Erica Fener Sitkoff Of FullBloom On Raising Children With Healthy Social Media & Digital Media Habits

An Interview With Maria Angelova Our children are facing challenges that didn’t exist just a short while ago. They are growing up with social media, constantly being connected, and the hurried pace of life today, as well as the pandemic, and the often frightening news. In short, our children are facing unprecedented mental health challenges. Anxiety, depression, and even suicide are on the rise. As parents and educators, what can we do to raise children who are mentally healthy? In this interview series, we are talking to authors, parenting experts and mental health professionals who can share their expertise and [...]

2024-08-19T15:24:32-04:00August 19th, 2024|

School attendance: Why mental health and screen time are keys

To improve student well-being and get them excited about coming to school, we must address two critical areas: mental health and screen time. School attendance matters. Students who show up regularly are more likely to excel academically, graduate on time, and develop essential social and emotional skills. Yet, chronic absenteeism remains a nationwide issue. From what I’ve seen as a therapist and school counselor, students who avoid school aren’t doing so because they don’t want to learn; they’re young people often struggling with anxiety and a lack of belonging, which triggers a negative response to school, decreased motivation, and sometimes [...]

2024-07-23T10:35:00-04:00July 23rd, 2024|

What’s Golden Child Syndrome? If You Have More Than One Kid, It Should Be On Your Radar

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 [...]

2024-05-20T09:15:33-04:00May 20th, 2024|

Authoritarian Parenting Can Make It Harder for a Child to Succeed—Here’s Why

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 [...]

2024-04-16T16:23:03-04:00April 16th, 2024|

Want to improve test scores? Remove these non-academic barriers

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 [...]

2024-04-01T15:45:03-04:00April 1st, 2024|

1-on-1 coaching is the missing piece in student mental health

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 [...]

2024-02-16T15:25:35-05:00February 15th, 2024|

Empowering educators through holistic teacher PD

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 [...]

2023-10-04T14:41:39-04:00October 4th, 2023|

Catapult Learning Teacher PD Featured on NBC News (Washington, DC)

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 [...]

2023-08-03T12:27:12-04:00August 3rd, 2023|

Catapult Learning Announces Partnership with Inclusive Practices Leader Dr. Jenna Mancini Rufo

PHILADELPHIA, April 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Catapult Learning, a provider of instructional services for students and professional development solutions for teachers in K-12 schools, today announced a partnership with Jenna Mancini Rufo, Ed.D., a renowned education expert in inclusive practices and author of Reimagining Special Education. The partnership is designed to raise awareness of the need to equip all teachers with the training, tools, and strategies necessary to effectively support the growing population of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. The collaboration between Catapult Learning and Dr. Rufo aims to address this issue by working with general and special [...]

2023-12-08T11:47:43-05:00April 25th, 2023|

Catapult Learning Selected by Mississippi Department of Education to Provide Statewide Professional Development and Coaching Services

Multi-year contract delivers instructional mathematics training and support to K-12 public schools PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Catapult Learning, a provider of intervention programs for students and professional development solutions for teachers in K-12 schools, announced its selection by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) to provide professional development (PD) and coaching services for educators at K-12 schools to improve student outcomes. The four-year state contract includes an optional one-year renewal for a fifth year. Working with Catapult Learning, MDE will provide 25 or more new instructional math coaches. The first group will serve educators at seven elementary [...]

2023-02-10T10:42:58-05:00February 10th, 2023|