DASH Partner Update – August 2020

Reunite, Renew, Thrive: Social and Emotional Learning Roadmap for Reopening Schools

CASEL developed a roadmap for school leaders and leadership teams, to support the return to school with equity-focused social and emotional learning strategies centered on relationships and built on the existing strengths of a school community.

Keeping Secondary School Students Connected to School When School is Remote

A Johns Hopkins University webinar highlights what school connectedness is and why it is so important, especially for adolescents, when school becomes remote. It also provides strategies for building connectedness in a virtual environment.

As schools reopen, addressing COVID-19-related trauma and mental health issues will take more than mental health services

This Child Trends’ article presents the importance of taking a comprehensive approach that goes beyond mental health services and provides strategies for education leaders to support mental health and address trauma as schools prepare to reopen.

• Materials to Support DASH’s Strategic Plan: DASH recently released materials to highlight our 2020-2025 strategic plan. In addition to an outline of the plan, you can find the strategic framework, an overview presentation, and 2020 strategic plan accomplishments on the About DASH webpage.
• New Parent Infobriefs: DASH recently released two new infobriefs for parents of adolescents. Birth Control: Information for Parents of Adolescents details the types of birth control methods and provides parents with information to help their adolescent choose the method that is right for them. STD Testing: Information for Parents of Adolescents details why adolescents should be tested for STDs and provides information on the STD tests that are recommended for adolescents.
• Coming Soon – 2019 YRBS Data: In late August, CDC will release data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. This report will provide an important snapshot of the health of our nation’s youth before the COVID-19 pandemic. DASH’s YRBS data webpage will be updated with 2019 data on August 20^th.

• Beyond School Walls: How Federal, State, and Local Entities are Adapting Policies to Ensure Student Access to Healthy Meals During the COVID-19 Pandemic: This Trust for America’s Health policy brief reviews steps the federal and state governments have taken to ensure students’ access to healthy meals when schools are closed and what needs to be done to ensure continued meal access for the 2020-2021 school year.
• Release of the 2020 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health: The Trevor Project has released results from its second annual survey of LGBTQ youth from across the country. The release provides critical insights around LGBTQ youth mental health disparities, discrimination, housing instability, barriers to affirming health care, subjection to conversion therapy, and suicide. It also highlights how safe spaces and social support positively impact the well-being of LGBTQ youth.
• Infographics Highlighting Results of a National School Nurse Survey: The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) conducted a survey in April 2020 to school nurses from all 50 states and the District of Columbia to learn about their experiences with COVID-19. Are Schools Prepared for Another COVID Outbreak? and The Valuable Roles of School Nurses During COVID-19 represent some of the key findings.
• Webinar: The State of American Education: The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) will hold a webinar on August 19, 2020 from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm EST to discuss how the pandemic has impacted schools and related issues such as social and emotional learning; trauma-informed care; continued remote learning; grading, assessments, and accountability; and educator shortages.