(Posted from the ASCD Whole Child Blog) A few years ago, the Institute for Global Ethics collaborated with the National Association of Independent Schools to examine what exemplary schools were doing to balance attention to academic rigor with attention to the ethical behavior of high school students. A common thread among these selected schools was a collegial collaboration aimed at making adults feel safe, engaged, and inspired at work. (No surprise to learn that this “rubbed off” on students who were also invited to “take an active part in the school improvement process.”) Through this Schools of Integrity research, we learned the imperative of our new, flat world and its relationship to schools: when faculty and staff partner on an equal level with leadership in an ongoing learning and growth process, higher levels of trust and ownership result. That means everybody operates together more efficiently and comfortably, and students can learn more as a result. Read more...

(Posted from the ASCD Whole Child Blog) 
Increasing time for physical education and physical activity in school will not in itself guarantee a reversal in the current trend of declining physical activity and healthy weight. Changes in methodology and curriculum construction to cater to the physical activity needs and learning styles of all students, as well as teacher confidence in developing educationally appropriate curriculum across all years of schooling, are also required. That means programs must be future-focused to help children learn how to be responsive to changing and emerging recreation, sport, and activity possibilities, recognizing that the needs of individuals change as they journey through life. Read more...

(Posted from the ASCD Whole Child Blog) 
While many schools are reducing physical activity because of time constraints created by the No Child Left Behind Act, a large group of studies has linked physical activity with cognition. 
The researchers have come at the topic from a wide range of disciplines. Some are cognitive scientists or exercise physiologists. Other advocates are educational psychologists, neurobiologists, or physical educators. The applied research, which compares academic achievement between schools where kids have physical activity and those where they don’t, also supports the hypothesis.You’ve heard that exercise reduces discipline issues. Yes, it does. Harvard Professor John Ratey shows how it does this in his 2009 book Spark. You know that recess and physical education can promote cooperation, attentional skills, and social play. Now let’s add the neuroscience perspective. It reveals information that other disciplines cannot. For example, we know that exercise is highly correlated with neurogenesis, or the production of new brain cells. We know exercise upregulates a critical compound called brain-derived neurotrophic factor. We also know that neurogenesis is correlated with improved learning and memory. In addition, neurogenesis appears to be inversely correlated with depression.  Read More...

(Posted from Local Government Employers, UK) Some teachers find it hard to cope with classroom and other pressures and as a result they may develop common mental health problems including anxiety and depression. The need for supportive guidance to assist employers, governing bodies, head teachers and others to respond to these issues has been recognised by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. A panel of key stake holders including representatives from the Health and Safety Executive, Local Government Employers and Teacher Support Network facilitated by Atos Healthcare have produced an information booklet called Common mental health problems: supporting school staff by taking positive action. Read more...

(Posted from Sun Life Chair, Adolescent Mental Health, IWK Centre, Dalhousie University) 
Mental Health Integration and Navigation (MH-IN)  is an innovative mental health pathway to care model that has been developed by the Sun Life Chair Team to create and implement a seamless process that can improve mental health and mental health care for young people.  It includes: curriculum and other information to improve knowledge about mental health and mental illness; training of teachers and other school personnel to help identify young people who may have a mental disorder; establishing a seamless referral process between schools and health providers, training primary health care providers (doctors and nurses) in the diagnosis and best treatments for youth with a mental disorder and supporting young people being treated for a mental disorder on their return to school. Parent information about normal adolescent development and teen mental health is also now available. This model  is currently being piloted in Nova Scotia in collaboration  with the Nova Scotia Department of Education, Schools Plus Program, South Shore Regional School Board, IWK Health Centre and Mental Health and Addictions Program, South Shore Primary Care and South Shore Mental Health Services. Read more... (Posted from Sun Life Chair, Adolescent Mental Health, IWK Centre, Dalhousie University) 

(Posted by ISHN School Health Insider) 
The nitty-gritty, practical details of introducing, adopting and implementing prevention programs raises issues and questions that are almost always ignored or controlled by formal research studies. The discussion will facilitate the development of questions and perspectives from teachers, nurses, social workers, addiction workers, educational administrators and police officers. This “worm’s eye” view is essential if we are to truly understand how various prevention programs or educational resources can be developed, disseminated and diffused effectively.This discussion of the practical details of implementation is part of an international series of webinars, web meetings and online wiki-based discussions about Implementation, Capacity, Sustainability and Systems Change. Join the call for contributors to this discussion.

(Posted by the UCLA Center on School Mental Health) Despite the widespread interest, youth development principles remain a marginal concern in school improvement policy and practice. This brief resource is meant to provide another informative for decision makers and planners about the fundamental importance of promoting youth development through enhancing student assets and improving settings and pairing it with an agenda to address factors interfering with such development. Most definitions of youth development emphasize that it is a process which lays thefoundation for how a child or adolescent copes with the next set of circumstancesencountered. Efforts to promote youth development involve intentional practices designedto positively enhance knowledge, skills, and attitudes (often referred to as assets) in one ormore domains (e.g., cognitive, physical, language/communication, social, emotional, moral,spiritual)Because of the widespread influence of the Search Institute’s work, developmental assetsare often defined as the “internal and external building blocks of healthy development.” The institute describes these as representing “the relationships, opportunities, and personalqualities that young people need to avoid risks and to thrive.” Based on the institute’sreview of youth development, resiliency, and prevention research, a synthesis generated “40common sense, positive experiences and qualities that help influence choices young peoplemake and help them become caring, responsible, successful adults. ”For more..