Abuse prevention effort adapts over 30 years to keep kids safe

One in six boys in the United States has experienced sexual abuse before turning 18. With few recovery options in real life, more of them are going online for support.

Students in a small town in Michigan are outperforming their peers statewide. Over half of the students are American Indian and many come from low-income families. Because the town's reservation can't be taxed, the school receives additional federal funding. And teachers have put it to good use - by hiring more staff, decreasing class sizes, and frequently evaluating students' progress. One fourth grader offered her own theory: "Well, everyone's accepted here for who they are, no matter if they're Irish, Native, African American or just French."

Some European schools have long championed free play in the woods as a way to combat the increasingly mainstream idea of "nature-deficit disorder." In Finland, enthusiastic teachers dedicate all of Friday to outdoor "secret" education - students don't even realize they are learning academic lessons. Inspired by these models, scattered American schools are experimenting with the idea, with some finding reductions in bullying and improvements in test scores and focus issues.

A Mumbai school located in a remodeled shipping container meets kids on the street where they are at. Signal School results from a collaborative effort between the city and a non-profit, and focuses on bringing education to migrant children, so that they are less likely to be forced into child labor or street begging. Signal School does more than just teach, it also provides meals, works with families to change the cultural perspective that education is an amenity for the privileged, and helps migrant families find permanent housing.

A modest fleet of floating schools in Bangladesh ensures children can continue getting the education they need even if their village is cut off during the rainy season. The boats pick the kids up and they have lessons on the floating schoolhouse before being returned to their villages. There are now 23 such schools in the country and the model has grown to include floating medical clinics and a combination library and playground.

With an influx of COVID relief money, the Russellville school district began hiring and certifying more local, Spanish-speaking staff to help teach English language learners. Districtwide, the percentage of students who met their language proficiency goals increased from 46% in 2019 to 61% in 2022.

Temporary Alternative Placement Agreements (TAPA) allow parents struggling with addiction to enter a drug-treatment program and connect them with parenting resources and support to help them maintain custody of their children. Under a TAPA parents have a say in who their children stay with while they're seeking treatment, rather than losing custody altogether. Participants say TAPAs are far less traumatic and help hold them accountable as they’re required to sign an agreement to uphold at the start of the program.

Thorn’s Spotlight tool uses text and facial recognition technology to scrub the web, helping investigators find underage sex-trafficking victims. Spotlight has been used by law enforcement on nearly 40,000 cases in North America, helping investigators find more than 9,000 children and 10,000 traffickers.

Community groups like Swim For Charlie and Learn to Swim are teaching local youth to swim in an effort to promote water safety and combat high rates of drownings, particularly within low-income and minority communities. Since forming in 2020, Swim For Charlie has taught more than 2,100 second graders how to swim, while Learn to Swim served about 3,000 students across 48 schools just last year.

Caminando est une école primaire qui privilégie le lien des élèves avec la nature, avec beaucoup de temps passé à l’extérieur et des éléments de la nature incorporés à d’autres matières académiques. Par exemple, les élèves apprennent les mathématiques en s’occupant de leurs propres parcelles de jardin, ce qui les oblige à calculer la surface ou à compter le nombre de tomates qu’ils ont cultivées.