ENGAGE
NEWS FROM
June 24, 2015 - In This Issue:
 

For most of us, school has ended or is nearly over. Even if you don't work at a school, you're probably feeling the summer vibe by now. We wish everyone a well-deserved break full of sunshine, renewal, and learning.  
 
Engaging Schools will be hard at work in July with a four-day summer institute in Cambridge, preparations for launching our upcoming book on equitable, restorative, and accountable schoolwide discipline and student support, and more. This newsletter, however, will take a vacation. Look for us in your inbox during autumn for the new school year. 
 
A final note: after four happy years with Engaging Schools, I will be relocating my work life from Engaging Schools' offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts to my home base in Providence, Rhode Island, where I will continue to work to ensure that all young people have access to great schools that prepare each and every one of them to succeed. It has been a joy and honor to be a part of the Engaging Schools team and to share our news with you. 
 
All the best,
 
Jill Davidson
Director of Publications and Communications 
School Discipline Q and A with Dan Losen and Larry Dieringer

Engaging Schools blog shares wide-ranging conversation about promising school discipline practices

 

Recently, Engaging Schools' Executive Director Larry Dieringer sat down for a chat with Dr. Daniel Losen, Director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at The Civil Rights Project at UCLA. Dan is also the author and editor of influential studies and books about school discipline, most recently Closing the School Discipline Gap: Equitable Remedies for Excessive Exclusion. 

 

Larry and Dan talked about their shared focus on developing and sustaining equitable, supportive, and restorative systems of school discipline in a talk that we are sharing in installments on the Engaging Schools blog over the next few weeks. 

 

The first installment of their conversation, on disproportional discipline and some promising ways to address it, appears here. Check back throughout the summer for more of this great conversation.
Engaged Classrooms Four-Day 
Summer Institute - Last Call!

Engaged Classrooms 4-Day Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Just a few spots left - register now!

 

There are a few spots left for our Engaged Classrooms four-day institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 6-9. Participating educators will learn skills and strategies for fostering healthy relationships, inspiring students to invest in their learning, and supporting students to tackle the heightened demands of complex academic content and social experiences.

   

For more information, and links to registration, visit http://engagingschools.org/workshops-and-institutes or contact Denise Wolk, Director of Sales and Marketing, at dwolk@engagingschools.org or 617-492-1764, x20.
 
RESEARCH 
ROUNDUP
 
 
Mind-set Interventions Are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement

Psychological Science recently published "Mind-set Interventions Are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement," by David Paunesku, Gregory M. Walton, Carissa Romero, Eric N. Smith, David S. Yeager, and Carol S. Dweck. In an attempt to scale up growth mind-set and sense-of-purpose belief interventions, which educators usually deliver in small group or one-to-one settings, the authors provided such interventions in the form of online modules to more than 1,500 adolescents in 13 states. Participating students were facing academic difficulties; some were at risk of dropping out of high school. The results indicated that these focused online interventions made a significant difference in students' academic performance.
 
This may hold promise for schools and districts that wish to scale up such attempts as parts of their programs for students facing academic hurdles. As the paper describes, "Academic-mind-set interventions target students' core beliefs about school and learning, such as 'Can I learn and grow my intelligence?' (growth-mind-set beliefs) and 'Why should I learn?' (sense-of-purpose beliefs). In so doing, they can change how students interpret and respond to challenges in school, increase students' resilience, and set in motion positive recursive cycles that increase success over time." The practice of adapting such mind-set and belief interventions to a scalable online model holds real promise not only for millions of academically struggling high school students but also for those students who are successful in high school but who may face challenges down the line in higher education settings where such support may be less available. Such interventions may be able to improve both high school and higher education outcomes. 
 
Click here to download "Mind-set Interventions Are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement."
This Summer's Engaging Schools Events

  

In addition to our four-day Engaged Classrooms Institutes in June and July, we will be participating in the National Conference on School Discipline in two locations this summer. 

 

From June 29-July 1, Engaging Schools consultant Lisa Cureton will be leading school discipline and student support-related workshops at the National Conference on School Discipline at the Renaissance Waverly Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

From July 15-17, Engaging Schools Executive Director Larry Dieringer will be presenting "Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support: Developing an Integrated, Restorative Approach" at the National Conference on School Discipline at the Marriott Gateway on the Falls in Niagara, Ontario.

 

Visit our Events page for additional upcoming events. We hope to see you this summer and fall!
Please Support Engaging Schools! 

Engaging Schools is a nonprofit organization that collaborates with educators in middle and high schools. We help them create a schoolwide community of learning that integrates academic, social, and emotional development - and prepares each and every student to thrive. 

 

We rely on tax-deductible donations from individuals to develop our programs and resources and enable us to reach more teachers, schools, and young people. Thank you to our donors!

 

Please take a moment to read our 2013-2014 Annual Report, in which we share program highlights and impacts.