Featured Blog Posts

Ripple Effects

When my children were in elementary school, there were times when I could not attend school events and meetings. I’d ask my mother or sister to stand in for me when it was a cultural or sporting event. However, I’d reschedule even the most difficult work meeting or commitment if it was an academic meeting or parent-teacher conference. Like many, I compartmentalized learning, believing that parenting, grandparenting, and schooling were essentially different, and that most learning happened in formal spaces like school.

Best Practices for Supporting Students’ Mental Health

Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) is a time to reflect on the importance of mental health and recognize the impact it has on students’ lives, their learning experiences, and their success outside of the classroom. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in six U.S. youth ages 6-17 experience a [diagnosed] mental health disorder each year.” This data reminds both parents and educators how vital it is to work together and support the mental health and emotional development of students.

3 Ways Teachers Can Support Students During Back-to-School Season

This school year is in full swing. This is an exciting and busy time for both students and educators! As children are back to their busy schedules - with homework, home responsibilities, and extracurricular activities, it is important to support them and make sure they have the resources they need to succeed. The Newark Trust for Education has compiled useful tips from educators on how to navigate the transition from summer to school.

4 Ways of Empowering Students to Lead

A research article from Penn State University states, “Leadership skills allow children to have control of their lives and the ability to make things happen.” Encouraging the development of these skills not only builds confidence but encourages collaboration, promotes problem solving, and increases their sense of responsibility. Fostering an environment where young people are empowered to lead creates bright futures for them – and helps their communities.

4 Imperatives for a Safe and Supportive School Year

While students will soon be immersed in school and extracurricular activities, many face social challenges and will need support. When learners’ social and emotional needs become a priority, it can help motivate them to reach their full potential in the classroom and at home.

Back To School Means Back To Routine

As Newark families prepare for the return to school in September, the transition from summer break can be difficult for parents, caregivers, and kids. It is important for adults to get an efficient routine in place so that students can adjust back to their regime and stay engaged throughout the school year. Effective planning will help families handle the back-to-school transition with much less stress.

Embed Learning into Summer Fun!

During the pandemic parents and caregivers reported concerns about learning loss. However, there is a way to mitigate learning loss – while still engaging kids in fun activities.

School’s Out, Summer’s In – Let’s Make it Count

Summer 2022 is here and for many students, it marks the first time in a few years that they’ve been able to get out and have some real summer fun. But what will that fun look like? It might seem counterintuitive to plan how to play, but too often it’s a long, hot, and wasted summer if you don’t. Here are some just-in-time tips to keep your child grinning and growing this summer:

Mental Health Month Shines Light on Importance of SEL

May is Mental Health Month, a time to focus on and recognize the importance of effective mental health supports and practices.

Prevent + Protect: Two Words to Create a Mentally Safe Space

Preventing mental health issues among students and protecting them from those problems must be a top priority. Covid changed the playing field for mental health problems, with virtually all students and educators affected in one way or another. Many students who never needed mental health support now do, and resources are scarce. As educators, caregivers, and local leaders, it is our responsibility to help our young people deal with mental health problems and protect them from further harm.

SEL Starts at the Start

Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a process of developing self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are essential for school, work, and life success. In recent months, experts have commented on SEL’s importance among adults, particularly parents, educators, and school administrators. However, social and emotional learning is often overlooked among young children – from infants and toddlers – to preschoolers and grammar school students. Case in point, the first few months and years of a child’s life are paramount in how they develop, which makes SEL vital early on.

Socio-emotional Learning (SEL) Starts at Home

Today’s parents have never had it harder. Between endless stretches of COVID isolation, increased concerns about making ends meet, and dealing with school openings and closings, it’s hard to keep it all together. Tempers and tensions can intensify at home, which only makes the problems that young people may be facing with friends, relatives, and authority figures at school and in the community harder to address. Too often, too many parents think there’s nothing they can do about it. But there is, and it’s called socio-emotional learning, or SEL.

Newark Trust for Education Tapped to Comment on Back-to-School Imperatives

Newark Education Advocate Encourages More Parent-School Leader Partnerships Heading Into New School Year By TOM WIEDMANN Read the article here.

Back To School Means Not Stepping Backwards

As America, and New Jersey, takes a giant step back into the classroom after an awfully long (and mostly awful) break, it’s time to prioritize factors for success. At the top of everyone’s list is safety, but what comes after that? Certainly learning, but if we’ve learned anything in the past two years, it’s that academic learning isn’t enough. Effective learning comes hand-in-hand with socio-emotional learning, or SEL, which embraces the socio-emotional well-being of students (and others) at home, in school, and in the community at large.

Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Unknown

As we cautiously step into a new school year, there is a singular question on everyone’s mind: is there anything we can do besides hope for the best? Uncertainty exists on every level. We wait anxiously for news about federal guidelines, governors’ press conferences that announce state vaccine requirements, and buzz on what’s happening at our local schools. With so much conflicting evidence about COVID-19 and its emerging variants, “hope” just isn’t enough. We have no choice but to prepare in advance for the unknown. Here are some strategies for parents, educators, administrators, and students to do just that: