CFK Weekly—May 7, 2001

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

Access past issues in the Archives

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS
**Taking on High-Stakes Testing
**Adding Fairness to the Testing Equation
**Mothers Find Strength in Numbers
**Thinking About Tests and Testing

LOOKING FOR A BOOK REVIEWER
**Grandparents: Raising Our Children's Children

KIDS AND POLITICS
**Public Wants Tax Cuts to Help Low-Income Families
**Grass Roots Support for Refundable Child Tax Credit

WELFARE AT THE CROSSROADS
**Welfare Reform: Challenges in Saving for a Rainy Day
**Before and After Reform: How Have Families on Welfare Changed?

IMPROVING HEALTH
**Identifying Children with Special Needs

SAFETY MEASURES
**National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
**Screening for Suicide Risk
**State of the Air 2001
**Evenflo Recalls Car Seats
**Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Children in Foster Care

TOOLS FOR BUILDING FAMILY-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES
**Best Practices Database on After-School Programs
**New Listserve on Child Care and Early Learning
**Welfare Reauthorization Listserve
**Zero to Three Offers Training and Technical Assistance
**Improving Health Care for Kids in Foster Care
**Children and Computer Technology
**Census to Release Local Data in May

HELPING FAMILIES GET A LIVING WAGE
**Promoting Economic Well-Being Among Low-Income Households
**Economic Growth and Living Wage Employment

THINGS TO DO, PLACES TO GO
**Alternatives in Education for Safety and Learning
**Mother's Day Is May 13

REDUCING YOUTH VIOLENCE
**Growth in Number of Youth Gangs
**Justice by Gender

REPORTS IN BRIEF
**What Democracy Means to U.S. Ninth-Graders
**Asthma Rates Increasing
**Fall Colors 2000 - 2001
**Transforming Urban Public Schools: The Role of Standards and Accountability
 

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**Key Progressive Issues Facing State Leaders in 2001
**State Education Funds Squeezed
**State-by-State News

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**Taking on High-Stakes Testing
by Harriet Brown
Two mothers with a passion for public education and a flair for advocacy  explain how they worked to win some changes in Wisconsin's program of statewide tests.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Adding Fairness to the Testing Equation
commentary by Bob Chase
The push to measure schools and teachers by student success at taking standardized tests is a central component of many efforts to make schools more accountable. In this commentary, National Education Association President Bob Chase calls for greater attention to giving all students the tools they need to succeed.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Mothers Find Strength in Numbers
Celebrate Mother's Day by learning about moms then and now who come together to bring public attention to disease, violence and other risks to America's children and families.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Thinking About Tests and Testing
Confused about all the talk about tests and testing? American Youth Policy Forum offers a nonpartisan, objective discussion to help you understand the arguments raging around education about "high-stakes tests" and their consequences.
http://www.connectforkids.org

LOOKING FOR A BOOK REVIEWER

**Grandparents: Raising Our Children's Children
Connect for Kids is looking for a book reviewer for ?Grandparents: Raising Our Children's Children? (University of Idaho, 2000) by Doris K. Williams. If you are one of the increasing number of grandparents raising children, or you know the subject well, send a writing sample and resume to julee@benton.org.

KIDS AND POLITICS

**Public Wants Tax Cuts to Help Low-Income Families
A survey commissioned by the Annie E. Casey Foundation conducted in late March makes it clear that American voters want the kind of tax cuts that benefit low-income families and they oppose tax cuts that leave these families out. Two-thirds of those polled favored providing assistance to working poor families, even if it means providing fewer tax cuts to people ?like themselves,? and they support using refundable tax credits to bolster low-income families' resources.
http://www.makingwageswork.org/hartmemo.htm

**Grass Roots Support for Refundable Child Tax Credit
If a $1,000 child credit were made fully refundable, it would lift 2 million children out of poverty -- one-sixth of all poor children in America today -- and another 1.6 million extremely poor children would rise above half the poverty line. No other proposal under consideration in Congress does this much good for poor children, says an alert from the Center for Community Change and National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support.
http://www.handsnet.org/alerts1242/alerts_show.htm?doc_id=56516

To compare tax cut proposals to see which ones help lift the most kids out of poverty, check out the chart in ?Tax Cuts and Kids: A Primer.?
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=55073

Find an overview and explanation of terms on the federal budget process in our revised Budget Primer 2001.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=24272

WELFARE AT THE CROSSROADS

**Welfare Reform: Challenges in Saving for a ?Rainy Day?
Congressional testimony by the U.S. General Accounting Office's Paul Posner, managing director for budget issues, called for better federal and state contingency planning to ensure the viability of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) in times of fiscal distress. He argued that although many view the states' large unspent TANF balances as a de facto contingency fund, these balances vary widely across states, and current reporting requirements do not give reliable information regarding states' actual plans for these monies. He also noted that states cite disincentives to save for such ?rainy day? funds. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?gao-01-674t

**Before and After Reform: How Have Families on Welfare Changed?
State policymakers may find tough policy challenges ahead as an increasing share of TANF recipients will begin to face federal five-year benefit time limits late in 2001, according to this Urban Institute report. The welfare caseload is made up of long-term recipients, those who have come onto the TANF rolls for the first time, and those who cycle on and off. The proportions of the caseload in the three categories were surprisingly similar in 1997 and 1999, highlighting the persistent needs of a group of disadvantaged mothers with little education and with substantial physical and mental health problems.
http://newfederalism.urban.org/html/series_b/b32/b32.html

An expanded version of the analysis can be found in "Do Families on Welfare in the Post-TANF Era Differ from Their Pre-TANF Counterparts?" http://newfederalism.urban.org/html/discussion01-03.html

IMPROVING HEALTH

**Identifying Children with Special Needs
Various federal and state statutes now mandate that community-based, coordinated, multidisciplinary, family-centered programs be established to identify children with special needs early on, and provide services for them and their families. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy paper, pediatricians, in close collaboration with the family and the early intervention team, play a critical role in providing a medical home for children with special health care needs.
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/5/1155

SAFETY MEASURES

**National Strategy for Suicide Prevention
Between 1952 and 1995, the incidence of suicide among adolescents and young adults nearly tripled. More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from the combined deaths from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung disease. Because suicide is such a serious public health problem, the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention is proposing a comprehensive public health approach to address it, including defining the problem, focusing on risk and prevention, developing and implementing interventions and evaluating effectiveness.
http://www.mentalhealth.org/suicideprevention/index.htm

**Screening for Suicide Risk
A research study in the May 2001 Pediatrics journal concluded that a brief four-item screening tool can be used by non-mental health clinicians to accurately detect suicidal tendencies in children and adolescents who visit an emergency room. The 4 items include inquiring about current suicidal behavior, past suicidal ideation, past self-destructive behavior, and current stressors.
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/5/1133

**State of the Air 2001
More than 30 million children under age 14 live in counties that received an "F" in air quality, according to the 2001 annual report from the American Lung Association -- 1.6 million more than reported last year. The association warns that recent predictions of hotter summers will likely worsen our nation's ozone problem unless future reductions in ozone-forming pollution are sufficient to compensate for the warmer temperatures. http://www.lungusa.org/air2001/index.html

**Evenflo Recalls Car Seats
A design flaw that has seriously injured almost 100 babies has prompted a major recall of the Evenflo car seats. For details, read the press release.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml01/01137.html

**Elevated Blood Lead Levels Among Children in Foster Care
Researchers in Philadelphia have found that children about to enter foster care are at high risk for lead poisoning, as are their siblings. After placement, children studied were nearly one-half as likely as other groups to have lead poisoning. The authors argue that children who are suffering from abuse and neglect and those receiving social services in their own homes should be actively screened for lead poisoning.
http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/reprint/107/5/e81.pdf

TOOLS FOR BUILDING FAMILY-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES

**Best Practices Database on After-School Programs
The National Governor's Association's Center for Best Practices conducted a national survey to identify state initiatives that provide out-of-school learning opportunities for school-age children. The results are available in their online database.
http://www.nga.org/elodata/

**New Listserve on Child Care and Early Learning
Supported by a grant from the Graustein Memorial Fund, Connecticut Voices for Children is hosting a new listserve for parents, citizens and organizations committed to quality early care and education for children birth through age 8, including supports for parents who wish to stay home with their young children. To learn more, contact Peg Oliveira (peg@ctkidslink.org). To subscribe, send an e-mail message to majordomo@mail.ctvoices.org and write "subscribe ece-list" in the body of the message only.

**Welfare Reauthorization Listserve
The Coalition on Human Needs has launched a new listserve to help connect national, state and local advocates working on the reauthorization of TANF and other anti-poverty programs. Contact Carrie Kilman (ext. 23) or Liz Wroe (ext. 26) at 202-223-2532, (lmwroe@chn.org). http://www.chn.org/welfare/index.html

**Zero to Three Offers Training and Technical Assistance
If you are a director of a home visiting program, preschool or community program serving babies and toddlers and their families, you may want to know how to improve your program design, how to recruit and sustain quality staff, or how you yourself can function at your best as a leader. The technical assistance staff at the Center for Program Excellence at Zero to Three is ready to help. The initial consultation is free. Contact the Center at Zero to Three (202-638-1144; cpe@zerotothree.org). http://www.zerotothree.org

**Improving Health Care for Kids in Foster Care
The Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement want to work with local child welfare agencies, foster parents and local physical and mental health care systems to improve health care (including mental health services) for children in foster care. Applications are now being accepted from public child welfare agencies. The deadline for letters of intent is May 11th. A conference call for prospective applicants has been scheduled for May 14, 2001 at 2:00 p.m. EST.
http://ihi.org/collaboratives/upcoming/FosterCare/index.asp

**Children and Computer Technology
Designed for journalists and policymakers, this resource book from the Packard Foundation's Future of Children series gives an overview of the issues involving children and technology: supporting effective use of computers in the classroom, ensuring equal access for disadvantaged children, and protecting children from harm and improving content. It also profiles exemplary school and community programs and lists helpful resources.
http://www.futureofchildren.org

**Census to Release Local Data in May
The Census Bureau will be posting some of its local demographic profiles for states, cities, towns and counties starting in May. The profiles include new demographic details, including age breakdowns and data on household relationships, cross-tabulated by racial/Hispanic origin characteristics. The data will be available on the Census FactFinder, which offers users a menu of different formats for viewing the data?summaries, tables, etc.
http://www.census.gov

HELPING FAMILIES MAKE A LIVING WAGE

**Promoting Economic Well-Being Among Low-Income Households
Many middle-class families struggle from paycheck to paycheck, and those in dead-end jobs struggle to rise above poverty. Minimum wage laws, tax policies that help supplement earnings and public investments helping low-wage workers improve their skills are among the effective strategies that support families' capacity to build assets.
This Resource Guide for Policymakers and the Public from the Asset Development Institute at the Center on Hunger and Poverty, Brandeis University, identifies these and other state policies and programs that are making a difference.
http://www.centeronhunger.org/promising.html

**Economic Growth and Living Wage Employment
State and local officials have traditionally promoted economic development as a way to help all local residents through employment growth and increased tax revenues to fund expanded local services. A series of research papers examines how effectively economic growth has translated into economic opportunities for low-income and less-educated workers across metropolitan areas in the United States. http://www.urban.org/employment/livingwage-employment.html

THINGS TO DO, PLACES TO GO

**Alternatives in Education for Safety and Learning
On May 8, the Hamilton Fish Institute will sponsor a national satellite videoconference on "Alternatives in Education for Safety and Learning." Register online and download the broadcast information to view via satellite.
http://www.juvenilenet.org/jjtap/safetylearning/

**Mother's Day Is May 13
The latest Census figures (released October, 2000) show that a record number of mothers with infants and young children are working outside the home. Of the 3.7 million women with infants under the age of 1 in 1998, 59 percent were in the labor force.

May is also National Foster Care Month, Mental Health Month, and the month for teacher and child care provider appreciation days. Find out more on the Connect for Kids calendar. http://www.connectforkids.org/calendar1569/calendar.htm

REDUCING YOUTH VIOLENCE

**Growth in Number of Youth Gangs
The last quarter of the 20th century was marked by a significant growth in youth gang problems across the United States. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the number of cities reporting youth gang problems grew nearly tenfold and the number of counties citing youth gang problems grew even more precipitously, from about 100 in the 1970s to nearly 1,200 in 1998.
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/gang.html#181868

**Justice by Gender
The last two decades has witnessed a marked increase in the number of girls involved in the justice system, but this system seems poorly prepared to handle these cases. Often the victims of physical or sexual abuse, girls in the juvenile justice system are given ?second class treatment,? too often placed in settings and institutions that are neither designed for, nor proven effective in, their treatment and rehabilitation, according to this report from the American Bar Association and the National Bar Association.
http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/home.html

REPORTS IN BRIEF

**What Democracy Means to U.S. Ninth-Graders
On the International IEA Civic Education Study, U.S. students performed significantly higher than the international average on the civic content and at the top for civic skills, like reading a newspaper article or interpreting a political cartoon.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001107

**Asthma Rates Increasing
In the U.S., rates of asthma deaths, hospitalizations and emergency department visits have been increasing for more than two decades, especially among African Americans and children, according to this new report.
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2001/nhlbi-03.htm

**Fall Colors 2000 - 2001
Children's TV programming offers a range of racially diverse characters to teach young viewers learn about tolerance and cross-cultural learning, but many of these messages disappear in prime time, according to a survey released by Children Now.
http://www.childrennow.org/newsroom/news-01/pr-5-1-01.htm

**Transforming Urban Public Schools: The Role of Standards and Accountability
Is ?high-stakes? testing an effective strategy for changing schools to improve learning? What are the unintended consequences, based on the empirical evidence we have so far? At a Harvard Kennedy School Urban Seminar, Linda Darling-Hammond addresses these and other issues, arguing that those urban districts that substantially improved their students' performance have focused on the improvement of teaching guided by rigorous standards for teachers rather than on high-stakes testing for students.
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/urbanpoverty/Sitepages/UrbanSeminar/UrbanEd/standards.pdf

FOCUS ON THE STATES

**Key Progressive Issues Facing State Leaders in 2001
The Center for Policy Alternatives provides briefs on the 25 issues every policy maker should know about for the 2001 state legislative sessions.
http://www.stateaction.org/issues/every.cfm

**State Education Funds Squeezed
As state revenues nosedive, educators are bracing for major cutbacks in spending, and the pinch comes just as they're being held accountable for student performance. Faced with the potential cost of school finance court cases and shrinking budgets, many lawmakers are scrambling to find dollars to support school reforms. Learn more about the issue from Stateline.org.
http://www.stateline.org/story.cfm?storyid=126725

**State-by-State News
Check out news about kids in your state in the ?state-by-state? section of the Connect for Kids Web site. Here's a sample of this week's additions to our state pages.
http://www.connectforkids.org/homepage1576/index.htm

California
Many states have introduced legislation providing partially paid family leave to eligible workers. California Center for Health Improvement examines if this is a viable option for California.
http://cchi.org/pdf/FMLA.pdf

District of Columbia
DC ACT announces a ?community dialogue? on violence prevention among children and youth in DC on June 6, 2001 in the 7th floor conference room at 1616 P St. NW from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
http://www.dckids.org/mission.html

Iowa
?Delivering Employment Retention and Advancement Services: A Process Study of Iowa's Post-Employment Pilot Program,? a Mathematica report on three Iowa programs,  found that a major challenge for all sites was low participation rates and that more time was spent in groups on work-readiness skills than on case management and help with transportation, child care and other family barriers.
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/IowaPEP.pdf

Michigan
The Association for Children's Mental Health and several Michigan organizations have joined together to celebrate National Children's Mental Health Week from May 6-12, 2001. A State Children's Mental Health Rally will be held on May 9th on the Capitol steps in Lansing.
http://www.michiganschildren.org/page.cfm/74/

Nevada
Nevada's new 2001 Kids Count Data Book has a special monograph on native American youth in the state, and new sections on Nevada Check Up, TANF, Food Stamps, children exposed to domestic violence, and youth enrolled in special education and Head Start. http://kidscount.unlv.edu

Rhode Island
A majority of Rhode Island's voters -- 83 percent -- would be willing to support a smaller tax cut by Congress in order to fund programs that reduce child abuse and neglect, according to a public opinion poll released May 2, 2001 by the Child Welfare League of America. For details, contact the CWLA press office at 202-942-0244 or e-mail pressoffice@cwla.org.
http://www.cwla.org/newsevents/news010502tc.htm

Virginia
Virginia's 2001 Kids Count Data Book finds the Commonwealth's economy advanced in the late 20th century, but many of Virginia's children were still left behind in poverty.
http://www.vakids.org

Washington
While the budget contains some enhancements for children in the state's foster care system, the overall result for children and families will be fewer health services, more waiting lists, and delays in getting health care.
For questions about this alert, contact Jon Gould at 206-324-0340, ext. 19 or e-mail
jon@childrensalliance.org

Wisconsin
?Wisconsin Works [W2]: Meeting the Needs of Harder to Serve Participants,"
a paper by Kelly S. Mikelson, examines the W-2 participants who have come within 3 months of the 24-month time limit in one of two paid employment categories -- the W-2 Transitions and Community Service Jobs ? and those who had an extension.
http://www.urban.org/welfare/wisconsin-works.html

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

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