Brain research has proven beyond doubt that chronic stress hampers learning, especially working memory, and other higher order thinking processes.

A host of economically-linked factors, from English Language status, to parental educational level and employment, to neighborhood levels of violence, to unbridged cultural differences between teacher and learners, are a continuing source of stress for poorer children and elevate their risk of school failure. It is not possible for schools to remove these socio-economic sources of stress from children’s lives. It is possible to promote resilience in students, and provide them guidance in how to cope with difficult situations and manage stress.

Teachers cannot be expected to have expertise in the full range of evidence-based practices needed to develop various aspects of resilience, or to provide evidence-based personal guidance and appropriate skill training on each of the personal issues that are sources of student stress. That nuanced instruction is best left in the Ripple Effects for Kids and Teens box. Teachers can develop the knowledge, attitudes and behavior that can reduce, rather than exacerbate, the impact of economic disparity. Ripple Effects software-based professional development for teachers fulfills these functions. Both programs are eligible for Title 1 funding.