Monday, December 03, 2012

This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education

Gwinnett academies put focus on getting students back on track
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gwinnett County, GA – December 2, 2012
The Gwinnett County school system has a new program targeting a specific category of potential high school dropouts: overage eighth graders.  It’s a group that, statistics show, desperately needs a lifeline. While the district has a 67.6 percent overall high graduation rate, only about 13 percent of its students who enter ninth grade a year or more behind are leaving high school with a diploma.

A place to fit in, and learn: Carleton Project serves potential high school dropouts
The Bangor Daily News, Lincoln, ME – November 29, 2012
Sierrah Davis loves to write and comes across as intelligent, but she says she really dislikes high school.  Davis is back at school now — sort of.  The Lincoln resident is among 17 students enrolled this year in the Carleton Project, RSU 67’s alternative education attempt at keeping students in high school.

Center Aims to Help Recent Graduates, Dropouts
CBS, KLAS TV, Las Vegas, NV – November 29, 2012
A recent report revealed a 62 percent high school graduation rate in Nevada, among the lowest in the nation.  A center in east Las Vegas is trying to change the low graduation rate and help adults with a second chance at a career.

Juvenile Justice

Report urges reforming juvenile justice based on science
NewsWorks – December 2, 2012
"Adult crime -- adult time" has been one of the many battle cries calling for tough sentences for juvenile offenders. A new report commissioned by the federal justice department suggests that this approach doesn't work.

Woodruff releases report to help protect juveniles
New Pittsburgh Courier, Luzerne County, PA – November 28, 2012
Following the revelations that two Luzerne County judges had conspired to sentence juveniles who had committed minor infractions to a private jail for kickbacks, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Dwayne Woodruff was named to the commission empanelled to devise statewide reforms of the juvenile justice system.

Foster Care

Foster kids need opportunities to overcome odds
Mercury News, California – November 30, 2012
Even with the Silicon Valley economy leading the way in California and the nation, unemployment is still an unpleasant fact of life for young people. It's especially tough on kids who are in foster homes or coming out of foster homes and now have to stand on their own as adults. They have been dealt a double dose of bad odds.  Take the case of Antaeus S., who politely sketched out his life to a group of businesspeople the other day. "It isn't easy being a foster kid because of the legality issues," he said. "You are a ward of the court."  And what do foster youths need? Antaeus will tell you it's not a handout or charity. It's simply this: "All we are looking for is opportunity."  The Foster Youth Employment Coalition is working on that: Finding job opportunities for foster kids and other disadvantaged youths.

Teen Pregnancy

After school program offers abstinence lessons
The Chronicle, North Carolina – December 1, 2012
The Goler Institute for Development & Education (GIDE) Youth Education Academy (YEA) is facilitating a series of classes about adolescent sexuality designed to encourage young people to delay sexual activity and reduce risky behavior.

Purdue outreach program helps support teen mothers
The Exponent, Indiana – December 2, 2012
Carrying babies to full-term as a teenage girl is something that should be supported but not glamorized, which is something that Purdue and the state are trying to accomplish.  Teenage pregnancy rates have continually decreased in the past 20 or more years, but many girls still deal with the issue of growing up while raising a child and completing their education simultaneously.

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