We Know One Way To Stop Sexual Assault, But Students Aren't Doing It

Adapting tactics that have helped persuade homeowners to use less electricity by comparing them to their neighbors, schools in Tacoma and other school districts across the nation are trying to boost student attendance with “nudge” letters. These nudges compare students’ attendance rates with school and district averages. Research has shown that the nudges reduces chronic absenteeism.

Students' mental health is becoming a higher priority for schools across the U.S. At Hernandez Middle School in Chicago, each day starts with a check-in from their teacher, along with a mindfulness lesson and other useful coping skills. In Washington, D.C., some schools are partnering with local mental health organizations to provide counseling services to students.

The Connect program in Cassia, Idaho is making it easier for students experiencing mental health crises to get help. Students are able to call a phone number, which also has Spanish interpreters, where they can receive immediate crisis counseling, and set up an appointment with a local mental health professional all through the program. The Cassia County School District also pays for the first couple counseling sessions, while continuing to work with families in need of more long-term care. "Since its inception at least 538 students in the 5,400-student district have accessed Connect therapists."

In-school therapy is an increasingly popular mental health support in Idaho schools. Through a partnership with local agencies, therapists are available at schools and are able to set appointments with students, without students or parents having to take time out of school or work to attend. "West Middle School documented a 53% drop in behavioral incidents and a 37% drop in absences among the students who participated in therapy during the first year of the partnership, in 2017-2018."

Teachers in South Burlington High School in Vermont are taking a different approach to dealing with digital distractions in the classrooms. Through short 30-minute lessons getting at the root of cellphone addiction and the effects of apps on the brain, students and teachers approach the topic from a place of understanding as opposed to judgment or punishment.

Researchers at Columbia University undertook an exhaustive ethnography, interviewing hundreds of students on campus to understand the conditions under which sexual assault occurs. The idea was to get past common assumptions about the dynamics of assault and find what strategies might work best to protect all students. Researchers concluded small structural adjustments to student life could bring substantial change, including more mental health services and different types of responses based on the individual students and the types of incidents.

The rate of students dropping out of college or failing to complete their degree in the allotted time has soared in the United States, and experts are discovering that one of the causes is simply that students feel isolated, discouraged, and overwhelmed. A study by Ideas42 across a number of universities revealed that fairly simple behavioral "nudging" - or the process of providing tiny but regular interventions and encouragement through systems like text messages - can have a drastic impact on a student's likelihood of success.

The Summit Learning Program is an online program that offers personalized lessons in science, social studies, math, and English language arts for students in grades four through 12. “Nearly 400 schools use it across 40 states.” The Hechinger Report spent a year exploring the platform in schools, while there are some drawbacks there’s also evidence it works. In some schools, student test scores jumped after using Summit.

In the past few years, Durham's public schools have made significant strides, backed by a new superintendent intent on getting teachers and the whole community to buy into his plan. Frequent teacher evaluations, new hires, and marked efforts to change outside views of the school are at the heart of the plan.

Once classified as "needing improvement," Idaho's K-12 schools in Murtaugh successfully turned around their lagging math scores with the help of a state-sponsored professional development program. As part of the program, Idaho's four-year universities connect teachers with training and extra resources and provide spaces for collaborative lesson planning.