The Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education

In today’s global economic state, many families and children face reduced circumstances. What are the implications of this new poverty for schools, many of which have seen drastic changes in the populations they serve and their communities?

Principals are the key players in developing the climate, culture, and processes in their schools. They are critical to implementing meaningful and lasting school change and in the ongoing school-improvement process. The role of a principal has changed dramatically in recent years and will likely change even more in the future.

Many schools have made great strides in addressing students' needs, but some schools have gone further. They have taken an issue that was initially a need and used it to enhance and improve what the school offers.

Safety is and will always be a fundamental concern for schools. What do we, as educators, believe is crucial to making our schools safe -- not just physically safe, but safe places to teach and learn.

We as educators have a unique opportunity to reset the playing field and make the Common Core State Standards work for us. Now is the time for us to take control and become empowered in the process.

Teacher effectiveness is dependent on accurate and fair evaluations, based on multiple measures, including -- but not solely based around -- their students' performance in the subjects they teach.

Students are a part of the school community and can play powerful roles as leaders in a positive school culture. In cultivating students as leaders, schools provide opportunities for personal engagement; skill development for future college, career, and citizenship; and a richer experience for all.

A positive school culture is the cornerstone of a good school and the foundation for school improvement. Fully embedding a whole child approach into the culture so that it becomes an integral part of what we do and who we are as schools and communities is key to ensuring that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged and prepared for their future college, career, and civic lives. In this episode of the Whole Child Podcast, student leaders from Special Olympics National Youth Activation Committee discuss safe and positive school culture, student voice and leadership, and being agents of change for their communities and young people across the U.S.

What Does It Take for Children to Be Mentally Healthy?

A child's mental health is influenced by her biology, social and physical environment, and behavior, as well as the availability of services. Good emotional and behavioral health enhances a child's sense of well-being, supports satisfying social relationships at home and with peers, and facilitates achievement of full academic potential. But, being mentally healthy is not just about emotional and behavioral difficulties. It's also about being mentally strong and resilient and having the skills and supports to deal with stressful issues when they arise. Just as one can be physically healthy or unhealthy, one can also be mentally healthy or unhealthy. In this episode of the Whole Child Podcast, we discuss the importance of each child, in each school and in each community, being socially, emotionally, and mentally healthy.

Coordinated and Collaborative Responses to Diverse Student Needs

Essential to student success is access to personalized learning and support from qualified, caring adults -- whether those be teachers, principals, counselors, cafeteria staff, custodians, family members, coaches, ministers ... the list goes on and on. Students as learners are also students as people with social-emotional, physical, and mental health needs. Supportive education communities are places where school staff, community-based service providers, families, and all the adult stakeholders work together to identify and address kids' needs and provide a coordinated, whole child approach to their education and development.

Whether your school is in Berlin, Sydney, Ramallah, or Omaha, a whole child approach to education and community engagement -- in which each child in each school and each community is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged -- ensures student growth, learning, and development. In this episode, we explore schools and communities across the world that emphasize providing safe and supportive learning environments and experiences for students and talk with whole child partner organizations that are promoting and guiding their work.

Whole Child Around the World: A Good School Is a Good School

Learning is active, engaging, and social. Students need to be engaged and motivated in their learning before they can apply higher-order creative thinking skills. They are most engaged when they themselves are part of constructing meaning, not when teachers do it for them. In this episode of the Whole Child Podcast, we examine effective classroom instruction that embraces both high standards and accountability for students' learning. It can be project-based, focused on service and the community, experiential, cooperative, expeditionary ... the list goes on. These engaging learning strategies are grounded in instructional objectives, provide clear feedback, and enable students to thrive cognitively, socially, emotionally, and civically.