The following blog was contributed by the Friendzy content development team.

As we progressed through Holy Week and are now in Easter season, it is a fitting time to talk about resilience. Reading through the Gospel accounts of Holy Week – from Palm Sunday through to Jesus’ death on the Cross – every action of Jesus is marked with an incredibly powerful resilience; a strength and capacity to overcome hardships that can only be categorized as divine.

This resilience that we see Jesus display in his final days before the Crucifixion is something that I know so many of us are praying for and seeking in ourselves, our students, and our school communities. These past few years have been tough; our students are hurting and their ability to bounce back has diminished. Mental health claims in young adults increased a staggering 97% in 2020 alone. 

So, as a faith community, how do we lean into the message of Christ and help students build the muscle of resilience? 

Guiding students through challenging situations can be daunting, but just imagine a classroom full of scholars, who in the face of adversities of all kinds, can look you in the eyes and say, “God has given me the ability to bounce back!” 

At Friendzy, we have seen that social-emotional skills like resilience are teachable. We have also found that scripture is the perfect guide and example of how we can develop and live out God’s design for friendship. 

Here are a few practical tips on how you can begin to explicitly teach the skill of resilience to your students using the example of the life of Jesus and the 4 Rs of Resilience. 

1. Ask students: Do you know what it means to be resilient? Assist students in defining resilience in their own words with examples. Keywords: strength, push through, bounce back, overcome, recover quickly, toughness, make it through challenging times. 
2. Define: Resilience is a person’s ability to bounce back in response to hard or challenging times. It is working through things that are hard and not giving up. The dictionary defines resilience as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.”
3. Read: Choose a passage of scripture where Jesus exemplifies resilience. In the “Apply” section below, we chose the story of Jesus in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46). You can use this outline verbatim or choose another section of scripture that exemplifies the 4 Rs of resilience.
4. Apply: Introduce the 4 Rs of resilience and identify how Jesus demonstrated and exemplified each.

RECOGNIZE HARDSHIPS

Recognizing hardships means telling ourselves and maybe even others that we are experiencing a challenge or going through a tough time. We may be tempted to pretend everything is ok, but it’s important to say “This is hard!” Only then can we begin to find ways to bounce back. 

Jesus gave an example of this in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46) when he shared with his disciples that his “soul was sorrowful.” He then went off to be alone and continued to share his feelings with God, asking for help and strength, as he knew that death was drawing near. 

REMAIN HOPEFUL

There are many situations where it can be difficult to see the silver lining or find any hope. In the last passage, we read about a moment when even Jesus struggled to find hope. And what did he do? He prayed to God and even asked his disciples to pray for strength as well. When we place our hope in God, He renews our strength. God is with us and will never let us go! We can take comfort in the fact that Jesus, in the face of terrible circumstances, found the strength to continue through God. 

REFRAME VIEW

Hope gives us the ability to reframe hardship and bounce back. Reframing means taking the time to find the good in a challenging situation. It doesn’t mean ignoring that a situation is difficult, but it does mean finding a new perspective or a new way of looking at how a challenge can actually bring something positive like growth, confidence and stronger relationships. 

Jesus, in this passage we read, was faced with a truly terrible situation. He knew he was going to be crucified. Scripture shows us that this wasn’t easy for Jesus. What do you think kept him going? It was his ability to reframe the situation and remember that through his pain and death, he would be bringing life everlasting to generations of believers. 

Can you think of a challenging or scary situation that you were able to reframe? 

Examples: Going to the dentist might be scary but you know that in the end, you will have clean and healthy teeth. Learning something new might feel challenging in the moment, but reframing might be remembering what you’d like to be when you grow up and how having knowledge and good grades will help you accomplish your goals.

Take a few minutes as a class to practice reframing a few of these examples. Recognize the bad but focus on a positive part: 

> You don’t know how to do your homework.

> Someone you love is sick.

> You moved schools in the middle of the year and don’t know anyone.

RELATIONSHIPS

We all need to have supportive relationships. Other people help us bounce back. All through Jesus’ life, he relied on the friendship and support of his friends and disciples. It’s through these relationships that we have an account of Jesus’ life in the Gospels! Sometimes we don’t notice or forget to acknowledge the people in our lives who care for us and cheer us on. It’s important to remember who these people are.

>>> Who is one person who cares about you? (teacher, coach, family, friend)

Equipping students with accessible language and a process for bouncing back will help them apply scripture in a meaningful way, strengthen their self-awareness and self-management skills and support them in their academic success. 

If you’re looking for additional tools and resources for teaching students resilience and coping skills through the lens of scripture, reach out to a Friendzy program specialist today to learn more about our whole school program that teaches explicit social and emotional skills with a unified language through the lens of scripture and friendship. 
Friendzy is offering a month-long soft launch unit all about resilience at no cost for schools beginning their school-wide Friendzy journey in the Fall of 2022.

The following blog was contributed by Sister Dale McDonald, PBVM, Ph.D., NCEA Vice President of Public Policy.  

For decades, NCEA has supported parental choice in education as a component of the social justice agenda of the Catholic church. The choice movement is about supporting parents as the primary educators of their children and assisting them with the means to select the education they deem appropriate for their children. The association defines “full and fair parental choice” as that which includes all private and religiously affiliated schools.

The attainment of full and fair parental choice in education is NCEA’s primary public policy objective. NCEA supports programs such as tax credits, vouchers, scholarships and education savings accounts to ensure that all parents have the financial means to select the appropriate school for their children. 

The association advocates for the enactment of legislation and policies that will maximize the quality of educational opportunities for all of America’s children, particularly the children of poor and modest means. While millions of Americans exercise their right to choose schools they believe best for their children, their freedom depends on their ability to pay tuition to private schools or to establish residence in communities with excellent public schools. But virtually all low-income and many middle-income families cannot exercise their right to choose the schools they want to educate their children. 

As Catholic school educators, the NCEA membership believes that all children are entitled to attend any school, religious, private or public, which will help them to achieve their full potential and that such choice is a universal parental right regardless of race, creed, neighborhood or the ability to pay. From the earliest settlements of this country, Catholic schools have served the common good of the nation and will continue to do so in a manner that recognizes that all children have an inalienable right to a quality education that is determined by parents, the primary educators of their children. At NCEA that commitment continues.

We believe that educational choice can promote academic excellence by creating an educational climate that is respectful of parental concerns while fostering a competitive climate that results in greater school accountability to parents.

NCEA members believe that the needs of students and their parents supersede those of entrenched educational bureaucracies. 

Public interest polls unfailingly demonstrate that parents overwhelmingly support full and fair choice. Furthermore, any publicly funded educational choice programs must include religiously affiliated schools if all parents, particularly those with low or middle incomes, are to have meaningful options. 

Most parents who currently choose Catholic or other private schools for their children exercise this constitutional right at significant cost and personal sacrifice; they bear a dual burden of paying school tuition while also contributing their share of taxes to support public schools. The education of children in Catholic schools provides more than $21 billion in annual tax savings to the American people.

We believe that government financial assistance to parents, in the form of tax relief, scholarships or vouchers, to enable them to choose any school, including religiously affiliated ones, will withstand First Amendment challenges. We urge the continuance of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, the first federally funded scholarship program for under-served students that is changing the lives of almost 2,000 student participants.

Catholic school educators support the right of parents to choose schools for their children. This fundamental liberty – the belief that “the child is not the mere creature of the state” – was upheld by the Pierce decision.

Today millions of Americans exercise the right to choose schools. This freedom, however, depends on their ability to pay tuition to a private school or to live in neighborhoods where the public school system meets the needs of their children.

While NCEA advocates for educational choice for all Americans, it has a special concern for the children of the poor. These children are our children, too. Priority should be given to assistance for low- and middle-income families, enabling them to increase educational options for their children.

NCEA believes that full and fair parental choice will strengthen both families and schools and improve educational opportunities for all. Interested in more information on parents’ rights for school choice informed by Catholic Church documents? Please see the blog post, Parents’ Rights in Education by Reverend Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D. Excerpts are from Father Stravinskas’ book, The Mission of Catholic Schools: A Century of Reflection and Direction.

The following blog was contributed by Reverend Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., co-author with Reverend Nicholas L. Gregoris, S.T.D., of The Mission of Catholic Schools: A Century of Reflection and Direction. Father Stravinskas has highlighted the following excerpts from the book that specifically affirm the Church’s position on parental choice for schools. The book is a collection of ecclesiastical documents on Catholic schools, focused on elementary and secondary schools, beginning with the pontificate of Benedict XV and ending with that of Pope Francis.

Summary Conclusions

In all of the citations offered, one finds a consistent line of thought, namely, that parental freedom of choice in education is a fundamental human right.  No citation hems this right in by certain conditions, like financial need.  The only way that issue could be entered into the calculus would be by invoking the moral principle of “gradualism,” that is, here, a political assessment that school choice legislation could have difficulty passing if it were not limited (at least initially) to those in most financial need.  However, gradualism would also hold that this step must only be considered a first step, requiring further political action to encompass all parents, regardless of financial status.

Secular Sources

“The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public school teachers only.  The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty, to recognize, and prepare him for additional duties.”

– Supreme Court of the United States, Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 535 (1925).¹

“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. . . .  Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”

– Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations Charter (1948)

“A civil right penalized is a civil right suppressed.”

– Virgil C. Blum, Freedom in Education (Garden City, New York:  Doubleday, 1965), 56.

“An education established and controlled by the State should only exist, if it exists at all, as one among many competing experiments, carried on for the purpose of example and stimulus, to keep the others up to a certain standard of excellence.”

– John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (New York:  Henry Holt & Company Publishers, 1898), 184.

Ecclesiastical Sources

“In the first place, it pertains to the State, in view of the common good, to promote in various ways the education and instruction of youth.  It should begin by encouraging and assisting, of its own accord, the initiative and activity of the Church and the family, whose successes in this field have been clearly demonstrated by history and experience.  It should moreover supplement their work whenever this falls short of what is necessary. . . .  For the State more than any other society is provided with the means put at its disposal for the needs of all, and it is only right that it use these means to the advantage of those who have contributed to them.”

“. . . giving them [Church and families] such assistance as justice demands. . . can be done to the full satisfaction of families, and to the advantage of education and of public peace and tranquility, [which] is clear from the actual experience of some countries comprising different religious denominations.  There the school legislation respects the rights of the family, and Catholics are free to follow their own system of teaching in schools that are entirely Catholic.”

“Accordingly, unjust and unlawful is any monopoly, educational or scholastic, which, physically or morally, forces families to make use of government schools, contrary to the dictate of their Christian conscience, or contrary even to their legitimate preferences.”

– Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri (1929).

“Parents. . . have a primary and inalienable duty and right in regard to the education of their children.”

– Vatican II, Gravissimum Educationis, n. 6.

The family “requires the help of society as a whole.”

– Vatican II, Gravissimum Educationis, n. 3.  

Parents “have the right to decide in accord with their own religious beliefs the form of religious upbringing which is to be given to their children.  The civil authority must therefore recognize the right of parents to choose with genuine freedom schools or other means of education.  Parents should not be subjected directly or indirectly to unjust burdens because of this freedom of choice.”

– Vatican II, Dignitatis Humanæ, n. 5.                      

“Because they have given life to their children, parents have a most serious obligation and enjoy the right to educate them.”

– Code of Canon Law, canon 226.2.

 “It is necessary that parents enjoy true freedom in selecting schools; the Christian faithful must therefore be concerned that civil society acknowledge this freedom for parents and also safeguard it with its resources in accord with distributive justice.”

–  Code of Canon Law, canon 797.

“Parents have the right to choose freely schools or other means necessary to educate their children in keeping with their convictions.  Public authorities must ensure that public subsidies are so allocated that parents are truly free to exercise this right without incurring unjust burdens.  Parents should not have to sustain, directly or indirectly, extra charges which would deny or unjustly limit the exercise of this freedom.”

– Holy See, Charter of the Rights of the Family, Article 5 (22 October 1983).

In the lead-up to the signing of the Helsinki Accords, Pope John Paul II called for “freedom for families to choose the schools or other means which provides this sort of education [religious] for their children without having to sustain directly or indirectly extra charges which would in fact deny them this freedom.”

– “On the Value and Content of Freedom of Conscience and Religion” (14 November 1980).

“The right of parents to choose an education in conformity with their religious faith must be absolutely guaranteed.”

–Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, n. 40 (1981).

“Public authorities must see to it that “public subsidies are so allocated that parents are truly free to exercise this right without incurring unjust burdens. Parents should not have to sustain, directly or indirectly, extra charges which would deny or unjustly limit the exercise of this freedom.” The refusal to provide public economic support to non-public schools that need assistance and that render a service to civil society is to be considered an injustice. “Whenever the State lays claim to an educational monopoly, it oversteps its rights and offends justice. . . .  The State cannot without injustice merely tolerate so-called private schools. Such schools render a public service and therefore have a right to financial assistance.”

– Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, n. 241 (2003).

Advocacy

“Where this fundamental liberty is thwarted or interfered with, Catholics will never feel, whatever may have been the sacrifices already made, that they have done enough, for the support and defense of their schools and for the securing of laws that will do them justice.”

This is “not mixing in party politics.”  On the contrary, it is involvement “in a religious enterprise demanded by conscience.”

– Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri.

“It is of great importance, especially in a pluralistic society, to work out a proper vision of the relationship between the political community and the Church, and to distinguish clearly between the activities of Christians, acting individually or collectively, in their own name as citizens guided by the dictates of a Christian conscience, and their activity in communion with their pastors in the name of the Church.”

– Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, n. 76.

Some situations call for “concerted action.  Organizations created for group apostolate afford support to their members, train them for the apostolate, carefully assign and direct their apostolic activities; and as a result, a much richer harvest can be hoped for from them than if each were to act on his own.” 

– Vatican II, Apostolicam Actuositatem, n. 18.

Such activity is “political intervention,” serving as “protagonists of what is known as ‘family politics.’”

– Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, n. 44.

“Allow me to claim in this place for Catholic families the right which belongs to all families to educate their children in schools which correspond to their view of the world. . . .”

– Pope John Paul II to UNESCO officials in Paris (1980).

Father Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., is the founder and superior of the Priestly Society of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman, a clerical association of the faithful, committed to Catholic education, liturgical renewal and the new evangelization. Father Stravinskas is also the president of the Catholic Education Foundation, an organization serving as a resource for heightening the Catholic identity of Catholic schools. Interested in more information on parents’ rights for school choice informed by the advocacy work of Sister Dale McDonald, PBVM, Ph.D., NCEA Vice President of Public Policy? Please see the blog post, Fair Parental Choice in Catholic School Education.

¹So important was this statement that Pope Pius XI cited it in his landmark education encyclical, Divini Illius Magistri (the only U.S. Supreme Court decision ever cited in a papal document).

The following blog was contributed by Sofia Carozza, a doctoral student in neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, England.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, students of all ages have reported high rates of loneliness and anxiety. These concerns were already on the rise in recent years, but they have been exacerbated by the financial difficulties, social isolation, and illness brought on by the pandemic.

In response, some schools have introduced the practice of classroom-based mindfulness interventions as a support for their students’ mental health needs. When practicing mindfulness, a person strives to cultivate non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. This mental work is often accompanied by attention to breathing and posture. Although researchers have not yet done rigorous studies on the efficacy of school-based mindfulness programs, preliminary research shows that mindfulness meditation can alleviate stress and reduce pain. It would seem, therefore, that mindfulness could help young people who experience distinct challenges in their mental or physical health.

Although it is positive that mindfulness promises these benefits, and it would make sense that Catholic schools would follow their public-school counterparts in providing support for the social and emotional needs of their students, Catholic schools should be cautious about introducing mindfulness as a solution to the anxieties of life. Catholic schools are distinct in that they aim to open the souls of students to the life of God. This means that they must offer students an account of reality that is rooted in the Gospel and also equip them with the means by which to live it. Without this, young people are vulnerable to prevalent ideologies of our time, which are not always compatible with the Christian view of the world and the human person.

When considering the incorporation of mindfulness, educators at Catholic schools will want to keep this mission in mind and weigh the proposed benefits of mindfulness against its associated costs. These costs include a suspension of judgment, a separation of the mind from the heart, and a withdrawal from communion with God and others. Contemplative prayer, long known to the Christian tradition, is a better option. Its practice offers expanded, widely recognized benefits with none of the associated drawbacks of mindfulness.

The role of judgment

Mindfulness meditation aims to help a person cultivate a ‘non-judgmental’ awareness of reality. This involves their observing whatever thought or emotion arises in their mind without passing judgment on its meaning or value. Ideally, suspending judgment in this way lessens the discomfort of negative emotions and quiets painful critical thoughts.  However, their elimination may come with a psychological cost. 

As psychologist Susan David emphasizes, emotions and thoughts, including uncomfortable ones, communicate useful information. For instance, feeling anger is often a sign a person has witnessed an injustice, an experience of shame may indicate a person’s need for acceptance and love. In routinely suspending judgment (as is encouraged in the practice of mindfulness), a person becomes less able to evaluate the truth of their experiences and becomes vulnerable to distorted beliefs and instincts. This is problematic because psychological and mental healing relies on correcting false ideas and aligning one’s thoughts with the truth of reality–a process that is central to the most effective therapy for mental illness.

The suspension of judgment may also have a spiritual cost.  This is because a person’s capacity for judgment aids their progress on the path of Christian life, which is one of conversion. Following Christ requires the constant work of correcting the false judgments attributed to our fallen nature. When striving for increasing holiness, a person must learn to “put on the mind of Christ”: to esteem humility and poverty, to hope amid suffering, and to accept dependence on God with joy. The practice of ignoring one’s judgment, as occurs in mindfulness meditation, can put up obstacles to this conversion by weakening a person’s ability to accurately evaluate emotions, intentions, and actions. For instance, a recent study showed that practicing mindfulness meditation decreases the empathy narcissistic people show others, perhaps because it interferes with the rejection of self-aggrandizing thoughts.

Contemplative prayer, on the other hand, heightens a person’s capacity for judgment. Through encountering Christ in the silence of her heart, a person can offer Him her intellect, will, and emotions, and ask Him to make them like His own. Prayer thus strengthens a person’s capacity to reject evil thoughts and cultivate the life of Christ, which alone can bring us peace.

The needs of the heart

Mindfulness, as an extension of Buddhism, aims to expose all of reality as impermanent and unsubstantial, including the notion of an eternal soul. If none of reality is ‘real’, a person can only be certain of what is going on in his own mind–his thoughts, perceptions, and emotions. Mindfulness thus teaches those who practice it, whether they realize it or not, that their ultimate desire is for a life free of psychological suffering.

But this is not enough to satisfy the human heart. What the human person truly desires is not a life free of suffering, but the awareness of the beauty and meaning of life at every moment, even in the midst of suffering. This is the thirst of the soul for the divine. Without recognizing this thirst, and God’s answer to it, a person has no defense against despair. This might explain why some people who practice meditation report that their mental health and well-being actually decline.

In contrast with mindfulness, prayer teaches us to listen to the desires of our hearts for justice, beauty, truth, and love. It allows us to discover that these desires can be fulfilled. Because in the silence of the present moment, it is possible to recognize that we are being created at every instant by God, a God who became a man so that we can now encounter Him in our lives. A habit of prayer strengthens a person’s awareness that they live in Christ because of their Baptism, and nourishes their desire to follow Him, even through suffering, to the embrace of the Father.

The call to communion

During mindfulness meditation, a person strives to overcome suffering by focusing only on thoughts and sensations. Establishing this very limited psychological horizon can have detrimental effects on a person’s relationships. This is because it turns one’s focus inward and away from the joys to be found in encountering others. Practicing mindfulness may thus lead a person to forget that she is created to give and receive care in loving relationships—a truth that psychological research has verified. The self-absorption promoted by mindfulness can also impede the path toward God, a journey traveled by learning to recognize Christ’s presence in one’s neighbors—particularly the poor (Matt 22:37-39; 25:21-46).

Prayer, on the other hand, expands the horizon of a person’s reality and thereby fosters communion with God and others. This is because “begging to see God’s face” in prayer leads a person to seek and find His presence in ordinary experiences of daily life, including encounters with others. Prayer teaches one to gaze on all people with the awareness that they, too, belong to God and that one’s true joy is found in serving Him in them.

Conclusion

Life under a pandemic may be filled with stress and suffering, but that is not the final word, because God has taken our burdens on Himself in Christ. Catholic schools have the fullness of this truth and should not settle for proposing anything less to their students. By teaching them to pray, Catholic school educators can offer their students a remedy that satisfies the needs of their hearts and functions as a powerful defense against anxiety.

In this age of digital media, incorporating prayer is easier than ever. There are numerous online resources for teachers who want to help their students learn to pray – and some, like the Catholic prayer app Hallow, even have special offers for schools.

However, if teachers and administrators are to give the treasure of prayer to their students, they must first discover it for themselves. By fostering their own relationship with God in the silence of their hearts, teachers will be able to speak to their students of the love that Christ has for us, which is our source of peace. For it is God who gives Catholic educators the strength and grace to fulfill their lofty responsibility toward their students.

The original, longer version of this article can be found on the Church Life Journal website.

The following blog was contributed by a team of authors from Renaissance: Dr. Gene Kerns, Vice President and Chief Academic Officer; Dr. Jan Bryan, Vice President and National Education Officer; and Julianne Robar, Educational Content Program Manager.

To view the full article on Reading Trip Steps, click here. You can also learn more about Reading and Math Trip Steps in the NCEA webinar, Mastering Challenging Reading and Math Skills and the NCEA podcast, Trip Steps for Reading and Math.

In education, we often describe learning as a staircase, with each skill being slightly more difficult than the one before it. While this is generally accurate, students occasionally encounter a skill that is significantly more difficult than the prior skill, and these “Trip Steps” may cause a stumble in learning.

Focus Skills, a free resource from Renaissance, are the essential reading and math skills at each grade level that are also important prerequisites for future learning—the skills that students must master in order to progress. While all Focus Skills are essential, Trip Steps are more difficult, and critical, for students to learn than others.

Knowing which reading and math skills are most difficult for students to learn at grade level is valuable information for planning instruction. Trip Steps also support the important work of learning recovery, by helping educators identify essential yet challenging skills from prior grades that students may have missed. Trip Steps for Reading tend to span many grades within each skill area. For example, the Trip Steps for Main Idea and Details span grades 2–10. The Author’s Purpose and Perspective has Trip Steps spread across grades 2, 7, and 10. Looking at the list, it’s clear how these skills build on one another and require increasingly sophisticated levels of analysis.

What sets reading apart is how students must operationalize skills they’ve learned through all the genres they encounter. Reading a novel is different from reading a poem, an essay, a persuasive piece, or a newspaper article. The Trip Steps in the Conventions and Range of Reading skill area highlight the difference between reading literary texts and informational texts. This begins in grade 1 with the Trip Step, Understand the general differences among various print and digital materials (e.g., storybooks, fairy tales, informational books, newspapers, websites).

Grade 1 typically has the most reading Focus Skills, so it’s not surprising to see the large number of reading Trip Steps in kindergarten and grade 1. Students build important foundational skills at these grade levels, particularly for decoding. The skill areas we see here include Phonemes, Vowel Sounds, and Consonants, Blends, and Digraphs. Some early reading Trip Steps are extraordinarily difficult. For example, consider the kindergarten Trip Step for Vowel Sounds: Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the vowels that differ (e.g., pick the word that has the /a/ sound: cat, cot, cut.) Using the empirical difficulty data from Renaissance Star Assessments, we see this skill is roughly two grade levels ahead of kindergarten. But because it’s a prerequisite skill, it’s taught in kindergarten, not second grade. Even though it’s a difficult skill for kindergarteners to learn, it’s essential to their progression—which is the very definition of a Trip Step.

It may seem surprising to see only one reading Trip Step for grade 3, given the many policies around third-grade proficiency. Remember that high-stakes grade 3 tests assess students’ reading development through grade 3, not just in grade 3, including all the critical decoding skills in kindergarten and grade 1.

Once students have learned the mechanics of reading, daily independent reading is essential for building background knowledge and vocabulary and developing the stamina to read the long and complex informational texts they’ll encounter in college and career. In middle and high school, there’s a massive shift in complexity and in how students are asked to interact with texts. They’re making inferences, analyzing figurative language, evaluating arguments and evidence, and drawing conclusions. 

Looking at grade 7 Trip Steps, you’ll see that the skill areas deal with author’s purpose, author’s word choice, connotation, cause and effect, etc., and the skills begin with words like “Interpret,” “Analyze,” “Explain,” and “Draw conclusions.” This is not something that comes naturally to many 12- and 13-year-olds. The Trip Steps for middle and high school highlight the equally important role of teacher-led instructional reading practice in helping students to learn these challenging and more abstract skills. So how might teachers and administrators use Trip Steps for Reading? We suggest that grade-level teams plan instruction and share resources, focus on prerequisite skills and student motivation, and frequently check for understanding.

Trip Steps provide a tool for prioritization, a way to “zoom in” on the Focus Skills that will likely require the most instructional time, the most support, and the most student practice. Share the list of Trip Steps with teachers and instructional specialists. Ask them to find quality resources, lesson plans, and instructional tools for teaching students these necessary and challenging skills.

Students today, more than ever, are relying on their teachers. The past two years have had a dramatic impact on some students who are still regaining lost learning time while simultaneously struggling to keep up with grade-level studies. This situation thrusts teachers directly into the spotlight, which means they need to be as prepared as possible to take on the heavy responsibility of accelerating the learning of their students.

How can Catholic schools best prepare their teachers? Through consistent, effective professional development (PD). As students grow more dependent on teachers to lead them out of the COVID learning gap, teachers in turn are counting on administrators to provide the support they need. Here are four ways that professional development benefits teachers—and, in turn, students and districts.

High-quality professional development clearly makes an impact at many levels, however, PD is only valuable when schools follow up with consistent support. Teachers may finish their PD sessions full of new knowledge and skills and ready to make a difference but if schools aren’t assisting with the implementation of these new skills, any benefits from PD will be substantially diminished. It is imperative that schools offer their teachers support through regular feedback, coaching, training events, observations and evaluations. It requires time, patience and steady support from districts to ensure success.

Catapult Learning’s professional development builds instructor and leadership capacity by equipping Catholic school educators with research-based best practices that are designed to meet the needs of their schools and districts. Our PD experts work with your school or district leadership to create a customized professional development plan to fit your specific areas of opportunity. By focusing on five key areas—pedagogy and curriculum, student support, environment, leadership and assessment—Catapult can address the varying needs of schools and organizations and help promote behaviors intended to increase and successfully maintain student achievement.

Catapult Learning offers a wide range of professional development solutions, including:

• Workshops and institutes
• Long-term consultative programs
• Targeted or whole-school transformations
• High-impact coaching
• Special education capacity building
• And more

For more information about Catapult Learning’s professional development solutions, download our professional learning solutions catalog or browse through our workshops.

The following blog was contributed by Dr. Jan Bryan, Vice President and National Education Officer at Renaissance, and Julianne Robar, Educational Content Program Manager at Renaissance.

To view the full article on Math Trip Steps, click here. You can also learn more in the NCEA webinar, Mastering Challenging Reading and Math Skills.

If learning is a staircase, then all steps are not created equal. In math especially, some skills along the staircase are extraordinarily difficult for students to master. At Renaissance, we call these skills “Trip Steps“ because they can cause a stumble in learning, just as an extraordinarily tall step in a staircase can cause an awkward bit of climbing. Essentially, new skill + new process = potential for some students to “trip.” And Trip Steps have profound effects on future learning in math. Trip over one and you’re likely to trip over another.

Trip Steps and accelerated learning

The Focus Skills Resource Center, a free resource from Renaissance, identifies skills fundamental to student understanding at every grade level and across all domains of reading and mathematics, tied directly to each state’s learning standards. Some Focus Skills have also been identified as Trip Steps and can provide educators with a pathway to prioritize and plan more impactful learning experiences. This is especially important given the need to accelerate learning after academic disruptions. The challenge is illustrated by the Renaissance How Kids Are Performing report, which found that students across grades 2–8 ended the 2020–2021 school year 11 weeks behind expectations in math, on average.

Which skill area has the most Trip Steps?

Geometry & Measurement is the skill area with the most Trip Steps across grade levels, while Grades 4 and 5 have the most math Trip Steps. This reflects the shift in process complexity, as well as the transition in this grade range from Whole Numbers to Fractions. The table below shows the Trip Steps that exist in this critical transition, as well as provides further examples of important prerequisite relationships between skills.

Trip Steps and math recovery

Focus Skills and Trip Steps help educators focus on recovery and growth to accelerate learning. We suggest that teachers:

• Review math Trip Steps for your grade level or course
• Identify the prerequisite skills associated with each Trip Step
• Plan with math colleagues and share resources, techniques, and expertise related to Trip Steps
• Nurture positive mindsets by explaining to students that the skill may seem difficult, but, step-by-step, they can master it
• Share strategic feedback with students
• Assess student readiness for each Trip Step
• Engage in just-in-time support as needed
• Monitor developing mastery

Why research on Trip Steps continues

At Renaissance, we continue to look for relationships among Trip Steps, Focus Skills, how students are performing, and how they are really learning. There is always something more to learn, and there are always remarkable findings to share. To learn more about Focus Skills, and to see the most critical math and reading skills by grade level for each state, visit our Focus Skills Resource Center. To see a list of math Trip Steps that are also Focus Skills, click here. And to see the most urgent instructional needs this school year, download our report on How Kids Are Performing.

The following blog was contributed by Laura Wei, M.Ed., School Success Specialist at Friendzy.

Any educator who has taught during this pandemic understands the many challenges that surface throughout the school year – from handling changing learning models to the lack of digital resources, and more importantly, prioritizing the social-emotional well-being of students over academics. Back in 2020, I taught 5th grade in an auditorium with 27 students (there was not enough classroom space to accommodate social distancing). Every morning, students would walk in and sit in their designated seats which were a few seats away from their peers. They would scatter their materials on the floor beside their breakfast, take a deep breath, and try their best for another day of learning.

I had a student who I loved dearly. This was my second year teaching her, so I knew her and her family well. She became known as the student who was always the first to enter the classroom and greet all the teachers. And though she struggled in reading, she never let it discourage her and became one of my strongest discussion leaders.

When she didn’t show up for a couple of days, I became increasingly worried. I made a phone call and it was then I learned that her father had passed away suddenly from COVID-19. It was a family of 5 kids and the dad was the sole provider.

There was only one question that popped in my mind… What can I do to best support my grieving student and her family?

What is Grief? 

Grief is the normal and natural emotional reaction to loss or change of any kind. It is the conflicting feelings caused by the end of or change in a familiar pattern or behavior and can affect our mind, body, emotions, and spirit. (source)  

It is important to note that when students experience death, they may express their grieving outwardly (see pg. 8-9 for common responses to grief), and they may not. This distinction is critical as one should not assume another individual is not grieving just because we do not “see” a reaction. Everyone experiences grief differently and should be able to grieve at their own pace and in their own way.

How Children of Different Developmental Stages Understand Grief

General Tips for the Classroom

1. This topic may trigger memories and sadness for some students. Notify school counselors and parents of discussion in advance, for additional support
2. Monitor the temperature and temperament of the classroom during lessons and discussion. Take breaks to stretch, breathe and laugh as needed. I would recommend printing for all students the desk version of Friendzy’s daily check-in tool to help with this. Grief can come in unexpected waves and this tool allows students the space to share how they are feeling at any given point and also provides teachers valuable insight on the classroom dynamic. 
3. Acknowledge and reinforce that it’s okay not to be okay. 
4. Encourage students to encourage one another. For younger students, this could be a smile, a note or drawing or kind word. For older students consider walking through the “How can we show comfort to others?” 
5. Give breaks as needed. This includes bathroom breaks, water breaks, and a designated calm space if possible. A calm space can include independent activities like coloring sheets and journaling printouts. Here are several Friendzy resources that could work for a calm space here: 

Doodle downloads: 

Hard Things Help Us Grow

Everything Will Be Alright 

Better Together 

I Miss You 

We Are In This Together

Friendship Comforts Fear

Peace Blooms From Gratitude

Feal to Deal

Additional Resources

• Grief
• Questions and Answers about Children’s Grief
• Helping the Grieving Student: A Guide for Teachers

“Education is in fact the primary vehicle of integral human development, for it makes individuals free and responsible…The pandemic prevented many young people from attending school to the detriment of their personal and social development.” – Pope Francis, Address to the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See, January 10, 2022

Whenever federal funds are made available to schools, questions inevitably follow. This article is intended to help Catholic schools determine how to spend their Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) allocations responsibly and effectively to help both students and teachers.

What Principals Should Consider Before Spending EANS II Funds

When contemplating how principals can effectively use their EANS II funding once it’s available, it is helpful to reflect on the last two years. The impact of COVID-19 has caused students across the globe to feel the effects of learning loss, coupled with an increase in behavioral issues, both of which teachers and school leaders have been trying to address in an increasingly stressful environment. Education leaders should seriously consider focusing their EANS funds on addressing these challenges:

• Learning loss:  By using EANS II funds on targeted academic interventions as well as accelerated learning programs such as High-Dosage Tutoring, Catholic schools can not only address any learning loss that occurred throughout the pandemic, but they’re also able to expedite learning to close the achievement gaps and ensure students are where they need to be academically.
• Behavior challenges: Individual and family counseling, as well as programs that focus on social-emotional learning (SEL) and health, are effective ways to provide support to students with behavioral challenges. These include conflict resolution skills, emotional regulation, empathy, and healthy lifestyle habits.
• Teacher support and retention through professional development: In addition to providing instructional support and coaching on how to implement accelerated learning and differentiated instruction, professional development programs can assist teachers with social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and cultural competence in the classroom—all especially relevant topics in today’s education landscape. Research indicates that teachers who participate in high quality professional development are more likely to persevere in their teaching careers.

How You Can Responsibly Spend Your Catholic Schools’ EANS Funds

While Catholic schools’ needs and priorities differ at an individual level, most schools are experiencing challenges like those mentioned above. EANS II funds can be used for a range of programs and services designed to resolve the issues of learning loss, behavioral disruptions, and teacher burnout. Every state and school will receive varying amounts of funding, but if you’re looking for ways to address COVID-induced academic and behavioral issues in the classroom, there are several programs from which most Catholic schools can greatly benefit through EANS funding. Among these are:

• Coaching and Professional Development

Desired outcome: To support educators and promote behaviors intended to increase and maintain student achievement.

Now is the time to restart and reimagine school. Whether you’re looking to build teacher capacity within the classroom, help instructors grow through coaching, create a more positive classroom environment, increase the leadership capacity and empowerment of principals and administrators, or improve overall school outcomes, investing a portion of your EANS funding in professional development services and programs can pay dividends down the road.

How Catapult Learning can help: Through our research-based Professional Development and Coaching services, we can support your school communities in the most critical areas of need, all with a focus on creating equitable, rigorous, safe, and supportive learning environments that meet the needs of all learners. Consistent attention to these mission-critical components of Catholic school culture helps school communities thrive, grow, adapt, and succeed.

• Social-Emotional Learning and Support

Desired outcome: To expand students’ 21st-century skills in critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and empathy—all necessary for success in college, careers, and beyond.

Social-emotional learning has taken on more importance and relevance than ever before and ensuring the emotional and mental well-being of your students and their families—especially during this pandemic age—is a top priority for Catholic schools across the country. Research shows that an education that promotes SEL positively impacts academic performance, healthy relationships, mental wellness, and more. Using a portion of your EANS funding on SEL programming can, therefore, make a significant difference in your classrooms and do so in a manner consistent with the goals and values of Catholic school education.

How Catapult Learning can help: Our SEL programming is based on the understanding that the best learning emerges because of supportive relationships that make learning challenging, engaging, and meaningful. Our programs and services, such as Counseling, Family Engagement, and Professional Development, teach students the critical skills they need for future success.

•  High-Dosage Tutoring and Intervention

Desired outcome: To accelerate learning in literacy and math for all K-12 students through frequent, intensive, small-group or 1:1 instruction. Take advantage of the limited window to close the gap on student learning and bring them to appropriate grade level proficiency.

Perhaps the most urgent challenge is that COVID-19 has left millions of students behind in school academically, and the longer that learning gap remains unaddressed the more difficult it will be to close and get students back on track academically, socially, and emotionally.

Research has shown that intensive supplemental learning closes the learning gaps much more quickly than through simple remediation. Literacy and math intervention programs are an effective way to narrow those gaps. When coupled with a tutoring program, learning becomes even more efficient and effective.

How Catapult Learning can help: Our reading/literacy and math interventions and High-Dosage Tutoring programs use highly structured, intensive instruction in small groups to reinforce grade-level content and support struggling learners so they can quickly close learning gaps before they become unmanageable.

• Summer Learning

Desired outcome: To address the academic, social, and emotional needs of your students and their families during the summer, through robust educational opportunities and engaging activities, while preparing them for the fall.

Summer learning programs are among the most effective ways to mitigate learning loss, so students are prepared to start the new school year on track. These programs offer parents the opportunity to keep their children engaged in school and to receive the academic, social, and emotional support that may otherwise not be available at a time when schools are closed.

How Catapult Learning can help: Our turnkey Summer Journey learning programs are designed not only to mitigate summer and COVID learning loss, but also to support students and their families throughout the summer months. Summer Journey incorporates elements such as SEL learning, STEM learning, literacy and math intervention, enrichment, and family support to create a holistic program that sets children up for success.

Perhaps most beneficial to schools is that all accelerated learning programs and the components—academic intervention, High-Dosage Tutoring, SEL learning, Professional Development and Coaching, and Summer Learning—can be tailored to your Catholic schools’ specific needs. This ensures that your EANS funding is addressing your schools’ particular areas of opportunity. Catapult Learning’s EANS funding experts are ready to assist you in getting the most out of your EANS dollars by addressing your school’s most critical needs and personalizing our services to fit those needs.

Celebrate Catholic Schools Week
An annual tradition since 1974, Catholic schools across the nation commemorate Celebrate Catholic Schools Week with celebrations, Masses, open houses, and activities for students, families, parishioners, and community members. These events showcase and celebrate the rich traditions and the incredible value of Catholic education on both a local and national level. Each year, Celebrate Catholic Schools Week is celebrated during the last week of January. This year, Celebrate Catholic Schools Week will be celebrated from January 30 through February 5, 2022.

Cause for Celebration
According to NCEA, there are nearly 6,000 Catholic schools nationwide. These schools—serving elementary, middle, and secondary school students—are located across all regions, giving many families the opportunity for accessible Catholic education, which has many benefits, including:

• The integration of faith with academic subjects, culture, and everyday life
• The emphasis of living out the faith as missionary disciples
• Catholic virtues and values and Catholic Social Teaching, which contribute to productive citizenship and responsible leadership
• An environment that encourages and nurtures prayer and is safe, welcoming, and supportive for children
• A favorable student-to-teacher ratio
• High graduation and college attendance rates
• Teacher commitment.

Each year, Celebrate Catholic Schools Week has a theme. The theme for this year is Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service. Within the overarching theme for Celebrate Catholic Schools Week, there are also daily themes, focusing on a particular celebration.

Celebrating Your Parish on Sunday
On the opening day of Catholic Schools Week, many parishes devote a Mass to Catholic education. These celebrations show the connection between Catholic schools and parishes and reflect the support and guidance parishes provide. Families and catechists can prepare children and students for this Mass by reflecting with them on the support they witness through the assembly of school, Church, and community. Students can be reminded that Catholic school students, families, and supporters are gatherings all over the country as they are beginning Celebrate Catholic Schools Week at Mass in their own parishes!

Celebrating Your Community on Monday
On Monday, the daily theme focuses on service to the community. When students participate in school, parish, or community events, they have the opportunity to live out their faith and embody the values they are acquiring through their Catholic education, all the while helping to make the world a better place.

Celebrating Your Students on Tuesday
Help students understand their roles in Catholic education by recognizing their accomplishments. Consider a fun school-wide gathering that celebrates student or class achievements in relation to the theme of Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service. Bring to light the differences students can make as they learn in faith, strive for excellence, and serve in their schools, communities, and the world.

Celebrating the Nation on Wednesday
On Wednesday, the focus of Catholic Schools Week shifts from the local to the national level and provides an opportunity to express to government leaders the value and importance of Catholic education.

Celebrating Vocations on Thursday
On Thursday, a focus on vocations helps students recognize and use their God-given talents and be open to God’s call in their lives. Opportunities to reflect, with a focus on service and vocations, lets students consider and explore paths where they may use their gifts and talents to serve God and others.

Celebrating Faculty, Staff, and Volunteers on Friday
During Catholic Schools Week, Friday is an opportunity to show appreciation to the teachers, principals, administrators, and faculty who dedicate their time and talent to Catholic schools. A prayer of thanksgiving and a heartfelt “thank you” allows students to express their gratitude to those who have chosen to follow God’s call in the field of Catholic education.

Celebrating Families on Saturday
Catholic Schools Week concludes on Saturday with a focus on family. Families play active and vital roles in Catholic education. Families also provide a child’s first introduction to the faith and continued faith formation as the domestic Church. On Saturday, families are celebrated and appreciated for their love, faith, partnership, and example.

A Resource to Support Your Celebration
Let the Catholic Schools Week Daily Activity Guide help you incorporate daily themes suggestions into your observation of Celebrate Catholic Schools Week! With this resource, you can kick off Catholic Schools Week with a thematic opening prayer service and then find suggestions for focusing your celebrations on the daily themes throughout the week. Sadlier honors and celebrates Catholic Schools for their valuable work and contribution to the Church and the world.