CFK Weekly—May 14, 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
**Insight For Girls, By Girls
**Kids Rule at the Escondido YMCA Child Development Program
**Not For Girls Only
**Teens Speak for Themselves

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION
**Effects of Early Intervention on Educational Achievement and Juvenile Arrests
**Dr. Zigler Speaks Out on Head Start
**Speaking of Quality Early Care
**Child Care Study Still Causing Controversy
**Achieving Quality Early Childhood Education for All

KIDS AND POLITICS
**Refundable Child Tax Credit Could Benefit Low-Income Families
**National PTA Says Conference Budget Shortchanges Education
**FY2002 Head Start Funding
**Leaving No Child Behind

POVERTY
**Public Divided Over Poverty's Causes
**Welfare Reform and Beyond
**Low-Income Mothers Lack Health Care

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
**Statewide Early Learning Leaders -- An Opportunity
**CityMatCH Ask-a-Colleague Service
**Municipal Network to Early Care and Education

ASSESSING WHAT'S WORKING, WHAT'S NOT
**Knowing What Students Know: the Science and Design of Educational Assessments
**Government Assesses Impact of Pediatric Drug Testing Law
**Enhancing the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Evaluation: A Concept Paper

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAVING AN IMPACT
**More Than Bit Players
**Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994 - 2000

SERVICE LEARNING, YOUTH SERVICE SERVES STUDENTS, COMMUNITIES
**Youth Service: a Win/Win Situation
**National Service-Learning Partnership Launched

KEEPING THEM SAFE
**Training Improves Doctors' Violence Screening Skills
**A National Study of the Seasonality of Unintentional Childhood Injury
**Lead Poisoning Update

REPORTS IN BRIEF
**Parents Spending More Time with Kids
**In the Mix ?What's Normal?

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**State-by-State News

SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE

NEW ON CONNECT FOR KIDS

**Insight For Girls, By Girls
"It's About Time," a book by teenage girls connected with the nonprofit organization GirlSource, talks about the tough challenges that today's girls face, and offers help and solutions from other girls.  Reviewer Jesse Cordes Selbin, 13, says the book is accessible and informative for girls and grown-ups alike.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Kids Rule at the Escondido YMCA Child Development Program
At an Escondido, California, after-school program, children are given the freedom to decide what to do and how to learn. And it works-staff report fewer problems and happier kids. Bill Manson, a writer for the Action Alliance for Children, spent a day there.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Not For Girls Only
From innovative programs that help girls develop self-esteem to reports on girls' educational achievement, Connect for Kids offers resources for adults who want to help girls succeed.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Teens Speak for Themselves
Youth Communication offers teens a public forum for sharing their experiences and exploring the issues that affect their lives. See what teens have to say for themselves in books and magazines including Foster Youth United, which gives voice to kids in foster care.
http://www.connectforkids.org

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION

**Effects of Early Intervention on Educational Achievement and Juvenile Arrests
Findings from this evaluation of the Chicago Child Parent Center Program offer some of the strongest evidence yet that large-scale, public early learning programs can promote children's long-term success. The evaluation found that the length of time and younger age for children's participation in the comprehensive program correlated with positive later outcomes -- higher rates of high school completion, lower rates of juvenile arrest and dropping out of school, lower rates of grade retention and special education services.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v285n18/abs/joc01444.html

**Zigler Speaks Out on Head Start
Nearly 40 years ago the idea of providing a quality preschool experience to give poor children a head start at being ready for kindergarten was merely an unproven vision. Ed Zigler, one of the pioneers of the Head Start program, reviews the principles of the Head Start approach, what we have learned about its effectiveness and the importance of multi-layered services for preschool children in poverty and their parents. He also notes that although a year in Head Start can ameliorate the impact of poverty, alone it cannot inoculate a child forever against the long-term impacts of poor health and nutrition, low-performing schools and impoverished neighborhoods.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v285n18/ffull/jed10024.html

**Speaking of Quality Early Care
On June 13th the Early Care and Education Collaborative will hold a "lessons learned" conference call for the child care community explaining the results of recently completed I Am Your Child Foundation focus groups and the lessons learned about effective messages and messengers. RSVP to earlycare@ccmc.org by Friday June 8th to sign-up for the call.

**Child Care Study Still Causing Controversy
The Los Angeles Times reports that the research assessing child care's impact on children's development that caused such a stir among the public last week parallels a split among the researchers themselves over what lessons to draw from the results. http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0426-01.htm

Until the study is actually published, it is hard to assess the details. In the meantime, here are two summaries offered by child development experts with access to the report:
 
Diane Bales, a member of the Falling Down to Get Up network (gardner@io.com), attended the conference where the research was reported and has written a careful two-page summary, available by e-mail (dbales@arches.uga.edu).

Robin F. Goodman, Director of Public Education Projects at the NYU Child Study Center, NYU School of Medicine, offers a brief summary of what the study found and the issues it raises.
http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/childcare.html

**Achieving Quality Early Childhood Education for All
It is deeply troubling that the quality of early childhood education in the United States continues to be treated as a matter that is more-or-less peripheral to other societal, workplace and governmental concerns, according to this Foundation for Child Development working paper. To help advocates improve state policy priorities for young children author Michael Mintrom explores ?innovation diffusion? strategies -- how new policy ideas can gain momentum once one state or locality finds them effective or how ?policy entrepreneurs? and policy networks can lay the groundwork to take advantage of windows of opportunity.
http://www.ffcd.org/ourwork.htm

KIDS AND POLITICS
The week of May 7 the House of Representatives and Senate each passed the FY 2002 budget resolution conference report, the federal budget outline for  $1.35 trillion in tax cuts through 2011 and about $2 trillion in federal spending for FY 2002. The Congress is now drafting specific tax legislation and appropriations bills.

**Refundable Child Tax Credit Could Benefit Low-Income Families
Getting a $1000 child tax credit is welcome, whatever tax bracket you're in. But for families earning less than $20,000 or so, it could make a significant difference in a family's ability to house, feed, clothe and care for the children. For up to 16 million children living in low-income and impoverished families, the extent to which the child tax credit proposal negotiated in Congress is refundable will mean the difference between being helped and being left behind, according to the Children's Defense Fund.
http://capwiz.com/cdf/issues/alert/?alertid=28854&type=CO

**National PTA Says Conference Budget Shortchanges Education
The National Parent Teacher Association reports that the conference budget blueprint that resolves the differences between the U.S. House and Senate budget outlines offers no real increase over slight adjustments for inflation for all child-related programs. This means that any real increases for education would come at the expense of other programs that benefit children and families.
http://www.pta.org/programs/legini.asp

**FY 2002 Head Start Funding
Members of the Child Care Caucus in the House of Representatives are circulating a sign-on letter to increase funding for Head Start and child care by $1 billion each. The National Head Start Association, the Children's Defense Fund and RESULTS are working to mobilize support.
http://www.resultsusa.org/pubs/takeaction/TA052001domestic.htm

**Leaving No Child Behind
If we decided to spend some government surplus on children instead of tax cuts for the wealthy, what could we buy? This report from the progressive Institute for America's Future counts the ways that $555 billion in 10-year tax reductions for millionaire taxpayers could be spent to improve child health care, day care, after school activities and a range of other programs
http://www.ourfuture.org

POVERTY

**Public Divided Over Poverty's Causes
American attitudes toward work and the poor have had a big impact on our policies affecting low-income families and their children. According to a recent Kaiser poll, more Americans are in agreement that even when people work, their jobs don't necessarily pull them out of poverty. There is strong bipartisan support for programs that help people who are trying to help themselves, but deep political divisions over the root causes of poverty persist. Republicans polled tended to cite ?people not doing enough to help themselves? as the biggest cause of poverty today, while Democrats tended to name ?circumstances beyond [people's] control.?
http://www.kff.org/content/2001/3118/

**Welfare Reform and Beyond
Is welfare reform narrowing the poverty gap? What changes could be made so welfare reform helps families out of poverty, and not just into a job? What impact will devolution, block grants and new welfare time limits and rules have on families during an economic downturn? These are some of the questions considered by experts in ?Welfare Reform and Beyond,? the summer 2001 issue of the Brookings review.
http://www.brookings.org/wrb

**Low-Income Mothers Lack Health Care
Some 5.9 million American mothers of children under age 19 lack health insurance, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Nearly nine in ten of the uninsured mothers earn too little to afford health coverage, but too much to be eligible for Medicaid. A working mother with two children is ineligible for Medicaid if she earns more than $9,780 a year, an amount that leaves her family nearly $5,000 below the poverty line. In some states, the eligibility cutoff is even lower.
http://www.cbpp.org/5-10-01health-pr.htm

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES

**Statewide Early Learning Leaders -- An Opportunity
ZERO TO THREE and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices are seeking applications for a new forum -- the State Early Childhood Policy Leadership Forum. The Forum will offer Early Childhood Policy Fellows a supportive environment to share their triumphs and their challenges, to develop leadership skills, and to receive the support they need for improving the statewide coordination of comprehensive early childhood services in their states. Contact Sheri Lacey for more information  (202-638-1144; s.lacy@zerotothree.org).
http://www.zerotothree.org/policy/ecforum.html

**CityMatCH Ask-a-Colleague Service
Child and maternal health providers can ask specific questions not only of their colleagues in their own agencies, but across the country via the CityMatCH fax network. CityMatCH staff take submitted questions, craft the query and fax it to member health departments, who then respond to the questioner. For more information on how it works, contact Maureen Fitzgerald (402-595-1700; mfitzger@unmc.edu).

**Municipal Network to Early Care and Education
The National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education and Families is developing a network of communities committed to improving early childhood care and education to share ideas, experiences, and information. For more information, contact Julie Bosland (202-626-3069; bosland@nlc.org).

ASSESSING WHAT'S WORKING, WHAT'S NOT

**Knowing What Students Know: the Science and Design of Educational Assessments
According to Bruce Alberts, President of the National Academy of Sciences, this NAS report concludes that computer and telecommunications technologies offer a real hope that educational assessment practices can change to emphasize the more complex and important aspects of student learning. At the same time, the report emphasizes that now is the time for a greatly intensified, well-focused investment in modern test development.
http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10019.html

**Government Assesses Impact of Pediatric Drug Testing Law
Research conducted under the pediatric exclusivity provision of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 is providing new and useful information about whether and how drugs work in children, but important challenges remain, reports the General Accounting Office.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?gao-01-705t

**Enhancing the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Evaluation
Evaluating the impact of a large-scale after-school program is not easy. Charged with carrying out such an evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, this Mathematica report describes how various components of Mathematica's complex study fit together and explains its conceptual framework.
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/PDFs/enhancing21.pdf

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAVING AN IMPACT

**More Than Bit Players
In this analysis for the Surdna Foundation, Andrew Blau argues that the ?winner-take-all? dynamics of the information market place make growth, outreach and networked information gateways key strategies for sustainability. The speed of Internet feedback also means nonprofits are more likely to succeed with a collaborative approach that regards their audience as information sources instead of passive consumers.
http://www.surdna.org

**Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms: 1994 - 2000
Almost all public schools in the United States, even high-poverty schools, are connected to the Internet, but gaps between poverty and affluent schools persist when it comes to the increased availability of computers linked to the Internet in the individual classroom, according to the latest U.S. Dept. of Education survey.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2001/2001071.pdf

SERVICE LEARNING, YOUTH SERVICE SERVES STUDENTS, COMMUNITIES

**Youth Service: a Win/Win Situation
America's Promise leader Peter Gallagher celebrates the benefits for young people and their communities as more and more young people engage in community service -- not only by volunteering to clean up their neighborhoods or spend a day in community activities, but by serving on mayor and governor advisory councils, nonprofit boards of directors and foundation grantmaking committees.
http://www.theantidrug.com/news/guest.html

**National Service-Learning Partnership Launched
One-third of U.S. public schools -- and one-half of high schools -- provide service-learning opportunities for students. This emerging school reform strategy has the capacity to engage students in academic learning by linking that learning to "real world" problems, to build relationships between students and teachers, and to connect kids to their communities. Find out more from the Learning in Deed Web site and become a founding member of the National Service-Learning Partnership, a new membership organization working to expand service-learning in K-12 education nationwide. http://www.learningindeed.org

KEEPING THEM SAFE

**Training Improves Doctors' Violence Screening Skills
A brief violence prevention education program using teen health educators helped train physicians to ask about violence in their adolescent patients' lives. It increased doctors' comfort level, skills and understanding of their role in violence screening, according to an assessment in the May 2001 issue of Pediatrics. http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/abstract/107/5/e68

**A National Study of the Seasonality of Unintentional Childhood Injury
Unintentional injury remains the leading killer of children 14 and under. According to SAFE KIDS, this summer children will be rushed to emergency departments nearly 3 million times for serious injuries, and an estimated 2,550 children will lose their lives due to an unintentional injury. Nearly half (42 percent) of all fatal and nonfatal unintentional injuries among children occur during the summer months, when children are out of school, lack adequate supervision and spend more time outdoors.
http://www.safekids.org/

**Lead Poisoning Update
Thousands of children, especially those living in deteriorated urban housing, are exposed to enough lead to produce cognitive impairment, but research to test whether reducing blood lead levels would prevent or reduce such impairment has yielded disappointing results. Treatment with the lead-lowering drug Succimer did not improve scores on tests of cognition, behavior or neuropsychological function in children with blood lead levels below 45 µg per deciliter, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
http://www.nejm.org/content/2001/0344/0019/1421.asp

While this research concludes little can be done medically to reverse damage to the brain for these children, measures can be taken to reduce their environmental exposure and a developmental assessment can help target specific areas for interventions to help improve their cognitive and developmental functioning, according to the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning.
http://www.aeclp.org

REPORTS IN BRIEF

**Parents Spending More Time with Kids
Despite a sharp increase in the number of dual-career families, today's children spend more time with their parents than children did two decades ago, according to a University of Michigan study.
http://www.umich.edu/%7Enewsinfo/Releases/2001/May01/r050901a.html

**In the Mix ?What's Normal?
In the Mix explores with teens what it's like to feel -- and to be -- different in ?What's Normal,? set to air the week of May 14. Look under ?Shows? for more information.
http://www.inthemix.org

FOCUS ON THE STATES

**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
Half of the 1.2 million children of working parents in California who need subsidized access to after school care can't get it and are at greater risk for violent crime, drug use and other dangers, according to Children Now's ?After School Care for Children: Challenges for California? report.
http://www.childrennow.org/newsroom/news-01/pr-5-9-01.htm

?What Do the 2000 API Results Tell Us about California's Schools? finds that smaller, wealthier schools are more likely to cash in on the Academic Performance awards than larger and poorer schools with greater needs and lower test scores.
http://www.cbp.org

Georgia
Georgia Council on Child Abuse's (GCCA) 17th Annual Training Symposium, "The Power of Prevention: Give Children back their Childhood" is being held here in Atlanta July 29 -- August 1, 2001. For information, contact Marcia Tucker (404-870-6559).

Illinois
A statewide conference on ?Realizing the Charter for Illinois Children: Community by Community? will be held May 15 in Peoria. Contact Melissa Olson (312-516-5569) for information.
http://www.charterforillinoischildren.org

North Carolina
The Common Sense Foundation has formed a 15-member commission to hold town hall discussions across North Carolina to listen to parents, teachers and students describe their experiences with the ABC Testing program. For more information, contact Daniella Cook (daniella@common-sense.org - 919-821-9270).

The Covenant with North Carolina's Children, along with Coalition 2001 and many of other coalition partners, will be holding a press conference on May 23 on the state budget. Email Paula Wolf for details (Paula A. Wolf [wolf@covenant.g12.com]).

Stay in touch, everyone!

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