These tactile blocks teach blind kids to code

Childhood trauma such as abuse, neighborhood violence or the death of a parent has been found to lead to dire health and social problems later in life. How can communities intervene to spare future generations the same pain and illness? Special correspondent Sarah Varney reports in collaboration with Kaiser Health News on how the city of Memphis, Tennessee, is tackling the problem.

Increased technology in classrooms is popular among schools in the U.S. However, research suggests that its effect is sub-optimal due to low-quality software, implementation, and participants' digital skills.

Seattle risks losing about $12 million annually in federal funds unless it fixes problems that include failures to update student learning plans, deliver services outlined in those plans and provide services consistently from school to school.

Camp K in Utah provides job counseling and training for teens with special needs, helping them to bridge the gap between high school and the professional work force.

In Utah, Goldman Sachs funded the education of preschoolers and was reimbursed by the state once it was shown that the kids would not need special education. Social impact investments, like this one in Utah, can help social programs in the U.S. which are often affected by government cuts.

Fewer than one in four high-school graduates in the Sedro-Woolley and Meridian school districts, for example, go to four-year colleges. Just a little over half of all graduates in surrounding districts go to college at all. Now, the schools have begun to send college students into middle schools and high schools to mentor them and excite them to go to college.

In Honduras, tens of thousands of people have hearing disabilities. The National Autonomous University of Honduras has developed software that converts spoken language into an avatar on the computer who signs for the hearing impaired. Teachers in classrooms can teach hearing impaired students with this new software.

Software and apps are helping millions of Americans trying to solve civil problems on their own.

Many years of work to improve juvenile-detention centers in Mississippi may curb recidivism rates by increasing the quality of life in detention. Despite those efforts, however, centers might still be unable to give detained students what they need the most—a quality education.

Massachusetts’ Brockton Public School district has trained the entire staff at three elementary schools to recognize signs of trauma in children. Inspired by the book, “Helping Traumatized Children Learn,” by Eliana Gil, the district’s initiative has now inspired another text and has spread to school districts around the world. Core to the initiative is trying to work more proactively toward social emotional health.