CFK Weekly—Nov. 13, 2000

We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**It's only Just Begun: Kids and Politics Post Election 2000
**Early Education Unplugged?
**Kids and Learning: At Home, School and Beyond
**In Their Own Words: Living Without Health Insurance

CONNECT TODAY
**Someplace to Call Home

KIDS AND POLITICS
**Summary of the Children's Health Act of 2000
**Family Opportunity Act Still in Play

HEALTH NEWS
**EPA Issues Research Strategy on Environmental Risks to Children
**Effect of Community-Based Interventions on High-Risk Drinking an Alcohol-Related Injuries

IMPROVING STUDENT AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE
**Connecting Student Health and Standards-Based Reform
**Do Report Cards Make the Grade?
**Doing What Works: Improving Big City School Districts
**How Teaching Matters: Bringing the Classroom Back into Discussions of Teacher Quality

BY THE NUMBERS
**Monitoring the Future Full Databook Available

ADVOCATES TOOLKIT
**Reforming Welfare Reform
**HandsNet White Paper on Helping Workfare Families
**Just Add Consciousness: A Guide to Social Activism
**Fannie Mae Adds ?Fair Growth? to the Lexicon
**Towards a More Vibrant Society: Strengthening the Role of Nonprofits

NEW WEB SITES OF NOTE
**Immunization Info
**Navigating Resources for Rural Schools
**Autism Resources

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**A Place to Call Home: State Efforts to Increase Adoption and Improve Foster Care Placements
**A Hand Up
**State Initiatives to Improve Access to Dental Care
**Working Mothers Child Care Survey
**State-by-State News

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**It's only Just Begun: Kids and Politics Post Election 2000
Since our extraordinary Election Day, political discussion has become as common as cornflakes at the nation's breakfast tables, and the race for President has become a "teachable moment" that just won't end. Among the lessons: every vote counts -- as does every voter. Once the dust settles, it will be up to adults who care about children to make sure the winners keep their promises. Here are some tools to help you keep track of what your elected officials are doing and saying, long after Election Day.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Early Education Unplugged?
By Mark Ginsberg, Ph.D.
A recent report from the Alliance for Children calls for early childhood and elementary educators to call a "time-out" on the introduction of computers in their classrooms.  But Mark Ginsberg, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, says such a moratorium would be a mistake.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Kids and Learning: At Home, School and Beyond
From homework help to peer pressure troubles, Connect for Kids' Kids and Learning Feature has the latest links and articles about parent involvement in children's education. The Technology section, has information, stories and tools to get you started -- and a guide for using technology to benefit kids.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**In Their Own Words: Living Without Health Insurance
What's it like to live without health coverage, and what does it mean for families? A new Kaiser Family Foundation report follows seven real families who -- because they can't afford health insurance -- can't fill prescriptions and often delay doctor visits for kids with ear infections or postpone care for potentially serious health conditions.
http://www.connectforkids.org

CONNECT TODAY

**Someplace to Call Home
What is life really like for kids who are forced to leave their homes? Read one girl's story of foster care, homelessness and beyond.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64807-2000Nov11.html

KIDS AND POLITICS

**Summary of the Children's Health Act of 2000
The Children's Health Act of 2000, recently enacted by Congress, has provisions for new programs in substance abuse prevention and treatment, helping children deal with violence and early intervention services for children and adolescents. The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America have released a comprehensive summary. http://www.cadca.org/pubpol/updates/10.17.00update.htm

**Family Opportunity Act Still in Play
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law says that now, before the 106th Congress adjourns for good, is the time for advocates to weigh in on the Family Opportunity Act, which would expand Medicaid to allow families to care for severely disabled children at home, outside of institutional care.
http://www.bazelon.org/1100childhealthbill.html

HEALTH NEWS

**EPA Issues Research Strategy on Environmental Risks to Children
Given that children's breathing rate, metabolism, diet and activities may result in a higher level of toxicity than adults, this report provides a long-term framework to guide EPA research programs over the next five to ten years. Of particular concern is children's susceptibility from early gestation through adolescence, when pollutants may permanently alter a child's health.
http://www.epa.gov/ORD/WebPubs/final/

**Effect of Community-Based Interventions on High-Risk Drinking and Alcohol-Related Injuries
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concludes that a coordinated, comprehensive, community-based approach -- including limiting access to alcohol through zoning and increasing local enforcement of drinking and driving laws -- can reduce high-risk alcohol consumption and injuries resulting from alcohol-related assaults and motor vehicle accidents.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v284n18/abs/joc90970.html

IMPROVING STUDENT AND SCHOOL PERFORMANCE

**Connecting Student Health and Standards-Based Reform
Physical and mental health conditions can affect school attendance and students' ability to pay attention in class, control their anger and restrain self-destructive impulses. This issue brief from the National Governors' Association outlines strategies to help schools incorporate health into their curricula and increase interagency partnerships between the health and education communities
http://www.nga.org/Pubs/IssueBriefs/2000/001013StudentHealth.asp#one

**Do Report Cards Make the Grade?
What's the best way to ?grade? a student's work and communicate performance to parents and others? Is the traditional A-B-C-D-F report card meeting the grade, or is a "skills checklist? or a narrative report card more meaningful? Education World explores the pluses and minuses of a variety of report card formats.
http://www.education-world.com/a_admin/admin195.shtml

**Doing What Works: Improving Big City School Districts
Most urban areas can claim a school or two that has, against all odds, risen to the top in student achievement. This report from the American Federation of Teachers argues that entire school districts in several cities are showing steady improvement -- especially those implementing high standards, research-based academic programs, strong professional development, smaller class size, extra help for struggling students and broad-based community involvement.
http://www.aft.org/press/2000/101700.html

**How Teaching Matters: Bringing the Classroom Back into Discussions of Teacher Quality
The way a science or math teacher teaches makes a lot of difference, according to research from the Educational Testing Service. Students in the study whose teachers conducted hands-on learning activities or emphasized higher-order thinking skills ?- like developing strategies to solve different types of math problems -- outperformed their peers by up to 70 percent of a grade level in math, and 40 percent of a grade level in science.
http://www.ets.org/research/index.html

BY THE NUMBERS

**Monitoring the Future Full Databook Available
The 1999 findings for this annual study tracking trends in reported drug usage among youth were released a few months ago, but the two-volume comprehensive data books are now available. The study finds appreciable declines in the use of several illicit drugs among college seniors over more than a decade, reflecting pivotal changes in attitudes and demand. The gains are not permanent, reporters warn, as each generation of students discovers new and old substances, and must learn for itself the dangers of drug use.
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/

ADVOCATES TOOLKIT

**Reforming Welfare Reform
If you could fashion a state welfare reform program that put the needs of children first, what would it look like? Would it have a ?one-stop shopping? application procedure for all benefit programs for low-income families? Would it require states to track income levels of families leaving welfare rolls? The Grass Roots Innovation Policy Program of the Applied Research Center has put together a model TANF state plan that includes these strategies and more.
http://www.arc.org/gripp/researchPublications/tanfplan/index.html

**HandsNet White Paper on Helping Working Families
Drawing from two Working Families Roundtables, this HandsNet White Paper looks at the principles and key action recommendations to make sure that welfare reform efforts support and strengthen families.
http://www.igc.org/handsnet/whitepaper2.html

**Just Add Consciousness: A Guide to Social Activism
The National Service Briefing from Youth Service America recommends this free guide published by Oxfam America, Bread for the World, and COOL. "Just Add Consciousness" gives readers tips on everything from phone banking and cyber activism, to organizing a teach-in or meeting with your member of Congress. For a copy e-mail your mailing address to cbettencourt@oxfamamerica.org

**Towards a More Vibrant Society: Strengthening the Role of Nonprofits
Political rhetoric this recent campaign season has heightened attention to the important role of volunteers and nonprofit organizations in providing community-based services. This report from Independent Sector lists six key policy recommendations to strengthen nonprofits' financing, encourage volunteering and preserve nonprofits' independence and ability to speak out on issues important to their constituents.
http://www.independentsector.org/media/Election_2000.htm

Independent Sector also hosts the latest IRS answers to important questions about the lobbying rights of nonprofit organizations.
http://www.independentsector.org/clpi/IRS_Letter.htm

NEW WEB SITES OF NOTE

**Immunization Info
National Network for Immunization Information was formed to ensure that timely, evidence-based information on immunization is available to everyone who needs it.
http://www.immunizationinfo.org

**Navigating Resources for Rural Schools
Find data and resources on rural schools from the U.S. Department of Education.
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ruraled

**Autism Resources
A new National Institute of Child Health and Human Development site holds the latest research on autism and similar disorders.
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/autism/

FOCUS ON THE STATES

**A Place to Call Home: State Efforts to Increase Adoption and Improve Foster Care Placements
This NGA Issue Brief highlights state best practices in managing and delivering adoption and foster care services, streamlining adoption procedures, recruiting adoptive and foster parents and implementing family-centered, neighborhood-based placement strategies.
http://www.nga.org/Pubs/IssueBriefs/2000/Sum001026Adoption.asp

**A Hand Up
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reviews how the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) helped low-wage working families escape poverty in 2000.
http://www.handsnet.org/index_show.htm?doc_id=40675&frame_id=1131

**State Initiatives to Improve Access to Dental Care
This new National Health Law Program report charts a number of actions states are considering or taking to improve access to dental care, particularly for people insured through Medicaid.
http://www.healthlaw.org/pubs/200010dental.html

**Working Mothers Child Care Survey
Several recent studies underline the importance of quality care for young children, but Working Woman reports scant progress in state policies. Their annual child care survey found that only half of all states require training in child development for caregivers and more than half received poor or mediocre ranking on ratio of children to adults. The good news is that six states are leading the way --  California, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Rhode Island.
http://www.workingwoman.com:80/wwn/wwn_driver.showpage?area=33&content=4997

**State-by-State News
Check out news about kids and the upcoming elections in your state in the ?state-by-state? section of the Connect for Kids Web site.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.htm
 

Keep in touch, everyone!

Jan Richter, Outreach Specialist and the Connect for Kids Team
Jan@benton.org