Turnaround for Children Toolbox
Science and equity-driven tools
for whole-child school redesign
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NEW TOOLS SPOTLIGHT
Culturally Affirming and Sustaining Practices
Looking for ways to start the year by creating a strong sense of belonging? Two new sets of tools for Culturally Affirming and Sustaining Practices are now available for free on the Toolbox! These resources are a great way to begin to affirm students’ multifaceted identities and sustain cultural knowledge and ways of being, which is critical as we seek to reimagine a system of education that has systematically oppressed, silenced, and erased groups based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, disability, language, etc.
The tool Deeper than Icebreakers: Activities to Know Your Students includes three activities (Community Walk, Shadow-A-Student Day, and Student Spotlight), designed to for educators who are doing the active work to more deeply understand the identities, cultures, and experiences of their students, from a place of openness, respect, and empathy.
The Cultural Curriculum Audit is an exercise in thinking more deeply about how curriculum design, materials and assessments are culturally affirming and sustaining for students, through reviewing “look-fors” and “red flags” around four key questions.
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The Turnaround for Children Toolbox was designed to empower educators – teachers, school and district leaders, student support staff, and more – to drive change towards a more equitable, whole-child approach to school.
The Toolbox is grounded in the science of learning and development, which synthesizes research across diverse fields including neuroscience, psychology, developmental science, adversity science and more. Altogether, this science points us to the boundless potential of students and calls us to engage together in the work to design our schools accordingly.
The Toolbox offers educators tools to begin the process of confronting, dismantling and reimagining the systems, structures, practices and mindsets that uphold the inequities in our current education system. Instead of relying solely on top-down approaches for this change, we know it is only through our collective expertise, commitment and passion that we can transform experiences and outcomes for each and every student.
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Getting Started with Whole-Child Design
Check out the introductory Toolbox webinar below (full transcript here). Remember, there are many entry points into this work and no wrong way to start!
Ground Your Practice in Science
Dive deep into the research on how students learn and develop. In this section, you will find:
- 5 Key Concepts from the science of learning and development
- Downloadable infographics
- Curated videos and articles from researchers and educators
Design for the Whole Child
Explore tools to redesign your practice using a whole-child, science-grounded approach. In this section, you will find:
- Turnaround’s Whole-Child Design Blueprint, a framework for transformational change
- 3 Core Practices as starting places for redesign
- Continuums of Practice (tools beyond traditional rubrics)
- Planning guides, self-assessments, student strategies and more
Assess and Reflect
Check out Turnaround’s assets-based approach to measurement, including:
- The Well-Being Index (Elementary and Secondary versions)
- The Whole-Child Inventory (sign up to get first access)
- Guidance documents and scoring tools