Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ students through telehealth

Equitable access to physical and mental healthcare should be a human right. This access is especially critical for LGBTQ+ students.

At least one LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13–24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds in the U.S., according to a recent estimate from The Trevor Project.

“Understanding the number of LGBTQ youth who seriously consider and attempt suicide, as well as how often suicide risk occurs, improves our ability to serve and advocate for LGBTQ youth.”–The Trevor Project, 2021…Read More

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How to build diversity, equity, and inclusion with scholastic esports

The inclusion of scholastic esports in academic programs is yielding strong and widespread results in the youth of today. Research demonstrates that strong communities are developing, with deep engagement from students who are involved in scholastic esports, particularly students that normally don’t become involved with school activities. Because of that draw, scholastic esports is in a pivotal position to help build diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at schools all around the country.

Organizations play an important role in fostering DEI among students. NASEF’s core values include diversity and respect, and its club members must adhere to the Code of Conduct to participate in tournaments and challenges. Likewise, HSEL competitors agree to abide by behavior standards in community events. 

From the beginning of NASEF’s curriculum in southern California to the 10 magnet schools in Miami-Dade Florida that piloted the curriculum with their students, we have seen a marked improvement among students with respect to DEI. NASEF is now seeing students all across the country and even the world are joining esports clubs and opening up new avenues for themselves.…Read More

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CASEL Releases Updated Guide for High-Quality Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Programs

48 Programs Receive Highest Designation

CHICAGO, IL – Today, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) published an updated edition of its most frequently accessed resource, The CASEL Guide to Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs, commonly known as the CASEL Program Guide (https://pg.casel.org). As the leading authority on evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL), CASEL is uniquely positioned to review and rate programs with potential to promote desired competence development among children and youth, preschool through high school. With the rising popularity of SEL and the growing number of program options, this Consumer Reports-style guide will help district and school leaders select effective programs that support their students’ social, emotional, and academic well-being. 

Programs are reviewed against evaluation, design, and implementation criteria to help ensure the consistency and quality of program delivery. Programs in the CASEL Program Guide are designated as either SELect, Promising, or SEL-Supportive. …Read More

Making mental health checks during remote learning

According to a 2019 survey from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately one in five youths reported they’d seriously considered attempting suicide within the last year, while one in six had actually made a suicide plan, and one in 11 had made an attempt. Since the pandemic began, things have only gotten worse. In 2020 Mental Health America reported an uptick in severe major depression and suicidal ideation among youth. It noted in September 2020 that more than half of 11- to 17-year-olds reported they had experienced frequent thoughts of suicide or self-harm in the last two weeks. Other statistics are equally alarming.

Simply put, this pandemic has pushed stress levels of many youth to the breaking point. There are many contributing factors, such as isolation from peers, concern about loved ones getting sick, family financial issues such as job losses, and stress from navigating distance learning.

Then there are the situations in which child abuse and exploitation occur. During the early months of the pandemic, for example, child abuse complaints dropped, sometimes by as much as 50 percent. That’s not because abuse and exploitation issues were down. Just the opposite–the abuse was unreported because it wasn’t being seen by those who would typically catch it.…Read More

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A Better Way Forward for Education – ‘Year in Review’ for SEL

From the pandemic to school closures to nationwide mobilization for racial justice, our nation’s headlines serve as an urgent call for social and emotional learning (SEL). CASEL has released 2020: SEL Year in Review, which reflects on the past year and shows that with SEL there is a better way forward for our communities, schools, and students. The top stories of 2020 remind us that the systems in which we learn, work, and live must promote healthy development.

 

“We can find common cause and unity in prioritizing our youth and the systems in which they are educated,” said CASEL President & CEO Karen Niemi. “SEL can serve as the antidote to much of what ails our nation.”…Read More

The National Mentoring Partnership Celebrates January as National Mentoring Month

January is National Mentoring Month and this year, MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, is announcing its Mentoring Amplifies campaign in partnership with American Student Assistance (ASA). The Mentoring Amplifies campaign aims to honor the people who have helped shape the lives of young adults and helped them achieve their goals and ensuring that every student has equal access to opportunities like college, internships, clubs, sports, and more. Mentoring Amplifies and National mentoring Month are about building connections and driving potential, creating tomorrow’s leaders.

“Mentoring Amplifies represents each individual who is committed to supporting and advocating for our nation’s youth,” said David Shapiro, CEO of MENTOR. “MENTOR and ASA are committed to equipping young people with mentoring relationships and growth opportunities everywhere they live, learn, work, and play. Together, we’re providing tools and resources to further engage communities and invoke change. We are building a movement powered by possibilities.”

Research shows that mentors play a powerful role in providing young people with the tools to strive and thrive, to attend and engage in school, and to reduce or avoid risky behavior like drug use.  In turn, these young people are:…Read More

Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund Partners with Discovery Education

DUBAI, UAE–29 September, 2020:  The Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund (REF) has announced a new first of its kind partnership with Discovery Education to deliver award winning online learning, increasing access to education for thousands of refugees and vulnerable youth in Lebanon.

The Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Covid-19 Online Learning Emergency Fund for Refugee Education, was launched by H.E. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair in April 2020 to ensure vulnerable populations are able to continue their learning without interruption. This partnership with Discovery Education will help fill the educational gaps that have emerged because of the COVID -19 crisis. This program will reach 5,000 at-risk students in addition to over 17,500 students already being helped by REF in Jordan, Lebanon, and the UAE.

As part of the partnership with the Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund, and for the first time ever, Discovery Education will collaborate with local organizations in Lebanon to provide access to high-quality digital learning resources aligned to the Lebanese curriculum for students in Grade 8 – 12. This partnership is a component of the Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair Refugee Education Fund’s effort to help 5,000 refugees and marginalized youth communities transition to Grades 9 and 12 and give them a chance to succeed when sitting the critical Lebanese national examinations.…Read More

8 reasons why we should combine art + math

With declining U.S. student math scores, our schools would be wise to adopt a new formula that is sure to paint a prettier picture for the country’s STEM rankings. Combining math and art classes may in fact draw better math performance for American youth, starting as early as elementary school.

Here are eight reasons why schools would benefit from merging math and art classes.

1. Improved comprehension. Both science and art are about converting the invisible to the visible, so they’re a natural fit. Taking numbers off of paper and onto something students can touch and feel makes math significantly more relatable and understandable. It’s about taking an integrative approach and mixing the tangible with the abstract to help students better grasp complex formulas.…Read More

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