This Week's News: Youth in Transition

Education
Foundation's small-schools experiment has yet to yield big results
Seattle Times
5 November 2006
Most Washington schools awarded grants to help downsize into smaller units haven't carried through. But a few are coming close to achieving what the foundation first envisioned as a way to improve high-school education. The Gates Foundation says it thinks most of its grantees have made good progress, with more low-income students in challenging classes and on a college track.

High college costs sacrificing students' dreams, study finds
Chicago Tribune
30 October 2006
Sharp tuition increases are forcing more lower-income students to trade their dream college for less expensive universities or community colleges, or are keeping some out of school entirely, according to a study released on Monday.

Nearly 95,000 students homeless in state
Oroville Mercury-Register
31 October 2006
Thousands of California school children each year find themselves living in shelters, motels, cars, with family or friends, and even on the street because they don't have a permanent home. The state Senate Transportation and Housing Committee released its own report Monday with preliminary homeless figures from the 2005-06 school year. They found close to 95,000 school-aged children were homeless last year and two-thirds of them in elementary school.

Juvenile Justice
'Bad girl' statistics get worse
Daily News
31 October 2006
More city schoolgirls are landing in juvenile detention now than a decade ago-while crime among boys is dropping, a new report reveals. Last year, 1,037 girls younger than 16 entered city detention facilities, up from 772 in 1992, according to the report by the Citizens' Committee for Children. Experts blame the spike among girls on many things, from increases in family violence and female aggression to violent images in the media.

Foster Care
Disabled foster kids to get special care
Miami Herald
2 November 2006
After a long wait, hundred of Florida foster children are supposed to received care for their developmental disabilities, but a Miami-Dade judge wants to know when. The long battle of 333 Florida foster child with special needs to obtain needed care from the state appears to be over, as state officials say they have found millions of dollars to help the kids.

Teen Court Days
Gotham Gazette
1 November 2006
More and more people agree that teens should have more of a voice in their own cases. A study last year by the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care found that surprisingly few teens participated in court proceedings. It recommended that courts find ways to include teens in the decision-making on their own cases. At New York's Youth Summit, recently held at Fordham University, many teens in foster care explain why it has been difficult for them to do so.