If you’ve ever felt guilty over “liking” one of your children more than another at some point, don’t. When you have multiple children, it’s a given that they’ll take turns pissing you off. It’s only when one child consistently gets placed on a pedestal that a real problem can arise — and it’s called "golden child syndrome." What is golden child syndrome? Simply put, it’s a family dynamic where one child is treated as superior to their siblings. While there is no clinical definition or diagnosis for golden child syndrome, it is real and can have long-lasting adverse effects on [...]

A study says parents are trying to take control of their child's academic pursuits. Experts explain why that can cause issues.It’s been a rough go for children academically over the last few years—from pandemic switches to virtual learning and the continued fallout. A survey of more than 3,000 parents by Test Prep Insight indicates parents are trying to take control of the situation by becoming stricter about academic success.1The survey shows 49% of parents say they are giving their children shorter leashes because of anxiety about their children’s future abilities to navigate a job market. About 20% parents reported being focused on educational [...]

An alarming undercurrent to current academic declines is a rising tide of maladaptive behaviors across all student populations. We’ve all seen the statistics. Reading and math scores are down in the latest NAEP numbers. The average scores for 9-year-old students in 2022 declined five points in reading and seven points in mathematics compared to 2020. The decline in math was the largest drop since 1990. History scores are also dropping, and alarmingly so: In 2022, the average U.S. history score in eighth grade decreased by five points compared to 2018 and by nine points compared to 2014. The average score in 2022 [...]

This article was originally published by District Administration and can be found here: https://districtadministration.com/1-on-1-coaching-is-the-missing-piece-in-student-mental-health/  There is a student mental health crisis in the United States. The U.S. Surgeon General declared the decline of student mental health as the “crisis of our time.” Nearly one-third of U.S. students report having experienced poor mental health, and 56% of teen girls report feeling anxious and/or depressed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the most recently available and first since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Exacerbated by the ripple effect of the pandemic, many of [...]

Balancing teacher workload and maximizing the outcomes of PD--to create immediate impact, lasting skills, educator engagement--requires a thoughtful approach I vividly remember 20 years ago when I first entered the education field as an elementary school teacher. My lifelong career dream became a reality as I proudly entered my classroom, ready to nurture and positively impact young minds. Also memorable was that it didn’t take long to recognize I was missing key training and resources that could help make me a more effective educator. I approached this realization with optimism, eager to learn and grow, reaching out for the support [...]

Catapult Learning’s professional development partnership with the Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) District in Maryland was recently featured on WRC NBC 4 Washington’s news. The coverage highlighted the district’s efforts, in collaboration with Catapult Learning PD, to equip their educators with the tools and strategies they need to overcome the increasing challenges of classroom and behavioral management as well as pandemic-related learning loss within their schools. During this two-day summer workshop in Wheaton, MD, Catapult’s PD experts delivered job-embedded literacy coaching to strengthen the district’s 5,000 K-5 teachers’ understanding of how to apply the science of reading through structured literacy [...]