Give a listen to this interview on NPR’s Hidden Brain. The sociological science behind neighborhoods, families, race, economics, and success in American schools is telling.

Hidden Brain – NPR
Zip Code Is Destiny – HERE

Reminds me of the Waiting For Superman documentary and the cause and effect argument between bad neighborhoods and bad schools.

There’s a core belief embedded in the story of the United States: the American Dream. The possibility of climbing the economic ladder is central to that dream. This week we speak with Raj Chetty, one of the most influential economists alive today, about the state of economic mobility in the U.S. and whether the notion of the American Dream is still useful. For more information about the research in this episode, visit https://n.pr/2z8cvSs.

Nov 23, 2014, 06:12pm – FORBES

7 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Gratitude That Will Motivate You To Give Thanks Year-Round

Amy MorinContributorPsychotherapist and international bestselling mental strength author

• Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is one of the simplest ways to improve your satisfaction with li

It’s that time of year where many people begin thinking about everything they have to be thankful for. Although it’s nice to count your blessings on Thanksgiving, being thankful throughout the year could have tremendous benefits on your quality of life.

In fact, gratitude may be one of the most overlooked tools that we all have access to every day. Cultivating gratitude doesn’t cost any money and it certainly doesn’t take much time, but the benefits are enormous. Research reveals gratitude can have these seven benefits:

1. Gratitude opens the door to more relationships. Not only does saying “thank you” constitute good manners, but showing appreciation can help you win new friends, according to a 2014 study published in Emotion. The study found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship. So whether you thank a stranger for holding the door or you send a quick thank-you note to that co-worker who helped you with a project, acknowledging other people’s contributions can lead to new opportunities.

Fotolia

2. Gratitude improves physical health. Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and they report feeling healthier than other people, according to a 2012 study published in Personality and Individual Differences. Not surprisingly, grateful people are also more likely to take care of their health.  They exercise more often and are more likely to attend regular check-ups with their doctors, which is likely to contribute to further longevity.

3. Gratitude improves psychological health. Gratitude reduces a multitude of toxic emotions, ranging from envy and resentment to frustration and regret. Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a leading gratitude researcher, has conducted multiple studies on the link between gratitude and well-being. His research confirms that gratitude effectively increases happiness and reduces depression.

4. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression. Grateful people are more likely to behave in a prosocial manner, even when others behave less kind, according to a 2012 study by the University of Kentucky. Study participants who ranked higher on gratitude scales were less likely to retaliate against others, even when given negative feedback. They experienced more sensitivity and empathy toward other people and a decreased desire to seek revenge.

5. Grateful people sleep better. Writing in a gratitude journal improves sleep, according to a 2011 study published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. Spend just 15 minutes jotting down a few grateful sentiments before bed, and you may sleep better and longer.

6. Gratitude improves self-esteem. A 2014 study published in the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology found that gratitude increased athlete’s self-esteem, which is an essential component to optimal performance. Other studies have shown that gratitude reduces social comparisons. Rather than becoming resentful toward people who have more money or better jobs – which is a major factor in reduced self-esteem- grateful people are able to appreciate other people’s accomplishments.

7. Gratitude increases mental strength. For years, research has shown gratitude not only reduces stress, but it may also play a major role in overcoming trauma. A 2006 study published in Behavior Research and Therapy found that Vietnam War Veterans with higher levels of gratitude experienced lower rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  A 2003 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that gratitude was a major contributor to resilience following the terrorist attacks on September 11.  Recognizing all you have to be thankful for – even during the worst times of your life – fosters resilience.

We all have the ability and opportunity to cultivate gratitude. Simply take a few moments to focus on all that you have – rather than complain about all the things you think you deserve.  Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is one of the simplest ways to improve your satisfaction with life.

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do.

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist and the international bestselling author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do and 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do. Her books are translated into more than 30 languages. She’s also a lecturer at Northeastern Univ…MORE

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do.

A new brief by David Osborne and Emily Langhorne titled, Fighting Inequality by Reinventing America’s Schools, discusses what 21st Century school systems should look like:

Responsive, choices, accountability, innovation, decentralized. This is the argument for the charter school movement. I’m in in. I can see that it works.

Joe
Cheif Stoic

DECEMBER 4, 2014 AT 9:00 AM

By Joe Semsar  |  Contributor

Joe Semsar, a former Teach for America corps member and staff member, is an organization-transformation consultant in Deloitte’s federal government human capital practice.

Last June I attended a debate between the Republican candidates for South Carolina superintendent of education. The two-hour debate featured six candidates vying to lead the state’s public education system for the next four years. While the candidates addressed a multitude of scripted and audience-initiated questions, the bulk of those questions centered around the federal government’s encroachment on state and local education and the future of the polarizing Common Core standards.

As a former teacher, I was dismayed at the narrowness of the debate and left wondering what had been discussed that would directly lead to an improved K-12 educational environment. My time as a teacher made clear to me that state standards alone will not lead to students’ mastery of their material.

Like many young teachers fresh out of college, I got my start as a classroom instructor in a school that had perennially failed. After the Recovery School District of Louisiana seized control of the school and handed it over to a charter management organization, that organization built a new staff, extended the school day to nine hours and adopted a new pedagogical approach grounded in diagnostic assessments and individualized academic tracking.

None of those steps resulted in significant academic gains. So what can state and local governments realistically do to improve educational outcomes? There are many truly effective steps that can be taken, but here are two, gleaned from my experience, that could make a difference quickly at little cost.

First, state and local governments must work diligently to empower teachers with the resources needed to succeed — lesson plans and supplemental resources aligned to each state’s grade-level expectations that can be easily tailored and deployed. The inadequate supply of teachers and the rise of teachers certified through non-traditional alternative-certification programs create a situation in which multitudes of educators find themselves floundering to consistently produce engaging lessons. As a first-year teacher, I was responsible for developing lesson plans for five subjects a day for 36 students; that’s nearly 900 lesson plans over the course of a school year, not to mention the differentiation that must be factored in when creating lesson plans for students on different academic levels.

I understand the “every classroom is different” argument, but let’s be honest: No matter how talented or committed one might be, the development and delivery of 900 lesson plans over the course of a school year is simply too big of an ask. A few successful charter management organizations — such as KIPP schools — create online resource repositories for their teachers that provide instant access to engaging lesson plans, classwork and homework that foster educational environments conducive to learning. Why can’t our states and localities replicate this model on a larger scale?

Second, in many low-income communities classroom management — dealing with bad behavior — is the elephant in the room that no one wants to address. More-engaging lessons reduce in-classroom misconduct, but many disenfranchised students suffer because they have fallen behind and need more than engaging instruction. The schools that consistently outperform their academic expectations leverage positive-behavior incentive systems and school-wide consequence systems to curb bad behavior and encourage positive behavior. Celebrating positive behavior reinforces expectations that lead to an improved communal ethos within schools.

There is much that government leaders and education administrators can learn from those who have led school systems and individual schools to outperform expectations. From a more collaborative educational environment that encourages teachers to share resources to the proliferation of behavior systems that have proved successful, governments need to hone in on the core problems and work to address them while leaving partisan, polarizing issues on the sidelines.

Joe Semsar | Contributor | joesemsar@gmail.

Every great idea has a spark, a moment where it smacks you over the head and you can’t believe you missed the forest through the trees. For me, that moment had to do with the role of schools and what education is supposed to achieve.

One of our Directors started an informal discussion about what the goal of our K8 charter school should be. He posed the question, ‘What’s the goal for our graduating 8th graders?’ If you think about it, by 8th grade, these students have been with us since PreK. Next, to their parents, they are spending more time within the walls of our school than anywhere else. What a simple question. Is our goal memorization, critical thinking, the scientific method, grammar rules, how to write a 5 paragraph essay? The answer was so intuitive that my family actually answered the question a decade ago when we selected our kids’ kindergarten to 8th-grade experience.

When he shared the idea with me, he relayed that the few teachers, admin, and parents that he asked came back with one simple answer, ‘TO BE AWARE OF OTHERS’.

There it was, the Golden Rule. The basis of every major religion from Buddhism, to Islam and Christianity and Judaism and a characteristic that has kept civilizations and tribes together for thousands of years. Awareness of others. From that moment on fog was lifted in my life and I moved from the tactics of running a school system to the PURPOSE of running a school system. The purpose that hit me that day was that we were here to ensure the academic success of our students AND to help mold and model positive character.

From this idea, we have developed a 9 point character education plan that can help schools to implement research-backed theories that improve academic outcomes in students and help to build character in K to 12th-grade students.

Joe
Cheif Stoic