Safe Schools & Communities Resources and Research

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/05/05/526871398/facts-about-teens-suicide-and-13-reasons-why 

Michael Rich, MD, MPH (The Mediatrician®)

"Even before the debut of the new Netflix original movie To the Bone, parents and professionals were worried, asking The Mediatrician® about what they need to know — and whether children and teens should watch. The movie, which depicts the story of a young woman’s struggle with anorexia nervosa, has been the subject of many public and private discussions about eating disorders and how they are dealt with in popular culture. Already reeling from the portrayal of suicide in 13 Reasons Why, parents have concerns: Is the film safe for my child to watch? Can it encourage disordered eating behaviors in kids who may be prone to such an illness? Might it upset or trigger a relapse in a child working toward recovery from an eating disorder? Would it present anorexia nervosa as an attention-getting condition that kids and teens might find desirable? The answer to all those questions is “Maybe.” Here’s what you should know and what you can do:

What you should know

• Eating disorders are serious psychiatric conditions that affect a person’s emotional and social well-being and can result in long-term physical problems and even death. They often emerge during the teen and young adult years (but can start in childhood). While these are highly individual illnesses with no single “cause,” factors contributing to risk for eating disorders include genetics and environment (nature and nurture), societal pressures, emotional health, and even certain sports.
  
  
• Audience: To the Bone is rated TV-MA (for mature audiences), but has a large tween/teen appeal given the age of the protagonist, the subject matter, and the popularity of its star, Lily Collins. Ratings do little to protect viewers in our “on demand” media environment; a mature rating may even attract aspirational viewers who believe they are mature enough to watch.
  
  
• Plot: To the Bone tells the story of a 20-year-old girl named Ellen who has anorexia nervosa. The movie opens with her being released from her fourth inpatient treatment center, not because she has recovered, but because she is rebellious and uncooperative. As she continues to struggle with her illness, we learn about Ellen’s family life, and journey with her as she enters another inpatient care setting that takes a unique approach to treatment, all the while witnessing how her disorder affects her thoughts, her behaviors, her relationships, and her life.
   

The appeal of the characters - and the misleading messages they convey
Like many movies portraying illness through a single character’s narrative, To the Boneattempts to find the universal in an individual patient. Where the book and movie Girl, Interrupted succeeded with depression, To the Bone falls into well-worn stereotypes. Ellen is a whip-smart, attractive, affluent white girl with a well-intentioned but annoyingly pushy stepmother, absent father, and cloyingly caring lesbian mother. Her fellow patients are charmingly eccentric misfits defined by one-note illness characteristics: the gender-vague male ballet dancer, the tube-fed sweetheart, the binge-eating black girl, the secret purger, and the pregnant teen struggling to eat for her baby. While To the Bone shows what it may look like to live with an eating disorder, it fails to capture the severity of anorexia nervosa.

More people die from anorexia nervosa than with any other psychiatric diagnosis.

Ellen is easy to like, especially for teens. She is acerbically funny, brash, and asserts that she is in control… even when she isn’t. Young people struggling with eating disorders can be, and often are, charming, both because they want to feel attractive and to distract others from their illness. But they also feel deep despair, something that is implied but not really shown in To the Bone. Focusing on Ellen’s rebellious “rage against the machine,” To the Boneneglects to reveal the black hole deep inside that fuels her rage. Without showing the self-loathing, hopelessness, and helplessness privately felt by so many struggling with eating disorders, we are left with Ellen’s engagingly moody public persona. For children and teens struggling with eating disorders, body issues, or other life stressors, this can make anorexia nervosa appear to be an attractive lifestyle choice rather than a potentially lethal illness.

Should my child watch it?

The value in watching To the Bone, and other movies and TV shows that portray adolescent health or lifestyle problems, is that it provides a springboard for discussion. It is always easier to discuss difficult issues faced by others (particularly fictional others) than those faced by ourselves. If you decide that taking the risk of triggering your tween or teen is outweighed by the benefit of an open discussion of eating disorders, be sure to co-view To the Bone with her. (Please note that although boys do develop eating disorders, these illnesses are much more prevalent in girls. I will use female pronouns from here forward; substitute “him” and “his” if you are worried about a boy.) A tween (11 to 13 years old) or teen is at a time in her life that is driven by emotion rather than reason. She needs the perspective of your life experience and fully developed executive brain function to processTo the Bone with her, to think through the issues rather than reacting emotionally and impulsively.

Ask questions and listen deeply rather than telling her how to respond. Instead of talking points, try asking points:

• How did the movie make you feel?
• What did you think about while watching it? (Name specific scenes to which she responded)
• Could you tell Ellen was unhealthy by the way she looked and acted?
• What did you think of Ellen’s family? Of her doctor?
• What did To the Bone get right? What did it get wrong?
• What behaviors or attitudes may be associated with disordered eating?
• Do you know anyone, friends, classmates, etc., who may be at risk for an eating disorder?
• Who can someone who is struggling go to for help?

Listen to what she says and what she avoids saying, understanding her perspective, thoughts, and feelings. Respond honestly with facts and a caring attitude. She will be wary of being judged. Make it safe for her to talk. Be explicit about your love and support. Be as accurate and complete as you can, acknowledging when you do not know an answer; offer to look it up and think it through together. Learn why being underweight, binge eating (with or without purging), and hyper-exercising are unhealthy. If she is triggered, notify her care team, or you can seek one through the resources below. Talk through how she might seek help for herself or a friend. No matter what she or a friend is going through, reassure her that she doesn’t have to go it alone. You are there for her, and there are caring and understanding medical professionals who can help her find her way to health.

Enjoy your media and use them wisely.

For further resources, check out:

• Center for Young Women’s Health: Eating Disorders
• Center on Media and Child Health: Body Image
• Adolescent/Young Adult Clinic, Boston Children’s Hospital

For full post, click here:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/to-the-point-heres-what-parents-should-know-and-do-about-netflixs-to-the-bone-2017081012235 

By Matt Davis [Photo credit: Massachusetts Secretary of Education via flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)]

"Considering how ubiquitous smartphones and tablets have become, especially in high school and middle school, questions about managing use and educating students about digital etiquette are on a lot of educators' minds.

This October, Common Sense Media is sponsoring Digital Citizenship Week from October 16 to October 22. And we wanted to pull together some of the best resources to help educators talk about digital responsibility and safety online. Here, you'll find resources that cover today's digital landscape, ideas for student activities, and strategies for engaging parents."...

For full post, please see: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-citizenship-resources-matt-davis 

https://www.aclunc.org/blog/know-your-rights-your-cell-phone-belongs-you-not-your-school 

"We've long known that adolescents need supportive relationships to help them stay in school through tough times. A new study, published Wednesday, argues that having an "anchor" and a "web" of support—rather than one person to act as a "hero"—can boost adolescents' chances of staying in school.
 

Like other researchers who have probed the dynamics that prompt students to leave school, America's Promise Alliance has consistently seen that the presence of caring adults is pivotal. Following up its 2014 report, "Don't Call Them Dropouts," the organization decided to focus on finding out more about what students need from those relationships. The result is "Don't Quit on Me," released today.

The bottom line? Relationships matter. But the type, source, and intensity matter, too, if they're going to serve as effective buffers against leaving school.
 

"They told us they need respect, not judgment. They need resources—bus passes, a ride to school, a meal, a job, a chance. They need people to show care through actions, not advice. They need an anchor, not a hero. And they need a web of support, a healthy, supportive community of their own," America's Promise Alliance President and CEO John Gomperts writes in the introduction to the report."....
 

For full post, click on title above or here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/high_school_and_beyond/2015/09/high_school_students_need_webs_of_supportive_adults.html 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/books-to-help-children-find-hope-and-strength-in-stressful-times-a-librarians-list/2016/12/12/27f51120-bcb2-11e6-ac85-094a21c44abc_story.html   

By Elissa Nadworny (Eva Bee/Getty Images)

"Suicide rates for U.S. middle school students have been steadily rising — doubling from 2007-14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There's a perception that children don't kill themselves, but that's just not true. A new report shows that, for the first time, suicide rates for U.S. middle school students have surpassed the rate of death by car crashes.

The suicide rate among youngsters ages 10 to 14 has been steadily rising, and doubled in the U.S. from 2007 to 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014, 425 young people 10 to 14 years of age died by suicide.

We've been reporting about the role that schools and school staff play in addressing students' mental health.  "Kids spend a lot of time at school ... it's where they live their lives," says David Jobes, who heads the Suicide Prevention Lab at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. "Suicide prevention has been focused on schools for a long time because it's a place where kids are and where a lot of problems can manifest."

Many educators don't feel comfortable talking about suicide, or often don't know what to do or say when a student needs help, Jobes says. He recommends resources from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention that are specific to schools.

"It's really hard to prevent it, if we don't know it's there," he says. So educators shouldn't be afraid to talk about suicide — because saving lives begins with "asking a question."

Yesterday we chatted with Jobes on NPR Live about the six myths on suicide that every parent and educator should know:"...

For full post, click on title above or here: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/04/500659746/middle-school-suicides-reach-an-all-time-high 

"WASHINGTON, D.C., November 1, 2016─Positive school climates contribute to academic achievement and can improve outcomes for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, according to a new study published today in Review of Educational Research, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association.

In a comprehensive analysis of research published since 2000, U.S. and Israeli researchers found substantial evidence that schools with positive climates can narrow achievement gaps among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds and between students with stronger and weaker academic abilities.

Broadly speaking, positive school climates are marked by a supportive, caring approach from teachers; a sense of safety from violence and bullying; student connectedness in school; and parental involvement.

“Our analysis of more than 15 years’ worth of research shows that schools do matter and can do much to improve academic outcomes,” said study co-author Ron Avi Astor, a professor of social work and education at the University of Southern California. “Our findings suggest that by promoting a positive climate, schools can allow greater equality in educational opportunities, decrease socioeconomic inequalities, and enable more social mobility.”

The analysis also found no correlation between socioeconomic status and perceptions of school climate. This suggests that schools serving students of lower socioeconomic status do not necessarily have poor climates and that positive climates can be nurtured in these schools.

“Positive school climate has the potential to break the negative influences that stem from poor socioeconomic backgrounds and to mitigate risk factors that threaten academic achievement,” said co-author Ruth Berkowitz, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Haifa, Israel. “Evidence-based interventions that support and improve school climate are critically important to efforts around the world to increase educational opportunity for disadvantaged students and schools.”

For their study, Berkowitz, Astor, and study co-authors Hadass Moore of the University of Southern California and Rami Benbenishty of Bar-Ilan University analyzed 78 studies published between 2000 and 2015 that focused on the relationship between school or classroom climate, academic achievement, and socioeconomic status.

Need for Common Definition and Measurement

In their analysis, the authors also found great variation in the school climate definitions and measurements used by researchers, reflecting the absence of clear and uniform standards.

“This becomes very important with the new Every Student Succeeds Act, which focuses heavily on the climate and social and emotional tone of schools,” said Astor. “The U.S. Department of Education has a definition and instrument that is only somewhat aligned with the research and the scholars producing it.”

“There is a tangible, immediate need to construct a common definition and reliable climate measurements that can be translated into practice and policy guidelines,” Astor said. “In the absence of a clear and uniform definition and measurement of school climate, the ability of researchers and stakeholders to evaluate school climate growth over time is restricted.”

Call for More Rigorous Research

In addition, the study authors made several recommendations to improve future research that would provide more definitive results and allow researchers to offer clear recommendations for policymakers and education practitioners. They strongly recommended the use of more rigorous research designs such as longitudinal, experimental, and semi-experimental.

They also recommended investigating an entire school community’s perceptions of school climate—including those of teachers, administrators, and parents—not just of students or teachers. In addition to allowing for more accurate evaluations of school climate, a multi-perspective approach would allow school communities to design their own climate improvement programs, tailor-made to their requirements and social and organizational characteristics, rather than importing external models that have proved effective elsewhere.

The authors also suggested examining the contribution of school climate to the arts, physical education, social and emotional learning, civics, vocational subjects, and other areas outside the core subjects of mathematics, language arts, and science.

To read the full study, click HERE. To speak with study author Ron Avi Astor, please contact Tony Pals at tpals@aera.net or Victoria Oms at voms@aera.net.

About AERA
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. Founded in 1916, AERA advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. Find AERA on Facebook and Twitter."

For full post, see: http://www.aera.net/Newsroom/Comprehensive-Review-of-Research-Confirms-Positive-School-Climates-Can-Narrow-Achievement-Gaps