Why I Created F.O.C.U.S. NJDOE FOCUS Grant: Turning Literacy Screening Data into Instruction That Works By Jackie Frangis As I read through the NJDOE FOCUS grant, one thought keeps coming up. This is exactly the work happening in classrooms. The NJDOE FOCUS grant is centered on three key priorities. Schools are expected to implement high-quality universal literacy screeners, build educator capacity to interpret and use that data, and ensure that data directly informs Tier 1 i

Supporting Educators and Communities in Crisis You never think a crisis will happen to you , until it does. One storm, one accident, one moment of chaos can turn a normal day into something overwhelming. Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-informed, practical approach designed to support individuals in the immediate aftermath of traumatic events or crises. Unlike formal therapy, PFA focuses on reducing acute distress, promoting a sense of safety and calm, and fosteri

Keeping Our Youngest Safe Without Scaring Them It sounds impossible at first: a first grader and a school threat in the same sentence.When we hear “threat assessment,” most of us imagine high school students and serious danger. But schools must be ready at every grade level, even for kindergarteners and first graders, because young children sometimes express distress in language or play that adults must interpret. Despite the rarity of serious violence in early elementary, st

Every educator and parent shares the same quiet fear: What if we miss something? There’s a second fear many parents and educators share: Does threat assessment label students unfairly? The short answer, when done right, no . In fact, evidence shows that threat assessment reduces bias and subjective decisions. Leading research emphasizes that threat assessment teams do not rely on demographic “profiles.” Instead, they gather behavioral evidence, context, and direct communica

But After 4 Years in Schools, I Can’t Stay Quiet Anymore. it’s been a long time since I’ve written a blog post. Not because I didn’t have opinions, but because I didn’t feel like I had anything new to contribute that would truly make a difference. Education doesn’t need more noise. It needs clarity that actually helps schools function better for teachers and students. After four years of deep MTSS coaching, classroom modeling, and applied research https://mtss4success.org/ a

Studies using models like the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) found that over 99% of student threats were never acted upon, and only a tiny fraction led to discipline or arrest.

The previous two posts in the co-teaching series focused on principles of navigating and/or facilitating a healthy co-teaching relationship, either from the perspective of administrators or teachers themselves. The following are some practical technological tools that both content-area teachers and “specialists” (teachers of special education or multilingual learners) can provide to support special populations in the mainstream classroom. Text-to-Speech Tools such as Snap