find connecting with friends online a positive experience, social media can affect kids' mental health - especially tween girls.

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From Coast to Coast: State Strategies to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences

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In recent years, many states have focused on addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) - stressful and potentially traumatic events that occur prior to age 18. Some states have adopted cross-sector statewide plans to address ACEs, while in other states, governors' executive orders have put a priority on mitigating the effects of ACEs.

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People tend to lean on a clear stereotype when it comes to homelessness: someone sitting on the street with tattered clothes, greasy hair, and dirt caked into fingernails or on the face. With this image, you would think you can pick out a homeless person in a group. However, the reality looks much different.

Homelessness doesn't necessarily mean living on the street. It can involve "couch surfing," or staying with friends or family members. It can mean staying in shelters or cheap hotel rooms.

Homelessness also doesn't just apply to adults. Many kids don't have permanent living arrangements - even if they stay with their families. These kids and teens go out of their way to hide their situations, making it even harder for teachers and counselors to help them.

This guide can help adults - whether you are a teacher, community member, or parent of a child - better understand what homeless youth look like and why they try so hard to hide. With this in mind, you can take steps to help the homeless youth in your area get the help they need.

What Does Homelessness Look Like in Florida?

There are many faces of homeless youth in Florida - and particularly in Pinellas county. Homeless teens can be found in even the most affluent areas, where they try to pass off as normal students with average income levels.

It's time to stop thinking about homelessness exclusively as teens and kids sleeping on the street or in shelters. Homeless youth lack a permanent housing situation, whether this means staying in an extended-stay hotel or moving from one friend's house to another throughout the school year.

Homeless Teens Don't Want to Be Found or Identified

You often hear stories of teachers who visit homeless shelters and are shocked to see their students there. They had no idea these students were homeless because the kids and teens try to hide it in class. The fact is: most kids don't want people to know about their situation.

For these kids, admitting that you are homeless is embarrassing. Kids don't want to be made fun of by their peers or made to feel less-than for not being able to afford a field trip, homecoming dress, or cool new gadget. Even worse, students don't want to be constantly pitied by teachers, peers, and the parents of their friends. This is what drives them to hide their homeless situation.

Even outside of school, non-profit organizers have a hard time understanding the sheer number of homeless teens on the streets. In 2019, volunteers found six teens living in the Orlando Airport, trying to blend in at a place where suitcases and curling up to sleep (typically because of a delayed flight) often goes unnoticed.

Know the Signs of Potential Homelessness

The child or teen has poor hygiene or unmet needs - like bad teeth, poor vision while needing glasses, or long, unkempt hair.

He or she wears the same outfit or similar batch of outfits frequently. They may show up in dirty clothes as well.

They experience fatigue or difficulty paying attention.

A student has been enrolled in multiple schools or there are gaps in their education.

The student has poor or inconsistent attendance without excuses for why they were absent.

They won't participate in clubs or activities. They can't go on field trips or enjoy other celebrations alongside their peers.

They lack basic school supplies and can't complete at-home projects.

They experience social challenges. For example, they may be shy, aggressive, clingy, and quick to get angry.

Their behavior worsens late in the day when they need to head home.

While one of these traits might be an isolated problem with a child or teen, a pattern of behavior and multiple traits could indicate bigger issues at home - ones that the student thinks they are hiding.

School Counselors and Teachers Do What They Can

School counselors, administrators, and teachers do what they can to help students who are in dangerous living situations. However, they can't intervene if they aren't aware of the situation because the student hides their homelessness so well.

Stabilize the basic needs of students by making sure they have basic hygiene products, food, and clothes. (Some schools create food banks and clothes rooms specifically for this.)

Avoid assignments that require supplies, field trips (like visiting a museum), or using food in crafts. A macaroni project could make a child choose between eating and getting a good grade.

Check in with students in-private to understand their situation. Give them space to talk about how they are doing and how their family is doing.

Be proactive about getting help. Instead of suggesting a student get a tutor or counseling, help them set up appointments that still allows them to get home on time.

Most importantly, be welcoming to your students and give them a stable environment. You need school to be a safe place where students can eat, learn, and grow with their friends. Your class can be a haven for them to let their guard down, if only for a few hours each day.

What Can You Do to Help Homeless Teens?

If you know of a child or teen in your area who is homeless - whether they have run away from home or are living in temporary housing with their family - reach out to your local school counselor or community leader to find ways to help. You can also contact our team at Family Resources to learn about different organizations in Pinellas and Manatee counties that help homeless families.

If you want to help homeless youth in your community as a whole, consider making a donation to our cause. We provide youth shelters, family counseling, after school activities, and other services to help kids and teens in the area. Your support can help us provide hygiene kits, hot showers, and trusted support systems to some of our most vulnerable neighbors and friends.

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How Homeless Teens Hide Their Living Situations - Family Resources

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People tend to lean on a clear stereotype when it comes to homelessness: someone sitting on the street with tattered clothes, greasy hair, and dirt caked into fingernails or on the face. With this image, you would think you can pick out a homeless person in a group.

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content_area

AACAP's Facts for Families provide concise up-to-date information on issues that affect children, teenagers, and their families.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Finder

Bear in mind that because of the extensive training required, there is a nationwide shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists. To learn more about other mental health professionals and places where families can find help, read Where to Find Help For Your Child.
The National Center for PTSD SAMHSA's Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-informed Approach SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center
SESAME STREET - Resources to help prepare for an Emergency

Talking to Children about the War in Ukraine: 15 Tips for Parents

Sesame Workshop Family Friendly Resources on Emergency Preparedness - Fun and easy ways to help the whole family prepare for any type of emergency.

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) develops mental health resources and interventions for professionals, traumatized children, and their families. The NCTSN offers Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide, a tool developed to assist children, adolescents, adults, and families in the aftermath of a disaster.

The American Red Cross provides disaster services training for clinicians.

Talking to Children about Natural Disasters by David Fassler, MD.

is the summary of a workshop convened in June, 2013 by the Institute of Medicine Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events to discuss disaster preparedness, response, and resilience relative to the needs of children and families, including children with special health care needs. The National Academies' Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Considerations for Children and Families

Community Crises and Disasters: A Parent's Guide to Talking with Children of All Ages is designed as a resource that parents can turn to in a time of crisis, or ideally, in advance of a crisis. It provides practical information about children's reactions, and ideas about how to support their healthy coping.

SAMHSA's Tips for Survivors of a Disaster or Traumatic Event: What to Expect in your Personal, Family, Work, and Financial Life fact sheet offers self-help tips for coping after a traumatic event. It discusses the long-term impact of trauma, including personal uncertainties, family relationship changes, work disruptions, and financial concerns.

The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress conducts research, education, consultation and training on preparing for and responding to the psychological effects and health consequences of traumatic events.

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Frequently asked questions about the effect of depression on children and adolescents.

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Screen Time and Children

No. 54; Updated February 2020

Children and adolescents spend a lot of time watching screens, including smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, TVs, and computers. On average, children ages 8-12 in the United States spend 4-6 hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours. While screens can entertain, teach, and keep children occupied, too much use may lead to problems.

Parents may not always know what their children are viewing, or how much time they are spending with screens. Children may be exposed to:

Violence and risk-taking behaviors

Videos of stunts or challenges that may inspire unsafe behavior

Sexual content

Negative stereotypes

Substance use

Cyberbullies and predators

Advertising aimed at your child

Misleading or inaccurate information

Too much screen time may lead to:

Sleep problems

Lower grades in school

Reading fewer books

Less time with family and friends

Not enough outdoor or physical activity

Weight problems

Mood problems

Poor self-image and body image issues

Fear of missing out

Less time learning other ways to relax and have fun

Managing a child's screen time is challenging for families. Your child is never too young for a screen-time plan. Consider the following as a guideline:

Until 18 months of age limit screen use to video chatting along with an adult (for example, with a parent who is out of town).

Between 18 and 24 months screen time should be limited to watching educational programming with a caregiver.

For children 2-5, limit non-educational screen time to about 1 hour per weekday and 3 hours on the weekend days.

For ages 6 and older, encourage healthy habits and limit activities that include screens.

Turn off all screens during family meals and outings.

Learn about and use parental controls.

Avoid using screens as pacifiers, babysitters, or to stop tantrums.

Turn off screens and remove them from bedrooms 30-60 minutes before bedtime.

Screens are here to stay and can offer many positives. It's never too early to develop a screen-time plan with your family. Let your children share their ideas and concerns. Some additional tips to keep in mind are:

Familiarize yourself with programming to make sure it is age-appropriate.

Talk to your child about what they are seeing. Point out good behavior, such as cooperation, friendship, and concern for others. Make connections to meaningful events or places of interest.

Be aware of advertising and how it influences choices.

Encourage your child to learn other activities such as sports, music, art, and hobbies that do not involve screens.

Set a good example with your own safe and healthy screen habits.

Teach children about online privacy and safety.

Actively decide when your child is ready for a personal device.

Encourage using screens in ways that build creativity and connection with family and friends.

Consider your child or teen's maturity and habits. The right plan for one family may not be a good fit for another.

Positive and healthy screen use is possible with proper guidance and consistency.
If you are concerned about your child's screen time, talk to your pediatrician or family physician. If problems persist, ask for a referral to a qualified mental health professional.
Related Facts For Families:

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Television viewing is a major activity and influence on children and adolescents.

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In May-June 2021, we collected new data from a nationally representative sample of 2,546 US youth between the ages of 13 and 17 to better understand their positive and negative experiences online. This is the type of research we do on a regular basis, and it helps us to keep our finger on the proverbial pulse of what's going on in the lives of American teens. Even though Cyberbullying has remained an all-too familiar social problem in 2021, statistics show that many families, communities, schools, and other youth-serving organizations continue to grapple with. Indeed, we saw a 40% increase in its incidence since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Definition and Consequences of Cyberbullying

While we formally define cyberbullying as "willful and repeated harm inflicted through computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices," 1:11 the general idea is that it typically involves hurtful, embarrassing, or threatening posts, comments, or messages on social media, gaming platforms, or via text. Over the last fifteen years, research on teens (typically middle and high schoolers) has shown that those who have been cyberbullied - as well as those who cyberbully others - are more likely to struggle academically, emotionally, psychologically, and even behaviorally. ¹⁻⁷ And importantly, we know that youth who belong to underrepresented groups tend to be involved in cyberbullying more so than their peers.

We recently shared that 23.2% of our national sample in 2021 had been cyberbullied in the last month, while 4.9% had cyberbullied others in the last month. Let's now examine how differences in demographics affected these rates to identify whether some subpopulations are more susceptible to victimization and offending than others - and, as a consequence, deserve additional attention and support.

Cyberbullying Statistics in 2021 by Age

First, let's focus on cyberbullying experiences distributed by age. Generally speaking, research has indicated a curvilinear relationship among youth, with the highest participation rates occurring between 12-15 years of age 8, 9 (although some research has found that cyberbullying victimization can continue to increase in late adolescence ¹⁰). In 2021, we found that cyberbullying tends to peak at around 14 and 15 years of age before decreasing through the latter years of adolescence. With social media and gaming platforms technically requiring users to be at least 13 years of age, it is notable that one in four (25.1%) of those very young teenagers have been cyberbullied recently (i.e., in the last 30 days).

With regard to offending, we again see concerning numbers with the youngest age group studied. Here, the highest percentage (6.2%) of youth who cyberbullied others were 13 years of age. The numbers were relatively similar when considering the other age groups studied, but we do see that a de-escalation of participation occurring in later adolescence. This is contrary to other research which has found that cyberbullying perpetration may increase as the teen years progress. ¹⁰⁻¹²

Cyberbullying in 2021 by Gender

Historically, the relationship between gender and cyberbullying has been mixed. Previous research has largely shown that girls are more likely to be bullied at school 13, 14 but is inconclusive differentiating the role of gender when it comes to cyberbullying. 1, 15-18 When looking at the two major genders and their experiences being bullied, we found that 23.7% of girls and 21.9% of boys between the ages of 13 and 17 report being cyberbullied while 35.4% of transgender teens reported being cyberbullied. That said, the numbers of respondents in these subgroups were so small (86 youth out of 2,546 in our sample, or 3%) that we are not able to make any generalizable statements about their experience as a whole.

When considering how gender is related to offending, 5.6% of boys, 4.5% of girls, and 3.6% of transgender youth had cyberbullied someone else in the last 30 days. that This is in keeping with what has historically been found; a recent meta-analysis of 39 articles and 100 effect sizes found that males were more likely to engage in cyberbullying perpetration than females. ¹⁹

Cyberbullying in 2021 by Sexual Orientation

On a regular basis across numerous studies and years, research is clear that those youth who belong to the sexual minority are more likely to experience bullying and cyberbullying than their heterosexual peers. ²⁰⁻²⁵ This was the case in our 2021 sample as well; the rate of cyberbullying victimization among LGBTQ youth was 50% higher than that of non-LGBTQ youth (31.7% v. 21.8%). Since research shows that cyberbullying most often occurs between peers (usually those from school), 17, 26 schools must have policies and programming in place that prohibit bullying based sexual orientation (and, of course, other identity-based characteristics).

In terms of offending, about 72% more LGBTQ youth revealed they had cyberbullied others than non-LGBTQ youth (7.4% v. 4.3%). This is not an uncommon finding in the research, 27, 28 and some explanations center on the earlier finding that sexual minority groups are more likely to be targeted. That is, if one is targeted with some form of cyberbullying, they may see it as normative or necessary behavior. It also could be a form of retaliation, which is a frequent explanation provided by those who admit to bullying others. 29, 30 Overall, however, additional research is necessary to better understand why LGBTQ youth are more likely to participate in cyberbullying.

Cyberbullying Statistics in 2021 by Race

Finally, it is important to also determine if those who belonged to certain racial categories were more likely to experience cyberbullying - or were more likely to cyberbullied others. As a reference point, a review of 15 studies involving cyberbullying and race/ethnicity found a wide range of victimization rates (White: 18-30%; Black: 4-17%; Hispanic: 6-13%) and offending (White: 4-42%; Black: 7-11%; Hispanic 16-18%). ³¹ Among 13-17-year-old youth in the United States, we found that those who were White (25.8%) and those were multi-racial (29.1%) were more susceptible to cyberbullying victimization. The current findings align what has been found in a few studies where Hispanic and Black youth have reported less cyberbullying victimization than their peers. 13, 31

When it comes to offending, those who reported the highest rates of cyberbullying perpetration in the last thirty days classified themselves as "Other" when asked about race (8.3%). Among the remaining categories, those who were multiracial indicated the largest percentage of cyberbullying others (6.2%).

Overall, the way in which certain demographic characteristics differentiate cyberbullying victimization and offending helps us to understand that experience with this problem behavior is not equally distributed across subpopulations of youth. Clearly, some are more susceptible than others and, as a consequence, some require additional supports to preempt their participation in cyberbullying either as targets or aggressors. This might come through more attention, monitoring, dialogue, educational initiatives, mental health provisions, and general awareness building. These findings spotlight the reality that cyberbullying remains a significant social and behavioral issue among teenagers in the United States in 2021, and that we must continue to attend to the vulnerabilities of the youth we serve.
References
1. Hinduja S, Patchin JW. Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying. 2nd ed. Sage Publications; 2015.

2. Hinduja S, Patchin JW. Connecting Adolescent Suicide to the Severity of Bullying and Cyberbullying. Journal of School Violence. 2018:1-14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2018.1492417

3. Patchin JW, Hinduja S. Bullying Today: Bullet Points and Best Practices. Sage Publications; 2016.

4. Patchin JW, Hinduja S. Traditional and Nontraditional Bullying among Youth: A Test of General Strain Theory. Youth and Society. 2011;43(2):727-751. doi:10.1177/0044118X10366951

5. Hinduja S, Patchin JW. Offline consequences of online victimization: School violence and delinquency. Journal of school violence. 2007;6(3):89-112. doi: https://doi.org/10.1300/J202v06n03_06

6. Kwan I, Dickson K, Richardson M, et al. Cyberbullying and children and young people's mental health: a systematic map of systematic reviews. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 2020;23(2):72-82.

7. Hamm MP, Newton AS, Chisholm A, et al. Prevalence and effect of cyberbullying on children and young people: A scoping review of social media studies. JAMA pediatrics. 2015;169(8):770-777.

8. Kowalski RM, Giumetti GW, Schroeder AN, Lattanner MR. Bullying in the digital age: A critical review and meta-analysis of cyberbullying research among youth. Psychological bulletin. 2014;140(4):1073.

9. Tokunaga RS. Following you home from school: A critical review and synthesis of research on cyberbullying victimization. Computers in human behavior. 2010;26(3):277-287.

10. Pichel R, Foody M, O'Higgins Norman J, Feijóo S, Varela J, Rial A. Bullying, Cyberbullying and the Overlap: What Does Age Have to Do with It? Sustainability. 2021;13(15):8527.

11. Ryoo JH, Wang C, Swearer SM. Examination of the change in latent statuses in bullying behaviors across time. School psychology quarterly. 2015;30(1):105.

12. Garmendia Larrañaga M. Bullying and cyberbullying: Victimisation, harassment, and harm. The need to intervene in the educational centre. Revista Española de Pedagogía. 2019;77(273):295-312. doi: https://doi.org/10.22550/REP77-2-2019-08

13. Pontes NM, Ayres CG, Lewandowski C, Pontes MC. Trends in bullying victimization by gender among US high school students. Research in nursing & health. 2018;41(3):243-251.

14. Salmon S, Turner S, Taillieu T, Fortier J, Afifi TO. Bullying victimization experiences among middle and high school adolescents: Traditional bullying, discriminatory harassment, and cybervictimization. Journal of Adolescence. 2018;63:29-40.

15. Floros GD, Siomos KE, Fisoun V, Dafouli E, Geroukalis D. Adolescent online cyberbullying in Greece: The impact of parental online security practices, bonding, and online impulsiveness. Journal of school health. 2013;83(6):445-453.

16. Schneider SK, O'Donnell L, Stueve A, Coulter RW. Cyberbullying, school bullying, and psychological distress: A regional census of high school students. American journal of public health. 2012;102(1):171-177.

17. Kowalski RM, Limber SP. Electronic Bullying Among Middle School Students. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2007;41:S22-S30. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.08.017

18. Patchin JW, Hinduja S. 2019 Cyberbullying Data. 2019. July 9, 2019. https://cyberbullying.org/2019-cyberbullying-data

19. Sun S, Fan X, Du J. Cyberbullying perpetration: a meta-analysis of gender differences. International Journal of Internet Science. 2016;11(1)

20. Black WW, Fedewa AL, Gonzalez KA. Effects of "Safe School" programs and policies on the social climate for sexual-minority youth: A review of the literature. Journal of LGBT youth. 2012;9(4):321-339.

21. Zych I, Ortega-Ruiz R, Del Rey R. Systematic review of theoretical studies on bullying and cyberbullying: Facts, knowledge, prevention, and intervention. Aggression and violent behavior. 2015;23:1-21.

22. Mennicke A, Geiger E, Brewster M. Interpersonal violence prevention considerations for sexual minority college students: Lower campus connection, worse perceptions of institutional support, and more accurate understandings of sexual consent. Journal of family violence. 2020;35(6):589-601.

23. Cénat JM, Blais M, Hébert M, Lavoie F, Guerrier M. Correlates of bullying in Quebec high school students: The vulnerability of sexual-minority youth. Journal of affective disorders. 2015;183:315-321.

24. Abreu RL, Kenny MC. Cyberbullying and LGBTQ youth: A systematic literature review and recommendations for prevention and intervention. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma. 2018;11(1):81-97.

25. Hinduja S, Patchin JW. Bullying, Cyberbullying, and LGBTQ Students. 2020. https://cyberbullying.org/bullying-cyberbullying-lgbtq

26. Kowalski R, Whittaker E. Cyberbullying via social media. Journal of School Violence. 2014;14:11-29.

27. Duarte C, Pittman SK, Thorsen MM, Cunningham RM, Ranney ML. Correlation of minority status, cyberbullying, and mental health: A cross-sectional study of 1031 adolescents. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma. 2018;11(1):39-48.

28. Llorent VJ, Ortega-Ruiz R, Zych I. Bullying and cyberbullying in minorities: Are they more vulnerable than the majority group? Frontiers in psychology. 2016;7:1507.

29. Camodeca M, Goossens FA. Aggression, social cognitions, anger and sadness in bullies and their victims. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2004;46:186-197.

30. Gerlsma C, Lugtmeyer V. Offense type as determinant of revenge and forgiveness after victimization: Adolescents' responses to injustice and aggression. Journal of School Violence. 2018;17(1):16-27.

31. Edwards L, Kontostathis AE, Fisher C. Cyberbullying, race/ethnicity and mental health outcomes: A review of the literature. Media and Communication. 2016;4(3):71-78.

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Cyberbullying Statistics 2021 | Age, Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Race

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Provides updated statistics on cyberbullying from a national study on US youth by age, gender, sexual orientation, and race.

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Digital guidelines: Promoting healthy technology use for children

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Pointers for parents to keep in mind when establishing guidelines for children’s technology use, in a world where many children have a tablet or smartphone.

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Experiences with Technology: 6 Benefits of Early Exposure

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What are the benefits of early experiences with technology at such a young age? Many! Here are six that our students have responded to.

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The Messy Truth About Kids’ Screen Time (Published 2021)

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Absolute rules about children and technology don’t help, says a child development expert.

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Tables of Contents

1. Evolution of Children's Use of Technology

2. Positive and Negative Effects of Technology on Children

3. Technology and Children Statistics

4. Technology and Social Interaction in Children

5. Ensuring Safe and Nurturing Digital Environments for Children

Imagine spending a year or more of your childhood almost entirely at home: no time in a classroom, no chance to join friends on the playground, and very few opportunities to enjoy favorite pastimes and experience new places, people, and activities.

The worldwide lockdowns that helped limit the spread of the coronavirus created a kind of twilight zone for children that put much of their environment off-limits and kept them separated from everyone but their immediate families. However, not all was lost. What vestiges of their pre-COVID life children were able to maintain were made possible by a range of technologies that kept them learning, interacting with friends, and entertained.

The growing presence of technology in children's lives, from their first year through their teens, is a double-edged sword. While technologies are neutral, how they are applied and how children are exposed to them can be either positive or negative.

The impact of children and technology becomes increasingly difficult to gauge as the pace of technological innovation speeds up. This guide presents a snapshot of the many roles that technology products and services play in the lives of children. It balances the pluses and minuses of the effects of technology use by children on their development, social interactions, and prospects for the future.

Evolution of Children's Use of Technology

From the earliest electric model trains in the early 20th century through the first home video game systems and remote-controlled toys, children's introduction to technology has been through their toys. What were marvels of technology three, two, or even one generation ago seem almost quaint by today's standards. However, the progress from Pong to Oculus virtual reality games occurred in a relatively brief period of time.

Early Examples of Children and Technology

Children have been interacting with digital technology since the earliest days of the PC revolution. One of the first electronic educational toys was Texas Instruments' Speak & Spell, which was released in the late 1970s. This relatively simple device was a precursor to the first PCs designed for children in the 1980s. It also presaged the growth of computer-assisted instruction hardware and software in the pre-World Wide Web era.

The first Speak & Spell toys debuted in 1978 to teach children ages 7 and older how to pronounce and spell 200 commonly misspelled words. It relied on electronic speech synthesis and bubble memory (a precursor to RAM) and was the first such product to use solid-state circuitry to replace all moving parts.

While Magnavox's Odyssey was the first gaming console upon its release in 1972, the device was soon eclipsed by the home version of Atari's Pong arcade video game, which began shipping in 1975. This was followed by the Atari 2600 game console in 1977 and similar devices from Nintendo, Mattel, and Coleco, among other vendors. Sega and Nintendo came to dominate the home video market through the 1980s, along with Commodore, Atari, and Sony's PlayStation, which was released in 1994.

Evolution of Technology Designed to Educate and Entertain Children

The arrival of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s changed that nature of tech toys and education hardware and software. Smart Toy Lab, an Intel and Mattel joint venture launched in 1998, developed the first web-connected interactive toys, or "smart toys." Among the first toys the lab developed were the QX3 Microscope, which featured a built-in video camera that sent images to a PC via a USB link, and the Me2Cam, which let children play interactive games using gestures to move "objects" on the screen.

Some early internet-connected toys and educational devices were criticized for violating children's privacy by collecting personal information without parental consent. For example, Hello Barbie was released in 2015 and featured a built-in microphone and voice recognition software, as well as a Wi-Fi connection. The doll's call-and-response function was a precursor to Amazon's Alexa/Echo and Apple's Siri voice assistants. However, hackers soon figured out how to break into the toy's system and access users' private information.

Today many children - from toddlers to teenagers - regularly use tablets, smartphones, and virtual environments for entertainment and educational purposes. Pandemic-related restrictions have increased children's reliance on these and other technologies to connect with the outside world. With increased use of these products comes heightened prospects of damage and abuse:

A recent study published in Children and Youth Services Review identified problematic smartphone use (present in 16.4% of high school students surveyed), daytime sleepiness (20.2%), and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (6.9%) as spiking during pandemic lockdowns.

A study published in the Italian Journal of Pediatrics found that 66.3% of the children and adolescents surveyed used their smartphone for more than four hours a day during the pandemic, compared with 16.3% who did so before the pandemic. In addition, 56% of the children and adolescents surveyed used their smartphone after midnight at least three times each week, compared with 30.4% before the pandemic.

Positive and Negative Effects of Technology on Children

Children can benefit from technology by gaining new learning opportunities; it's especially important for children who are physically or developmentally challenged. However, technology use has also been found to contribute to poor self-esteem and isolation in some children. As digital technologies become more ubiquitous, parents struggle to find the optimum amount of technology for their children's lives.

Positive Effects of Technology on Children

All the "rules" about children's access to computers and the internet were rewritten by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to parenting expert Anya Kamenetz. Technology provides children with easy access to information and boosts their creativity. Tech hardware and software helps children develop social skills and introduces them to various arts and sciences.

These are among the less obvious positive effects of technology on children:

Technology allows children to connect with their family, friends, and others in ways that enrich their relationships, especially when using video chat and other real-time interactions.

Parents and caregivers are learning to slow down and tone down the applications, games, and other content children use to avoid overloading their senses. This teaches children how to moderate their own use of technology.

Rather than trying to eliminate all risk to children when using technology, the goal should be reducing the risk and adapting when problems arise, such as preventing children from accessing devices at specific times of the day.

Many parents hesitate to allow their preschool-age children to use technology products and services due to concerns about how it'll impact their well-being and development. However, the children are surrounded by technology, much of which offers them significant benefits, as BSD Education explains:

Technology helps children become independent learners more quickly. Once they learn how to access digital information sources safely, they're able to explore the topics that interest them on their own.

Children learn the importance of building communities and how to interact with people in social situations. When circumstances prevent children from establishing physical bonds with family members, friends, and others, they're able to use technology to create "virtual bonds."

Early access to technology teaches the digital literacy skills that children will need for their future success in school and as adults.

Many technology products promote hand-eye coordination in young children, while others focus on developing their language and problem-solving skills.

Negative Effects of Technology on Children

Children are especially susceptible to technology overuse. The American Psychological Association (APA) recommends limiting the use of technology to one hour per day of high-quality programming for children ages 2 to 5. For children ages 6 and up, it's most important to set consistent limits on various types of media, such as gaming devices and smartphones.

APA suggests that parents focus on the content on children's screens and how the children are interacting with it. A survey of research on the possible negative effects of technology on children establishes a connection between the level of a child's use of technology and various developmental and behavior problems.

Lack of attention, aggressive behaviors, obesity, physical inactivity, sleep problems

Musculoskeletal problems related to a sedentary lifestyle

Greater risk of lifetime obesity and cardiovascular disease

Sleep disturbances and poor-quality sleep for children who overuse social media or keep mobile devices in their bedroom

These are among the negative effects of technology on children:

Exposure to harmful online content and sexual exploitation: A study by Irish researchers found that children of all ages are able to bypass the age verification systems of social media apps, such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. This can bring children into direct contact with potential predators and other dangers.

Cyber bullying: The Cyberbullying Research Center reports that incidents of cyber bullying are most prevalent at ages 12 to 15. A recent survey by the center of 13- to 17-year-olds found that 23.7% of girls, 21.9% of boys, and 35.4% of transgender teens had experienced being bullied.

Low self-esteem and increased anxiety: CNN reports that teens and adolescents are using image filters on Instagram to enhance their appearance even though the result looks nothing like them. "Self-esteem addiction" can make young people feel inadequate. As children spend more time on social media, they may become withdrawn or find themselves obsessively checking their social media feeds.

Resources on Ways Children Are Affected by Technology

Technology and Children Statistics

When it comes to children's access to technology, the digital divide between rich and poor persists. The increased reliance of children on technology for remote schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic adds a new and dangerous dimension to the problem, which some analysts refer to as the " homework gap."

A survey by Common Sense Media found that 49% of 8- to 18-year-olds in the U.S. had attended classes fully or partially online since the start of the pandemic.

Hispanic/Latinx students (48%) and Black students (39%) were much more likely than their white counterparts (20%) to attend school fully online.

Similarly, students from low-income families (42%) were more likely to rely completely on online instruction than those from middle-income and high-income families (31% and 27%, respectively).

While 92% of white students had a computer at home, only 87% of Hispanic/Latinx students and 78% of Black students did.

Broadband access at home was available to 90% of students from families with high incomes, compared with 80% for middle-income families and 61% for lower-income families.

In addition, 88% of white families had broadband access at home, while 76% of Black families and 68% of Hispanic/Latinx families had broadband access at home.

Common Sense Media estimates that closing the digital divide for K-12 public school students will cost between $6 billion and $11 billion in the first year, and between $4 billion and $8 billion annually in subsequent years. An additional $1 billion will be required to upgrade the remote access technologies that teachers use.

Statistics on Children's Online Activities

The most common activity for children online is accessing software, audio, and video content (44% of children had done so between March 2020 and April 2021). The next most popular activities are using internet-based communications (22%); playing video games (14%); accessing online stores, banks, or payment systems (13%); and reading news media (4%).

A study by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's learning and development determined that children lost learning opportunities at home and in preschool programs. This resulted in "unusually high" rates of socio-emotional and mental health problems in children as reported by their parents.

Twenty-two percent of 4- to 7-year-olds had high levels of conduct problems in the fall of 2020, compared with 11% who did so in a survey conducted before the pandemic.

Higher levels of hyperactivity (15% vs. 10%), peer problems (17% vs. 9%), lack of prosocial behavior (20% vs. 8%), and total difficulties (15% vs. 8%) were also recorded among 4- to 7-year-olds during the pandemic.

How Children's Screen Time Correlates to Their Mental and Physical Health

A primary concern among parents about their children's use of technology is the amount of time children spend in front of a television, computer, smartphone, or another screen. Researchers have established a link between the amount of time adolescents spend in front of a screen, their level of moderate or vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and the amount of sleep they get.

Screen time involves sedentary activities that detract from MVPA and delay bedtime and that interrupt sleep with digital notifications.

The result is an increased risk of children becoming overweight or obese, as well as more sleepiness during the day and lower academic achievement.

While most of the 13- and 14-year-olds in the study met the recommendations for total screen time (less than two hours per day) and MVPA (at least one hour per day), only half met the recommendation for sleep (8.5 hours per night). Meeting the recommendation for screen time and one of the other two factors led to better academic outcomes.

Some research into the connection between children's screen time and their psychological well-being has been brought into question because of discrepancies between actual and reported use of digital media by children. A recent meta-analysis of research on the impact of screen time on children found either no significant impact or only a moderate impact. More indicative of potential psychological or developmental problems in children than overall screen time is the type of content that children view and interact with.

However, studies have established a link between excessive screen time and children's levels of attention deficit symptoms; impaired emotional and social intelligence; social isolation; phantom vibration syndrome; and diagnosable mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, and technology addiction.

Finding the Right Amount of Time Online for Children

Many activities that benefit children can become dangerous if used too much. During the pandemic, the time that adolescents spent in front of a screen nearly doubled, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Adolescents were spending an average of 7.7 hours a day in front of a screen early in the pandemic, compared with 3.8 hours per day before the pandemic. Indications are that the elevated level of screen time will persist.

Determining the optimal amount of screen time for children has become challenging for parents because of the potential problems arising related to children's vision, posture, and other physical development concerns. While the standard recommendation of experts remains that children under the age of 8 spend less than two hours per day in front of a screen, many factors must be considered when setting a limit for children:

Allow more screen time for positive educational activities.

Encourage children to take breaks from the screen that involve outdoor activities.

Avoid using screens as "babysitters" that keep children occupied. Find other nonscreen activities, such as creative toys, coloring books, and storybooks.

Don't let children's use of electronics cut into their sleep time.

Make sure that children take short breaks from the screen every 20 minutes or so to protect their vision.

Check the area of the screen activity to ensure that the lighting is neither too dark nor too bright.

Tech Companies' Growing Impact on Children

After pressure from government regulators, Facebook shelved its plans to develop a version of Instagram called Instagram Kids that targeted children under the age of 13, as The New York Times reports. In 2019, YouTube paid $170 million to settle claims that it targeted children under the age of 13 in its advertising and collected personal information about them.

These are just two of the many examples of giant tech companies targeting children to meet their need for continuous growth. In the absence of federal privacy laws, companies such as Google (which owns YouTube), Facebook (now known as Meta), Amazon, and TikTok are left to self-regulate their privacy and other policies.

The Verge reports that Facebook is exploring the use of playdates to spur children to use its Messenger Kids application.

According to Reuters, attorneys general of several states are investigating Instagram for its attempts to attract young children in violation of consumer protection laws.

YouTube is being sued in the U.K. over alleged violations of children's privacy and data rights, according to Tech Monitor.

A recent survey by Accountable Tech found that 74% of parents believe that Facebook cares more about profits than about keeping their children safe on the site.

Parents, educators, and regulators are also concerned about the safety of educational technology platforms that use machine learning and other artificial intelligence technologies to harvest massive amounts of data about children. Many fear that ubiquitous surveillance will lead to behavioral control and potentially a total loss of privacy for children. They're calling for more accountability from such platforms, as well as legislation that guarantees children's "right to future tense."

Resources Providing Statistics on Children and Technology

Technology and Social Interaction in Children

The lockdowns deprived young children of opportunities to develop social skills by interacting with other children. As a result, educators report that some children returning to school are struggling with classroom routine. However, the pandemic has disrupted the lives of many families of students and teachers.

Some children are experiencing anxiety in the classroom that may relate to separation anxiety after spending a prolonged period with family.

While most students readjust quickly to their school routine, those who've experienced trauma at home are most likely to struggle in school. This is especially true for children in kindergarten and first grade.

Children are showing their resilience in adapting quickly to masking and social distancing requirements.

Research presented at a recent conference of the Society of Neuroscience indicates that isolation in adolescents can change the development of the brain systems related to fear, risk and reward, and social recognition. This may make it more difficult for them to distinguish friendly behavior from threatening behavior in their peers, for example.

A good way to break feelings of social isolation that developed as a result of the pandemic is to increase the amount of school time devoted to physical activities.

Child Development and Technology

Researchers are studying how the way young children play with technology compares with the way they play with real-world toys. They've found that all the types of play in the nondigital environment are present in the digital realm as well.

Digital play develops a range of abilities in children, including subject knowledge and understanding; digital skills; and skills related to social, emotional, cognitive, and creative development.

Because digital and physical play are intermixed in children's lives, it's more appropriate to look at play holistically.

Most research on children and technology relates to children ages 9 to 16, but interactions with technology may have a greater impact on the development of children ages 3 to 8. Digital education for young children increasingly takes the form of applications running on tablets and smartphones, language development applications, and physical coordination from manipulating game controls and videos that teach dancing and other activities.

Since the advent of Apple's iPad in 2010, computer use by young children has skyrocketed, especially as teaching philosophies focus on play activities over traditional classes and formal teaching. Some schools now test each child's digital skills and teach children digital competence, such as knowing when and why digital tools are used.

One approach to understanding the complexity of technology's impact on children is the domestication theory that compares the introduction of digital tools into society to the process of taming a wild animal. The four phases of the domestication process render the tools nonthreatening and also make them useful, important, and meaningful.

Appropriation is the reason for acquiring the digital tool.

Objectification of the digital tool instills a personal meaning for the tool in the child using it.

Incorporation describes how the digital tool becomes a part of the child's life. It also explains appropriate and inappropriate uses of the tool.

Conversion occurs when the digital tool has redefined the child's worldview and relations with others.

Resources on the Impact of Technology on Children's Development and Social Interactions

Ensuring Safe and Nurturing Digital Environments for Children

Technological advances happen so quickly that parents and educators don't have much opportunity to consider how children's growth and well-being may be improved or impaired by the types of technologies they interact with and the ways in which those interactions occur. However, technology continues to play a more important part of the lives of most children when they're in school, at home, and at play. The judicious application of technology will enhance a child's education and other aspects of life.
Infographic Sources Associated Press, "TikTok Is Now the Most-Used App by Teens and Pre-teens in the U.S." Mott Poll Report, "Sharing too Soon? Children and Social Media Apps" Pew Research Center, "The Internet and the Pandemic"

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Children and Technology: Positive and Negative Effects | Maryville Online

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The relationship between children and technology is complex. Explore statistics, examples, and the positive and negative effects of technology on children.

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(Image credit: Getty Images/Compassionate Eye Foundation/Chris Ryan)

Everyone knows what STEAM stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. And odds are, most teachers can easily define the S, E, A, and M elements. But what exactly defines "technology"? Is your computer "technology"? How about your cell phone? What about an old-fashioned phone booth? Your grandfather's Oldsmobile? Horse and buggy? Stone tools? Where does it end?!

In fact, the term technology encompasses any tool, object, skills, or practice related to humanity's continual attempts to modify the natural world. Under the umbrella of technology lies a wide range of learning that's not only highly practical, but also hands-on and physically engaging.

The following top technology lessons and activities span a diversity of teaching resources, from DIY websites to coding to physics. Most are free or low-cost, and all are easily accessible to classroom teachers.

Best Technology Lessons and Activities

Seek by iNaturalist (opens in new tab)
A gamified identification app for Android and iOs that combines technology with the natural world in a kid-safe environment, Seek by iNaturalist is a great way to get students excited about and involved with nature. Includes PDF user guide. Want to go deeper? Explore the Teacher's Guide (opens in new tab) on Seek's parent site, iNaturalist.

PhET Simulations (opens in new tab)
The University of Colorado Boulder's acclaimed STEM simulation site is one of the longest-running and best free technologies to explore physics, chemistry, math, earth science, and biology. PhET is easy to start using but offers the ability to go deeper into topics as well. Be sure to check out the dedicated education section for ways to integrate PhET simulations into your STEM curriculum. Want to go further in online tech? Delve into the bestonline virtual labs and STEAM-related interactives (opens in new tab) .

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(Image credit: Getty Images/Compassionate Eye Foundation/Chris Ryan) Everyone knows what STEAM stands for: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. And odds are, most teachers can easily define the S, E, A, and M elements. But what exactly defines "technology"? Is your computer "technology"? How about your cell phone?

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Early high quality experiences play a huge role in children's developmental and academic success. Children's experiences and tools may look a little different from when you were growing up, but there are so many ways you can ensure your children grow up healthy and happy. Below, TEC Center put together a list of tips to keep in mind while supporting your children's digital media use. Following the tips are a list of additional readings where you can learn more about children's technology use. Finally, we included some suggested media and resources to use with your children. While there are many more resources, we hope this list will help you feel a little more prepared to support your children use technology and digital media.
DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THIS RESOURCE AS A PDF HERE
Tips

Relationships are crucial

Technology is a tool; Use it when it is the right tool for the experience

Consider why, when, and how you use technology with young children

Adult involvement and engagement is important when using technology with children

Intentional, age-appropriate use is important

Think about technology through the eyes of a child, not an from an adult's perspective

Be consistent and transparent with your rules around technology use

Examine your own technology use and how you are modeling technology use in front of your children

Readings

1. Technology in Early Childhood Center at Erikson Institute provides blog posts about recent research results, industry updates, resources for teachers and parents.

2. Sesame Street: Ready for School!: A Parent's Guide to Playful Learning for Children Ages 2 to 5. By Rosemarie Truglio is a book from Sesame Street to help parents prepare their children ages 2-5 for developmental and academic success.

3. PBS Parents provide resources for parents around child development and media use.

4. American Academy of Pediatrics: Family Media Plan is a template and guide for you to establish your own rules and habits with your family.

Suggested Media and Resources

Sesame Street: Tools Kits for Parents and Caregivers provides ideas for parent and child engagement.

PBS Kids Games is an app where you can access top PBS shows, games, as well as parent resources.

PBS Kids Video is an app where you can access full episodes and clips from top PBS shows.

ABCmouse includes games, books, and curriculum for children ages 2-8 focused on reading, math, science, and art.

Common Sense Media provides reviews or all types of technology by parents, experts, and children as well as research on children and media use.

Scholastic for Parents has articles for parents and book sales including activity books.

Circletime is a platform of on-demand and live videos demonstrating activities to do with your child, birth-6 years old.

Wow in the World is a podcast for curious children and adults, leading them through stories about science, technology and innovation (Grades 4 to 6).

Carmen Sandiego | Fearless kids around the world is a SEL video series online (Grades 4-8).

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THIS RESOURCE AS A PDF HERE
Suggested citation: Herdzina, J. (2020, March 30). Supporting your child's technology and media use: Media resources for families. Erikson Institute's Technology in Early Childhood Center. https://www.erikson.edu/news/supporting-your-childs-technology-and-media-use-media-resources-for-families

Join the Erikson family with monthly news + events updates shared by academics, community members, and families.

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Supporting Your Child's Technology and Media Use: Media Resources for Families

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Early high quality experiences play a huge role in children's developmental and academic success. Children's experiences and tools may look a little different from when you were growing up, but there are so many ways you can ensure your children grow up healthy and happy.

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10X: Using Technology to Engage Families

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Here are 10 tips on using technology to engage families that support their young children's early learning and strengthen home-school relationships.

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Coding stories and coding games are playful, hands-on ways for children to explore and experiment with early coding. They offer opportunities for interactions and collaborative learning. If coding is new to you, you will find that it builds on many early math and literacy concepts you are familiar with.

What is coding?

Coding (or programming) is a basic language of the digital age. It involves the process of creating step-by-step instructions a computer understands and needs in order for its programs to work. Gaming systems, tablets, cars, cell phones-even washing machines!-all use coding to function properly.

Early coding, or precoding, offers children experiences that integrate communication, thinking, and problem solving. These are 21st century skills that are valuable for children's future success in our digital world.

There are many learning activities preschool children already engage in that relate to coding. I started to think about some aspects of precoding that would be meaningful to preschoolers, and I began to develop a series of activities where children create their own coding stories. Children learn about creating commands, or using directional language, when they make and use maps to locate a treasure during dramatic play and when they give each other instructions while playing with toy cars. Activities related to creating and following commands can be gamelike in nature, such as moving a gaming piece a specific number of spaces on a grid (think Candyland or Chutes and Ladders). Children are naturally drawn to adventurous experiences in which they can explore movement, direction, and location. Many of the same concepts supported in these activities, such as spatial reasoning and number sense, are a foundational part of coding that children can practice without a computer.

Early coding is fun and exciting. The earlier children explore the basics of coding, the more easily they will be able to learn, understand, and apply coding later in life. Many preschoolers are just the right age to begin learning!

What do children need to know?

Coding is more accessible to young children than you may think. To participate successfully in precoding activities, children should be introduced to directional language, like up and down, backward and forward, left and right. They need to become familiar with how to count using ordinals ( first, second, third) and understand one-to-one correspondence. Some children will have mastered these concepts and others will still be learning. If children are just beginning to understand and follow directional language and use ordinals, the precoding activities that follow will reinforce that learning.

Activities involving location and movement, such as playing board games and giving directions to peers in pretend play, offer some background knowledge and provide entry points for children into coding activities.

Why introduce coding to preschoolers?

Coding is like a game. It's very engaging for children who enjoy telling stories and using grids and maps. Children ages 3 to 5 are able to create drawings of maps that represent relationships between objects and places. When we incorporate programming into early learning settings, we immerse children in versatile activities that align with standards in multiple areas, like math, problem solving, communication, and literacy. Precoding activities offer children opportunities for interaction and collaborative learning, as well.

Coding stories and games use math

Coding involves spatial reasoning and logic. Helping children to think about direction, location, and movement strengthens their math skills. Children need to count the number of spaces they must move and indicate in which direction they are headed as they relate objects and locations to one another. Coding integrates a number of math skills into one meaningful experience.

Coding stories and games encourage problem solving

When activities like coding provide a challenge for the user or when there are several ways of solving the same problem, children can consider multiple paths for arriving at a solution and choose the most efficient strategy. In these activities, planning ahead is the key to success.

Coding stories and games strengthen communication

When a child codes, she needs to indicate directions to another person (or to a computer). Her communications need to be succinct-that is, they cannot be wordy. When two children play coding games, the child receiving the instructions needs to be an active listener in order to move the coding pieces in the correct way. Clear communication and turn taking are essential to coding.

Coding stories and games promote literacy

Coding games often tell a story-there is a path the programmer takes to move an object through different obstacles and settings, eventually arriving at a destination. Children's imaginative stories or favorite retellings can be used as the base for coding games. This helps children develop vocabulary and a greater comprehension of texts. Children can make connections between literature and their lives. They can even change the outcome of a favorite story by exploring different endings in the coding activity. Teachers can lead innovative read-alouds with a gaming board by changing the sequence of a story or reinventing the ending.

Getting started

First, make a grid

You can create a grid of squares using masking tape on the floor or on a tabletop. A grid can also be drawn on a large plastic tablecloth, making it easy to use, transport, and store. For children who want to explore coding further, make large grid paper by tracing black lines on graph paper. This way, a child can draw his own coding story and take it home to share with family members.

Choose your story and gather the corresponding props

Decide if the children are going to retell a favorite story ( The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks) or invent their own tale. For example, if the children choose to explore The Gingerbread Man, they will need a mini gingerbread figure, a wolf, and pictures to represent the places the gingerbread man travels to in the story.

Ensure that children understand the story line and the path they are coding

Determine the starting and ending points of the path the character is going to take. In The Gingerbread Man, the character starts in a cottage, then moves down a lane, through a field, and into the woods. He finally arrives at a stream, where he meets a wolf. If the children are retelling a favorite story, be sure their retelling is in the proper sequence and makes sense. If they are inventing their own story, children can place different settings or obstacles around the grid for a character to maneuver through.

How Children Play

Set up the grid. The teacher or children place the character at the starting point on the grid and put the settings or obstacles on the grid in the order they occur.

Establish the commands. As a group, the children determine the commands for moving the character along the grid. Directional arrows (which can point up, down, left, or right when placed on the grid) are visual symbols to represent the commands. Children can easily make and use lots of arrows on mini cards or sticky notes.

Choose a programmer and a gamer. The programmer-or programmers-gives the coding commands. The gamer is the child-or children-who follows the coding commands and moves the figure on the grid.

Code the story! The programmer is now responsible for giving commands-"Go up 1," "Go forward 2," "Go down 3,"-to the gamer so that the gamer can move the character along the grid, from start to finish. (The first few times a group codes, an adult might model the roles for the children.) As a new command is followed, the coder places a symbol card in each square the gaming piece travels through, representing the direction of the move on the grid. Code all the moves until the ending point is reached.

Encourage and support children so they can complete the entire path, giving and following correct directions without skipping squares on the grid. Ensure that the directional arrows are left in place during the game to represent the path the character has taken. When the character arrives at the final destination, the path is complete! Other children can change the story and have a turn.

Extending the Coding Play

Once children become confident with early coding, they can use it independently in many different ways. Coding naturally and easily complements other learning opportunities in the preschool classroom!

Children can . . .

Code outdoors by drawing grids on the pavement with chalk and retelling stories using corresponding props

Create their own coding stories using grid paper by establishing a story line, determining a starting and ending point, and drawing coding symbols directly on the grid

Create scavenger hunts for one another, placing treasures in the squares of a grid; children can direct one another using a coded message to reach a certain square and then claim the treasure

Incorporate elements of precoding into their dramatic play, both indoors and out, by drawing or placing grids on top of maps and directing each other using commands to move to different locations (going on an adventure, searching for treasure)

Invite family or community members to visit the classroom and share ways adults use coding in real life

Coding Terms

Code: A set of instructions for a computer

Coding: The process of creating step-by-step instructions a computer understand and needs in order for its programs to work.

Precoding activities: Developmentally appropriate games and activities in which children explore some of the concepts involve in coding in ways that are meaningful to them.

"Playful Learning in the Early Years"
mrsmclennan.blogspot.ca/search/label/coding

"Playing, Coding, and Higher Order Thinking: Experiences to Support
Children's Learning," by Tamara Kaldor
www.NAEYC.org/blogs/early-coding-higher-thinking

"Let's Make a Map: The Developmental Stages of Children's Mapmaking,"
by Eugene Geist. Young Children, May 2016, pp. 50-55.

"Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8"-NAEYC position statement
www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PS_technology_WEB2.pdf

Photos courtesy of the author

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Coding stories and coding games are playful, hands-on ways for children to explore and experiment with early coding.

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Children's books captivate young children, and teachers love to see kids engrossed in their pages. But what if that book is an e-book? Does that change the equation?

That question has gnawed at Adriana Bus, a professor of education and child studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who has been studying electronic storybooks for more than 15 years. In a recent article in the journal Developmental Review, she recalled some of the worrisome issues she encountered in her first experiments with 4- and 5-year-old children. One experiment, in the year 2000, centered on 15-minute reading sessions with P.B. Bear's Birthday Party, a children's book by Lee Davis (1998). Back then, children were using a CD-ROM version of the book on a desktop computer. The CD-ROM provided children two options: they could have the book read to them, or they could press the Playtime button to play matching games, puzzles, and mazes associated with the book. When children chose Playtime, they were certainly engaged. But it was what they were engaged in that troubled Bus. "Most children completely ignored the oral text and just played games and activated the animations," she wrote. "Insofar as they listened to the story text, they did not listen to the pages in order." Often they were simply hearing text fragments in a seemingly random order that was disconnected from the visualizations (Bus, Takacs, & Kegel 2015).

Bus was witnessing story time hijacked. Instead of learning new vocabulary or comprehending the story, children struggled to understand it. Assessments showed that the children with unrestricted access to Playtime struggled to recall the story line and didn't know the words in the book.

Studies find pros and cons

Findings like this may lead many early educators to avoid children's e-books altogether. But, as we discovered in writing Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens (2015), these findings don't tell the whole story. Not all of Bus's findings have been negative, and over the past decade, research from many quarters of the globe-the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, the United States-has shown that there are features and affordances within digital storybooks that can do more to advance children's learning than print books.

One study showed a net positive for parents and the way they interact with their children when reading e-books together.

A few years ago, a Future of Children review of research on e-books and literacy summarized more than a dozen experimental studies with evidence that e-reading technology has "real promise" in assisting young children in learning to read (Biancarosa & Griffiths 2012). In one study, for example, e-books led to improved phonemic awareness and print-concept awareness among preschoolers-especially those with learning disabilities (Shamir & Schlafer 2011). Another study (Korat & Or 2010), discussed in the next section, even showed a net positive for parents and the way they interact with their children when reading e-books together.

The trick is in sorting the good from the bad while also paying attention to how adults use these books. As digital media become ever present in 21st century family life, being able to make smart decisions about children's books, no matter what format, is becoming an important skill for teachers and other early childhood professionals. Although research on children's e-books is still nascent, studies are pointing to general principles that can help educators make smarter decisions about what to introduce to young children, what to avoid, and how to encourage parents to spend time engaged in stories with their kids, whether the platform involves paper or pixels.

Adult-child interactions around e-books

One overarching message from the science of early learning is that children thrive when adults in their lives have conversations with them. Children's books are wonderful conversation starters, and study after study has shown how much kids gain from the back-and-forth interactions elicited by turning the pages of a book. Now that e-books are part of the picture, the importance of these conversations has not receded. In fact, if Sherry Turkle's book Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age (2015) shows us anything, it is how much we need to pay attention to the way we use media to cue, not cut off, conversation. Some preliminary evidence of e-book-reading interactions between adults and children showed that the devices themselves can get in the way of rich conversation and children's story comprehension (Chiong, Ree, & Takeuchi 2012; Parish-Morris et al. 2013).

A series of studies by scholars in Israel can help us think more deeply about how e-books can and should involve parents and teachers in joint learning moments with young children.

Interactions around educational e-books

Led by Ofra Korat and Tal Or at Bar-Ilan University, the studies in Israel compared how different types of e-books might cause parents to interact differently when reading them with their children. In one experiment, Korat and Or used Just Grandma and Me, by the internationally popular author Mercer Mayer (1994). They labeled that as the commercial e-book. The other e-book, which they called educational, was titled Hatractor Beargaz Hachol (The tractor in the sandbox). It was specifically designed to promote early literacy. Features include embedded definitions of difficult words, dynamic visuals that dramatize the story line, highlighting over words as they are spoken, and words that, when clicked, are spoken aloud in an intentional way so that one can hear the syllables and sounds within. The researchers called these features scaffolding mechanisms, and they wanted to know, How will the presence of these mechanisms change the conversations that parents are having with their kids while reading these books?

They randomly assigned groups of mothers and their kindergartners to either the commercial e-book or the educational e-book and then videotaped the interactions. Later, when the researchers systematically reviewed those tapes, they noticed some significant differences. The educational e-book led to more expansive talk on the part of parents. The words in the tractor story were more difficult than in Just Grandma and Me, and the embedded dictionary included elaborations that "may have directed the mothers to expand the discussion about the story, including word meanings" (Korat & Or 2010).

In an interview, Korat suggested that the educational e-book might have influenced the mothers to talk with their kids at a higher level. One might even say it was teaching parents as much-maybe even more-as it was teaching kids. "The e-book itself," Korat explained, "was an instructor to the parent" (Korat 2014). But she stresses that it had to be designed to foster that kind of learning; the quality of the interactions was dependent on the quality of the book's design.

Interactions around e-books and print books

At around the same time, Korat and other Israeli scholars were also trying to answer another nagging question: How do adult-child interactions around educational e-books compare to these interactions around the same book in print? In a study conducted with some of the same content (the tractor book, for example), they found evidence that the educational- e-book-plus-adult approach may be the winning combination. In that study, researchers compared four conditions: children reading educational e-books by themselves, children reading educational e-books with an adult, children reading print versions of the same books with an adult, and a control condition that equated to regular kindergarten classroom time. Later, the children were tested on their reading progress. Across the four conditions, the children who learned the most were the ones who read the educational e-books with an adult assisting them (Segal-Drori et al. 2010).

E-book features that promote learning

If e-books designed to be educational can have this kind of impact, that begs the question, What exactly does good educational design look like? Researchers and child-development-savvy developers are starting to find out. The tractor book, for example, included features such as text highlighting and definitions for difficult words. What was it about these features that made a difference?

Bi-modal text

Deborah Linebarger, an education professor now at Purdue University, has conducted myriad experiments on how children learn from print on screen. Much of her research has zoomed in on the importance of text highlighting, or what is sometimes called bi-modal text-the highlighting of words in sync with audio narration. Several years ago, Linebarger tested the effectiveness of this feature as she conducted studies around the television show Between the Lions, which employs many instances of words being highlighted on screen. In a range of settings from Pennsylvania to Mississippi to Native American reservations in New Mexico, Linebarger discovered that preschool and kindergarten viewers performed better on early literacy and reading tests than children who did not watch the show (Linebarger 2001). She has also been involved in eye-tracking studies of the television show that showed how the text highlighted during the read-alouds works to focus children's attention on the words as they are being read (Linebarger, Piotrowski, & Greenwood 2010). ( Between the Lions is now off the air, but clips are available on PBS and YouTube at http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/.)

Today text highlighting is becoming commonplace in reading software used in elementary schools. While text highlighting is not easy or inexpensive to produce, it is starting to be found in e-books that are designed to be educational. Each letter, word, or sentence can be highlighted as the digital narrator speaks, and children can press on words or sentences to hear them repeated. Sometimes readers can open audio recordings to hear pronunciations or, as with the tractor book, click on definitions.

Researchers found evidence that the educational-e-book-plus-adult approach may be the winning combination.

Of course, these new features come with new cautions. Literacy expert Barbara Culatta and her colleagues at Brigham Young University and Georgia State University have discovered some problems: some apps attempt to use bi-modal text to teach phonemic awareness but actually mislead young readers about the sounds of letters and words. They have witnessed an app, for example, that shows children the word cake and proceeds to sound out four letters, including the e, which is silent. Teachers will need to watch out for these kinds of mistakes, which will simply breed confusion for children-not to mention adults (Culatta, Hall-Kenyon, & Bingham 2016).

Audio narration

Another common feature of educational e-books is a choice button that enables children to either read a book themselves or have the book read to them. Teachers see the value of the audio narration in e-books, just as books on tape have been useful in classroom settings for decades to help model fluency. For example, Julie Hume, an elementary school teacher in University City, Missouri, has used e-books with her students who are struggling readers. "When students repeatedly have a strong model of the fluency, the more they hear that, the better they get it," Hume states. When children listen to narration that helps them connect to the words on the page, she says, "the hardest part of the fluency is being taken away, so they are able to focus on understanding the text, which is what you want" (Hume 2010). But with this advantage comes another factor to consider: elementary school teachers are starting to watch for students in their classrooms who are always choosing Read to Me and never choosing I'll Read It Myself. At some point, teachers say, they want children to be able to make that switch.

Interactive elements and literacy: Closing thoughts

These kinds of features-text highlighting and audio narration-were not the digital features that led to the worries of Adriana Bus as she observed children using e-books 15 years ago. In that case, it appears to have been the presence of games, puzzles, and other interactive elements tangential to the story line that led children astray. Studies are showing that the placement of these kinds of interactive elements, often called hot spots, can be a significant factor in determining an e-book's educational value. For example, Alice Wilder, an educational media expert who works at the e-book company Speakaboos, sees a big distinction between anywhere-everywhere interactivity versus what she and others call interactivity on the plot line. Wilder warns that there are creators in the industry who are not focused on literacy goals and do not know much about what children need at young ages. As is clear in the example of P.B. Bear's Birthday Party, many creators may assume that the only way to capture children's interest is to embed games, toys, and animations. "That will make them laugh and keep them coming back," Wilder said in an interview, "but it may not do a thing to help children become stronger readers" (Wilder 2015).

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Getting Smarter About E-Books for Children

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Children's books captivate young children, and teachers love to see kids engrossed in their pages. But what if that book is an e-book? Does that change the equation? That question has gnawed at Adriana Bus, a professor of education and child studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, who has been studying electronic storybooks for more than 15 years.

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Technology and Young Children: School-Age Children

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Examples of how educators can implement technology and interactive media in the classroom by using these tools and effective practices for school-aged children

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Technology and Young Children: Preschoolers and Kindergartners

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Examples of how educators can implement technology and interactive media in the classroom by using these tools and effective practices for preschoolers and kindergartners

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Technology and Young Children: Infants and Toddlers

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Examples of how educators can implement technology and interactive media in the classroom by using these tools and effective practices for infants and toddlers

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by TeachThought Staff

Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves creating opportunities within the school day to support students in developing positive behaviors and mindsets such as goal-setting, showing empathy, cultivating relationships, making responsible choices, and managing their nervous systems.

While educators typically won't find these skills prioritized in state standards for their content areas, they are essential for success in school, work, relationships, and life.

See also What Is Social-Emotional Learning?

Over 25 states have developed their own SEL standards and found innovative ways to integrate SEL into the school day. For example, many high schools have redesigned their weekly advisory/homeroom sessions to incorporate SEL curriculum. When implemented systematically, SEL programs yield overwhelmingly positive benefits for students of diverse backgrounds, including:

Improved self-concept and perception of others

Increased connection to the school community

More positive social behavior

Stronger academic performance

Reduced behavioral problems and emotional conflict

Below, we've identified 30+ effective SEL resources that educators and schools can implement to help students grow in the affective domain.

Grateful is an app that provides prompts for students to document little 'events' or thoughts throughout the day that contribute to their physical and psychological well-being.

Growth Mindset Prompts For The Classroom are sentence stems to help students nurture a less-rigid, more flexible state of mind.

Common Sense Media SEL Resources is a collection of activities, videos, and lessons to promote SEL in your classroom.

Moodnotes is an app to allow students to document and reflect on the relationship between their thoughts and their feelings

Empatico connects students ages 6-11 with learners around the globe. Educators choose a partner class based on similar student ages, class schedules, and SEL goals; next, they schedule an exchange on universal, approachable topics. The tool includes a vast library of activities to help students build relationships, foster empathy, and curiosity of other cultures, identify similarities and differences, practice respectful discussion, consider new perspectives, and think critically.
Creating Community: Team-Building Games To Help Students Make Friends
SuperBetter engages the benefits of gameplay to help students become resilient. Students challenge themselves, collect and initiate power-ups, battle 'bad guys,' complete a variety of quests, and team up with allies to increase their emotional control, mental flexibility, interconnectedness, self-efficacy, and positive outlook.

Waking Up by Sam Harris is an app that acts as an introductory online course for mediation and mindfulness.

See also Meditation Apps For Children

Sown To Grow is a goal-setting platform that fosters metacognition and reflection. Students set learning goals, track their own progress, and write reflections on the strategies that work best. Teachers can gain insights into the emotional well-being of their students and identify ones they should check in with. In taking ownership of their learning, grades become less of "what a teacher gave me" and more of "what I earned."

KazuTime features a sweet Husky puppy and friends who support early elementary school students in managing tasks like getting ready for school and completing their homework. By using visual and auditory cues, students gain a better grasp of time. The social-emotional learning resource app gives students the chance to anticipate the end of an activity, which reduces their anxiety about completing challenging tasks in a specific timeframe.

Classcraft encourages student participation through a game-based approach. Teachers can set up separate classrooms where students can participate in three different roles: guardians, mages, and healers. Teachers can reward points to students for working hard, collaborating effectively, or demonstrating leadership skills. Students can use their points to characterize their avatars and earn privileges in the classroom.

With Ongoing Conversations, the teacher charges students to initiate conversations with a minimum number of students over a set time to encourage them to branch out from their typical cliques and perspectives. On their tracker, students record the names, dates, and one-line summaries of conversations. By setting a minimum number of unique conversation partners, the teacher makes it more acceptable to walk up to an unfamiliar peer and initiate a thoughtful discussion.

Courageous Conversations helps older students navigate controversial or emotionally charged topics, such as race, mental health, and privilege. The framework prompts students to remain engaged, sit with discomfort, speak their truth, and get comfortable with nonclosure. Students devise conversation norms as well as verbal or nonverbal cues to signal when they feel hurt by a comment. Through participating in courageous conversations, students hone skills like asking questions, thoughtfully disagreeing respectfully, justifying responses, and considering diverse perspectives.

The Social Express hosts over 80 webisodes where students interact with scenes to make choices and understand their consequences. Webisodes focus on SEL skills like active listening, conflict resolution, initiating conversations, collaborating in small groups, and managing nonverbal communication signals.

Minecraft: Education Edition is an open-world game that fosters exploration, tinkering, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. Students develop these skills through building their own world, which enhances their understanding of community and leadership. It includes a special component called Code Builder which allows students to learn how to code using JavaScript or blocks of code.

Peekapak's learning game myPeekaville uses interactive storytelling and a game-based approach to reinforce empathy, respect for others, and self-regulation. Students create avatars and interact with characters in the open world to solve problems using SEL and literacy skills. Teachers can track student progress and check in with students on an emotional level, which is particularly helpful when students are learning remotely.

In Apology, Applause, Awareness, the teacher gathers students in a circle near the close of the school day for an opportunity to foster group discussion. Each student shares an apology, applauds a peer, or offers an insightful comment. These comments can elicit strong reactions from other classmates and help students come to view the classroom as a community where their words and actions have consequences.

Roadtrip Nation gives students full access to a large library of interactive career stories and interviews that they can browse by interest or theme. Middle and high school students develop goal-setting skills by building a roadmap to their career(s) of interest and considering the logistics of reaching their goals. Roadtrip Nation programs have also been shown to significantly increase students' self-efficacy and grade point averages, making this is worthwhile social-emotional learning resource to consider.

Daily Dedications prompt students to share stories about people close to them in a daily 30- to 60-second presentation. Educators can encourage students to use visuals, music, and other interactives to tell brief vignettes of the special people in their lives. In sharing, students discover that they have more similarities than differences with their classmates. This activity is particularly helpful for building relational capacity in a hybrid or remote course.

FUNecole helps students develop critical thinking skills through prompting real-world challenges. In working together to achieve common goals, students learn how to communicate with diverse audiences, evaluate information from various sources, and make socially responsible decisions. The app includes ready-to-teach lesson plans that educators can customize to their specific content areas.

The Fast Friends activity helps students get to know each other quickly. Students sit in two rows facing each other. One row of students takes a turn describing themselves in under 30 seconds, and then the other row goes. Once students from both rows finish, they move one chair to the right and repeat the process with a new partner. This rapid-fire activity helps establish relational capacity particularly at the start of a new course.

The Wheel of Emotions helps students identify their feelings within the realm of eight primary emotions: joy, sadness, acceptance, disgust, fear, anger, surprise, and anticipation. There are three layers for each emotion that become more intense as you move from the outer layer to the innermost layer. For example, a student could feel apprehension, fear, or terror; distraction, surprise, or amazement; pensiveness, sadness, or grief. As a social-emotional learning resource, this wheel helps students develop an emotional vocabulary and more accurately pinpoint what they are feeling in any given context.

The Mood Meter is an app that helps students build their emotional vocabulary, identify the root of their feelings, and regulate their emotions. Students plot their current feeling on a grid using specific descriptors, type why they believe they're experiencing that feeling, choose a regulation strategy to alter their feelings, track their emotions over time, and even share their insights with friends. In distinguishing between different intensity levels of moods, students can determine appropriate responses to potentially triggering stimuli.

Class Catalyst aims to help every child feel seen and supported. The platform connects students with caring adults who are there to help them practice mindfulness strategies. Class Catalyst can help students build trust with adults, reach out when they need support, and de-escalate interpersonal conflicts or overwhelming situations.

These five resources are also great platforms and activities for engaging students in social-emotional Learning.

25. KidConnect
26. This I Believe personal essay 27. If-Then plans
28. SmilingMind
29. Middle School Confidential
More Social Emotional Resources For The Classroom

30. The Privilege Walk enables students to understand the complexities of privilege in American society. Students start in a straight line facing the teacher, who reads statements like, "I received a car for my 16th birthday" or "My parents are married and live in the same home with me." Students take a step forward for each statement that applies to them. As gaps naturally appear between students, the teacher creates opportunities to foster discussion about why those gaps exist and what they might signify.

31. Positive Penguins helps students develop resilience through understanding how their negative feelings stem from disempowered thoughts. Four positive penguins accompany students on a journey to distinguish between thoughts and facts, consider the larger picture, envision possible responses and consequences, and offer support.

Most of these tools and activities can be implemented at the classroom level. It is important to keep in mind that students stand to gain more skills and receive more benefits when SEL is integrated into the school-wide culture.

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30 Of The Best SEL Resources For The Classroom

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by TeachThought Staff Social and emotional learning (SEL) involves creating opportunities within the school day to support students in developing positive behaviors and mindsets such as goal-setting, showing empathy, cultivating relationships, making responsible choices, and managing their nervous systems. While educators typically won't find these skills prioritized in state standards for their content areas, they are essential for success in school, work, relationships, and life.

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Meeting the emotional needs of our children has never been more important! Teachers, parents and administrators, it is our job to make sure no kid falls through the cracks - even when learning is remote.

SEL - a better way - for only 3 minutes every day!

An innovative and easy-to-implement platform that provides each child with personalized mindfulness strategies while connecting them in conversation with a caring adult. Most Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) tools are cumbersome, complicated, and costly. Not Class Catalyst!

Self-guided cool down activities are paired with a private, direct line of communication with adults to meet students where they are. Class Catalyst is designed specifically to identify, address, and manage problems before they start - to guarantee every student's voice is heard and needs are met.

Supporting Teachers and Parents Through COVID-19

Staying connected is more important than ever.

We've created a free version of Class Catalyst to help keep you connected with your kiddos and provide them mindful solutions during this challenging time.

How it Works

Innovative. Interactive. Innately informative. Class Catalyst is backed by research by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, based on evidence-based Social-Emotional Learning strategies, and supported by a top-rate team of seasoned mindfulness educators.
Class Catalyst is devoted to three main goals: Connection, Self-Awareness, and Self-Regulation.

Self-Awareness

Class Catalyst harnesses the technology students love (Chromebooks!) with deep, meaningful ways for them to grow in confidence, trust, and resilience, disguised as a quick and easy task. And Social/Emotional skills are skills for life!

Self-Regulation

Class Catalyst puts the power in each student's hands. Students are given agency to select from practices that are based on their input. The more they use Class Catalyst the more they learn what best works for them.

Connection

Class Catalyst gives students the ability to connect with teachers when they are feeling triggered or upset. In turn, teachers can respond in real-time by connecting directly with students or triaging support with counselors or social workers.

And remember, all of this is possible in as little as 3 minutes per day!

Each school is unique. That's why Class Catalyst is tailored to suit your individual needs. Click the buttons below to learn more.

Not convinced yet? Consider a CASEL 2011 analysis of 213 studies involving more than 270,000 students. Children who participated in evidence-based SEL programs showed an 11 percent gain in academic achievement!

Letter from Founders

We are often asked how Class Catalyst came to be - and we love sharing our story. As parents and educators, we had been looking for a way to combine Carla's extensive teaching and mindfulness experience with Rob's technical know-how and penchant for solving problems with data. But, it didn't really click until we discovered the massive gap between the need for Social-Emotional Learning and benefits of implementation. No implementation = no change. No impact on the students, teachers, or world.

We knew it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of administrators, teachers, and parents. With more on their plates than ever before, their energy and best intentions don't always reach kids - who, in turn, slip through the cracks, unseen and unheard. We set out to create a tool combining support and insight; one that could be easy to implement and seamlessly fit into an already packed school day or an evening at home with parents. We wanted to go beyond the standard SEL offering and build something truly interactive and informative. And, as with 2 kiddos at home, it's personal for us, too. Class Catalyst is for them, and for all students like them because every child deserves to be seen and supported. Thank you for joining us!

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Class Catalyst - Where Every Child Feels Seen and Supported

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Meeting the emotional needs of our children has never been more important! Teachers, parents and administrators, it is our job to make sure no kid falls through the cracks - even when learning is remote. SEL - a better way - for only 3 minutes every day!

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A gift of self awareness for yourself, and for others. Based on decades of research from Yale. Tell your Mood Meter mobile app how you feel and build emotional intelligence that lasts a lifetime.

Expand your emotional vocabulary Discover the nuances in your feelings.

Gain insights about your inner life Learn what's causing your feelings over time.

Regulate your feelings Use strategies to regulate your feelings: enhance how you manage your life.

Remember to check in with yourself Use reminders to check-in on your feelings throughout the day.

View your report Learn how your feelings are affecting your decisions, relationships, and performance.

Over time, you'll develop emotional intelligence skills that can help you in all areas of life.

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A gift of self awareness for yourself, and for others. Based on decades of research from Yale. Tell your Mood Meter mobile app how you feel and build emotional intelligence that lasts a lifetime. Expand your emotional vocabulary Discover the nuances in your feelings.

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Welcome to Brighten Learning your source for teaching social skills, life skills and career readiness. Our unique animated programs are engaging, interactive and easy to teach.
"We are grateful to have access to such a quality program that is really making a difference for our kiddos that need this!"
C. Moore, M. Ed., GC/ASD, Inclusive Education Coach Peace Wapiti School Division 76

Our Approach to Learning

Animation is engaging for all ages-that's why Brighten Learning programs use animated interactive lessons. Video modeling is a form of observational and visual learning in which a targeted behavior or skill is exhibited through a video demonstration in the hopes that the behavior or skill will then be imitated and implemented in a person's "real" life (National Professional Development Center).
Animations help students simulate and visualize concepts that are too intricate and nuanced to be described in a more traditional teaching approach.

A series of studies have shown that students who are taught in a "mixed system" of traditional teaching methods in cooperation with video modeling "perceive themselves as playing a more central role in classroom interactions and felt a greater interest in learning" (Rosen).

A 2011 study by Durlak et al found that teachers who employed video modeling in a supplementary way in their classrooms improved student achievement by an average of 11 percentage points and influenced their students to engage in more prosocial behaviors - such as kindness, sharing, and empathy.

Students, through video modeling, are thus more likely to be engaged in school and exhibit proactive, positive behaviors. Both of these outcomes improve the social climate of schools, making students more likely to feel welcome and safe at school, thus leading to decreased levels of absent and chronically truant students.

Our Learning Platform Provides:

Teacher Usage Reports

Student Usage Reports

Student Quiz Reports

Student Survey Reports

Aggregate District Reports

Rostering for Staff and Students

Single Sign On - Schoology, Google MSFT, Clever

24/7 Access

Professional Development

We know how important it is to offer teachers, support staff, district and school personnel opportunities to grow and improve their practice. We have several profession learning opportunities we would be thrilled to present to your team and others. Click Here to Learn More

Research

"Independent Research at the Tier 1 level, pre-post (immediate) comparisons on a social skills rating scale indicated statistically significant differences by groupstudents with disabilities indicated a statistically significant improvement in social skills when the program was used for at least ten weeks (Krach, McCreery, Miller Doss, & Highsmith, 2020)."
Read the Full Report

"MANOVA, revealed increases in prosocial behaviors (DMean -.06, t₍₂₀₂₎ = -2.17, p = .031), decreases in victimization (DMean .12, t₍₂₀₅₎ = 2.92, p = .004), and increases in academic self-efficacy (DMean -.15, t₍₂₀₆₎ = -2.80, p = .006) on student self-report measures (3 rd through 5 th)."
Read The Full Report Cool School Poster 2019-04

"A cross-sectional research design was employed because of the reliance on existing group differentiation (i.e., disability vs. no disability) and the geographic diversity across research locations. This design is beneficial for measuring differences rather than causal changes, which might be found in an experimental study, and is therefore appropriate for phase II product testing."
Read The Full Report

"Thank you for the opportunity to pilot use of "Social Express" with our special education students during the 2016/2017 School Year. During the year we had the opportunity to utilize the program in a variety of settings and despite some technological issues on our end, we found the curriculum to be engaging and interesting to our students and they enjoyed working on it, both individually and in small groups."
Read the Full Report

"We found that both treatment interventions, CCAL and TSE, had a beneficial effect on anxiety in the youth that were followed in the
current study. This is noteworthy because while social-communication deficits are necessary and must be present for an ASD diagnosis,
anxiety is not a necessary finding for the diagnosis. However, anxiety is a prevalent co-occurring or possibly comorbid condition with
ASD. Social-communication deficits may increase vulnerability to basic developmental challenges and consequently increase the
potential for anxiety to develop (Pickard, Rijsdijk, Happ´e, & Mandy, 2017). Its possible that interventions that also improves
social-communication challenges may result in the development of skills that can be used to navigate and more successfully resolve
conflict that otherwise would increase vulnerability to anxiety. In the present study we found preliminary evidence that the TSE has
some positive effect with respect to anxiety reduction."
Read the Full Report

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Need to login or register for Behavior Support (formerly Kickboard)?

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Need to login or register for Behavior Support (formerly Kickboard)? PowerSchool Unified Classroom Unified Classroom® Behavior Support Support the whole child with the only evidence-based (ESSA Level II) behavior solution proven to reduce suspensions and referrals and increase school positivity.

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Listen to my interview with Jeff Frieden (transcript):
Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Teams for Education

In our dreamiest of teacher dreams, some of us might imagine days when our students spontaneously erupt into complex, nuanced conversations about the things they're learning in our classes. If we borrow the language of the Common Core, they would "engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade-level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly."

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? And maybe the "teacher-led" kind is possible, because we could structure and guide it, but that doesn't give students much ownership of their learning. In groups? That might be a bit harder to accomplish. And one-on-one? Well, how do you even manage that?

Jeff Frieden, a high school English teacher in southern California, wondered the same thing. Wanting a less teacher-centered class, he was looking for ways to get students talking to each other about the content. He'd tried all kinds of techniques- think-pair-share, appointment clocks, groups of four-but none of them gave him the results he was looking for.

When he tried to get the whole class talking in mixer-style activities, they would "poke holes in those systems," he said. "They just kind of work their way around it to end up talking to their friends, and it becomes more social than content-centered interaction." Meanwhile, he also discovered that many of his students, who had gone to school together for years, didn't know each other's names.

Then one morning, just a few minutes before class started, he came up with something new on the fly: A simple system for getting every student in the room to talk with every other student, a way of tracking conversations over time so that students had a reason to reach out to people they never interacted with, and have more meaningful, content-based discussions with each other. Since he started using this method, Jeff says his classroom just feels different. Students are taking more academic risks, diving deeper into the content, and actually getting to know each other.

The Strategy

Here is the Ongoing Conversations system Frieden uses to get his students talking:

Each student is given a conversation tracker, a chart where they keep track of the conversations they've had with other students in the class.

Students are to have conversations with a minimum number of other students (set by the teacher-about 75 percent of the class) over a predetermined period of time (say, 2 to 3 weeks). These conversations can be structured, based on topic prompts supplied by the teacher.

On their tracker, students record the name of the person they talked to, the date of their conversation, and a one-line summary of what they talked about.

Once a pair of students has had a conversation, they may not return to each other until after they have reached the minimum number of unique conversations set by the teacher.

The image below shows one version of a conversation tracker, where Frieden's students were discussing a novel they'd read.

Currently, Frieden scaffolds the conversations by supplying topics for each round of conversation; students are not left to come up with ideas on their own. He projects these topics one at a time on Google Slides: "It might be something as simple as, Explain one thing that really confused you from the chapter to your partner. " Sometimes he'll recycle a topic by having students switch partners, then summarize the conversation they just had with their last partner.

The Benefits

On the first day Frieden tried Ongoing Conversations, "It went surprisingly well," he says. "I was actually shocked by how well it was going. And it was more content-centered talking, too; it wasn't just about their social lives. They were really responding to the prompts that I was giving them and talking about the book."

Now that he's using the strategy on a regular basis, he's found that it delivers several benefits:

More Students Engaged

Before switching to this method, Frieden believes far fewer students were actually participating in his class.

"For years, I was seeing what I wanted to see with student interactions," he says. Although his class discussions felt lively, "I might have like a third of my class really interacting." Moving to Ongoing Conversations gave more students an opportunity to really participate in discussions.

Simple, Actionable Formative Assessment

When he uses Ongoing Conversations, Frieden says, "My check for understanding is by walking around. The other day my sophomores were talking about Animal Farm, and I had asked a question about Clover, and there were way too many of them saying, 'Clover? Who's Clover? I don't know who Clover is.' And so I just went, 'Okay. Time out.' And then we talked about that character and her relevance in the story."

As a formative assessment method, Ongoing Conversations offers two advantages: It lets teachers take immediate action-like in the scenario above-and it gives them less work to take home. "I don't need to do exit tickets, I don't need to do quizzes," Frieden says, "I collect less work, but students do more."

Works with Other Strategies

This method can be blended with other discussion and instructional strategies. For example, if Frieden is having students do a philosophical chairs discussion, he might have them turn and talk with someone on their side of the room, then record that interaction on their conversation tracker.

Not Just for English Class

Ongoing Conversations is a strategy that can be used in any content area. Although Frieden initially structured these conversations around literature, he quickly realized they could be expanded beyond that. When he moved students into an inquiry-based research project, he continued using the conversation tracker, swapping out literature-based questions with prompts that centered on the research students were doing.

Grading and Assessment

Do these conversations get a grade? When Frieden first started using this system, he gave students a small amount of points for these conversations, and that would work in a points-based classroom. This year, however, he's been working toward a modified version of a gradeless classroom, where a student's course grade is determined by a conference in which the student must justify how well they've met the standards.

Frieden has found that knowing these conferences are coming is what generally keeps students motivated to give the Ongoing Conversations a good effort; they know Frieden is paying attention. "I'm watching," he says. "I'm going to hold you accountable to this, and eventually we're going to have a conversation. You're going to have to look me in the eye and say, 'This is what grade I deserve,' or 'Here, I can justify this grade.'"

Tips for Success

Don't "Free-Range" It

Frieden did not just hand students the charts and tell them to start talking: Even though they are in 12th grade, they needed a bit of structure for the strategy to be successful; younger students would need even more scaffolding. In addition to providing questions for discussion, talk with students ahead of time about behavior expectations, how to initiate conversations, how to ask follow-up questions, and even how to record the content on the tracker. You might even want to model a conversation fishbowl-style, with you as one of the participants, so students can see what a good quality conversation looks like ahead of time.

Frame the Discussion Through a Helping Lens

To relieve the anxiety students might feel about these conversations, Frieden launches the conversations by framing them through a lens of mutual support.

"I'm going to come clean that I'm a confused reader," he tells them. "Join the club. When I read something for the first time, it's always confusing, and I need help to understand it. So let's basically form this class-wide support group here for struggling readers, and as we go through this, let's talk about the things that are perplexing to us that we don't get, words we don't understand. Maybe we miss a detail that our partners or our friends figure out, so they can help us."

Setting this tone has helped student relax. "They kind of know, 'Oh, okay. We're just in here to kind of feel our way through this novel,'" Frieden says. "That's what I'm hoping."

The Value of Conversation

Giving students regular opportunities to engage in rich conversations is good for them in so many ways. "There's tremendous benefit in getting past some of the socially awkward stuff," Frieden points out. "And really just learning how to interact with another human being will actually enrich your academic life too."

Students are recognizing the benefits, too. "Even though they're struggling through the discomfort, they say that it's exposing them to ideas they wouldn't have considered had they just been asked to do it alone or respond on a worksheet," Frieden says. "I had one student who actually wrote a lengthy response saying, You know what? I don't know if I've changed my mind, but I just told myself, 'For the sake of this, I'm going to be open,' and it's actually changed the way I think about this issue. "

It was one of those rare moments when you know you're doing something right.

"My teacher nerd heart was singing that day." ♥

You can learn more from Jeff Frieden by following him on Twitter or visiting his website, Make them Master It, where he shares tons of great ideas and insights about teaching. You can read his original post about Ongoing Conversations here.

Come back for more.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Get Students Talking with Ongoing Conversations

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It's not just a fantasy: This simple system gets every student in your room to have rich conversations with every other student. About content. Really.

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Curated for Educators and Families

Support Social-Emotional Well-Being

When children practice social-emotional skills throughout their day, they learn to understand emotions and cope with everyday challenges. Use and share these research-based social-emotional learning (SEL) resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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SEL Activities and Resources | Second Step

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Use and share these research-based SEL activities and resources to empower children to thrive at school, at home, and everywhere in between.

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Your guide to Social-Emotional Learning resources to help you teach SEL with ease! Find book recommendations, tools, and resources to help you support your students' social and emotional development in the elementary classroom.
Social-Emotional Learning Resources for Teachers and Counselors

As teachers, we spend a lot of time working on strategies for teaching students about important academic topics that are required to succeed. We teach them reading, math, science, and social studies skills. And we are continually learning about strategies that are effective and considered "best practice" and incorporating them into our school day.

However, if we focus ONLY on the important academic subjects, we may be missing a crucial part of a well-rounded education: the social and emotional development of our students.

In fact, without healthy social-emotional skills in place, academic learning would likely be ineffective.

This is why teachers, counselors, and volunteers who work daily with students are tuned into the emotional health of students and are able to implement social-emotional learning (SEL) in the curriculum.

SEL Instruction is Critical.

We can be helping build these skills. We can help students develop character traits that will help them become productive members of the community. Not only will these traits help them down the road, but they will also help create a safe, productive environment for learning at school.

We, as teachers, have the opportunity and duty to foster social and emotional skills in our students.

Fortunately, there are many quality resources available to help! These tools will make planning and teaching easier. Let's take a look!

SEL Books

Books are always a wonderful way to teach SEL concepts to young children. They are relatable and provide a visual for abstract ideas.
Check out these: Find a great list of books that address social-emotional topics here.
Social-Emotional Learning Activities for Lessons

Teacher Vision - Find printables, lesson plans, and discussion guides on SEL topics.

Journals - Have students keep a feelings journal. This gives them a chance to write and reflect.

Express Through Art - To build self-awareness, pick a piece of music or a poem to have the students listen to. Then, using art supplies, have them create something that shows how the music makes them feel. Ask, "Is this music happy or sad?" or "What colors does this music make you think of?"

Respect Activity Pack - Get a FREE set of activities geared at teaching kids respect.

SEL Units - Find hands-on activities and printables for each of the following subjects: Responsibility, Emotions, Self-Regulation, Growth Mindset, Kindness, Friendship, Self-Awareness, Mindfulness, Social Awareness

SEL Websites

There are helpful websites that provide articles, activities, and resources for teaching SEL concepts. Bookmark the different topics or find creative ideas for incorporating SEL into your classroom.

Edutopia - Get lots of resources about social-emotional learning.

CASEL - This organization supports the teaching of SEL in schools. A good place to get information for the classroom.

Common Sense Education - Provides an SEL educator toolkit, with many classroom-ready resources.

Printable Social-Emotional Learning Resources

Below are printable resources to use in your classroom. These activities will help you foster SEL in your classroom.

Digital Activities for Teaching SEL

In need of digital tools you can use in your 1:1 classroom or online: Try these activities to make presenting SEL topics a breeze no matter your teaching format!

Online Social-Emotional Learning Apps

There are apps out there that are designed to help kids learn important SEL skills. Most are free or low-cost.
Check out these links and then find more ideas here!

GoNoodle - This app has a lot of fun, engaging videos. It includes movement and mindfulness-based videos.

Smiling Mind - Helps kids with meditation.

Hands-On SEL Materials

There are products that can help you teach SEL to children. Use these tools to reinforce important SEL concepts.

Emotions Jenga - Write emotions on random Jenga blocks. Each child pulls out an emotion (for example excitement). They must then define what that emotion means and what makes them feel that way.

Gifted Learning Flashcards - These interactive flashcards help kids explore abstract concepts associated with SEL.

Feelings Game - This board game helps kids to express their emotions and learn self-regulation.

Emoji Stories - These cubes express emotion, build self-esteem, improve verbal communication, and develop creativity and storytelling.

Check out this list of calming tools to support your student's self-management and social-emotional development.
Free Social-Emotional Learning Ebook

Learn 9 ways to transform your classroom with social-emotional learning in the FREE Guide for teachers! It is filled with actionable tips and strategies, insightful ideas to get you started, and free printable templates and activities you can use in your classroom right away!
Simply click the image below to get your FREE copy.

More SEL Ideas
Social-Emotional Learning Curriculum social-emotional learning activities Digital Social-Emotional Learning PIN for Later

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Social-Emotional Learning Resources You'll Absolutely Love

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A guide to Social-Emotional Learning resources: books, tools, and materials to help the elementary classroom teacher support students.

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As stated by Psychology Today , a growth mindset is, " the belief that a person's capacities and talents can be improved over time." Recently we had the privilege of sitting down with Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at Libertyville District 70, Erik Youngman to discuss what growth mindset is and how impactful it is in K-12 education. Erik explained that the way to improve growth mindset over time is to focus on elements of a growth mindset like learning from mistakes, continuous improvement, effort, creative problem solving, and reflection.

Where Did the Growth Mindset Come From?

Originally the growth mindset method came from psychologist and professor at Stanford University, Carol Dweck . She wanted to explore how mindset science played a role in the desire for older children to achieve their academic potential according to the Association for Psychological Science .

Erik explained that his interest in the growth mindset sparked from his teaching career. He spent his time reading articles, synthesizing the information he uncovered, and creating structures that educators and coaches can apply to their teaching strategies to encourage a growth mindset.

Erik also gives credit to his athletic and teaching backgrounds that helped him to identify how he can coach his students and staff to empower them to learn using this method.

Visit Erik Youngman's Twitter page feed for motivational and inspirational quotes and to get inspired at: @Erik_Youngman

How to Apply Growth Mindset

Erik shared 3 examples of how a growth mindset can be applied in an educational setting as well as at home setting.

1. Continuous learning mindset

Erik merged Carol Dweck's research with structures of the applications of learning from the Illinois State Board of Education to explain how a continuous learning mindset works. There are 6 dimensions of the continuous learning mindset: problem-solving, communicating, making connections, asking questions, self-direction, and working on teams.

These 6 dimensions empower students to enhance the frequency and effectiveness of thinking while also empowering reflection, courage, perseverance, and empathy.

2. Empowering a growth mindset with feedback, questions, and self-talk
Feedback
Educators are not the only ones who can promote a growth mindset; parents can also promote a growth mindset at home. The feedback you, as an adult, give to students and children is much more impactful than you think. Erik stresses the importance of being mindful of how you are providing careful feedback to these students and children especially when they have made a mistake or something they could classify as a set-back.

2 really great suggestions Erik made for phrasing affirming feedback were, "You are not successful yet, but you and I both know you will do it," and "remember the lesson more than the mistake."
Questions
Parents also have a great opportunity to encourage "teaching moments" with their kids by asking them questions instead of providing the answer. Instead of blatantly sharing an answer with your child, whether it be in life or school, help them get to the next step on their own by asking them, " what questions should be asked or considered in this situation?"

Ask them how they believe they can enhance their efficiency, flexibility, performance, or growth. This encourages the child to think more critically about the specific situation they are currently in and show them how to grow on their own.
Self-talk
Self-talk is a commonly used tactic when dealing with depression and anxiety, and is also known as 'changing your mindset.' Many people get distracted and hesitant from doing things they can achieve because of the voice inside their head telling them that they can't. If parents and teachers give students the right tools to learn about and understand self-talk, students will be more likely to perform better academically and be overall happier and more confident people.

Erik suggests teaching phrases like, "I need to courageously move out of my comfort zone," and "How do my current actions and attitude impact my progress and success?" Like Gary Vee says, "You can probably make nothing but mistakes for the next 13 years of your life, and probably still have a tremendously happy life, and once you wrap your head around that, it probably empowers you to make the best decision for yourself."

3. 12 Characteristics of Deliberate Homework
Erik Youngman has just released a book titled 12 Characteristics of Deliberate Homework in which he talks about the growth mindset in relation to learning and homework. He encourages parents, educators, and coaches to embrace a learning mindset that empowers students to be responsible, reflective, resilient, and resourceful. Erik states how these 4 buckets are pertinent to remote learning.

How does Growth Mindset Apply to Remote Learning?

Growth mindset is used as a lens to empower students and educators as they encounter new challenges, risks, improvement, effort, resourcefulness, and feedback during remote learning . In times like these, where people seemingly have all the time in the world, the opportunity cost of getting out of your comfort zone to embrace new challenges and try new things is inordinately low.

On this episode of Tackling Tech Podcast, Brett McGrath speaks to Dr. Erik Youngman, the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for the Libertyville School District in Chicago. Erik is an advocate for remote learning and expert of growth mindset. His book, "12 Characteristics of Deliberate Homework," will be available May 6.

In addition to web browser updates and bug fixes, Dyknow released several major product updates, new features and enhancements. Check out Dyknow's 2021 Year in Review!

K-12 Administrators across the world trust G2 as the #1 platform to find, research, and choose EdTech tools that solve the most pressing problems their teachers are experiencing. In G2's Fall 2021 Reports, Dyknow was once again rated #1 in overall Satisfaction out of...

On this episode of Tackling Tech, Tierra Leustig interviews Scott Bayer about being an anti-racist teacher, diversifying reading lists, creating inclusive learning environments, and leveraging ed-tech in non-technical ELA classrooms. Scott Bayer is a High School...

In addition to web browser updates and bug fixes, Dyknow released several major product updates, new features and enhancements. Check out Dyknow's 2021 Year in Review!

K-12 Administrators across the world trust G2 as the #1 platform to find, research, and choose EdTech tools that solve the most pressing problems their teachers are experiencing. In G2's Fall 2021 Reports, Dyknow was once again rated #1 in overall Satisfaction out of...

On this episode of Tackling Tech, Tierra Leustig interviews Scott Bayer about being an anti-racist teacher, diversifying reading lists, creating inclusive learning environments, and leveraging ed-tech in non-technical ELA classrooms. Scott Bayer is a High School...

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As stated by Psychology Today , a growth mindset is, " the belief that a person's capacities and talents can be improved over time." Recently we had the privilege of sitting down with Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment at Libertyville District 70, Erik Youngman to discuss what growth mindset is and how impactful it is in K-12 education.

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Provides information to parents and caregivers on Childhood Traumatic Grief. This fact sheet outlines how children grieve, what Childhood Traumatic Grief is, who develops Childhood Traumatic Grief, the signs a child might have Childhood Traumatic Grief, and what parents or caregivers can do to help.

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Childhood Traumatic Grief: Information for Parents and Caregivers

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Provides information to parents and caregivers on Childhood Traumatic Grief.

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#BookSnaps ISTE 2017 Ignite

Create #BookSnaps with Snapchat App

Create #BookSnaps with Seesaw App

#BookSnaps with Google Drawing

#BookSnaps Speak App Smash
Now easier to do with 2019 above vid: #Booksnaps with Flipgrid Shorts Video
#BookSnaps with Pic Collage Kids

#BookSnaps with Book Creator

#BookSnaps Images with Snapchat

#BookSnaps Images with Book Creator

#RealYouSnaps with Seesaw

#BookSnaps Gallery via Padlet.com
Click the thumbnail. Scroll left, right, up and down. Click individual #BookSnaps to enlarge.
Scan the QR Code to view a Fiction #BookSnaps Gallery.

Share #BookSnaps Padlet Portfolios Via QR Codes

Take a Gallery Walk of #BookSnaps Padlets

Please enter your City, State, or Country.

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Please view my blog post titled #BookSnaps - Snapping for Learning for more information.

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100+ Free Social Emotional Learning Resources

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Social and emotional learning, often known as SEL, is the process that helps kids learn critical skills, attitudes, and mindsets for social and emotional success. These skills cover five major areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships, and responsible decision-making. I

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While everyone around you may seem like they have all the answers, most people are still going through the same motions as you to figure out what 'being real' means to them. The first step to becoming REAL is to be approachable. Tara said, " We all started somewhere. No one gains a high status without starting at the bottom and going through some challenges."

The importance of staying humble in times of great success is so important to pave a path for the generations behind you. No matter who Tara is speaking in front of or the size of the crowd, she always makes sure that she comes off as approachable. This puts the whole mood at ease and gives the audiences a bit more comfort.

The second step is to understand how to learn through life. Tara says, "If you have a heartbeat, there is more to learn and improve upon." You and your surroundings are constantly changing and growing by learning from the experiences you endure over time. If you are alive you have a chance to learn, take it !

The A and L of REAL are not the only components you need to be successful. R and E are the parts that make us human. As humans, we have to be able to accept, process, and move on from the mistakes we have made and the experiences that hold us back from moving forward.

We have to be able to take those experiences and turn them into lessons that teach students and children to beat the odds of their challenges and grow to their full potential.

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How To Be R.E.A.L. during Remote Learning with Tara Martin - Dyknow

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While everyone around you may seem like they have all the answers, most people are still going through the same motions as you to figure out what 'being real' means to them. The first step to becoming REAL is to be approachable. Tara said, " We all started somewhere.

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1. Self-awareness
The main reason for self-awareness is to increase one's self-confidence. When students understand that they have flaws and that's okay they are able to build stronger relationships with people who understand and love their flaws. Verywellmind.com states, "While self-awareness is something that is central to who you are, it is not something that you are acutely focused on at every moment of every day. Instead, self-awareness becomes woven into the fabric of who you are and emerges at different points depending on the situation and your personality .
2. Self-management
Overall self-management is the ability to have self-control and to realign your wants/needs when necessary. stated, " Self-management skills allow you to maximize your productivity, improve your workplace performance, and efficiently achieve professional goals. Improving your self-management skills can help you increase your employability and better manage your career path.
3. Social awareness
MindValley describes social awareness as , "having an in-depth understanding of societal and communal set-ups, environments, problems, struggles, norms, and cultures." Essentially knowing your surroundings and the overall 'vibe' of the environment. Most importantly the ability to show empathy for others
4. Relationship management
Maintaining positive and healthy relationships is a huge part of one's overall well being. A support system is crucial for desperate times and without strong relationships, the support system disappears. A way Marcia shows support and maintains positive relationships with her students is by greeting each student individually. Pre-COVID, she realized that a lot of middle and high school students don't know how to shake your hand firmly, maintain eye contact, and greet them. Students are learning and they don't even realize it!

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What is Social-Emotional Learning? - Dyknow

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1. Self-awareness The main reason for self-awareness is to increase one's self-confidence. When students understand that they have flaws and that's okay they are able to build stronger relationships with people who understand and love their flaws.

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50 Resources to Support the Mental Health of Teachers and School Staff

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K-12 teachers are busy supporting others and may overlook their own well being. We collected mental health resources for teachers and school staff.

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From the shallow end of the pool, Olivia watches the flippers, the graceful divers, and her favorite-the cannonballers! Wave after wave, she wishes she could make a splash.

But she's afraid! In the deep end of the pool, she can't reach the bottom. Plus the dabblers are there, sitting on the side of the pool and laughing at her!

With a little encouragement from her dad and a whole lot of gumption, Olivia heads to the diving board. But will she be brave enough to take the leap?

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From the shallow end of the pool, Olivia watches the flippers, the graceful divers, and her favorite-the cannonballers! Wave after wave, she wishes she could make a splash. But she's afraid! In the deep end of the pool, she can't reach the bottom.

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This generation of K-12 students, Gen Z , are the first generation to be raised in a digital world. Technology is being emerged into all aspects of K-12 education and the level of technology used, learned, and relied on throughout education will increase drastically over the next few years. We recently had a conversation with Education Coach, Adjunct Professor, and Author, Jorge Valenzuela, to learn about his book Rev up Robotics: World Computational Thinking in the K-8 Classroom and the importance of robotics in education.

Rev Up Robotics with Jorge Valenzuela

Jorge Valenzuela believes that STEM, computer science, and robotics are all things that most educators want to integrate into their classroom, but not necessarily something that they want to dedicate an entire year's worth of curriculum to. These disciplines can be time-consuming and as a teacher, some might not have that time on their hands. Rev Up Robotics , published through ISTE , is meant for teachers who are experimenting in robotics and STEM to take key knowledge and skills and integrate these learned concepts into their curriculum throughout the year. Jorge explains that the book is in the context of robotics, but the fundamental ideas and themes that align with robotics, STEM, and computer science topics will be part of the knowledge already known by the teacher.

Each chapter of Rev Up Robotics is dedicated to content areas such as ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Within these chapters, Jorge identifies the best skills aligned with each concept taught as well as easy lessons for teachers to use in their classrooms, all based on common core and standard. Jorge believes that anyone who reads this book will get the proper background for computer science, STEM, and computational thinking.

Get your copy of Rev Up Robotics on Amazon now!

Image from Jorge Valenzuela's twitter account ( @JorgeDoesPBL ).

Importance of Computer Science in Education

Technology has hit the education world by storm following the effects of COVID-19 and schools everywhere are looking for new ways to improve and integrate technology into their classrooms. EdTech Magazine stated," student engagement is changing, driven by digital natives looking to combine organic social interaction with science, technology, engineering, and math discovery." Many teachers like Jorge have gone to social media to express their love and need for STEM, computer science, and robotics courses and curriculum. For many schools across the USA, schools offer computer science classes in elective or after school forms. These programs are still effective in themselves but not every student gets the opportunity to benefit from these programs.

KQED stated, " Studies have repeatedly shown that early exposure to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects is important in convincing students to think about STEM careers." The future of not only education but everyday life and professional lives will be filled with technology. The knowledge and advantages kids can get from computer science classes and transcend the future capabilities of this generation of students.

On this episode of Tackling Tech Podcast, powered by Dyknow, Brett McGrath speaks with Jorge Valenzuela, educational coach, curriculum specialist, and author of Rev Up Robotics. Jorge teaches workshops on Project-Based Learning, Computer Science, and STEM. He is hosting the Friday session of the Progressive Learning Conference, Sept-21-25.

K-12 Administrators across the world trust G2 as the #1 platform to find, research, and choose EdTech tools that solve the most pressing problems their teachers are experiencing. In G2's Fall 2021 Reports, Dyknow was once again rated #1 in overall Satisfaction out of...

On this episode of Tackling Tech, Tierra Leustig interviews Scott Bayer about being an anti-racist teacher, diversifying reading lists, creating inclusive learning environments, and leveraging ed-tech in non-technical ELA classrooms. Scott Bayer is a High School...

K-12 educators are heading into one of the most needed Summer breaks after nearly a year of remote learning. This past school year challenged educators to expand all horizons by implementing more technology, conducting instruction in new ways, and strengthening...

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Rev Up Robotics: A Conversation with Jorge Valenzuela - Dyknow

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This generation of K-12 students, Gen Z , are the first generation to be raised in a digital world. Technology is being emerged into all aspects of K-12 education and the level of technology used, learned, and relied on throughout education will increase drastically over the next few years.

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Calming Strategies

Little ones need lots of help from caring adults to grow and thrive. We offer calming strategies on comforting and providing nurturing touch, all of which are required for healthy brain development!

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Calming Strategies Little ones need lots of help from caring adults to grow and thrive. We offer calming strategies on comforting and providing nurturing touch, all of which are required for healthy brain development!

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Many children in the child welfare system have experienced complex trauma. Complex trauma occurs when children are exposed to multiple traumatic events over time that are severe, pervasive, and interpersonal in nature, such as repeated abuse and neglect, and cause long-term harmful consequences ( National Child Traumatic Stress Network [PDF - 87 KB]). Complex trauma may interfere with a child's ability to form secure attachments to caregivers and many other aspects of healthy physical and mental development. In this section, find resources to help support children in your care who have experienced complex trauma, including specific trainings.

Parenting Children and Youth Who Have Experienced Abuse or Neglect

Traumatic Experiences
Sesame Street in Communities
Provides activities and resources designed to help child welfare professionals and parents help children address and heal prior traumatic experiences. There are also resources specific to children in foster care.

Training

Trauma-Free World
Provides trauma-informed care training for people who interact with children frequently, from foster parents to school personnel. The trainings are provided in multiple languages and continuing education units are available. A cost is associated with purchasing or attending a training.

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Resources on Trauma for Caregivers and Families

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Find resources to help caregivers and families support children in their care who have experienced trauma, including information on traumatic grief and specific trainings.

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The bottom line on student learning today is this: "You can't teach if you're not addressing mental health," says Rene Myers, an intervention specialist in St. Paul, Minn.

Myers has been working in public education for more than 33 years. Over the decades, the mental health needs of her students have grown, and grown, and grown, she says. The pandemic, coupled with decades of inaction by school boards and state legislators, has only made things worse.

About 214,000 U.S. children have lost a parent to COVID-19. They're adrift, grieving. Many other parents and caregivers lost their jobs. Today, 17 million U.S. children struggle with hunger-about 6 million more than before the pandemic. On top of that, recent years have reinforced how much this nation still struggles with racism and antiLGBTQ+ hatred.

So when Myers sat down at the bargaining table this year, seeking to negotiate a new contract between the St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) and her school district, her number-one priority was students' mental health.

"To know what our students and staff have gone through in the past two years ... to say we don't need mental health supports? It's like saying you don't need air. It's unimaginable!" she said.

In February, St. Paul educators voted to strike. Then, in early March, just hours before hitting the streets, union negotiators reached an agreement to preserve the mental health teams that SPFE won during 2020 bargaining. Those teams include counselors, nurses, social workers, and school psychologists in every St. Paul school.

These professionals are essential to providing students with what they need, says Myers.

From Bad to Worse

In the past year, even as the nation has returned to "normal" life, the latest research shows that many students are still living in a state of mental health crisis. This data isn't at all surprising to educators and parents.

"Of course we see advanced need! On top of the pandemic, everything happening with the economy also is impacting our families," says Theresann Pyrett, a Michigan middle school teacher and president of the West Ottawa Education Association (WOEA). "It's like a perfect breeding ground for mental health issues to develop."

In an April poll, nearly three-quarters of U.S. parents said their child would benefit from mental health counseling-up from 68 percent in 2021. Additionally, about a third said their child has recently shown symptoms of mental health issues, including anxiety (19 percent) and depression (13 percent).

Among parents of students with disabilities-including learning, developmental, and physical challenges-almost a third said their child has anxiety, and rates of depression are higher as well.

"The biggest misconception is that COVID makes people mentally ill. From my point of view, COVID unmasked people who have underlying vulnerabilities," said John Walkup, chair of the behavioral health department at Chicago's Lurie Children's Hospital, in an interview with the New York Times.

Before the pandemic, between 2016 and 2019, the number of children diagnosed with anxiety rose by 27 percent, while depression diagnoses rose by 24 percent. But recently, it's worse than ever.

In the past year, 15 percent of teens suffered at least one major depressive episode- that's an additional 306,000 teens over the previous 12 months, according to the 2022 data from Mental Health America. On top of that, nearly two-thirds of teens with major depression say they haven't gotten any help.

Demanding Help for Students

In West Ottawa, the local union is making sure students get what they need. That includes using local property tax revenues to hire 10 additional mental wellness coaches throughout the district and using federal pandemic relief funds to hire 16 additional interventionists.

WOEA leaders work closely with district administrators, all asking the same question: What's best for students?

"One thing I keep repeating, over and again, is that more hands on deck makes for a lighter load," Pyrett says. "We're focused on picking up kids-and if you have more hands to pick those kids up, it's so beneficial for those kids."

The Biden administration's pandemic relief plans have made the largest-ever, single investment in public schools. Now educators are making sure that money is used for the counselors, social workers, school psychologists, behavioral coaches, etc., that students need to be successful.

Unions also are bargaining contracts that include those supports. In Minneapolis, educators went on strike this spring for more than two weeks, finally settling a deal that doubles the number of nurses and counselors in elementary schools and provides a social worker in every school.

"Don't Say Gay" - Or Trans, Either

Maybe the most alarming figure in recent mental health data is this: Nearly half of young LGBTQ+ people have considered ending their lives in the past 12 months, according to a survey of 34,000 young people by the Trevor Project.

Among those young people with suicidal ideas, more than half are transgender and nonbinary youth and nearly half are Black. (Nonbinary is a term for people who do not identify as male or female.)

The numbers are troubling, but not surprising to Palm Beach County, Florida high school teacher Michael Woods. "Especially here in Florida, with the ' Don't Say Gay ' law, which should also be called 'Don't Say Trans,' we have a lot of kids in stress," Woods says. "They're just coming back to the rigors of school [after the pandemic]-and now this!"

The Florida law enables parents to sue school districts if they think their child has had inappropriate instruction on gender and sexuality. The cost of litigation will be borne by districts, which are already beginning to remove curricula on these topics.

Anti-gay laws are also spreading far beyond Florida. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered teachers to report parents of transgender youth for child abuse if the parents seek gender-affirming care for their child. NEA and state educators unions have spoken out against these laws.

For his part, Woods-an educator of 29 years-isn't afraid. He wears his "We're All Human" T-shirt and answers his students' questions. But he worries about younger teachers with less job security, living in more conservative areas.

"I tell the kids, I'm always here for you. I'm always a safe space for you. I'm not giving up on you, and you shouldn't give up on yourself," he says. "When young people don't feel like they have anywhere to turn or anyone to talk to ... well, I know why the stats are the way they are."

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Mental Health in Schools: The Kids Are Not All Right | NEA

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As students' mental health needs rise, so do educators' demands for help.

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Addressing Stolen SNAP Benefits

FNS is working closely with our state and federal partners, SNAP retailers, EBT processors, and other industry experts to protect SNAP benefits and combat SNAP fraud.

USDA's Focus on Nutrition Security

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is working to ensure all communities have access to foods that support good health and well-being. Watch our video, which highlights how FNS nutrition assistance programs help all Americans thrive.

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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

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Addressing Stolen SNAP Benefits FNS is working closely with our state and federal partners, SNAP retailers, EBT processors, and other industry experts to protect SNAP benefits and combat SNAP fraud. USDA's Focus on Nutrition Security The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is working to ensure all communities have access to foods that support good health and well-being.

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Center for Child Trauma Assessment and Service Planning

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The video below contains content related to child trauma experiences, including abuse and neglect that may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

ReMoved is a short film following the emotional journey of a nine-year old girl who is taken from her abusive birth home and placed in the tumultuous foster care system.

Children may pick up on your own emotional reaction to the situation. It is important to remain calm when having conversations about trauma. While it is okay to show emotion (e.g. crying), it can be traumatic for a child to see a parent or adult display extreme emotions like sadness, screaming, throwing things, etc. in response to something your child shared with you. A child may feel guilty if he/she believes that they caused you pain. If you do not feel that you are in an emotionally stable place to have a conversation with your child about their trauma, or if your own possible trauma history may influence how you react, you may also want to consider seeking support for yourself.

Remember that children are not always able to process or understand information in the same way as adults. Some children may be able to talk more openly about their experience than others. You may ask your child questions, but try to respect his/her limits and allow your child take the lead during the conversation. Some children may speak about it and recover quickly while others will recover more slowly. Try not to push your child to "just get over it" or "tell every detail." Understand that while you as an adult may have the tools, skills, and knowledge to overcome trauma or traumatic events, children may not have these same skills. Remember, an event that may seem insignificant or easy to overcome to you could be much more traumatic for your child.

Alternatively, you may be struggling to cope with the traumatic event that happened to your child. If your child is seeing that you have strong reactions, he/she may become fearful or anxious around wanting to talk about it with you. If this is the case, it might be an opportunity for you to considering seeking out therapy.

Your child may blame him/herself for the traumatic experience. This is especially common in traumatic events including, but not limited to physical/sexual abuse or parental divorce. This may be more common with younger children because they have difficulty understanding other people's perspectives and understanding who takes responsibility for certain actions. Your child may have also been directly blamed by the person that harmed him/her. As the caregiver, you can assure your child that it is not his/her fault and you can work to diminish his/her sense of guilt and restore a positive sense of self.

Every child will react to a traumatic event differently because every experience is unique and every child is unique. This is okay. For this reason, it may be difficult for you to gauge or predict what event your child will experience as traumatic, when he or she experiences traumatic stress symptoms, or how he or she may be triggered. When talking to your child about their traumatic experience, assure them that their response is normal and accepted.

Allow your child to be the leader of the conversation about his/her trauma experience. Even though your child knows his/her experience better than you, it is common and appropriate for your child to ask questions about trauma, including how or why a traumatic event happens. Being open and honest with your child is important. Also remember, you don't have to be an expert in child trauma. If you can't answer a question or are uncertain about how to talk to your child on certain subjects, talk to your child's trauma- focused therapist or another professional.

As they say on airplanes, you must first secure your own oxygen mask before helping your child put on theirs. The same goes for coping with a traumatic event: before you can be there for your child, you must be there for yourself. Not only will this help you to remain calm and stable while helping your child cope and work to understand the traumatic event, it will also help you become a model of self-care for your child.

This is important to remember because although the traumatic event may have happened to your child, you have been impacted as well. Additionally, if you, as a caregiver, have had traumatic or difficult experiences in your past, your child's experience may trigger your own reactions. It is important to be aware of your own reactions, how they impact your child, and when it is time to seek help from a professional.
Finding Help
To find a therapist or other resources for child trauma in your area, check out the NCTSN's Get Help Now webpage. To learn more about how trauma may impact you as a caregiver and how you can respond to and manage your own experience, check out the links in the Additional Resources drop down menu.

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The video below contains content related to child trauma experiences, including abuse and neglect that may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. ReMoved is a short film following the emotional journey of a nine-year old girl who is taken from her abusive birth home and placed in the tumultuous foster care system.

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Provides parents with information about dissociation and PTSD. This fact sheet is a summary of important points from a NCTSN Core Data Set publication developed to help parents know what dissociation and PTSD are; what the important findings from the publication are; and what they can do to support their children.

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Data at a Glance: Dissociation and PTSD - What Parents Should Know

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Provides parents with information about dissociation and PTSD.

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Offers parents and caregivers information about the importance of treatment completion. This fact sheet is a summary of important points from a NCTSN Core Data Set publication developed to evaluate differences in therapeutic outcomes for youth who completed a full course of treatment compared to those who terminated treatment prematurely; what the important findings from the publication are; and what they can do to support their children..

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Data at a Glance: Completing Treatment vs. Ending Early is Better for Kids - What Caregivers Should Know

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Offers parents and caregivers information about the importance of treatment completion. This fact sheet is a summary of important points from a NCTSN Core Data Set publication developed to evaluate differences in therapeutic outcomes for youth who completed a full course of treatment compared to those who terminated treatment prematurely; what the important findings from the publication are; and what they can do to support their children..

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The North American Council on Adoptable Children

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Every child in foster care and adoption has experienced trauma-often abuse and neglect, but at a minimum, separation from their birth family. In recent years, we've learned that the trauma children experience can have serious, even lifelong, effects.

Ongoing trauma can affect children's ability to concentrate, control their emotions, respond to conflict, develop healthy relationships, and interpret social cues. Children who have experienced serious trauma can be extra vigilant and physically reactive, both of which take a physical and emotional toll.

Many children develop behaviors as a result of their trauma exposure that can make life more challenging for them and for their families. The good news is that there is hope. Informed parents who used trauma-informed parenting techniques can help their children heal and reduce the effects of trauma.

Read NACAC Articles About Childhood Trauma:

View NACAC Webinars About Trauma:

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Childhood Trauma - The North American Council on Adoptable Children

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Every child in foster care and adoption has experienced trauma-often abuse and neglect, but at a minimum, separation from their birth family. In recent years, we've learned that the trauma children experience can have serious, even lifelong, effects. Ongoing trauma can affect children's ability to concentrate, control their emotions, respond to conflict, develop healthy relationships, [...]

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Findings Show Number of Children Diagnosed with Anxiety or Depression Grew by Nearly 30%,
Underscoring Importance of Administration's Efforts to Strengthen Mental Health.
A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) study published in the American Medical Association's journal JAMA Pediatrics reports significant increases in the number of children diagnosed with mental health conditions. The study, conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), finds that between 2016 and 2020, the number of children ages 3-17 years diagnosed with anxiety grew by 29 percent and those with depression by 27 percent. The findings also suggest concerning changes in child and family well-being after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The pandemic has been particularly difficult on our children, who have been as scared and confused as the rest of us were," said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. "Today's study confirms what all too many of us know and feel in our daily lives: COVID-19 was an exceptional burden on the mental well-being of our nation's families, including kids. We will do everything we can to help provide our youngest ones with the resources they need to overcome the effects this pandemic and thrive in the years to come."

Following President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address on March 1, 2022, in which the President laid out a national strategy to tackle the nation's mental health crisis as part of his Unity Agenda, Secretary Becerra kicked off a National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health in an effort to hear directly from Americans across the country about the mental health challenges they're facing, and engage with local leaders to strengthen the mental health and crisis care systems in our communities.

As the Administration implements a whole-of-government strategy to transform mental health services for all Americans, the Secretary will ensure all children and families have easy, affordable, and equitable access to the care, support, and services they need. Just last week, HHS announced nearly $35 million in funding opportunities to strengthen and expand community mental health services and suicide prevention programs for America's children and young adults.

"As the President made clear in the State of the Union, children's mental health needs are a national priority," said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. "Today's findings reinforce the President's call for action to support children and their families' mental health and well-being. At the Health Resources and Services Administration, we are answering his call by focusing on expanding pediatric mental health services, training more mental health care providers, and making mental health a key part of primary care to ensure that children get the quality care they need and deserve."

The study, published today in JAMA Pediatrics, analyzes parent-reported data from the HRSA-directed National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) on 36 separate health-related measures over time, among them preventive health checkups, mental health diagnoses, physical activity, and caregiver well-being.

"Our research highlights a critical need to support both children and their caregivers to improve families' mental and emotional well-being," said Michael Warren, MD, Associate Administrator of HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau and co-author on the study. "This includes ensuring access to timely health care services and addressing social determinants of health to support children and families' overall well-being."

From 2019 to 2020, researchers found a 21 percent increase in children with behavior or conduct problems. The proportion of children with preventive medical care visits dropped by 9 percent and the proportion with unmet health care needs grew by 32 percent. Children's physical activity decreased by 18 percent between 2016 and 2020.

The number of parents who reported difficulty coping with parenting demands also increased significantly from 2019 to 2020. The proportion of young children whose parents quit, declined, or changed jobs due to child care challenges increased by 34 percent.

HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau funds and directs the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), which is a household survey conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau. The NSCH collects data from parents on the health and well-being of children ages 0-17 years in the United States and is the largest national and state-level annual survey of the health and health care needs of children, their families, and their communities.

HRSA is investing in critical strategies to support children's mental health and well-being through expanding access to mental health services and growing the mental health workforce. HRSA's work includes:

Expanding access to pediatric mental health care: HRSA funds the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Program to support primary care providers in diagnosing, treating, and referring children and youth with mental health conditions to services.

Training child psychiatrists: HRSA funds residency training of child psychiatrists in the nation's freestanding children's teaching hospitals and supports the education and training of child psychiatrists and other clinicians to support the mental health needs of children.

Developing guidelines on youth preventive care, including mental health care: Through the Bright Futures Program, HRSA releases national guidelines to support children receiving high quality, efficient, and comprehensive pediatric care. Bright Futures' recommended preventive services are covered without cost-sharing by most health plans. In 2022, Bright Futures updates include adding universal screening for suicide risk to the current depression screening category for individuals ages 12 to 21, and new guidance for behavioral, social and emotional screening.

Providing health care, including mental health care, to millions: Millions of people across the country receive health care services - and increasingly mental health care services - at HRSA-funded community health centers located in underserved communities across the country.

Providing in-home supports to parents and children: Through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, HRSA supports families during pregnancy and the early childhood years, by linking health services, social services, and child development resources to support family well-being.

Investing in training and growing the mental health workforce: HRSA funds training, scholarships and loan repayment programs, and other programs to recruit, train, and place mental health professionals in the community, including supporting children's mental health.

To learn more about the Biden-Harris Administration's mental health strategy, please see: FACT SHEET: President Biden to Announce Strategy to Address Our National Mental Health Crisis, As Part of Unity Agenda in his First State of the Union | The White House

More information on the National Tour to Strengthen Mental Health is available at HHS.gov/HHSTour.

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New HHS Study in JAMA Pediatrics Shows Significant Increases in Children Diagnosed with Mental Health Conditions from 2016 to 2020

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Findings Show Number of Children Diagnosed with Anxiety or Depression Grew by Nearly 30%, Underscoring Importance of Administration's Efforts to Strengthen Mental Health. A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) study published in the American Medical Association's journal JAMA Pediatrics reports significant increases in the number of children diagnosed with mental health conditions.

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A boy holds his little brother's hand after picking him up at the bus stop in Biddeford, Maine, April 2020. (Getty/Gregory Rec)

For more on this topic, see "The Basic Facts About Women in Poverty"

Introduction and summary

In America, nearly 11 million children are poor. That's 1 in 7 kids, who make up almost one-third of all people living in poverty in this country. This number should be unimaginable in one of the world's wealthiest countries, and yet child poverty has remained stubbornly high for decades Across the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is made up of 37 countries including Denmark, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom, the United States is consistently ranked as one of the worst in child poverty rates.

As the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting recession continue to devastate the United States, children are facing the consequences of failed leadership. Since April 2020, the share of children with at least one unemployed parent has consistently remained above reported rates during the peak of the Great Recession. More than 4 in 10 children live in a household struggling to meet basic expenses, and between 7 million and 11 million children live in households in which they are unable to eat enough because of the cost. When the pandemic forced schools to shift to distanced and virtual learning, it worsened the barriers to quality education for low-income children and pushed their parents, particularly mothers, to choose between caregiving and employment. Without serious interventions, an economic recovery will leave low-income and marginalized people-and their children-behind. Already, some calculations are finding that the child poverty rate has increased dramatically since the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

In America, nearly 11 million children are poor. That's 1 in 7 kids, who make up almost one-third of all people living in poverty in this country.

Child poverty is solvable. Some recommendations set forth in this report include:

Securing the right to basic needs for all families with reforms to food assistance, housing supports, and health care programs

Easing financial burdens through strengthened unemployment insurance, permanent paid family and medical leave, higher minimum wages, affordable child care and universal preschool, and better tax credits that cover all low-income families

Prioritizing structural reforms that address generational poverty and historic marginalization with policies that target the racial wealth gap and inequitable school systems

Basic statistics about children in poverty

Measuring poverty

America's child poverty problem is persistent and structural-and in many ways, the official statistics undercount the severity of need across the nation. The official poverty measure, as calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, has long been criticized as narrow and outdated, in large part because it determines the resources a family needs based on a bare-bones food budget from the 1960s. It does not take into account major expenses such as housing or child care, nor does it account for geographical differences in costs of living.

Because of this recognized failure in capturing the experiences of people facing economic deprivation, another measure, known as the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), was introduced in 2011. That measure counts resources such as nutrition benefits and housing subsidies, along with costs such as taxes and out-of-pocket medical expenses; it also determines a poverty threshold using a more diverse set of necessary expenses-not just food. The SPM isn't perfect either, but it does help show the impact that government programs can have on reducing poverty.

In 2019, 14.4 percent of all children under the age of 18 in the United States were living below the official poverty measure. About 6 percent were living in deep poverty, defined as 50 percent of the federal poverty measure, and almost one-quarter were living in poverty or at risk, defined as 150 percent of the official measure. When using the SPM, which counts noncash benefits from government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and measures poverty more comprehensively, the child poverty rate in America is 12.5 percent.

Children of color across most racial categories are more likely to experience poverty than their white counterparts. (see Figure 2) Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) children have the highest rates of poverty. And while the broader category of Asian American and Pacific Islander children have lower rates of poverty, disaggregated data from past years show that serious disparities based on ethnicity persist with significantly higher rates for Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Burmese, and Hmong children, for example.

Black, Hispanic, and AIAN children are also disproportionately represented among children living in poverty. For example, while around 14 percent of children in the United States are Black, they make up more than one-quarter of children living below the poverty line.

The poverty rate for children also differs by age, with the youngest children most likely to live under the official poverty line. (see Figure 4) Children under the age of 5 have a poverty rate of 15.5 percent, compared with 14.9 percent for children between ages 6 and 11 and 12.9 percent for those between ages 12 and 17. Those differences are due, in part, to the higher expenses associated with younger children, such as child care, and because parents tend to be earning less earlier in their careers, when their children are younger.

Child poverty rates differ greatly depending on their family structure. (see Figure 5) At a rate of 36.4 percent, more than one-third of children living in households headed by an unmarried woman live in poverty, while 6.4 percent of children in married couple households do.

The analysis: Why are so many children poor in the United States?

The causes of child poverty cannot be separated from those of adult poverty. Expenses associated with raising children are one of the many reasons that families fall into poverty, along with job losses and pay cuts, a transition from a two-parent household to a single one, and a family member developing a disability.

Factors that make it difficult for people to meet their basic needs mean their children also grow up with economic instability and deprivation. The United States does not have a comprehensive social safety net to fully shield kids from the emotional, physical, neurological, and generational impacts of such instability.

The following are just some of the reasons why the United States' poverty rate is so high.

America's economic systems are not designed to support all families

Because America's current policies do not guarantee a reasonable standard of living, a child's economic security is deeply intertwined with their caregivers' experience in the labor market. Changes in caregivers' work have largely driven changes to the child poverty rate over the past several decades.

Persistent economic inequality

Stagnant wages

If wages had increased at the same rate as broader economic productivity, more than 4 million fewer children would be in poverty in a full-employment economy.

Labor market discrimination and other economic forces

Since the early 1990s, family structure has played a much lesser role in child poverty rates than some experts claim. And in those decades, the profile of unmarried parents has shifted; parents are now more likely to be fathers raising children alone or cohabiting with a partner than in previous years, and the share of single mothers raising children without a spouse or partner now hovers at around 50 percent, compared with 88 percent in 1968.

Racist and sexist narratives such as the notable myth of the "welfare queen"-a term popularized by President Ronald Reagan to invoke white Americans' racial resentment and tie welfare to an image of undeserving Black women receiving government assistance-permeate rhetoric and perpetuate the lie that poverty is a result of personal and cultural, rather than structural, failings. However, high rates of child poverty in what the census defines as "single, female-headed households" and disproportionate rates of poverty for children of color can be attributed, in large part, to the many manifestations of racism, sexism, ableism, and other discrimination in the labor market.

Occupational segregation and the resulting wage gaps

This occupational segregation, along with other factors of discrimination, also contributes to racial and gender wage gaps. For example, Black men, on average, earned 70 cents for each dollar earned by white, non-Hispanic men in 2019; Black women earned 63 cents. Those cents compound over a lifetime, depressing savings and limiting day-to-day expenses to the detriment of those workers' children.

Lack of work-family policies to support caregivers

For caregivers, and especially solo mothers, a lack of paid leave and child care support can force people to cut back on the hours they work, leave the workforce entirely, or sacrifice necessary time with their families in order to pay the bills.

Those disparities are exacerbated by a lack of affordable child care, which is one of the biggest expenses for families today. Without better options, parents must consider working fewer hours, taking a pay cut, or leaving their jobs to ensure their children are cared for. For families in poverty, whose jobs already tend be unstable, inflexible, and inadequately compensated, the decisions surrounding child care can have dire consequences for their family budgets and potential future employment.

Unemployment

Low wages are not the sole factor perpetuating child poverty and making it difficult for families to make ends meet; other labor market factors such as unemployment play an important role as well. Losing a job is one of the leading triggers for falling into poverty. The United States' inadequate safety net for jobless people leaves millions of children vulnerable to the prolonged negative impacts of poverty. And, once again, discrimination and systemic racism built into the labor market means that Black people face persistently higher rates of unemployment than whites, contributing to racial disparities in the poverty rates among their children.

Barriers to employment

Racial and gender wealth gaps

Reaching basic living standards is tied to work

Children do not work and cannot earn their way out of poverty, but they face long-term harm because the right to having their basic needs met is not guaranteed. No child, regardless of their caregivers' experience with the labor market, should experience poverty. Yet the social safety net, in its inadequate and fragmented current form, includes burdensome work requirements, excludes those with no or very little income, and leaves jobless people and their families with few stable options.

Other structural inequities compound harm for children experiencing poverty

Such circumstances exist because economic inequality is inextricably linked to other structural inequities in incarceration, education, housing, health, and more. And those inequities are inextricably linked to America's long history of racism and discrimination, compounding barriers particularly for children of color across the country and severely limiting economic mobility.

These examples of the many structural inequities in U.S. policy underscore the need to understand child poverty as a result of lawmakers' decisions even beyond the narrow definition of the economy.

Recommendations: How to end child poverty in America

While America's disastrous child poverty rate is the result of a complicated structure of economic and social systems, the solutions to the problem are actually quite simple. Policymakers need to make sure every child has access to the basics-food, housing, and health care-and ease the financial burdens that families face when raising children. The millions of children living in poverty right now do not have the luxury of waiting for changes that can take decades to fully realize. Thus the push for more immediate assistance must be paired with a forward-thinking strategy to fix policies that promote inequality, limit economic mobility, and perpetuate marginalization.

These solutions must be available to all children and families; policy barriers based on one's involvement with the criminal justice system, immigration status, ability, and other factors only ensure that attempts to end child poverty will fail.

The following recommendations are just some of the policy solutions that can contribute to ending child poverty in the United States.

Secure the right to basic needs for all families

Strengthen food assistance programs

Programs such as SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are fundamental in ensuring that families can afford to eat. Both programs have been tied to positive outcomes for mothers and infants, and children with access to the programs can experience significant health gains and improved long-term health, educational, and economic outcomes.

Despite the clear advantage of funding and supporting nutrition assistance programs, they have been the target of regulatory attacks and budget cuts. SNAP's current design means that it is efficient-lifting 2.5 million people out of poverty in 2019-and targeted in times of crisis, but its restrictive eligibility requirements and inadequate benefit amounts limit the program's reach. The WIC program provides nutrition assistance and support programs for more than 4.5 million infants and children, but analysis shows that less than half of all eligible children actually participate, in part due to barriers such as transportation and misconceptions about eligibility, as well as stigma around receiving benefits.

To strengthen the program to better meet the needs of all children, Congress must increase SNAP benefits to more reasonably match a household's food budget (and recognize the differing food needs depending on a child's age), eliminate restrictive asset limits, consider expansions to the goods that SNAP benefits can buy, and address barriers to participation. Lawmakers must also ensure that the WIC program is fully funded and that all of its benefits, including those beyond food assistance such as breastfeeding counseling, are available to all eligible families.

Ensure universal free meals at school

Instead of a means-tested program that can add burdens for both families and school administrators, with complicated paperwork for applications and reimbursements, lawmakers should enact a universal free lunch program at public schools and child care centers.

Fully fund the Section 8 housing voucher program to reach all eligible families

Three-quarters of very low-income families pay more than half of their incomes on rent.

Due to the program's funding structure, it only receives as much funding as Congress allocates to it each year, even if there are more eligible families than there is money. As a result, millions of low-income families are often left with limited options and impossibly long waits for a voucher to become available. Fully investing in the program so that all eligible families receive a voucher-paired with better enforcement and mechanisms against discrimination-would help millions of children live with a roof over their heads.

Ensure affordable health care for all children

The federal government must ensure that all children, no matter their household incomes, have access to comprehensive and affordable health care. Doing so would not only create better health outcomes and future opportunities for those children but would also remove a financial burden for parents.

Future changes to the health care system must ensure stable, affordable coverage for low-income children and provide early and consistent screening, diagnostic, and treatment services so that children have access to the comprehensive and preventive health services that they need.

Ease financial burdens and provide money to help families

Expand and strengthen unemployment insurance

Ensure access to permanent national paid family and medical leave and paid sick leave

Policies that support workers' health and caregiving responsibilities also protect children from economic insecurity and instability. The United States is the only industrialized country without a national paid leave program, leaving many low-wage and part-time workers-who are disproportionately women-without a viable option for paid time off in times of need.

Raise the minimum wage and eliminate subminimum wages for tipped and disabled workers

America's minimum wage has not changed in 10 years-and for longer than that time, it has not kept up with inflation, productivity, or the rising costs families face. Gradually raising the federal minimum wage to $15, as proposed in the Raise the Wage Act, would help almost 10 million parents, including 4.6 million single working parents who need a living wage to ensure financial stability for their kids. The legislation would also phase out the subminimum wage for tipped workers and workers with disabilities. According to a Congressional Budget Office analysis, more than 500,000 children would be lifted over the federal poverty line by increasing the minimum wage alone. And already, evidence from state-level minimum wage increases show that the policy can create record-breaking reductions in the child poverty rate.

Ensure affordable child care and universal preschool for all children

Investing in affordable, high-quality child care and universal preschool is a smart decision-not just for the economy and families as a whole but also as a strategy to reduce child poverty in the coming years.

Expand and strengthen child tax credits

Study after study has shown that cash transfer programs can make a big difference in alleviating poverty. These programs allow people to spend the money where it makes the most sense for their families rather than dictating how or when they can use it. The American tax code already includes a program, known as the child tax credit, to disperse payments to low-income families with children. Although it is meant to help offset the cost of raising children, the phase-in structure of the credit means it intentionally excludes the lowest-income families who stand to benefit the most.

To strengthen the child tax credit, lawmakers must pass legislation to increase the benefit and make it fully refundable, disbursed monthly rather than as a one-time lump sum, and indexed to inflation. Most importantly, they must eliminate the minimum earnings requirement to ensure that the most vulnerable children are able to receive the benefit. This would allow the credit to function much like a child allowance that offers cash benefits to families to help them raise children, a policy used in countries that have more successfully reduced child poverty such as Australia, Germany, and Canada. Changes to America's credit are essential for helping families achieve financial security and stability-and research shows that these changes alone would reduce child poverty substantially.

A supplemental young child tax credit targeting additional funds to families with kids under the age of 6-and created with the same conditions as the expanded child tax credit above-would provide support during some of a child's most formative years.

Make structural changes to address generational poverty and marginalization

Conclusion

Child poverty in America is persistent, structural, and solvable, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only made it clearer that the existing structures to address child poverty and protect children from hardship are inadequate. Policies that tie basic living standards to a narrow definition of work and exclude families with the lowest incomes only serve to exacerbate the negative impacts of living in poverty-but it doesn't have to be that way.

To ensure that all children are able to thrive, policymakers must focus on supporting children and their families by tackling inequality and discrimination in the labor market, strengthening the social safety net, and addressing structural marginalization across policy areas. The recommendations outlined in this report all tackle those goals; with political will and moral clarity, an America where no child is poor can become a reality.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Taryn Williams, Alexandra Cawthorne-Gaines, Rasheed Malik, Diana Boesch, Robin Bleweis, Khalilah Harris, Thomas Waldrop, Lily Roberts, Lorena Roque, Jaboa Lake, David Ballard, and Kenny Lo for their thoughtful contributions and Kyle Ross and Justin Schweitzer for fact-checking.

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The Basic Facts About Children in Poverty

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Nearly 11 million children are living in poverty in America. Here is how the crisis reached this point-and what steps must be taken to solve it.

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The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity

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This book authored by Nadine Burke Harris, MD, MPH, FAAP, the founder of the Center for Youth Wellness and first Surgeon General for the State of California, explores childhood adversity from the perspective of a pediatrician and offers both scientific insight and a compelling personal narrative.

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Enthusiasm for trauma-informed practice has increased dramatically. Organizational interventions that train staff about trauma-informed practice are frequently used to promote trauma-informed systems change, but evidence about these interventions' effects has not been integrated. This article analyzes studies that have evaluated the effects of organizational interventions that include trauma-informed care training for staff.

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Systematic Review of Evaluations of Trauma-Informed Organizational Interventions Include Staff Trainings

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Enthusiasm for trauma-informed practice has increased dramatically. Organizational interventions that train staff about trauma-informed practice are frequently used to promote trauma-informed systems change, but evidence about these interventions' effects has not been integrated. This article analyzes studies that have evaluated the effects of organizational interventions that include trauma-informed care training for staff.

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Youth exposure to trauma is a significant public health problem in the United States, particularly in urban areas. Although trauma-informed care (TIC) training of service providers to address this challenge is increasing nationwide, empirical evidence regarding the feasibility and acceptability of cross-organizational TIC training, including perspectives of training participants, is lacking. This article examined changes in provider knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to trauma and trauma-informed care following a trauma-informed care training.

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A Mixed Methods Assessment of the Usefulness of Baltimore City Health Department's Trauma-Informed Care Training Intervention

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Youth exposure to trauma is a significant public health problem in the United States, particularly in urban areas. Although trauma-informed care (TIC) training of service providers to address this challenge is increasing nationwide, empirical evidence regarding the feasibility and acceptability of cross-organizational TIC training, including perspectives of training participants, is lacking.

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Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

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The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is an annual, state-based, random-digit-dial telephone survey that collects data from non-institutionalized U.S. adults regarding health conditions and risk factors. It serves as a primary source of data on the prevalence of ACEs among adults, and since 2009, 32 states plus the District of Columbia have collected ACEs survey data.

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Incorporating Racial Equity into Trauma-Informed Care

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In recent years, trauma-informed care has become a valuable tool to assist health care providers in delivering more person-centered care. Trauma-informed care seeks to both acknowledge the role trauma plays in people's lives and the impact it has on their health and well-being, and to engage in practices that prevent retraumatizing individuals.

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In recent years, states have been working to help providers and communities address adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) - traumatic events such as abuse, violence, and neglect that occur before age 18. California is among this group of innovators, with the Department of Health Care Services' Office of the Surgeon General launching ACEs Aware, a statewide initiative that assists providers participating in the state's Medi-Cal (Medicaid) program through training, clinical protocols, and payment for ACEs screenings.

This report shares perspectives from Medi-Cal providers on how to effectively integrate ACE screening into clinical practice for children and adults in a trauma-informed manner. While insights were gleaned from California-based providers, they can help inform health care organizations and providers working across the country to adopt ACE screening. The report is made possible through the California ACEs Aware initiative.

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Integrating Adverse Childhood Experiences Screening into Clinical Practice: Insights from California Providers

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In recent years, states have been working to help providers and communities address adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) - traumatic events such as abuse, violence, and neglect that occur before age 18.

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Across the nation, racism has been declared a public health crisis. In the latest issue of Health Affairs, a pediatrician calls on his field to confront the disease of racism in pediatric care, which has for too long harmed children and families of color.
"Pediatrics is at the ethical heart of health care. Amazing staff in clinics across the nation make meaningful differences in the lives of children. When families are at their most vulnerable points, it is time to build on their strengths, identify their needs, and support them in every way we can. Now it is time for us to lead the hard and worthy work of addressing the disease of racism."
In this essay, Ben Danielson, MD, clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, recounts the painful story of a Black pediatric patient and his mother as they navigate a hospital stay. Tragically, the hospitalization ends with the child being temporarily placed in a medical foster home due to bias and racism that hospital staff did not see playing out before them.

Dr. Danielson serves as an advisor for Accelerating Child Health Transformation, a national initiative led by the Center for Health Care Strategies with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This national initiative seeks to accelerate the adoption of key strategies to advance family-centered pediatric practice.

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Across the nation, racism has been declared a public health crisis. In the latest issue of Health Affairs, a pediatrician calls on his field to confront the disease of racism in pediatric care, which has for too long harmed children and families of color. "Pediatrics is at the ethical heart of health care.

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A trauma-informed approach to care acknowledges that health care organizations and care teams need a complete picture of a patient's life situation - past and present - to provide effective services with a healing orientation. Adopting trauma-informed practices can potentially improve patient engagement, treatment adherence, and health outcomes, as well as provider and staff wellness.

This webinar, cosponsored by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) and the Better Care Playbook, highlighted how Denver Health, a large health system in Colorado, is implementing a trauma- and resilience-informed approach into organizational policy and practice, while also focusing on addressing systemic racism and biases. Panelists discussed their efforts, including building staff capacity, promoting organizational culture change, and gaining leadership buy in for a system-wide trauma-informed approach to care. Denver Health is a participant in Advancing Integrated Models, a national learning collaborative led by CHCS and made possible through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Agenda

I. Welcome and Introductions

Speaker: Zackiya Grant-Knight, Program Officer, CHCS

Z. Grant-Knight welcomed attendees and provided an overview of the webinar. She then introduced the Better Care Playbook and resources on trauma-informed care.

II. Overview of Denver Health and its Trauma- and Resilience-Informed Initiative

Speaker: Maria Gonsalves Schimpf, Director, Denver Health RESTORE (Resilience and Equity through Support and Training for Organizational Renewal)

M. Gonsalves Schimpf provided an overview of Denver Health and key features of the Trauma- and Resilience-Informed Systems initiative at the health system.

III. Panel: Early Lessons on the Design and Implementation of Trauma-Informed Systems Change

Speakers: Maria Gonsalves Schimpf, Director, Denver Health RESTORE; Kris Gaw, Chief Operating Officer, Denver Health; Ken Epstein, Consultant, P.R.E.P. for Change Consulting

Moderator: Meryl Schulman, Senior Program Officer, CHCS

The panel explored: (1) The impetus for adopting a trauma-informed approach at Denver Health; (2) How and why leadership were engaged in the process; (3) How Denver Health and other health systems can apply trauma-informed principles in their daily work and shift culture to align with those principles; (4) How to coordinate efforts across large institutions; and (5) What's next for Denver Health's work in advancing a system-wide trauma-informed approach to care.

IV. Wrap Up

M. Schulman concluded the webinar and provided next steps.

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Advancing Trauma- and Resilience-Informed Health Care Systems: Early Lessons from Denver Health

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A trauma-informed approach to care acknowledges that health care organizations and care teams need a complete picture of a patient's life situation - past and present - to provide effective services with a healing orientation. Adopting trauma-informed practices can potentially improve patient engagement, treatment adherence, and health outcomes, as well as provider and staff wellness.

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As organizations adopt trauma-informed approaches to care, many are integrating trauma screening into care models to assess patient exposure to adverse childhood experiences and trauma.

Following are resources to help guide trauma screening efforts, as well as for building a trauma-informed referral network.

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As organizations adopt trauma-informed approaches to care, many are integrating trauma screening into care models to assess patient exposure to adverse childhood experiences and trauma. Following are resources to help guide trauma screening efforts, as well as for building a trauma-informed referral network.

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Trauma training is critical for not only clinical, but also non-clinical employees - such as front-desk workers and security personnel - who play an important role in setting the tone of an environment.

Following are resources to help health care organizations seeking to offer introductory and advanced trauma training, hire a trauma-informed workforce, and prevent secondary traumatic stress in staff.

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Trauma training is critical for not only clinical, but also non-clinical employees - such as front-desk workers and security personnel - who play an important role in setting the tone of an environment. Following are resources to help health care organizations seeking to offer introductory and advanced trauma training, hire a trauma-informed workforce, and prevent secondary traumatic stress in staff.

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Becoming a trauma-informed organization requires clear communication about the transformation process, and support from staff at all levels of an organization.

Following are resources for becoming a trauma-informed care champion at your organization.

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Lead and Communicate about Becoming Trauma-Informed

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Becoming a trauma-informed organization requires clear communication about the transformation process, and support from staff at all levels of an organization. Following are resources for becoming a trauma-informed care champion at your organization.

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Understanding the world from the patient perspective is key to being a successful trauma-informed organization.

Following are resources to support organizations adopting a trauma-informed approach, including opportunities to solicit patient feedback on organizational changes and engage patients in treatment planning and decision-making.

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Understanding the world from the patient perspective is key to being a successful trauma-informed organization. Following are resources to support organizations adopting a trauma-informed approach, including opportunities to solicit patient feedback on organizational changes and engage patients in treatment planning and decision-making.

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Feeling unsafe may cause extreme anxiety in a person who has experienced trauma, potentially leading to re-traumatization and challenges engaging patients in their care.

Following are resources to support creating a safe physical, social, and emotional environment for patients.

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Create a Safe Physical and Emotional Environment

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Feeling unsafe may cause extreme anxiety in a person who has experienced trauma, potentially leading to re-traumatization and challenges engaging patients in their care. Following are resources to support creating a safe physical, social, and emotional environment for patients.

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Trauma-informed care does not have to be a burden to adopt. Although a comprehensive trauma-informed approach involves changes at both the organizational and clinical levels, organizations can take action gradually. Explore this section for foundational steps that organizations can take toward fully adopting a trauma-informed approach to care as well as comprehensive treatment approaches.

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Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) is a union of teachers and educational support professionals that is a national leader...

Full-time, SPFE Member on Release Community Coalition Organizer Posted: July 22, 2022; Reposted: October 17, 2022 The Saint Paul Federation...

Our AFSCME colleagues could use our support in settling their contract. Read their letter to SPFE members below. Dear SPFE...

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SPFE28 - Saint Paul Federation of Educators: Organizing for Excellence

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Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) is a union of teachers and educational support professionals that is a national leader... Full-time, SPFE Member on Release Community Coalition Organizer Posted: July 22, 2022; Reposted: October 17, 2022 The Saint Paul Federation... Our AFSCME colleagues could use our support in settling their contract.

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This story includes the topic of suicide. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (en español: 1-888-628-9454; deaf and hard of hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the This interview has been edited and condensed. To hear the broadcast version of this story, use the audio player at the top of this page. On the big-picture results from the survey: Crisis Text Line On the groups who are most vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes: by texting HOME to 741741.
It's hard to overstate the disruptive impact the pandemic has had on people.
On how feeling connected at school plays a critical role:
Its effect on mental health is a big one, and for teenagers, that hit particularly hard.
On how to foster that connectedness:
Kathleen Ethier knows this well. She leads the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which this month published a survey that points to some very grim findings. From January to June 2021, CDC researchers collected data on the behaviors and experiences of 7,705 public and private high school students across the U.S.

Almost half of teens reported consistently feeling sad or hopeless - almost every day for two weeks or more in a row, to the point that they stopped doing their usual activities - in the 12 months before taking the survey.

One particular finding was sobering: 47% of lesbian, gay and bisexual teens said they had "seriously considered committing suicide."
On current efforts by some state legislatures to curtail expressions of gender and identity in schools:
Ethier, who has worked at the CDC for more than 20 years, tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoethat the numbers show how the pandemic accelerated an already worrying decline in teen mental health.

But, even as the numbers warn of a crisis, the survey also provided hope for possible improvement. It found that teens who feel connected to others at school report better levels of mental health.

Ethier spoke to NPR about mental health among teens and some of the survey's findings.

We've known for a while that mental health among young people was going in the wrong direction. Prior to the pandemic, we were seeing increases in persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. What we really saw in the survey was the extent to which the pandemic has been incredibly disruptive for young people and their families. And then, although all students were impacted by the pandemic, not all students were impacted equally. I think that this directs us [to which] groups are most vulnerable. But also, toward some hope for things that we can do to try to address this crisis.

Asian students, Black students and multiracial students were most likely to say that they had experienced racism in school at some point in their life. They were more likely to have poor mental health outcomes than their peers who had not experienced racism. We also found that young people who experienced racism were less likely to say that they felt connected to others at school.

[For] LGBTQ youth, we had been seeing that difference for many years, and I think [the decline in mental health over the years] comes down to the experience of stigma and trauma and bullying.

The finding that I think we have to dig further into is something we've been seeing for many years:It's that our adolescent females are experiencing poor mental health. I think we know that they may experience more negative feedback through social media so they may be more impacted by it. We know that they experience sexual violence. There's a number of factors that are contributing to that, but I don't think we understand it quite as thoroughly as we should.

The research shows that young people who feel connected to others at their school, who have others at their school who care about them, who are interested in their well-being, who are interested in their success. Young people who feel that way - anywhere in 7th to 12th grades - 20 years later have better outcomes in terms of their mental health, in terms of substance use, in terms of experience and perpetration of violence, and in terms of sexual health. It has a really broad-ranging impact.

There are really specific things that schools can do to increase connectedness. Some of them are intuitive, like getting rid of bullying and making sure that make sure that young people feel safe and feel supported. But then there are some things that you might not think about, like classroom management. I think a well-managed classroom does not mean it's an overly controlled classroom. Teaching teachers how to find that line where students feel valued, they feel heard and they feel like they are participating while also having structure and making sure bad behavior is not tolerated, I think that's the line to be walked here.

[Another] set of things that really help with school connectedness are activities, policies and practices that support LGBTQ youth. That includes things like having clubs that support them, having anti-harassment policies, identifying safe spaces. We see improvements in mental health and decreases in suicidal thoughts and behaviors [with these interventions] not only in the students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning, but also in their heterosexual peers.

So, something about protecting the most vulnerable youth means that the school is better for everyone.

Although I'm not able to comment on any particular state law or policy, I will say that when you make schools more toxic for any student, you make schools more toxic for all students. Any time we are not making efforts to improve the safety and supportiveness of school environments for very vulnerable youth, we are putting all of our students at risk.

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The kids are not all right. The CDC finds mental health among teens has declined

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This story includes the topic of suicide. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (en español: 1-888-628-9454 ; deaf and hard of hearing: 1-800-799-4889 ) or the This interview has been edited and condensed.

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States with rankings 1-13 have lower prevalence of mental illness and higher rates of access to care for youth. States with rankings 39-51 indicate that youth have higher prevalence of mental illness and lower rates of access to care.

The 7 measures that make up the Youth Ranking include:

1. Youth with At Least One Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in the Past Year

2. Youth with Substance Use Disorder in the Past Year

3. Youth with Severe MDE

4. Youth with MDE who Did Not Receive Mental Health Services

5. Youth with Severe MDE who Received Some Consistent Treatment

6. Children with Private Insurance that Did Not Cover Mental or Emotional Problems

7. Students Identified with Emotional Disturbance for an Individualized Education Program.

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States with rankings 1-13 have lower prevalence of mental illness and higher rates of access to care for youth. States with rankings 39-51 indicate that youth have higher prevalence of mental illness and lower rates of access to care.

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2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health

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The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health is the organization’s fourth annual national survey, amplifying the experiences of nearly 34,000 LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 24 across…

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November 11 - Veteran's Day

Originally called Armistice Day, today commemorates the signing of the agreement that ended World War I at 11:00 A.M., on November 11, 1918. This federal holiday was changed to be called Veterans Day in 1954. Each year, special ceremonies are held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Consider spending some time online learning more about our nation's veterans.

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Originally called Armistice Day, today commemorates the signing of the agreement that ended World War I at 11:00 A.M., on November 11, 1918. This federal holiday was changed to be called Veterans Day in 1954. Each year, special ceremonies are held at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.