Research Says

Bullying can be reduced up to 50 percent when there's a schoolwide commitment to ending it.

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Piecing It Together

In the quest to educate the whole child, does it sometimes feel like a struggle to complete a complicated puzzle? Do you wonder if all the pieces are there and if they will ever fit together? The process of educating the whole child forces us to examine how we put each piece together, often in new and unfamiliar ways. We search for alignment and pieces that connect the various parts of the puzzle. But what about the pieces of the puzzle that just don't seem to fit? Sometimes the missing piece is a lack of student services. Other times it's a challenging group of students, educators, or families.

Whoever or whatever the "misfit" pieces are in your community, developing a shared commitment to the whole child approach to learning will help you increase understanding of and improve decision making about educating the whole child. The Whole Child Community Conversations Project was designed by experts to help communities align the pieces—the unique sets of challenges and opportunities that you must piece together in order to educate the whole child.

» In this month's Whole Child Podcast, you'll hear from just a few of the people that have used the Community Conversations Project to engage stakeholders in educating the whole child. While you're listening, consider which group of stakeholders you'll bring together to explore how to support the whole child. Then, download your free copy of the community conversations guide for informal discussion groups to get started. Don't hesitate to contact us with questions, for additional help, or to share how the pieces of your puzzle are coming together.

Stand Up to Bullying

Bully Prevention Awareness Week begins this Sunday, October 4, and our whole child partner the Center for Social and Emotional Education is providing a variety of resources to help engage students and adults to both prevent bullying and encourage "upstander" behavior. Visit www.bullybust.org to find out more.

Whole Child Legislation Reintroduced

The Graduates Promise Act (GPA), the companion legislation to the Secondary School Innovation Fund Act (SSIF), was reintroduced last week by Senator Jeff Bingman (D-NM). The GPA would provide $2.5 billion annually in competitive grants to states and districts to identify and turn around high schools with low graduation and student achievement rates. It's not too late to either thank your senators and representative for cosponsoring the SSIF bill or encourage them to support it.

» Expect More. Get More.

“Data from two or three years ago [show that] in the month of September there were 241 detentions ... to date we have had zero after school detentions.”

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