Sunday, May 28, 2006

This Week's News: 28 May, 2006

Education

Dropout Data Raise Questions on 2 Fronts
The Washington Post, DC – May 23, 2003
Economist Larry Mishel was troubled by high school graduation statistics that contradicted what he thought was good research. That was particularly true of data used by many politicians and pundits to bemoan a 30 percent dropout rate in American high schools.

Counting Diplomas and 9th-Graders
The Washington Post, DC – May 23, 2006
We do not share [Larry] Mishel and [Joydeep] Roy's faith in the accuracy of graduation rate estimates from surveys. Even very well-done surveys like [the National Education Longitudinal Study] have difficulty identifying and tracking dropouts. Young people who do not graduate high school are on the margins of society and do not make themselves easily available to researchers.

Tracking Students Over Time Using Surveys
The Washington Post, DC – May 23, 2006
Larry Mishel and Joydeep Roy question conventional dropout estimates …

The Governor’s Plan: Lease Out Lottery to Fund Education
Daily Herald, IL – May 23, 2006
Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich today will unveil an election-year school funding plan that calls for leasing the state lottery for the next decade to a private firm in return for $10 billion in upfront cash.

Leaving Boys Behind: Public High School Graduation Rates
TA Communities - May 12, 2006
... rates in relation to race and gender. results of the study include information on the gender and race gaps, low/high performing school districts, as well as the overall trends in graduation rates in ...

Dropout Prevention Plan Nears Completion
Yarmouthport Register, MA – May 25, 2006
... the problem of the persistent, unacceptably high dropout rate in the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District. ... with past and potential drop- outs, factors were ...

Second Chance at a High School Diploma
KPLC-TV, LA - May 22, 2006
... getting their high school diplomas through the Credit Recovery Program-- a program that allows drop outs and failing students to earn high school credits using ...


Foster Care

Foster Kids Beat the Odds
The Chicago Tribune, IL – May 24, 2006
…Through statewide tours, the department is aggressively recruiting wards for its college scholarships and a new summer internship program. The highest achieving high school graduates can earn stipends and free tuition to state universities. Others qualify for free community college tuition or stipends for vocational training.

County Foster Kids Not Prepared
San Mateo County Times, CA – May 26, 2006
... In San Mateo County, those foster youth who go through the Independent Living Skills Program fare better: 89 percent graduated high school and 71 percent went ...

San Mateo County Unveils Foster Youth Art Exhibit

CBS 5, CA - May 23, 2006
... Foster Care Month" in San Mateo County, county officials unveiled Monday a unique art exhibit showcasing artwork created by some of the county's foster youth. ...

Letters Working to Aid Teens in Child-Welfare System
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - May 23, 2006
... Partnerships with the Behavioral Health Services Department, and assisting our schools to meet the needs of older foster youth. ...

Former Foster Youth Highlight Caseworkers
Nashville City Paper, TN - May 22, 2006
... The center lies within the area with the highest concentration of foster youth in Nashville – the 37208 zip code — and roughly 1,100 Davidson County ...


Juvenile Justice

How About Juvenile Justice Face-Lift?
Palm Beach Post, FL – May 26, 2006
... A juvenile court judge, state legislator, juvenile justice board and detention center advisory council members and others concerned with troubled youth toured ...

Juvenile Justice: In the System
News 8 Austin, TX - May 25, 2006
... The McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Mart, near Waco, is one of 13 state institutions for juvenile offenders. ...

Disorder in Juvenile Justice Center
Civilrights.org, DC - May 22, 2006
Judges, lawyers and those involved in juvenile cases were pleased to leave the cramped quarters in the Family Law Center for the Juvenile Justice Center last ...

Sunday, May 21, 2006

This Week's News: 21 May, 2006

Foster Care

Foster Parents Move Toward Joining Union
The Seattle Times, WA – May 19, 2006
... One of the biggest complaints from foster parents is that no one listens to them ... said Bill Grimm, a senior attorney with the National Center for Youth Law. ...

Foster Youth Speak Out
Ascribe, CA - May 16, 2006
Young men and women who have first-hand experience of foster care are an under-utilized resource in our efforts to ...


Education


Texas Looks to Help Katrina Students Achieve
NPR – May 15, 2006
Many Hurricane Katrina evacuees now attending school in Texas face repeating a grade if they don’t pass the Texas statewide achievement tests. But school officials in the state capital of Austin are taking steps to help Katrina students, including hiring counselors who work exclusively with these children.

Community Colleges Plan Cuts as Enrollment Declines
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, WA – May 16, 2006
Two Seattle Community College campuses have to cut back next academic year, in part because good news has been bad for them. A stronger economy has reduced enrollments as fewer people need retraining after losing a job. Fewer students mean less tuition and less money from the state.

For Graduates, Student Loans Turn into an Albatross
The Christian Science Monitor – May 17, 2006
Student-loan debt encumbers almost two-thirds of the Class of 2006, according to federal statistics. With tuition costs rising far faster than inflation and interest rates on federal student loans on the increase, the debt load for future graduates is set to become so heavy that it’s likely to shape students’ plans for the future.

Stories Differ, Goals the Same
The Washington Post, DC – May 17, 2006
The University of Maryland has built an unusual link to a cluster of five Prince George’s County schools that serve high-minority, moderate-income communities. The university’s goal is to find five students to receive full scholarships for kids who live nearby but may be distanced from the campus by perceptions of a financial or academic divide. Many are the first in their families to attend a four-year college.

Ed Plan Lets High Schoolers Pick Career Classes
The Clarion-Ledger, MS - May 17, 2006
Mississippi high school students could start preparing for a career before they leave school under a plan to be unveiled Thursday.


Off to a Running Start Toward College
The Washington Post, DC – May 17, 2006
Flonora is among 69 students at Friendship Public Charter School's Collegiate Academy in Northeast Washington who are enrolled in the school's early college program. It allows them to take courses without charge at the University of the District of Columbia.


Capital: College Grad Wages Are Sluggish, Too
The Wall Street Journal, NY – May 18, 2006
(Subscription Required)


Paying for Persistence
MDRC - May 16, 2006
Funded by state welfare dollars, two community colleges in the New Orleans area offered performance-based scholarships and enhanced counseling to low-income parents, as part of MDRC’s Opening Doors demonstration. These early findings show the program had significant positive effects on academic achievement and rates of retention.

AdvancePath Opens at GHS
Gilroy Dispatch, CA – May 19, 2006
... it didn't take long for her to realize, without a high school degree, there's ... The San Francisco-based business, which helps drop-outs or students at-risk of ...


Juvenile Justice

Troubled Teens Get Off the Street and Into the Workplace
Chicago Defender, IL – May 19, 2006
... delinquent behavior in juveniles. Juvenile justice experts said this might not be a coincidence. "Undoubtedly there is a correlation ...

Juvenile Justice Trips Costly for Alabama
The Decatur Daily, AL - May 16, 2006
Trips to juvenile detention facilities are driving up the cost of juvenile justice, and Alabama taxpayers are footing the bill. ...

Saturday, May 13, 2006

This Week's News: 13 May, 2006

Foster care

Dan Walters: No correlation between spending, high school ...
The Sacramento Bee, CA – May 1, 2006
... high school graduation rates ... low in graduation, and some do not. There's simply no correlation. In fact, 17 of the 25 states that fall below California's $7,748 in spending outperform California in high school graduation rates ...

Helping foster youth make the transition to adulthood
San Francisco Chronicle, CA – May 12, 2006
Venecia is a dynamic young woman and a former foster youth. ... Some 46 percent of foster youth drop out of high school. Fifty-one percent become unemployed. ...

National Foster Care Month honors Foster Parents of the Year
Tribune Chronicle, OH – May 12, 2006
... honored for five to 15 years of service. Guests at the event included a panel of youth and adults who have experienced foster care. ...

Brother and sister put a human face on California foster care
Macomb Eagle, IL – May 12, 2006
... Larry’s concern is more personal. In California, foster care privileges are only awarded after a foster youth reaches 16 years of age. ...

Foster youths to receive full scholarships at SU
Seattle University, WA - May 9, 2006
Only two percent of foster youth in our region go on from high school to obtain a bachelor's degree* in college often due to a lack of resources or a ...

Wanted: Spanish speakers as foster parents
Chicago Tribune, IL – May 7, 2006
Thirty years after the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services promised a federal judge that it would find more Spanish-speaking foster parents and abuse investigators, the agency faces a chronic shortage of caretakers and employees for the state’s burgeoning Latino population.


Education

Educators launch ‘Freshman Academy'
Grayson County News Gazette, KY - May 8, 2006
... educators have known for a long time that high school freshmen were the seedbed for the four major problems for educators -- drop-outs, high principal referrals ...

Immigrant Students Lament Dead End
The Dallas Morning News, TX – May 8, 2006
Four years of college, a degree, and still no job. The children of illegal immigrants say their investment in education shouldn’t lead to such a dead end. They are pressing hard for Congress to address the problem -- that they can obtain degrees in the U.S. but can’t legally get a job -- as part of a broader immigration overhaul.

Expectations Raised for Minority Students
The Mercury News, CA – May 11, 2006
SACRAMENTO - The state Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved a change that will require schools to improve the performance of blacks, English learners and other minorities in order to reach state achievement goals.


Juvenile justice

Juvenile justice system hit in report
2TheAdvocate, LA - May 10, 2006
NEW ORLEANS — Juvenile justice reform advocates renewed their call Tuesday for alternatives to detention in a scathing report that alleges 150 youth detained ...

Trapped Juveniles Faced Horrors at Prison
The Times-Picayune, LA – May 10, 2006
Juvenile inmates’ accounts of being stranded in their prison and the harrowing trip out of New Orleans, were released Tuesday as part of a report issued by the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. The report, “Treated Like Trash: Juvenile Detention in New Orleans Before, During and After Hurricane Katrina,” questions the competence of the staff running the prison and pointedly calls for the sheriff to stop housing juveniles.

Sunday, May 07, 2006

This Week's News: 6 May 2006

Education

No correlation between spending, high school graduation
The Sacramento Bee, CA - April 30, 2006
... high school graduation rates ... low in graduation, and some do not. There's simply no correlation. In fact, 17 of the 25 states that fall below California's $7,748 in spending outperform California in high school graduation rates ...

NewsFlash: Mismeasuring High School Graduation Rates
Economic Policy Institute Newsroom, DC - April 28, 2006
... High School Graduation Rates ... low graduation rate because he does not fully correct for grade retention, especially among minorities, in 9th and 10th grade. EPI's own report on graduation rates - Rethinking High School ...

13 in Region Make List of Top 100 High Schools
Washington Post, DC – May 4, 2006
... list of America's Top 100 high schools have ... groups, and have a substantial number of drop-outs.". ... simple, easily understood measure of a school's commitment to ...

Deterring dropouts: District believes intervention must be early ...
Rapid City Journal, SD - May 3, 2006
... wants to use to increase high school graduation rates. Middle-school principals say the extra staff would reach students they can identify as likely drop outs. ...


Juvenile Justice


La. Juvenile Prison on the Road to Reform
Forbes, NY – May 2, 2006
Louisiana's juvenile prisons, once notorious for beatings and chaotic brawls, are on the road to reform and no longer need oversight from the federal courts, a judge has ruled.

Juvenile Justice hit with $11M budget cut
Tallahassee Democrat, FL - May 3, 2006
Children's advocates said they were blindsided by a $11 million cut legislators made Monday afternoon to the Department of Juvenile Justice budget, an agency ...


Foster Care

Always on the Move
Youth Radio, CA – May 4, 2006
... staying with family, in group homes, and with foster families. He’s picked up some wisdom from all those transitions, and shared his story with Youth Radio. ...

District of Columbia Honors Foster Parents
PR Newswire (press release), NY – May 4, 2006
... "The Freddie Mac Foundation is committed to improving the lives of foster children and youth, and one key way to do this is by supporting and appreciating the ...

But where's the governor?
San Francisco Chronicle, CA – May 4, 2006
... In my 15 years doing this, there has never been a press conference held by the Assembly speaker -- any speaker -- to say that foster youth are our priority ...

County scores well in care of abused children
The Union of Grass Valley, CA – May 4, 2006
... The National Center for Youth Law rated all 58 California counties based on how well ... of abuse or neglect, incidence of abuse or neglect in foster care, number ...

National Foster Care Month Campaign Launched For May; Hundreds of ...
U.S. Newswire (press release), DC - May 1, 2006
... Through her nonprofit, the Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan, she develops internships that allow foster youth to work behind the scenes of some of ...