Four-year-old’s have play dates through closed windows, sliding their toy cars in unison on either side of the glass. A high school student worries about his mother going to work in a food-packing warehouse, at risk for contracting COVID-19. Another teen says “there is nothing to look forward to,” as he tries to avoid sliding
Palmdale School District’s social emotional learning specialists help students with a variety of concerns, and who might struggle with distance learning and miss going to school each day because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The specialists, also known as SELS, are licensed through the state of California to be mental health practitioners. Palmdale School District
President of the CA State Board of Education discusses California’s school response to the coronavirus Linda Darling-Hammond is president of the State Board of Education in California, and also president of the Learning Policy Institute, a research and policy organization in Palo Alto. Working closely with Gov. Gavin Newsom, she has played a significant role
An updated version of the Emotional Survival Toolkit for Parents and Children is now available from our allies the EQuip Our Kids! campaign, which has also shared these resources with all other state SEL Alliances. The Toolkit consists of mostly free and fun resources and superb SEL tools (videos, games, apps and written guides) for
The point of school right now is to develop a new normal, says journalist and parent Lisa Selin Davis. She explores what parents, teachers, administrators and kids owe to each other right now. “Many children, regardless of economic status or neurodiversity, are experiencing massive social regression in the absence of their peer and teacher connections,
“You can’t teach them until you reach them,” says Cindy Marten, superintendent of San Diego Unified, the state’s second-largest district, as she talks about the importance of daily check-ins with students to assess how they’re feeling and the district’s system of additional support involving counselors and mental health specialists. From EdSource, listen to a podcast
The director of research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence wants to make sure that teachers are making time to care for themselves. Chrissy Romano Arrabito teaches second grade at an elementary school in Hackensack, N.J., a community that has been devastated by COVID-19 in recent weeks. Her school is located a few miles
The high school senior sitting across from Franciene Sabens was in tears over the abrupt amputation of her social life and turmoil at home. Because of the coronavirus, there will be no prom, no traditional send-off or ceremony for the graduates of Carbondale Community High School in Carbondale, Ill. And Sabens, one of the school’s
If you’re looking for guidance documents from the US Dept. of Education relating to special education and related services during the coronavirus school closure, visit the special education guidance hub. The Educating All Learners Alliance, a new partnership of over thirty disability, advocacy and professional groups, has created a “hub of curated tools, strategies, tips
Recently, governors including California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Andrew Cuomo have started to talk about what school reopening might look like. From shorter days to smaller classes, school will likely look radically different in the fall. Three-quarters of U.S. states have now officially closed schools for the rest of the academic year. While remote
