Did You Know?

More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities.

»  Share ASCD's Whole Child Web site and newsletter.

Happy New School Year!

Welcome back to your whole child newsletter! We've had our summer break and are ready to start the new school year. As you plan for this year, how will you ensure that the children in your school and community are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged? What can you do?

• As a parent: Family involvement matters! Morning routines, homework time, afterschool activities, and family interactions all have the potential to dramatically improve achievement, behavior, attendance, and graduation rates for all children. Ask yourself if your back to school plans support your whole child, then check Web sites like www.parenting.com for information about child development and back to school planning by age.
• As a community member: Volunteering, mentoring, informed voting, and advocacy are all critical to impacting public policies and supporting children! Ask yourself what role you can play in your neighborhood, then organize a community conversation to get others involved.
• As a teacher, administrator, or school staff member: From bus routines and cafeteria policies to extra-curricular opportunities and classroom instruction, all school-based interactions impact students health, safety, engagement, feeling of support, and level of challenge! With every action at school you are either supporting or hindering the development of the whole child. Ask yourself how your lesson plans, lunch schedule, behavior reinforcement systems, and other back-to-school preparations support the whole children in your school, then visit Web sites like www.collegeboard.com to help students with planning for college or www.sightforstudents.org to access free vision exams and glasses for low-income families.

» What have you done over the summer to prepare? Have you found any resources that might help others meet the needs of the whole child? Share them here, or find us at our new whole child page on Facebook!

Real Stories

"[What's working is] a new way of teaching conflict resolution using video. We ask the children to help us develop a video to help other children solve problems. The children most against non-violent problem solving are also the kids who want most to be on TV! Bingo! 100% buy-in from day one! We call our class 'How to Maintain Your Personal Power in any Situation.'

[What's not working is] no recess for middle school students. Very little art, music, dance, theater, P.E., or vocational education. We are trying to develop a network to increase these classes."

—Rowland H., Nashville, TN

Comment on Rowland's story and read many more.

Expect More. Get More.

» Share your story to tell us what's working and what's not working in your community.

“A dollar spent on a child's future is a dollar invested, not a dollar consumed. That's because, as you know so well, fully nurturing, educating, and supporting young children reaps dramatic benefits as they grow up. Indeed, different studies on early childhood education have found that spending $1 today can produce savings much greater than that. These investments can make our economy stronger and more competitive.”

—Representative George Miller (D-CA), Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee
Click here to visit the Policy Blackboard and see more quotes from policymakers.

This message was sent by ASCD. Click here to unsubscribe.
View this newsletter and past issues in the archives.
Learn more at www.wholechildeducation.org.