Daily Herald: DREAM initiative

CHICAGO (WLS) -- This school year, students struggling with emotional traumas and behavioral issues at a Carpentersville elementary school have been receiving additional support in smaller classroom settings to improve their academic performance and overall health.

The initiative, called the DREAM (Dedicated Reinforcement, Engagement And Motivation) Academy, is helping 100 Perry Elementary School students in first through fifth grades who have been identified as at-risk because of adverse childhood experiences. That includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse, homelessness, poverty, substance abuse, divorce, death of a family member or sibling and incarceration of a parent. Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300 created the program, which is unique in the state.

ABC7 Eyewitness News visited a DREAM classroom to see how students are being supported and discussed the program with the Daily Herald's Madhu Krishnamurthy.

You can read this story in the Daily Herald's edition from Sunday, April 8, 2018, or online at dailyherald.com.