School closures are traumatizing our students, families, and educators, presenting a new dropout risk factor and requiring us to develop immediate virtual solutions. The National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC) offers topical videos and virtual professional development to support schools and educators during current uncertain times.

Video 1: The Trauma of Pandemic School Disruption. John Gailer, developer of the Trauma-Skilled Schools Model, explores the far-reaching implications of trauma related to school disruption for students, staffs, families, and the community at large. View video here https://youtu.be/c0adDQH4Hro

Video 2: School Disruption as a Dropout Risk Factor. Dr. Sandy Addis, Director of National Dropout Prevention Center, discusses the short- and long-term effects of school disruption on the nation’s dropout rates. View video here https://youtu.be/jeoWYeQuAWo.

Video 3: Virtual Learning in a Time of School Disruption. Ray McNulty, President of Successful Practices Network and National Dropout Prevention Center, explores the advantages of capitalizing on virtual learning. View video here https://youtu.be/Y29CjY7NLRA.

Online Trauma-Skilled Courses: Online courses can deliver high-impact virtual professional development to educators who must work remotely during extended school shut down periods. NDPC offers five online courses in the Trauma-Skilled Schools Model, one course for each step of the model. Each of the three-hour interactive virtual courses addresses a component of chronic stress and trauma. Together, the five courses prepare an educator to implement trauma-skilled measures and to support other educators in their work with trauma-impacted students.

Online Effective Dropout Prevention Strategies Courses: NDPC offers 16 online courses focusing on one of each research-based dropout prevention strategy. Each three- to five-hour interactive virtual courses addresses a specific dropout prevention strategy and prepares educators to apply the strategy to improve graduation outcomes. Online effective strategy courses can deliver high-impact virtual professional development to educators who must work remotely during extended school shut down periods.

Free or Reduced Cost Virtual Professional Development 

Free:

Hundreds of videos, archived broadcasts, and downloadable publications are available at no cost on the NDPC website. School systems are encouraged to access these resources and have staff members utilize them as professional learning tools during times of school closure. These resources may be previewed and accessed at www.dropoutprevention.org.

Reduced Fees for Online Courses:

For a limited time, NDPC is providing blocks of online courses to schools and districts at significantly reduced cost. Rather than the standard cost of $99 per course, NDPC offers blocks of 50 courses at $50 per course, blocks of 100 courses at $40 per course, and blocks of 250 or more courses at $35 per course. Schools and districts wishing to purchase blocks of online courses for professional development during shutdown periods may review these courses at https://dropoutprevention.org/15-effective-strategies-online-courses/ and may send an email inquiry to ndpc@dropoutprevention.org.