Whole Child Education

On a day when U.S. voters will get an earful from the candidates for the vice presidency, ASCD wants to hear from YOU.

On Thursday, October 2, at 3:30 p.m. EST, we'll launch our monthly podcast series, the Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education. The premiere episode will feature segments on public opinion of public schools, community engagement in education, and creating healthy schools. In particular, we'll take on

• The results of the 40th Annual Phi Delta Kappa International/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward Public Schools
• A discussion between Dr. Gene Carter, Executive Director of ASCD, and Hugh Price, Brookings Fellow and author of Mobilizing the Community to Help Students Succeed
• An interview with Dr. Veronica Garcia, New Mexico Secretary of Education

We'll ask our experts: What should the next U.S. President do about education? Before we hear from the V.P. candidates that night, we want to hear from you.

What are your concerns and questions about safeguarding a whole child education for all?

Submit your questions or comments for our experts in advance at

• E-mail: wholechild@ascd.org
• AIM: WholeChildEd
• Twitter: WholeChildAdv
• Phone: 1-347-843-4958

On Friday, September 26, Jim Lehrer of the PBS NewsHour will moderate the first U.S. presidential debate of the 2008 election. Gwen Ifill from PBS will moderate the only vice presidential debate on October 2.

As a whole child advocate, ask Lehrer and Ifill to help make whole child education a priority in this election by questioning the candidates on their education policies.

The town factory closes. A student commits suicide. A hurricane strikes.

Crisis. Trauma. Cataclysmic events. Unfortunately, no community is immune. And within just the last few weeks, too many have been struck by economic, social, and natural disasters.

While these events are challenging, all students, and all communities, have the ability to recover from stress, misfortune, and change. It is our responsibility as educators, parents, friends, and community members to support and tap the resilience of our youth, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Beyond picking up the pieces, we must help young people make sense of any difficult situation and develop the skills they need to face the next.

Forty years of research demonstrates that the keys to tapping young people¿s innate resilience are community engagement, supportive role models, and challenging skill mastery.

You make a difference! Develop children's innate resiliency by ensuring that they are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Start today using the free Planned Responses to Unplanned Change tool. This tool provides all the resources you need for workshops on building resiliency, supporting positive school culture and climate, and exploring new roles for families, schools, and communities in times of crisis and change. Or, lead a community conversation in your school or community to engage others who want to make a difference too!

It's the first day of high school. Thirty students sit in homeroom: 14 are white; 9 are Hispanic; 5 are black; 1 is Asian; 1 is of mixed race. Girls and boys are equally represented. Their school is over 40 years old. Three are from families who make less than $20,000 per year.

Only 22 will be left by high school graduation. Only 10 of those will have the skills necessary to succeed in college or enter the workplace directly. Five will not have studied any foreign language at all during high school.

The most common reason for the eight who dropped out will be boredom. Four of them will be unemployed. Three will end up on government assistance. Two will not have health insurance. All eight will be three and a half times more likely to get arrested and eight times more likely to go to jail than their peers who graduated. They will live 10 years less on average but cost $83,000 more each in government-paid health costs than if they had graduated.

Do you know them? What will you do to make a difference? Take action today:

• Watch the whole child video, and share it with others.
• Host a Community Conversation to engage others in supporting the whole child.
• Advocate for whole child policies in your community and across the country using the tips and tools in our Policy Blackboard.
• Stay informed through this newsletter and through the Whole Child page on Facebook so that you are the first to know when new resources and action alerts are available.

Ask questions. Learn more. Be heard. Do More.