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This article is an article from pbs.org that touches on mental health in schools. The article talks about mental health becoming a growing concern in students, especially due to the pandemic. It mentions that school staff and psychology researchers are trying to keep up with the growing rate of mental health issues among students. This is important for students to see that mental health is all around them in their day to day lives at school. This will allow them to be aware that they are not alone or that someone they know at school may be struggling. It is important for teachers to let their students know that they can talk to teachers or counselors in the building if they need help with something mental health related. It is also important that teachers are aware that some of their students may be struggling with mental health.

Potter, S. (2024, January 16). Student-led network helps address shortage of mental health professionals in schools. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/student-led-network-helps-address-shortage-of-mental-health-professionals-in-schools

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Mental health among the nation's student population has been a growing concern, especially due to the pandemic. From PBS Wisconsin, Steven Potter reports on how peer support, school staff and psychology researchers are trying to keep up with the growing rate of mental health issues among students. It's part of our series, Early Warnings: America's Youth Mental Health Crisis.

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Student-led network helps address shortage of mental health professionals in schools

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Mental health among the nation's student population has been a growing concern, especially due to the pandemic. From PBS Wisconsin, Steven Potter reports on how peer support, school staff and psychology researchers are trying to keep up with the growing rate of mental health issues among students.

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This news article from Good Morning America talks about an exercise and brain function study. This study shows that if you are more physically active, your brain function will increase. This article pertains to teaching physical activity to elementary students because it shows that students being physical outside at recess or in gym class is beneficial due to its ability to increase brain function. This will allow students to gain more knowledge in the classroom. Teachers can help students learn about this by incorporating more physical activity in the classroom. This is also important for teachers to know, so they can help their students get a better learning experience by allowing their students to get more time with physical activity.

Good Morning America. (n.d.). Study shows physical activity increases brain function later in life. https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/wellness/video/study-shows-physical-activity-increases-brain-function-life-97379907

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Study shows physical activity increases brain function later in life

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In a new study, researchers found that being physically active during all phases of adulthood was associated with higher cognition.

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This CNN article touches on the topic of intentional injury and violence in schools. The article states that anonymous reporting systems used by schoolchildren to report concerning behavior among their peers has resulted in the prevention of numerous instances of suicide, school violence and planned attacks. The article also talks about how nearly 10% of tips received were related to firearms. I think this important to teach to students. It is critical that students know what to do or where to go if they see something suspicious going on. This could prevent lots of injury and violence in schools. To help students learn about this, teachers could introduce an anonymous note drop off box in their classrooms, so at any time a student can drop a note into the box if they are concerned about anything. This is important for teachers to know because they need to be aware of the violence or injury that could occur in their school.

Campbell, J. (2024, January 17). Anonymous tips work to prevent school shootings and suicides, new study finds. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/health/school-shooting-prevention-anonymous-tips/index.html

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Anonymous tips work to prevent school shootings and suicides, new study finds | CNN

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Anonymous reporting systems used by schoolchildren to report concerning behavior among their peers has resulted in the prevention of numerous instances of suicide, school violence and planned attacks, according to a study published Wednesday.

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This article from npr.org talks about healthy eating within schools. The article focuses on a national study finding a small but significant decline in the average body mass index of more than 14,000 schoolkids ages 5 to 18. The schools increased healthy eating habits by increasing the quantity of fruits, vegetables and whole grains required in school meals. This teaches students how to eat healthier by allowing them to choose a healthier variety of foods. Teachers can teach students about this by going over the food pyramid and what healthy food choices consist of. This is important for teachers to know, so they can also demonstrate what healthy eating looks like.

Press, T. A. (2023, February 15). A new study offers hints that healthier school lunches may help reduce obesity. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/02/15/1157176728/healthy-school-meals-nutrition-obesity-study

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A 2010 federal law that boosted nutrition standards for school meals may have begun to help slow the rise in obesity among America's children - even teenagers who can buy their own snacks, a new study showed.

The national study found a small but significant decline in the average body mass index of more than 14,000 schoolkids ages 5 to 18 whose heights and weights were tracked before and after implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

The study is new evidence that improving the quality of school meals through legislation might be one way to help shift the trajectory of childhood obesity, which has been rising for decades and now affects about 1 in 5 U.S. kids.

Whether the program has begun to turn the tide for the whole country, and not just the groups of kids studied, is still unclear. About 30 million children in the U.S. receive school lunches each day.

"You have the potential to really impact their excess weight gain over the course of their entire childhood," said Dr. Aruna Chandran, a social epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She led the study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, championed by former first lady Michelle Obama, was the first national legislation to improve school meals in more than 20 years. It increased the quantity of fruits, vegetables and whole grains required in school meals.

The new study analyzed nationwide data from 50 cohorts of schoolchildren from January 2005 to August 2016, before the law took effect, and data from September 2016 to March 2020, after it was fully implemented. Researchers calculated kids' body-mass index, a weight-to-height ratio.

It found that a body mass index for children, adjusted for age and gender, fell by 0.041 units per year, compared to before the law took effect. That amounts to about a quarter of one BMI unit per year, Chandran said. There was a slight decline in kids who were overweight or obese, too, the study showed.

One way to think of the change is that for a 10-year-old boy with an elevated body-mass index, the decline would amount to a 1-pound weight loss, noted Dr. Lauren Fiechtner, director of nutrition at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study.

"This is important as even BMI flattening over time is likely important," she said. Holding kids' weight steady as they grow can help keep obesity in check.

Previous studies have shown weight-related effects of the federal law among children from low-income families. The new study is the first to find lower BMI in kids across all income levels.

At the same time, significant decreases in BMI measures were seen not only in kids ages 5 to 11, but also in those age 12 to 18.

"That's an incredible shift," Chandran said. "These are kids who potentially have their own autonomy to buy their own snacks."

The new results come within days of the release of updated standards for school meals, including the first limits on added sugars, decreased sodium and increased flexibility for whole grains. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the study shows that healthy school meals are "critical for tackling diet-related conditions like obesity."

But some researchers cautioned against interpreting the study's findings too broadly. Some of the children included in the study might not have been enrolled in school meals programs, or their district may not have fully implemented the nutrition requirements, said Kendrin Sonneville, associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Significantly, measures like BMI, even when adjusted for children, "should not be used as a proxy for health," she added.

A slight reduction in those measures, she said, "doesn't tell us whether the health, well-being, concerns related to food security of children participating in the school breakfast or lunch program improved."

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A new study offers hints that healthier school lunches may help reduce obesity

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The national study found a small but significant decline in the average BMI of more than 14,000 schoolkids after implementation of a 2010 federal law that boosted nutrition standards for school meals.

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The article from newsweek.com talks about efforts to prevent drug use and encourage kids to live free from drugs have come under increased attack. The article talks about D.A.R.E and how the program focuses on decision-making processes, instead of statistics about drugs. This is important because schools need to keep students safe and away from using drugs. This will teach students why not to do and it will teach them why they should not use drugs. Teachers can help students out by being open listeners and letting students know they can talk to them if they need to. It is important for teachers to know about this in order for them to be aware what could be going on in their classroom and allowing them to be able to prevent drug use in their schools.

Sabet, K. (2023, December 22). Education should focus on stopping drug use before it starts. Newsweek. https://www.newsweek.com/education-should-focus-stopping-drug-use-before-it-starts-opinion-1853930

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Efforts to prevent drug use and encourage kids to live free from drugs have come under increased attack. Rather than building on science and common sense, some have begun advocating for an unproven approach to prevention that aims to not prevent drug use at all-instead it educates children on how to use drugs. Policymakers should reject these inherently flawed initiatives and instead scale up evidence-based prevention campaigns that emphasize the importance of living healthy, drug-free lives.

Agenda-driven activists have taken cheap shots at popular programs like D.A.R.E. and Just Say No, which were championed in the '80s and '90s to discourage drug use. Hindsight is always 20/20, but we should not toss the baby out with the bathwater. These campaigns were not flawless, but they conveyed important messages and saw usage rates decline.

In 1983, when D.A.R.E was established, a remarkable 47 percent of 12th graders were past-year users of "any illicit drug"--ranging from marijuana to cocaine to heroin. By 1990, this decreased by almost 15 percent, before increasing again by 2000. Twenty-two years later, we've made it back to 1990 numbers, with marijuana and hallucinogens now the most commonly used drugs.

Despite these positive outcomes, Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), a pro-drug legalization group, claims "programs like D.A.R.E. don't give students the tools they need to make safe decisions or to get help if problems with alcohol and other drugs do occur."

In response, the group, while backing failed policies like Measure 110 in Oregon, created a program called "Safety First," which it promotes as "the nation's first harm reduction-based drug education curriculum for high school students." A 2007 publication from Safety First argues that "drugs are an integral part of American life," and that "it is unrealistic to believe that at a time in their lives when they are most prone to risk-taking, teenagers-who find it exciting to push the envelope-will completely refrain from trying alcohol and/or other drugs."

This path aims to normalize drug use among kids, even though surveys consistently show the majority of kids do not use drugs. In fact, only 11.5 percent of 12-17-year-olds used marijuana--the most commonly used illicit drug--in 2022, meaning that nearly 9 in 10 did not (usage rates are higher in states where the drug is legalized, as expected). Additionally, among this group of young people, only 6.6 percent smoked cigarettes and 16.7 percent drank alcohol. The overwhelming majority of adolescents chose to remain abstinent from drugs, tobacco, and alcohol-an outcome with long-term benefits.

Fortunately, likely because it was so unpopular, DPA handed its curriculum over to prevention researchers at Stanford's REACH Lab, who we hope will modify it greatly. We are encouraged by recent conversations with the lab, now that it is in their hands.

It is vitally important for prevention campaigns to be grounded in evidence and best practices. This is why D.A.R.E. recently underwent a transformation to evolve with the latest research. Today the program focuses on decision-making processes, instead of statistics about drugs. Likewise, the CDC and White House Office of National Drug Control Policy jointly fund and administer the Drug-Free Communities prevention program-another well-constructed prevention campaign. We now know that "scare tactics" do not work. But we can learn from our experience with tobacco (like the well-regarded Truth Initiative) to teach kids about the power of a big industry to manipulate young brains into believing its product is safe.

A recent article in NPR spotlighting Safety First conceded that, unlike the new-and-improved D.A.R.E program, "there are few studies that focus on harm reduction drug education programs in schools, and more research is needed to evaluate their efficacy." In effect, such "harm reduction" education programs have been using our children as guinea pigs to test the legalization lobby's messages about drugs.

We ought to be skeptical of prevention curricula that are made by the same people who campaign for the legalization of all drugs--this is hardly different from the tobacco industry-funded prevention campaigns of the past that subsequently increased usage rates.

With more than 100,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. last year, it is more important than ever to stress the importance of abstinence. Rather than promoting the responsible use of drugs-an oxymoron-students must know that the responsible decision is to not use drugs. Amid the nation's unprecedented overdose and fentanyl crisis, it's now a life-or-death choice.
Dr. Kevin Sabet is the President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a former drug policy advisor to Presidents Obama, Bush and Clinton. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Education Should Focus on Stopping Drug Use Before It Starts

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Efforts to prevent drug use and encourage kids to live free from drugs have come under increased attack.

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This article from edweek.org is about how schools can play a key role in changing that dynamic for students as they process the death of a family member, a traumatic community event, or the loss of a family pet. The article also mentions that being able to cope with major loss is an important part of promoting mental health. This is important for students to know because everyone has to deal with a loss in their life at some point. This will help students be more comfortable knowing that other people have dealt with death, loss, or grief. To help students learn about this in classrooms, teachers can find an age-appropriate book to share with the class in the beginning of the year, so students can start to understand what it is about. It is important for teachers to know about this because they need to understand that they are one of the biggest supports in these student's lives, so they may need to be there for a student if one of them is going through a loss.

Blad, E. (2024, January 17). Three things schools should know about student grief. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/three-things-schools-should-know-about-student-grief/2024/01

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Three Things Schools Should Know About Student Grief

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Grief among young people often goes unacknowledged, which can hinder students’ ability to cope with it, psychologists say.

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This news article from KQED is about the COVID pandemic and how students had trauma from being isolated so long. The article states, "not only did the pandemic increase social isolation, but the social isolation that children ages 6-17 experienced dramatically increased their rate of diagnosed anxiety." The article touches on how schools had the urgent goal of bringing down the number of suicide threat assessments and improve the mental health outcomes for all students, especially after the pandemic. This teaches students that trauma can form in anyone and it effects everyone. Teachers can help students with this by letting them know that they are there for them and that they are not alone. This is important for teachers to know because they need to know and understand what their students are or could be going through.

Jackson-Retondo, M. (1970, January 16). When adults learn about trauma-informed practices, students can recover. KQED. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/62965/when-adults-learn-about-trauma-informed-practices-students-can-recover

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In order to address the sudden uptick in suicide threat assessments on campus, Riley read the CDC's Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study and was struck by the connection between childhood trauma and health problems later in life. Trauma can be invisible, and one's experience with it can vary; an event that might cause trauma to a certain individual might not cause trauma to another individual.
A schoolwide approach to trauma
Riley saw the benefit of recognizing how childhood trauma - such as neglect, food insecurity, and homelessness - may manifest in the children around her, but decided against using the ACEs survey to collect data on students . "We thought it would be triggering," said Riley.

Instead, she chose to focus on educating the school staff and faculty about ACEs and the variety of outcomes and experiences of their students. They had the urgent goal of bringing down the number of suicide threat assessments and improve the mental health outcomes for all students.

According to the CDC, one of the ways to mitigate ACEs is to "connect youth to caring adults and activities." At Riley's school, she and several colleagues went through a list of all students and matched them with a caring adult on campus, regardless of academics. This kind of adult-student matching is a practice recommended by other educators.

While she recognized that teachers are a vital piece of a student's experience in a school setting, Riley made sure to include other faculty and staff like bus drivers, custodians and lunchroom workers. "We are all on this journey of trying to help our students, helping the whole child," she said.

She saw the difference a schoolwide program could make and said it was a necessity to improve the mental health and mental health response for all students.

As a school counselor, Riley is used to seeing students in her office, who use her sensory wall and de-escalation techniques to regulate their nervous systems and return to the classroom after a triggering event. While Riley tends to see students in her office who have already been triggered, the schoolwide approach is meant to train other adults to recognize and anticipate potential triggers to ensure that students are being cared for in all areas of their school environment.

Faculty and staff must also do things that seem obvious and appropriate in working with other people: like using a child's name every day; no raised voices, ever; and having predictable daily routines. She found that these steps helped the kids better regulate themselves and created a more supportive environment.

Confronting alarming behavior can be tough for adults, too, so she recommended guided language - such as "[student name] is having a hard day" - for faculty and staff to use as a more caring way to alert other adults to concerns about a particular student instead of relying on labels or conjecture.

These schoolwide practices are based on the national initiative by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families' "Handle with Care" program . HWC provides a systematic approach to informing the responsible adults around children who have experienced a traumatic event or trigger. For Riley and Mercer County Intermediate School, this framework provided the benefit of communication without breaking down the necessary barriers of student confidentiality. According to Riley, the school's student suicide threat assessments lowered from 52 to 14 in the following 2022-2023 school year thanks, in part, to this program.

In Nashville, Tennessee, Mathew Portell also saw an increase in suicide threat assessments and suicidal ideation in students as young as five during the 2021-2022 school year. Portell is the founder of the Trauma Informed Education Network and a former elementary school principal.

When Portell's school resumed in person learning, he was disappointed in the state's approach to the effects of the pandemic on students. It was "the opposite of what we wish would have happened in trauma-informed work," he said, noting an increase in exclusionary practices and punishment . He and other educators had to manage disruptive behavior from both students and parents. "We have needed a trauma-informed paradigm shift for decades," Portell said.

"We had higher percentages of kids that were coming back dysregulated, are feeling symptoms of stress, even depression, even trauma," he continued. "There's an idea that kids don't know what's going on; it's not impacting them; they're too little. It's all misinformation. I mean, that's just not how our bodies and brains operate."

As teachers in his network identified effective strategies to mitigate triggered student behavior, Portell found that routines and predictability made a big difference. "We know that [for] kids who have heightened senses of stress or trauma, predictability allows the brain to get into a state of learning ," he said.
Supporting teachers to support kids
What does it take for a schoolwide trauma-informed program to work? Riley said programs must be intentional and have buy-in from educators and school staff. Those programs must also have school-wide support beyond instructional periods, including during meal times and school bus rides.

"A big part of trauma-informed schools is making sure that the teachers feel grounded and supported," said Alex Shevrin Venet, educator, professional development facilitator and author of Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education .

Portell recommends that school counselors and administrators start with a "why" when presenting a new trauma-informed practice program to teachers in order to shift their thinking. "Start with the adults" and create "systems of support that support the adults equally or as much as you support the kids," he said. One way Portell has supported teachers is by using what he calls a "tap in and tap out process." Teachers would communicate via a text chain in the app GroupMe, keeping their phone numbers anonymous. A teacher might say, "I need to tap out," in which case two other teachers would "tap in" and help with the students and offer support to the teacher.

Portell, like many other educators, noticed an immediate need for "collective care" after the first year of the pandemic. "Post-pandemic, post racial reckoning, post all of the increase of school shootings, there [was an] insurmountable, incomprehensible amount of stress on teachers," said Portell. "We're in a situation where we can't just self-care our way out of where we're in right now in education," he added.

By beginning with the "why" and emphasizing collective care, Portell was able to create buy-in from teachers. However, Portell also values positivity. "As a school culture, you have to have fun through this process. We've lost this idea of fun in the community," he said.

In Kentucky, Riley created a process for onboarding all staff and faculty involved in a student's learning day including lunchroom workers and bus drivers. Implementing trauma-informed practices as a new and unfamiliar initiative takes some creativity, so here are some ways that Riley has achieved this:

Changing discipline practices inside and outside the classroom

Positive messages in bathroom stalls

A sensory room

Advanced notice of potentially triggering events

Allowing access to animals for students on the campus farm

Allowing for alternative ways for students to participate in assemblies

A family resource center

Awareness during natural disaster anniversaries

504s and IEP plans for trauma

Portell recommends Lori Desautels' books Connection Over Compliance and Intentional Neuroplasticity: Moving Our Nervous Systems and Educational System Toward Post-Traumatic Growth , both of which provide practical application strategies for trauma-informed practices.

The first step a teacher can take toward trauma-informed practices is to start viewing disruptive or emotionally heightened behavior "skill gaps," said Portell. He recommends that teachers build in "pause time" to their daily planning which can help to address students who might feel overwhelmed. This can be as simple as a morning meeting, or with younger learners, circle time for morning greetings.

Another trauma-informed strategy that teachers can use in the classroom is to name and teach de-escalation strategies. Portell suggested looking up de-escalation strategy videos online. His favorites are simple breathing strategies, like star breath and rainbow breath . Once the students are taught these self-regulation strategies, teachers can post simple instructions in the classroom so that students can reference them when needed.

For little to no cost, teachers can also create space in their room for students to go when they are feeling overwhelmed. "We refer to them as peace corners," said Portell.

"Be who children need right now," said Portell. "Meeting that child where they are is more important than the objective you're trying to teach."

"I see a trend that trauma-informed work is not only a necessity, it's imperative," he added. "If we know what we're doing isn't working, then we have to do something else."

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When adults learn about trauma-informed practices, students can recover | KQED

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After a rise in suicide threats, a school counselor in Kentucky started teaching everyone from teachers to bus drivers about trauma-informed practices.

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This article from The Conversation talks about personal health and wellness for teachers. The article talks about how teachers are experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety and work-related trauma in the classroom. It also mentions that not only do teachers personally benefit from improved mental health, but their students do, too. This is important to teach students, so they can understand that not only do they have feelings, but their teachers do too. Teachers can teach students this by saying when they need a break and that the students need to do activities quietly. Teachers can also express when they are upset or having other strong feelings. It is important for teachers to know about this because they need to know it's okay to feel stressed or overwhelmed.

MSN. (n.d.). https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/students-do-better-and-schools-are-more-stable-when-teachers-get-mental-health-support/ar-AA1nbgYm