By Dana Asby, CEI Director of Innovation & Research Support The Center for Educational Improvement (CEI) has been working closely with 24 school administrators, teachers, psychologists, and social workers who are leaders in their states working to advance the understanding and use of trauma-informed practices in New England. The Childhood-Trauma Learning Collaborative (C-TLC)—a SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration)-funded project—was created by Ya

By Ishani Das, CEI Intern What is the child’s right to learn? This is the central question that Glenn Singleton, creator of the Courageous Conversations protocol, poses to readers in his book, Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools (2015). The answer is seemingly obvious: every child has a right to learn. Nevertheless, as Singleton demonstrates, the racial achievement gap in American public schools reveals a different picture. Studi

By Aisha Powell, CEI Intern U.S. students average six hours a day, 30 hours a week, more than 1,000 hours a year in school (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018; Sparks, 2019). With students spending a substantial amount of time in school, the classroom should be a place where all students feel heard, empowered and supported. Building this classroom environment is the utopian dream of all educators, and it comes with making intentional, and often difficult, steps to

By Dana Asby, CEI Director of Innovation & Research Support and Maria E. Restrepo-Toro, Educator, Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health, Manager of the New England MHTTC Equity in education has been a hot topic of debate for many educators. We used to talk about equality before acknowledging that neither equal outcomes nor equal supports solved the racial or socioeconomic achievement gap in American schools. Now, many school leaders understand that students with vary

Guest Blog By Dr. Ryan T. Woods for Respectful Ways When the threat of COVID-19 arrived, schools responded quickly. Principals made announcements, administrators hustled, and teachers developed lesson plans. In a matter of days, students were learning from home. But as any instructor knows, academic content represents a single facet of education. Developing social skills and emotional intelligence may contribute just as much to a student’s personal formation as learning to re