Features From the Field - September 2022

Features from the Field is a monthly series of resources compiled by NDTAC in partnership with The Department of Education on topics relevant to Title I, Part D State coordinators. This month's resources cover promoting successful and supportive educational opportunities for children and their families. These resources focus on safe and supportive learning environments, bullying, school climate, trauma and wellness, equity and inclusion, family engagement, and cross-system coordination.

Safe and Supportive Learning Environments

NDTAC Brief: Professional Development: Safe and Supportive Learning Environments in Juvenile Justice Systems

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Teachers

Summary: This brief focuses on fostering a shared understanding of the fundamentals for creating and sustaining safe and supportive learning environments in juvenile justice settings and includes potential ideas for professional development offerings that may enhance the conditions for learning plus social and emotional learning opportunities.

Improving Conditions for Learning for Youth Who Are Neglected or Delinquent

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Teachers

Summary: This brief focuses on four conditions for learning: safety, support, social and emotional learning, and engagement and challenge. The brief defines these conditions for learning, cites relevant research, provides strategies to foster each condition, and resources to further the reader’s knowledge and development of these conditions.

Bullying

Responding to Reports of Bullying: Supporting and Restoring Students’ Senses of Safety

Source: Child Trends and District of Columbia Office of Human Rights

Audience: Teachers

Summary: This tip sheet can be used as a guide to address the harms of bullying experienced by students and create a safe environment to prevent future incidents. Several strategies are provided for school staff to address the trauma of bullying.

Building Healthy Relationships Among DC Youth: A Universal Bullying Prevention Program

Source: Child Trends

Audience: Teachers

Summary: These resources describe the El Camino: The Road to Healthy Relationships curriculum, which is aimed at preventing bullying and other conflict, both in-person and online. The resources provided equip staff with lesson plans and training on the curriculum.

School Climate

Setting the Foundation for Safe, Supportive, and Equitable School Climates

Source: Child Trends

Audience: Teachers and leaders

Summary: This toolkit provides a series of tip sheets that cover elements of the Safe School Certification framework. The toolkit is tailored for DC schools and provides guidance on implementation strategies of this framework and strategies for improving school climate.

When Providing School Climate Data, Researchers and Districts Should Also Provide Supports for Data-informed Decision Making

Source: Child Trends

Audience: Teachers and leaders

Summary: This report presents aggregate school climate survey results in “Improving School Climate in DC” (ISC-DC) schools. Data were analyzed to inform five strategies that researchers, school districts, and others can use in climate-related decision-making.

Trauma and Wellness

Moving Policy Toward a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Approach to Support Children Who Have Experienced Trauma

Source: Child Trends

Audience: Leaders

Summary: This article explores how current state laws on student health, safety, and wellness issues impact students’ experiences with wellness. Research points toward a need for a more holistic approach in state law for supporting students experiencing trauma.

Understanding and Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools - Part 1: Understanding Why Schools are Addressing Trauma

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Teachers and families

Summary: This webinar focuses on defining what a trauma-sensitive school is and why a trauma-sensitive approach is needed in educational settings. Presenters discuss how they see trauma manifest in their settings and why schools are moving toward a more comprehensive approach to addressing trauma.

Understanding and Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools - Part 2: Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Teachers

Summary: This webinar focuses on exploring how educators are supporting schools in adopting a trauma-sensitive approach. Presenters discuss strategies for building staff awareness and knowledge of trauma and supporting schools in adopting trauma-sensitive practices.

Supporting Children of Incarcerated Parents in School

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Leaders and families

Summary: This webinar focuses on the needs of children who have a parent who is incarcerated. Presenters address how schools and school personnel can support the child, his/her caregiver, and parent in a positive manner. Presenters provide data on student impact of incarceration and real-life examples of how community-based organizations and other organizations support children of incarcerated parents.

Trauma-Informed Education in the COVID Era: Challenges and Strategies for Supporting Students and Staff

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Teachers and leaders

Summary: This webinar focuses on the impact of COVID- 19 and related school policies and procedures on students who have experienced trauma and find themselves in the neglect or delinquent systems. The presenter offers recommendations for educators in addressing the combined challenges associated with COVID-19 and the impact of trauma on learning and classroom engagement.

Equity and Inclusion

Addressing Racial Equity Can Boost Well-being Among School Staff and Students of Color

Source: Child Trends

Audience: Leaders

Summary: This article describes current inequities impacting school staff of color and presents strategies that address common sources of stress. Strategies include economic supports, changing approaches to discipline, leveraging federal funds, and promoting culturally inclusive curriculums and workforce.

Strategies for Building More Equitable Schools When Returning to the Classroom

Source: Child Trends

Audience: Leaders and families

Summary: This article provides several recommendations to address long-standing inequities as students returned to school after the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations include promoting the whole-child approach in schools and incorporating parent voices into decision-making.

Family Engagement

2022 U.S. Department of Education Title I, Part D Coordinators Conference: Engaging Families in the Educational Life of Youth, Roundtable 2

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Leaders and families

Summary: Presenters from BreakFree Education facilitate a discussion with NDTAC State Coordinators and subgrantees on the importance of parental involvement in the lives of youth who are in facilities. This session includes examples of activities and processes for increasing family engagement.

2022 U.S. Department of Education Title I, Part D Coordinators Conference: A Word from Youth on Family Engagement and Reentry, Roundtable 3

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Leaders and families

Summary: In this session, panelists include alumni from Casey’s Youth Council who lived the experience of returning to a traditional high school setting upon reentry from a residential facility. The panel discussed transitioning back to schools in the community from secure placements, with a special focus on the importance of, and potential barriers to, including families, youth voice, and other supportive persons in the process.

Cross-system Coordination

2022 U.S. Department of Education Title I, Part D Coordinators Conference: Integrating Positive Youth Development and Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Approaches Across the Child Welfare and Justice Systems, Panel 3

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Teachers and families

Summary: Presenters provide an overview of the positive youth development approach – a strength-based approach to achieving youth outcomes – while considering developmental differences among youth served. This session also highlights the importance of embedding racial equity and inclusion in youth-serving programs.

Integrating Positive Youth Development and Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Approaches Across the Child Welfare and Justice Systems

Source: Child Trends

Audience: Teachers

Summary: Racial disparities in the child welfare and juvenile justice system are described in this paper. This paper also provides a toolkit that focuses on positive youth development for system-involved youth as they transition into adulthood.

Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Crossover Youth

Source: NDTAC

Audience: Leaders and families

Summary: This webinar explores the connection between the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. A disproportionate amount of child welfare-involved youth have contact with the juvenile justice system. Challenges and strategies for supporting crossover youth are provided.