RALEIGH, NC (October 17, 2023)- North Carolina, like the rest of the nation, is facing a wave of mental health needs among its students. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly 1 in 5 North Carolina students ages 8-15 years old already had a mental health disorder in any given year, and the needs have intensified since the COVID pandemic began. In response, the North Carolina Center for Resilience & Learning has published 5 Key Findings with Action Steps to Improve the Well-Being of NC’s Children.
“We hope that this policy brief helps everyone who cares about our state’s children to better understand the extensive evidence available about the holistic approaches necessary in order to offer a quality education to today’s students,” said Stacey Craig, a senior consultant at the NC Center for Resilience & Learning and the brief’s author. “Anyone can use this information to become an advocate in voting booths, at school board meetings, and on the legislative floor for providing the kind of safe and supportive school environment that ALL children deserve and most require in order to thrive and reach their potential.”
The report includes recommendations for both lawmakers and constituents and is based on 3 evidence-based frameworks that foster safe and supportive school communities: social and emotional learning, trauma-informed practice, and culturally responsive practice.
Read 5 Key Findings with Action Steps to Improve the Well-Being of NC’s Children here.
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About the North Carolina Center for Resilience & Learning
The NC Center for Resilience & Learning (the Center) is an initiative of the Public School Forum of North Carolina. The Center is supported by the work of the Forum’s Study Group XVI conducted in 2015-2016. The Study Group involved more than 100 stakeholders representing business, education, government, academia and the non-profit community, who continued the Forum’s practice of engaging with major, timely education issues by bringing together subject matter experts to distill collective knowledge on crucial topics related to public education in our state. Three issues – racial equity, trauma and learning, and low-performing schools – were the focus of Study Group XVI’s activity.
The Center launched under its former name, NC Resilience & Learning Project, in 2017 as a way for the Forum to take action on these recommendations. The Center began as a pilot in two school districts in the 2017-2018 school year and has continued to expand, providing varying levels of training and consultation to more than 30 districts across the state as of the 2022-2023 school year.
About the Public School Forum of North Carolina
Since 1986, the Public School Forum of North Carolina has been an indispensable and nonpartisan champion of better schools and the most trusted source in the state for research and analysis on vital education issues. We bring together leaders from business, education and government to study education issues, develop ideas, seek consensus, and ultimately inform and shape education policy. We do that through research, policy work, innovative programs, advocacy, and continuing education for educators and policymakers. Follow us on Twitter @theNCForum and visit our website at http://www.ncforum.org/
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