CFK Weekly - August 14, 2006

Editor’s Note: August may be slow in Washington and for many of us around the country, but with school right around the corner, it’s the kickoff of many health and wellness campaigns, including Covering Kids, and it’s prime time to focus on technology and media as part of school readiness. And with new data on rising child poverty, many groups are gearing up for the release of the latest Census poverty data at the end of the month. Share information and content ideas by emailing Caitlin Johnson at weekly@connectforkids.org.

NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG

Engaging Youth on the Environment
Located just a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol, the Earth Conservation Corps is far removed from the world of legislators, lobbyists and policymakers. ECC provides a striking example of a program that engages young people in protecting the environment while learning valuable lessons about life in the process. CFK intern Kate Carta profiled the organization.

Academic, Social Needs, and Interests in U.S. High Schools
The results are in for Connect for Kids’ 2006 youth essay contest. All of the essays submitted were thoughtful and many were thought-provoking as well. Special thanks to the talented young writers from the DC Writers Corps who served as this year’s judges. Read the winning essays:
David Young
Luis Santos
Sandi Campos
Stewart Bohan

WORK, WAGES, AND CHILD POVERTY

The New Poor: Regional Trends in Child Poverty Since 2000
Child poverty is again on the rise – in the past five years, it has risen by 12 percent (or 1.4 million children) to 18 percent of all kids. This report from the National Center for Children in Poverty finds a “startlingly high increase” of child poverty in the Midwest, the only region where poverty increased among children with working parents. Kids in the West saw no increase in poverty rates. The report notes the importance of “making work pay” and adequately funding Medicaid, food stamps, and welfare assistance programs, especially for working families struggling to get by.

NetWORKS: A Guide to Expanding the Employment Networks of Low-Income People
Most of us, regardless of education and income, find jobs through networks of people we know, according to studies cited by Public Private Ventures. This guide looks at how job-training programs for low-income workers can effectively tap networks to place clients. (A companion to the Getting Connected report, there are free sample pages; the full report costs $49.00. Other reports are free online.)

EDUCATION: PREVENTING DROPOUT

Saving Futures, Saving Dollars: The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings
Our nation’s public high schools graduate, on average, 70 percent of seniors each year. This troubling rate may be more costly than we realize; there’s a correlation between diploma attainment and crime – although just what and why is the subject of many theories. This brief from the Alliance for Excellent Education finds that boosting male graduation rates by 10 percent would decrease murder and assault arrest rates by about 20 percent, and would save states money in crime-related costs.

Assisting Students Who Enter High School with Poor Academic Skills
When students enter high school unprepared, what works to help them catch up, and avoid dropping out? This brief from MDRC reviews recent evaluations of high school reforms and suggests that intervening in ninth grade, as students are adjusting to high school, is critical. In particular, semester-long, intensive “catch-up” courses in reading and math can help get students back on track, and appear to bring sustained benefits over time.

Identifying Potential Dropouts: Key Lessons for Building an Early Warning Data System
Here’s a quandary: the United States has to raise graduation rates, but we’ve also got to raise academic standards (witness the California high school exit exam results). So how to do both, simultaneously? This white paper from Achieve, Inc. and Jobs for the Future suggests it might not be as difficult as it seems. Schools can predict with some accuracy who will drop out, and why, and targeted interventions for these types of students have proven successful. The paper also recommends building an “early warning data system” to lower drop-out rates.

RECONNECTING YOUTH

Safe Passages: Connected by 25
Older, disconnected youth (ages 14 to 24) are often left behind by outreach efforts -- specifically, those aging out of foster care, leaving juvenile justice system, and those with no formal ties to school or work. This publication from the Youth Transition Funders Group (YTFG) -- a consortium of foundations supporting issues facing older youth – offers an excellent and practical overview of the issues, and examples of successful interventions to help teens and young adults make positive transitions back to communities.

TECHNOLOGY AND MEDIA

Teens and Technology: Youth Are Leading the Transition to a Fully Wired and Mobile Nation
It’s no newsflash for anyone working with or raising teens, but here’s the documented proof: the tech revolution is being led largely by teens. More than half of teens use the internet daily, for fun and for research and health information. Nearly half of teens have a cell phone, and increasing numbers use instant messaging and cell phone text messaging. Overall, 87 percent of youth ages 12 to 17 are online, according to this Pew Internet & American Life study. But a “digital divide” persists: African-American and lower-income teens lag behind their counterparts in both access to and ability to use technology.

Starting Early and Emphasizing Technology
Crayons, notebooks – and tech savvy? It’s all part of getting kids ready for school in the 21st century. A new Roper Public Opinion Poll found that most parents (68 percent) agree that if their child does not know how to use media technologies, he or she will fall behind in school. Parents’ ability to get their kids tech-ready varied in part by income, with lower-income parents voicing more concern about abilities to prepare their children, teach them new technologies, and communicate with schools. Learn more on the PTA Web site.

Parenting the MySpace Generation
Most parents view the internet as valuable to children, and most (90 percent) say it’s primarily their responsibility to ensure that their kids are safe online, according to a new Cable in the Classroom/Harris Interactive poll. Schools also have a roll to play – 71 percent of parents surveyed say schools must share responsibility for kids’ online safety.

OUT OF SCHOOL TIME

Impacts of a Summer Learning Program
Summer time … and the learning is leaving? There’s plenty of evidence that during the summer months, low-income kids experience a decline in academic progress compared to higher-income kids. A strong summer program can help maintain reading ability, and can also encourage parental involvement in reading throughout the school year, according to a new Urban Institute/Mathematica study. Here’s the bottom line: out-of-school time programs that have been shown to work (like Building Education Leaders for Life and 21st Century Learning Centers) should be supported.

Harvard Family Research Project Updates Database
Looking for research to help shape an effective out-of-school time program? The Harvard Family Research Project has updated its online out-of-school time Evaluation Database and Bibliography to help you find resources you need. Tell them what you think, and how you use the database by taking the online poll.

HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE NEWS

“Covering Kids” Launches
With the release of “The State of Kids’ Coverage,” the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation kicked off its Covering Kids annual initiative. The study finds that while the overall number of uninsured Americans is rising, the number of uninsured children has dropped since 1997, thanks to Medicaid expansions and the creation of the state Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Even as the share of kids with private insurance dropped in nearly every state during this period, at least 5 million more children benefited from public health care coverage. Yet some 8.3 million kids remain uninsured – far too many to consider it a job well done.

Parents can call toll-free 1 (877) KIDS-NOW to find out if their uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP.

Program Aims to Reach Hispanic Youths to Prevent HIV
Studies have found that Latino teens are less likely to use condoms than their black or white counterparts. A new program that emphasizes both abstinence and condom use appears to have reduced the incidence of risky behaviors among Hispanic teens, according to a study in the August 2006 Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Health in Schools has a brief overview.

Campaign for School Wellness
As of July 1, school districts must have wellness policies in place to promote better nutrition, physical activity, and wellness. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 made changes that can help schools meet these goals, but schools already have a lot on their plates. This Action for Healthy Kids campaign has tools and ideas for schools and communities, including local “Game On! Ultimate Wellness Challenge” events.

KidsHealth in the Classroom
In addition to Covering Kids and the Campaign for School Wellness, the nonprofit KidsHealth Web site has launched a new section for teachers, school nurses, coaches, and guidance counselors heading into the new school year.

Enjoy your summer, everyone!

Caitlin
Caitlin Johnson, senior writer, and the Connect for Kids team.