Associations between a technical assistance model to build school organizational capacity and improvements in student perceptions of school climate.

Organizational capacity building-the process of developing leadership, collecting and analyzing data, building buy-in, and implementing programming-is foundational to effectively changing schools, and frequently relies on technical assistance. This study employed a quasi-experimental, repeated measured design to evaluate the role of technical assistance provided through Safe School Certification model in improving school climate. Schools worked through an eight-element framework, using data from a sample of six middle and high schools in Washington, D.

Moving Policy Toward a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Approach to Support Children Who Have Experienced Trauma.

Background: As attention to the potential negative outcomes of childhood trauma has grown, so have calls for schools to take an active role in supporting students experiencing trauma. These calls extend beyond efforts initiated by individual schools to include those mandated by state law, which largely focus on teacher training and on screening for adversity.

Methods: This article explores the evidence base and limitations for current approaches in state law and explores how policies to address other student health, safety, and wellness issues can help either ameliorate or exacerbate students' experiences with trauma.

State Laws Matter When It Comes to District Policymaking Relative to the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Framework.

Background: The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) framework supports the "whole child" across 10 domains. This study assessed state law and district policy WSCC coverage.

Methods: Primary legal research was used to compile relevant district policies and state laws for a stratified random sample of 368 public school districts across 20 states for school year 2017-18.

Social Network Implications of Normative School Transitions in Non-Urban School Districts.

This article expands research on normative school transitions (NSTs) from elementary to middle school or middle to high school by examining the extent to which they disrupt structures of friendship networks. Social network analysis is used to quantify aspects of connectedness likely relevant to student experiences of social support. Data were drawn from 25 communities followed from sixth to ninth grades.

Later Start, Longer Sleep: Implications of Middle School Start Times.

Background: Although adolescents generally get less than the recommended 9 hours of sleep per night, research and effort to delay school start times have generally focused on high schools. This study assesses the relation between school start times and sleep in middle school students while accounting for potentially confounding demographic variables.

Methods: Seventh and eighth grade students attending 8 late starting schools (∼8:00 am, n = 630) and 3 early starting schools (∼7:23 am, n = 343) from a diverse suburban school district completed online surveys about their sleep behaviors.