Thursday, December 20, 2007
Holiday Break
The Youth in Transition Blog is taking a Holiday Break and will return after the Holiday Season. Look for headlines in your email inbox in January.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Early alerts should help shape education
IndyStar.com – December 8, 2007
Indiana stands ready to roll out a computer-based teaching tool that can serve as an early warning system for student learning problems. The system is designed to give quick tests to students throughout the year, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed. The tests will make sure children are learning what they should and reveal what they’ve missed. The program will be phased in over four years, beginning in the fall of 2008, for schools that wish to apply for the program, which will offer a variety of teaching aids on subjects such as math, science and social studies.
Adult education bringing hope to young dropouts
The Post and Courier – December 10, 2007
Unlike the dropout stereotype, James isn’t wasting his days lounging on his couch or stirring up trouble on the streets. Instead, he’s focused on earning his GED by taking classes at Dorchester County’s Adult Education Technical Assistance Center. He receives one-on-one attention in smaller classes and said he’s learning in an environment geared toward his needs. Students like James were once a rarity in South Carolina’s adult education programs. The centers were designed to help adults move up in the workplace, and partnerships with business and industry were the norm. Adult education programs today, however, have positioned themselves to meet the needs of the state’s multitude of high school dropouts. Part of the new young adult effort includes the recent hiring of transition specialists, who play a similar role to school guidance counselors, at each site across the state. Theses employees assist in organizing college tours, preparing resumes, formatting job applications and teaching interview skills. Students are encouraged to keep in contact with the transition specialists even after they earn their GEDs.
Colleges set up charters as pipeline for students
Sacramento Bee – December 8, 2007
Frustrated with students who come to college ill-prepared and an applicant pool that lacks the diversity of the nation’s high schools, universities around the country are creating their own K-12 schools. All of them focus on steering disadvantaged kids toward the university gates. And educators say they are making headway. “The reason these are happening more is that the universities are trying to do something to increase the number of minority students that come on their campuses and can be successful,” said Rob Baird, who funds school-university partnerships as vice president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. “Universities are now seeing these schools as laboratories for learning how to do something about remedying the achievement gap between more affluent, typically majority-population kids, and poor, urban, minority kids.”
School programs prevent dropouts with flexible hours
Houston Chronicle – December 12, 2007
It’s shortly after 1pm Wednesday, and while most of her peers across Texas are in school, 18-year-old Angelina Banda is driving to her $7.50-an-hour job at Home Depot. “I need Pampers,” said Banda, who has a 2-year-old daughter and a 4-month-old son. The young mom is enrolled in a special program at Houston’s Furr High School, which allows her to attend class in the morning and work in the afternoon. Similar programs designed to keep teems from dropping out of school could become more popular thanks to a new law that makes it easier for districts to obtain state funding for students with nontraditional schedules. State Rep. Scott Hochberg, who proposed the bill, said he hopes it encourages districts to offer evening or weekend classes for students who must work to support their families and cannot attend school during the conventional 8am to 3pm day.
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice Day urges students to make healthy choices
The Huntsville Item - December 14, 2007
Students at the Huntsville Transitional Disciplinary Academy literally came face-to-face with reality Friday during the school’s first Juvenile Justice Day. During the program, representatives from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and several parole officers discussed law-related issues and life decisions with the students. “The primary purpose of this event is to help students make healthy choices and to help them understand the dynamics of the law,” HTDA counselor Chris Tyson said. “We want to dare our students to have big dreams and to preclude them from getting into the penal system. “It’s so
important that we reach these kids while they’re still at this age, because if we talk to them while they’re in the seventh and eighth grades, we can hopefully prevent them from being involved in criminal activities later on.”
Ohio receives grant targeting mental health improvement in juvenile justice system
Wilmington News Journal - December 14, 2007
Ohio has been selected as one of four states to participate in a national and statewide collaborated effort to reform mental health services for youth involved in the state’s juvenile justice system. Ohio was chosen in a highly competitive process by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to participate in the Models for Change action network to improve mental health services for young offenders. “About 70 percent of youth in contact with the juvenile justice system have suffered with a mental health disorder. We have to improve the level of service offered to this population,” said Department of Youth Services (DYS) Director Tom Stickrath. “We anticipate that the Models for Change grant will allow Ohio to find new ways to identify and treat youth involved in DYS and the juvenile justice system as a whole with serious mental health needs and ultimately develop a more effective juvenile justice system.
Foster Care
Advocacy group seeks more info on abused foster kids
Detroit Free Press - December 14, 2007
The state and a New York-based children’s advocacy group are again at an impasse in the federal lawsuit that could result in radical, court-ordered reforms of Michigan’s foster care system. A U.S. district court magistrate in Detroit is to hear oral arguments today by the state Attorney General’s Office, representing the Department of Human Services, and Children’s Rights, the group pressing a class action on behalf of Michigan’s nearly 19,000 foster kids. Sara Bartosz, a Children’s Rights attorney, said her group has taken about 30 depositions from DHS officials about the foster care system. “What we’re seeing loud and clear, is a system that is not managed and staffed and resourced in a way to do its basic mission and do it safely,” Bartosz said this week.
Country singer helps students keep the beat
The Barnstable Patriot – December 14, 2007
Jimmy Wayne’s life sounds like something straight from a country music song, which is perhaps why it’s so fitting that country is his chosen genre. Wayne’s experiences include being a witness to serious domestic violence, having a parent in prison, being a victim of child abuse, spending time in foster care and being homeless. With such a past tucked beneath his belt, it’s a wonder the singer never threw in the proverbial towel, or mic. To the contrary, Wayne channeled his experiences and now speaks about them, and about overcoming them, to students throughout the country. On Wednesday Wayne made a special stop at the Performing Arts Center at Barnstable High School, where he performed a show for 957 Barnstable Middle School Students.
Early alerts should help shape education
IndyStar.com – December 8, 2007
Indiana stands ready to roll out a computer-based teaching tool that can serve as an early warning system for student learning problems. The system is designed to give quick tests to students throughout the year, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed. The tests will make sure children are learning what they should and reveal what they’ve missed. The program will be phased in over four years, beginning in the fall of 2008, for schools that wish to apply for the program, which will offer a variety of teaching aids on subjects such as math, science and social studies.
Adult education bringing hope to young dropouts
The Post and Courier – December 10, 2007
Unlike the dropout stereotype, James isn’t wasting his days lounging on his couch or stirring up trouble on the streets. Instead, he’s focused on earning his GED by taking classes at Dorchester County’s Adult Education Technical Assistance Center. He receives one-on-one attention in smaller classes and said he’s learning in an environment geared toward his needs. Students like James were once a rarity in South Carolina’s adult education programs. The centers were designed to help adults move up in the workplace, and partnerships with business and industry were the norm. Adult education programs today, however, have positioned themselves to meet the needs of the state’s multitude of high school dropouts. Part of the new young adult effort includes the recent hiring of transition specialists, who play a similar role to school guidance counselors, at each site across the state. Theses employees assist in organizing college tours, preparing resumes, formatting job applications and teaching interview skills. Students are encouraged to keep in contact with the transition specialists even after they earn their GEDs.
Colleges set up charters as pipeline for students
Sacramento Bee – December 8, 2007
Frustrated with students who come to college ill-prepared and an applicant pool that lacks the diversity of the nation’s high schools, universities around the country are creating their own K-12 schools. All of them focus on steering disadvantaged kids toward the university gates. And educators say they are making headway. “The reason these are happening more is that the universities are trying to do something to increase the number of minority students that come on their campuses and can be successful,” said Rob Baird, who funds school-university partnerships as vice president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. “Universities are now seeing these schools as laboratories for learning how to do something about remedying the achievement gap between more affluent, typically majority-population kids, and poor, urban, minority kids.”
School programs prevent dropouts with flexible hours
Houston Chronicle – December 12, 2007
It’s shortly after 1pm Wednesday, and while most of her peers across Texas are in school, 18-year-old Angelina Banda is driving to her $7.50-an-hour job at Home Depot. “I need Pampers,” said Banda, who has a 2-year-old daughter and a 4-month-old son. The young mom is enrolled in a special program at Houston’s Furr High School, which allows her to attend class in the morning and work in the afternoon. Similar programs designed to keep teems from dropping out of school could become more popular thanks to a new law that makes it easier for districts to obtain state funding for students with nontraditional schedules. State Rep. Scott Hochberg, who proposed the bill, said he hopes it encourages districts to offer evening or weekend classes for students who must work to support their families and cannot attend school during the conventional 8am to 3pm day.
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile Justice Day urges students to make healthy choices
The Huntsville Item - December 14, 2007
Students at the Huntsville Transitional Disciplinary Academy literally came face-to-face with reality Friday during the school’s first Juvenile Justice Day. During the program, representatives from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and several parole officers discussed law-related issues and life decisions with the students. “The primary purpose of this event is to help students make healthy choices and to help them understand the dynamics of the law,” HTDA counselor Chris Tyson said. “We want to dare our students to have big dreams and to preclude them from getting into the penal system. “It’s so
important that we reach these kids while they’re still at this age, because if we talk to them while they’re in the seventh and eighth grades, we can hopefully prevent them from being involved in criminal activities later on.”
Ohio receives grant targeting mental health improvement in juvenile justice system
Wilmington News Journal - December 14, 2007
Ohio has been selected as one of four states to participate in a national and statewide collaborated effort to reform mental health services for youth involved in the state’s juvenile justice system. Ohio was chosen in a highly competitive process by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to participate in the Models for Change action network to improve mental health services for young offenders. “About 70 percent of youth in contact with the juvenile justice system have suffered with a mental health disorder. We have to improve the level of service offered to this population,” said Department of Youth Services (DYS) Director Tom Stickrath. “We anticipate that the Models for Change grant will allow Ohio to find new ways to identify and treat youth involved in DYS and the juvenile justice system as a whole with serious mental health needs and ultimately develop a more effective juvenile justice system.
Foster Care
Advocacy group seeks more info on abused foster kids
Detroit Free Press - December 14, 2007
The state and a New York-based children’s advocacy group are again at an impasse in the federal lawsuit that could result in radical, court-ordered reforms of Michigan’s foster care system. A U.S. district court magistrate in Detroit is to hear oral arguments today by the state Attorney General’s Office, representing the Department of Human Services, and Children’s Rights, the group pressing a class action on behalf of Michigan’s nearly 19,000 foster kids. Sara Bartosz, a Children’s Rights attorney, said her group has taken about 30 depositions from DHS officials about the foster care system. “What we’re seeing loud and clear, is a system that is not managed and staffed and resourced in a way to do its basic mission and do it safely,” Bartosz said this week.
Country singer helps students keep the beat
The Barnstable Patriot – December 14, 2007
Jimmy Wayne’s life sounds like something straight from a country music song, which is perhaps why it’s so fitting that country is his chosen genre. Wayne’s experiences include being a witness to serious domestic violence, having a parent in prison, being a victim of child abuse, spending time in foster care and being homeless. With such a past tucked beneath his belt, it’s a wonder the singer never threw in the proverbial towel, or mic. To the contrary, Wayne channeled his experiences and now speaks about them, and about overcoming them, to students throughout the country. On Wednesday Wayne made a special stop at the Performing Arts Center at Barnstable High School, where he performed a show for 957 Barnstable Middle School Students.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Finding answers to dropout problem
Argus Leader – December 1, 2007
More then 10 percent of South Dakota teenagers quit high school before graduating, a choice that costs them $10,000 a year in earning power for the rest of their lives. As dropouts, they’re more likely to go on welfare, more apt to encounter social and financial difficulties – and now, they’re at the center of a statewide effort to change the way people think about education. The issue is no longer South Dakota’s dropout age, which had been 16 since World War II. The legislature voted this year to raise that age to 18 starting in 2009. The issue now is how educators will adapt to serve a captive audience that soon will include many students who under the old dropout law might have quit school at age 16 or 17. Career training, online coursework, internships and greater use of alternative schools all stand to address a root problem – that “some kids leave us because they’re bored,” Pogany said.
Drop-Out Prevention
KALB-News 5 - December 6, 2007
A Louisiana program designed to prevent students from dropping out of school and to encourage drop-outs to return to the classroom has received national recognition. The National Jobs for America’s Graduates Program awarded the Louisiana chapter its highest honor, a Five for Five National Performance Award and Top Five for Positive Outcomes Award for a 90% graduation rate among JAG students in Louisiana. The JAG program provides students the instruction they need to receive their high school diploma or GED. The program also helps students find jobs in high demand/high wage areas of the Louisiana economy. The Louisiana program also received a national grant to implement a research-based pilot of the JAG Out-of-School Model to encourage high school drop-outs to return to school and explore careers in the financial sector. The U.S. Department of Labor awarded the grant to just three states, Louisiana, Ohio and Florida. The project is aimed at serving 150 out-of-school youth over a two-year period.
School issues call for fathers to become visible in kids’ lives
The News-Press - December 5, 2007
Lee Middle School will launch a pilot program Thursday that will not only help its students educationally, but restore fractured relationships with their fathers. The missing male role model, often lost or discarded along a child’s educational path, will get another opportunity at Lee Middle with a program called “Fathers Supporting Education.” Whether it’s spell checking homework or showing up to chat at “Doughnuts for Dads,” Lee Middle wants to repair, rebuild and reattach the educational bond between absent father and their children. “Our children are failing in the school system and life. The only people that can be held accountable for this are our men.” Felton says 71 percent of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. He surveyed Lee Middle’s 605 students and found 70 percent want a male role model to help with education.
Juvenile Justice
Are we too tough on kids who commit crimes?
The Associated Press/Pioneer Press – December 2, 2007
A generation after America decided to get tough on kids who commit crimes – sometimes locking them up for life – the tide may be turning. States are rethinking and, in some cases, retooling juvenile-sentencing laws. They’re responding to new research on the adolescent brain and studies that indicate teens sent to adult court end up worse off then those who are not: The get in trouble more often, they do it faster and the offenses are more serious. Some states are reconsidering life without parole for teens. Some are focusing on raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction, while others are exploring ways to offer kids a second chance, once they’re locked up – or even before. The MacArthur Foundation said in a report to be released this month that about half of the states are involved in juvenile justice reform. And a national poll, commissioned by MacArthur and the Center for Children’s Law and Policy and set for release at the same time, also found widespread public support for rehabilitating teens rather than locking them up.
Marathon County Officials Credit Restorative Justice Program for Drop in Crime by Kids
WSAW NewsChannel 7 – December 6, 2007
More kids are keeping themselves out of trouble, at least in Marathon County where county workers say fewer kids are finding themselves in the juvenile justice system. Social services has found it is often best to put delinquent youth in alternative programs. For some kids, a little counseling can stop them from ever committing another crime. For others the threat of finding themselves in the courtroom can work, but for a few, there’s only one option. Nonetheless, most county employees who work with juveniles strongly believe court isn’t the best option. And that’s why the district attorney’s office is so thankful for the Restorative Justice Program. “They meet with their victim, they apologize to the victim for what they’ve done, and the victim can make a request such as restitution or completion of community service as a way for making amends for what they’ve done,” Bogen said. The alternative programs are starting to work. County employees are seeing fewer children go through the justice system and end up in cell blocks.
Foster Care
Preteen perfects art of holiday giving
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – December 7, 2007
When Maddi became a foster child nearly a decade ago, the little girl treasured a special coloring book and box of crayons. Coloring somehow cheered her. She colored a lot. So Madison decided to find ways to lift the spirits of foster children during the Christmas season. The project she initiated, now in its third year, has become one of the most significant and inspirational efforts in Western Pennsylvania to help children in need, child welfare officials say. This year, 330 children in the Allegheny County Children Youth and Family’s foster care program will receive bundles of art supplies and other gifts from the drive organized by Madison and conducted with the help of her family, friends, neighbors, classmates, teachers and church groups.
Program helps those aging out of foster system
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – December 5, 2007
Mike Fogelbach is enjoying the fruits of his labor, and all without living paycheck to paycheck – not bad for someone who left the state foster care system in October after seven years in group homes and independent living programs. Fogelbach, 21, has gotten what he has through his drive and work ethic but also with the help of a United Way of Greater St. Louis pilot program that aims to help teens and young adults who are homeless or aging out of the foster care system. The program teaches life skills to give them a better start at living on their own. And it offers an incentive in the form of up to $2,000 in matching funds toward a financial goal set by program participants. The United Way program challenges participants to save up to $1,000 in what’s called an Individual Development Account for things such as a down payment on a car or an apartment deposit. The money’s locked away until they’ve attended enough classes and met all the program requirements, when the United Way matches $2 for every $1 saved by the participant.
Finding answers to dropout problem
Argus Leader – December 1, 2007
More then 10 percent of South Dakota teenagers quit high school before graduating, a choice that costs them $10,000 a year in earning power for the rest of their lives. As dropouts, they’re more likely to go on welfare, more apt to encounter social and financial difficulties – and now, they’re at the center of a statewide effort to change the way people think about education. The issue is no longer South Dakota’s dropout age, which had been 16 since World War II. The legislature voted this year to raise that age to 18 starting in 2009. The issue now is how educators will adapt to serve a captive audience that soon will include many students who under the old dropout law might have quit school at age 16 or 17. Career training, online coursework, internships and greater use of alternative schools all stand to address a root problem – that “some kids leave us because they’re bored,” Pogany said.
Drop-Out Prevention
KALB-News 5 - December 6, 2007
A Louisiana program designed to prevent students from dropping out of school and to encourage drop-outs to return to the classroom has received national recognition. The National Jobs for America’s Graduates Program awarded the Louisiana chapter its highest honor, a Five for Five National Performance Award and Top Five for Positive Outcomes Award for a 90% graduation rate among JAG students in Louisiana. The JAG program provides students the instruction they need to receive their high school diploma or GED. The program also helps students find jobs in high demand/high wage areas of the Louisiana economy. The Louisiana program also received a national grant to implement a research-based pilot of the JAG Out-of-School Model to encourage high school drop-outs to return to school and explore careers in the financial sector. The U.S. Department of Labor awarded the grant to just three states, Louisiana, Ohio and Florida. The project is aimed at serving 150 out-of-school youth over a two-year period.
School issues call for fathers to become visible in kids’ lives
The News-Press - December 5, 2007
Lee Middle School will launch a pilot program Thursday that will not only help its students educationally, but restore fractured relationships with their fathers. The missing male role model, often lost or discarded along a child’s educational path, will get another opportunity at Lee Middle with a program called “Fathers Supporting Education.” Whether it’s spell checking homework or showing up to chat at “Doughnuts for Dads,” Lee Middle wants to repair, rebuild and reattach the educational bond between absent father and their children. “Our children are failing in the school system and life. The only people that can be held accountable for this are our men.” Felton says 71 percent of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes. He surveyed Lee Middle’s 605 students and found 70 percent want a male role model to help with education.
Juvenile Justice
Are we too tough on kids who commit crimes?
The Associated Press/Pioneer Press – December 2, 2007
A generation after America decided to get tough on kids who commit crimes – sometimes locking them up for life – the tide may be turning. States are rethinking and, in some cases, retooling juvenile-sentencing laws. They’re responding to new research on the adolescent brain and studies that indicate teens sent to adult court end up worse off then those who are not: The get in trouble more often, they do it faster and the offenses are more serious. Some states are reconsidering life without parole for teens. Some are focusing on raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction, while others are exploring ways to offer kids a second chance, once they’re locked up – or even before. The MacArthur Foundation said in a report to be released this month that about half of the states are involved in juvenile justice reform. And a national poll, commissioned by MacArthur and the Center for Children’s Law and Policy and set for release at the same time, also found widespread public support for rehabilitating teens rather than locking them up.
Marathon County Officials Credit Restorative Justice Program for Drop in Crime by Kids
WSAW NewsChannel 7 – December 6, 2007
More kids are keeping themselves out of trouble, at least in Marathon County where county workers say fewer kids are finding themselves in the juvenile justice system. Social services has found it is often best to put delinquent youth in alternative programs. For some kids, a little counseling can stop them from ever committing another crime. For others the threat of finding themselves in the courtroom can work, but for a few, there’s only one option. Nonetheless, most county employees who work with juveniles strongly believe court isn’t the best option. And that’s why the district attorney’s office is so thankful for the Restorative Justice Program. “They meet with their victim, they apologize to the victim for what they’ve done, and the victim can make a request such as restitution or completion of community service as a way for making amends for what they’ve done,” Bogen said. The alternative programs are starting to work. County employees are seeing fewer children go through the justice system and end up in cell blocks.
Foster Care
Preteen perfects art of holiday giving
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – December 7, 2007
When Maddi became a foster child nearly a decade ago, the little girl treasured a special coloring book and box of crayons. Coloring somehow cheered her. She colored a lot. So Madison decided to find ways to lift the spirits of foster children during the Christmas season. The project she initiated, now in its third year, has become one of the most significant and inspirational efforts in Western Pennsylvania to help children in need, child welfare officials say. This year, 330 children in the Allegheny County Children Youth and Family’s foster care program will receive bundles of art supplies and other gifts from the drive organized by Madison and conducted with the help of her family, friends, neighbors, classmates, teachers and church groups.
Program helps those aging out of foster system
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – December 5, 2007
Mike Fogelbach is enjoying the fruits of his labor, and all without living paycheck to paycheck – not bad for someone who left the state foster care system in October after seven years in group homes and independent living programs. Fogelbach, 21, has gotten what he has through his drive and work ethic but also with the help of a United Way of Greater St. Louis pilot program that aims to help teens and young adults who are homeless or aging out of the foster care system. The program teaches life skills to give them a better start at living on their own. And it offers an incentive in the form of up to $2,000 in matching funds toward a financial goal set by program participants. The United Way program challenges participants to save up to $1,000 in what’s called an Individual Development Account for things such as a down payment on a car or an apartment deposit. The money’s locked away until they’ve attended enough classes and met all the program requirements, when the United Way matches $2 for every $1 saved by the participant.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Longer school day appears to boost MCAS scores
The Boston Globe – November 30, 2007
Last fall, 10 Massachusetts public schools embarked on an experiment: Lengthen the school day by at least 25 percent, give students extra doses of reading, writing, and math, and let teachers come up with ways to reinforce their lessons. The extra times appears to be working. As a whole, schools with longer days boosted students’ MCAS scores in math, English and science across all grade levels, according to a report to be released today. And they outpaced the state in increasing the percentage of students scoring in the two highest MCAS categories. School systems across the country are watching Massachusetts, the first state to adopt and fund longer days in multiple districts. Leaders and educators in at least a dozen states – including New York and Rhode Island – are considering replicating the efforts. And US Senator Edward M. Kennedy is urging Congress to pass a bill that would make longer school days a key reform strategy. The bill would give states and school systems across the country seed money to extend their days.
High-Quality After-School Programs Tied to Test-Score Gains
Newsweek – November 28, 2007
Disadvantaged students who regularly attend top-notch after-school programs end up, after two years, academically far ahead of peers who spend more out-of-school time in unsupervised activities, according to findings from an eight-state study of those programs. Known as the Promising Afterschool Programs Study, the new research examined 35 programs serving 2,914 students in 14 communities stretching from Bridgeport, Conn., to Seaside, Calif. The programs, all of which had been operating at least three years when the study began, were selected because of a record of success. The researchers found, over the course of a three-year project, that the more engaged students were in supervised after-school activities, the better they did on a range of academic, social, and behavioral outcomes.
The Top of the Class
Newsweek – December
The complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. Schools – Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way.
Juvenile Justice
Parole proposed for youths who kill
Chicago Tribune – November 27, 2007
There are at least 103 Illinois inmates serving sentences of natural life for crimes committed before their 18th birthday. These inmates are getting new attention from human-rights groups and policymakers who question whether juveniles should be locked up for life. In Illinois and other states, some are seeking to change the law to give these inmates a shot at parole. Lead by such well-known advocates as Bernadine Dohrn and Randolph Stone, The Illinois Coalition for Fair Sentencing of Children is scheduled to issue a report on the topic by year’s end. Joining the effort is state Rep. Robert Molaro (D-Chicago), who introduced a bill that would have allowed juvenile lifers a shot at parole after serving 20 years in prison. He tabled the bill because of sharp criticism from victims rights groups who said they were not consulted about the proposal. Molaro hopes to revive the effort early next year and vows to work with law enforcement officials and other critics. Similar proposals have been introduced in California and Michigan. Last year, Colorado eliminated juvenile life sentences and, instead, gave future juveniles convicted of murder an optional parole hearing after 40 years in prison.
Adult System Worsens Juvenile Recidivism, Report Says
Washington Post – November 30, 2007
Youths tried as adults and housed in adult prisons commit more crimes, often more violent ones, than minors who remain in the juvenile justice system, a panel of experts appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report. Longer sentences and the transfer of juvenile offenders to the adult system gained traction in the 1980s and 1990s as youth crime increased. The trend raised fears in statehouses and in Congress about young predators, and laws to push more juvenile offenders into the adult system flourished. Those laws have not deterred other youths from committing crimes, nor have they rehabilitated the youths sentenced under them, said Robert L. Johnson, dean of the New Jersey Medical School, a member of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, which was assembled by the CDC. The two reports come as the Senate prepares to consider reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act which, in part, calls for youths in adult jails to be housed separately-something that does not always occur.
Foster Care
Report: High rate of ID American Indian children in foster care
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – November 25, 2007
American Indians represent 1 percent of Idaho’s child population but make up 6.6 percent of children in the foster care system, two child advocacy groups say. The National Indian Child Welfare Association, and Kids Are Waiting, released the report last week. To help reduce the number of American Indian children in foster care, the groups said, tribes should have direct access to child welfare funding made available by the federal government. “Agencies working with Indian children are unfamiliar with tribal culture and child-rearing and often are removing children when they don’t need to be,” said David Simmons, director of government affairs and advocacy for the National Indian Child Welfare Association.
Foster kids, meds merit exam
The Oregonian – November 27, 2007
Salem - Oregon lawmakers said Monday that they’re determined to fix problems with the state’s oversight of psychiatric medications given to children in foster care. Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said the Legislature will hold hearings when lawmakers reconvene in February to examine how well the Department of Human Services supervises the use of mental health medications. Courtney’s announcement follows a story in The Sunday Oregonian that found more than one in four children in foster care in Oregon take drugs to treat depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. The newspaper found that 2,400 children in foster care received these drugs in a recent 12-month span – a rate more than four times that of other Oregon kids.
Longer school day appears to boost MCAS scores
The Boston Globe – November 30, 2007
Last fall, 10 Massachusetts public schools embarked on an experiment: Lengthen the school day by at least 25 percent, give students extra doses of reading, writing, and math, and let teachers come up with ways to reinforce their lessons. The extra times appears to be working. As a whole, schools with longer days boosted students’ MCAS scores in math, English and science across all grade levels, according to a report to be released today. And they outpaced the state in increasing the percentage of students scoring in the two highest MCAS categories. School systems across the country are watching Massachusetts, the first state to adopt and fund longer days in multiple districts. Leaders and educators in at least a dozen states – including New York and Rhode Island – are considering replicating the efforts. And US Senator Edward M. Kennedy is urging Congress to pass a bill that would make longer school days a key reform strategy. The bill would give states and school systems across the country seed money to extend their days.
High-Quality After-School Programs Tied to Test-Score Gains
Newsweek – November 28, 2007
Disadvantaged students who regularly attend top-notch after-school programs end up, after two years, academically far ahead of peers who spend more out-of-school time in unsupervised activities, according to findings from an eight-state study of those programs. Known as the Promising Afterschool Programs Study, the new research examined 35 programs serving 2,914 students in 14 communities stretching from Bridgeport, Conn., to Seaside, Calif. The programs, all of which had been operating at least three years when the study began, were selected because of a record of success. The researchers found, over the course of a three-year project, that the more engaged students were in supervised after-school activities, the better they did on a range of academic, social, and behavioral outcomes.
The Top of the Class
Newsweek – December
The complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. Schools – Public schools are ranked according to a ratio devised by Jay Mathews: the number of Advanced Placement, Intl. Baccalaureate and/or Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school in 2006 divided by the number of graduating seniors. All of the schools on the list have an index of at least 1.000; they are in the top 5 percent of public schools measured this way.
Juvenile Justice
Parole proposed for youths who kill
Chicago Tribune – November 27, 2007
There are at least 103 Illinois inmates serving sentences of natural life for crimes committed before their 18th birthday. These inmates are getting new attention from human-rights groups and policymakers who question whether juveniles should be locked up for life. In Illinois and other states, some are seeking to change the law to give these inmates a shot at parole. Lead by such well-known advocates as Bernadine Dohrn and Randolph Stone, The Illinois Coalition for Fair Sentencing of Children is scheduled to issue a report on the topic by year’s end. Joining the effort is state Rep. Robert Molaro (D-Chicago), who introduced a bill that would have allowed juvenile lifers a shot at parole after serving 20 years in prison. He tabled the bill because of sharp criticism from victims rights groups who said they were not consulted about the proposal. Molaro hopes to revive the effort early next year and vows to work with law enforcement officials and other critics. Similar proposals have been introduced in California and Michigan. Last year, Colorado eliminated juvenile life sentences and, instead, gave future juveniles convicted of murder an optional parole hearing after 40 years in prison.
Adult System Worsens Juvenile Recidivism, Report Says
Washington Post – November 30, 2007
Youths tried as adults and housed in adult prisons commit more crimes, often more violent ones, than minors who remain in the juvenile justice system, a panel of experts appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report. Longer sentences and the transfer of juvenile offenders to the adult system gained traction in the 1980s and 1990s as youth crime increased. The trend raised fears in statehouses and in Congress about young predators, and laws to push more juvenile offenders into the adult system flourished. Those laws have not deterred other youths from committing crimes, nor have they rehabilitated the youths sentenced under them, said Robert L. Johnson, dean of the New Jersey Medical School, a member of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, which was assembled by the CDC. The two reports come as the Senate prepares to consider reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act which, in part, calls for youths in adult jails to be housed separately-something that does not always occur.
Foster Care
Report: High rate of ID American Indian children in foster care
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – November 25, 2007
American Indians represent 1 percent of Idaho’s child population but make up 6.6 percent of children in the foster care system, two child advocacy groups say. The National Indian Child Welfare Association, and Kids Are Waiting, released the report last week. To help reduce the number of American Indian children in foster care, the groups said, tribes should have direct access to child welfare funding made available by the federal government. “Agencies working with Indian children are unfamiliar with tribal culture and child-rearing and often are removing children when they don’t need to be,” said David Simmons, director of government affairs and advocacy for the National Indian Child Welfare Association.
Foster kids, meds merit exam
The Oregonian – November 27, 2007
Salem - Oregon lawmakers said Monday that they’re determined to fix problems with the state’s oversight of psychiatric medications given to children in foster care. Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, said the Legislature will hold hearings when lawmakers reconvene in February to examine how well the Department of Human Services supervises the use of mental health medications. Courtney’s announcement follows a story in The Sunday Oregonian that found more than one in four children in foster care in Oregon take drugs to treat depression, anxiety and other mental health problems. The newspaper found that 2,400 children in foster care received these drugs in a recent 12-month span – a rate more than four times that of other Oregon kids.
Monday, November 26, 2007
This Week's News:Youth in Transition
Education
Nurturing city school helps keep young mothers on track
Chicago Tribune – November 18, 2007
Welcome to the Simpson Academy for Young Women, the city’s lone school dedicated to pregnant and parenting students, where the arrival of a child often collides with childhood itself. The stolid brick building near Roosevelt Road and Ashland Avenue serves 276 girls between the ages of 11 and 18. Attendance and test scores are up; so is satisfaction. While teen birth rates are at an all-time low, nearly 10 percent of all babies in Illinois were born to teens, according to state health officials. Without a high school diploma, the chance of providing a safe and stable home for any of them is slim. Yet, only 64 percent of teen mothers in the state graduate or get a GED, according to the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health. The advocacy group reported in 2006 that almost a quarter of pregnant and parenting youth in Chicago school said they were “encouraged” to leave. At Simpson, girls receive a different message: Now that you’re expecting, an education is more crucial than ever.
Standardized Tests in College?
Newsweek Education – November 16, 2007
When U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings suggested a year ago that American colleges and universities consider using standardized tests to measure performance, the outrage in academia was loud and swift. Critics worry that No Child Left Behind type of accountability measures are being unleashed on college campuses. But now some influential college leaders seem to have had a change of heart. This week, two big consortiums of public colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, agreed to launch a website that will allow applicants, their parents and legislators to compare undergraduate experiences, costs and eventually – test scores that measure “student outcomes.” Participating colleges will begin administering standardized tests to how much test scores measure writing, analytic ability and critical thinking go up for students between freshman and senior year. The site, call College Portrait, is still being tested but a preliminary version is now online.
Seeking a “Gold Standard” in D.C. Charter Education
Washington Post – November 19, 2007
Now, some charter leaders in the city that is a national epicenter for their movement are planning to take the next step in this sifting process. They say they want to create a “gold standard designation,” to publicly identify for the first time which charters are doing the most to raise teaching quality and academic achievement for low-income students. Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, likened the initiative to a certification system to show “what high quality really means in terms of children of color from impoverished backgrounds, which is the vast majority of the students charter schools educate here.” National charter school leaders say the idea of certifying their best, already used in California, is likely to spread as the 4,000 U.S. charter schools face a strong pushback from traditional public school advocates. National research show that charter schools on average are no better at raising achievement than regular public schools. But high-performing charter groups such as KIPP, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, Aspire, YES and Green Dot say they are not average.
Juvenile Justice
California: a leader in number of youths in prison for life
Los Angeles Times – November 19, 2007
California has sentenced more juveniles to life in prison without possibility of parole than any state in the nation except Pennsylvania, according to a new study by the University of San Francisco’s Center for Law and Global Justice. California currently has 227 inmates serving such sentences for crimes committed before they turned 18; Pennsylvania has 433. The study, titled “Sentencing Children to Die in Prison,” also found that the United States has far more juveniles serving life terms than any other country – 2, 387 at present –with Israel running a distant second at 7. In the United States, life terms have fallen disproportionately on youths of color, with black juveniles 10 times more likely than white juveniles to be given a life without parole sentence, the report found. In California, black juveniles are 20 times more likely to receive such sentences.
Juveniles languish in adult jails
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – November 19, 2007
Laws passed in the mid-1990s to toughen sanctions on youthful offenders have created a backlog of teenagers awaiting trial or serving sentences in adult facilities. At any given time, the nation’s jails house 7,500 teenagers, including many how have not been convicted, according to a study released last week. Liz Ryan, of the Campaign for Youth Justice in Washington, D.C., said, “At a minimum, we shouldn’t do any harm to kids that haven’t been convicted of anything.” Her nonprofit advocacy group looked at government data on incarcerated youths and found teenagers were 36 times more likely to commit suicide in adult jails than juvenile facilities, and they were 34 times more likely to re-offend if they had been tried as adults. Youth made up 1 percent of the incarcerated population, but they made up 21 percent of “substantiated victims” of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence in 2005, the study found.
Juvenile offenders start life over with a crochet hook
The Christian Science Monitor – November 21, 2007
South Portland, Maine – At first glance, stubborn cowlicks and goofy humor are the most unruly things noticeable about the teen-age boys gathered in a late afternoon meeting of the Blank Project at the Long Creek Youth Development Center. The Blanket Project is for those who earn it through good behavior – and once involved, they’re careful not to lose the privilege. Yes, it’s touchy-feely, but the program is about more than making the boys feel good. “It helps the kids build those skills they’ve not been exposed to at all, or have had no opportunity to practice,” says Dan Reardon, a consultant and former CEO of the Bass shoe company who has volunteered 20 hours a week here as a mentor for more than a decade. “To create something from beginning to end, being able to give to their families and communities, talking for hours and hours – those are the social skills that will help make them successful outside. That’s restorative justice – to make everybody whole.” The blankets – dozens of them crocheted, dozens more cut-and-tied fleece – are largely given back to the communities in which crimes were committed. They go to homeless shelters, day-care centers, and retirement homes.
Foster Care
Nebraska wins award for number of foster children adopted
Omaha World-Herald – November 17, 2007
Nebraska won a $336, 000 award from the federal government for getting a record number of foster children adopted last year, state officials announced Friday. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services helped 456 children into new, permanent families during the calendar year of 2006. Atkinson said several factors contributed to the increase in adoptions. Among them was a directive from Gov. Dane Heineman to find permanent homes for children who had been in foster care for 15 of the previous 22 months. Another factor was the department’s effort to improve its performance on a coming federal review of the state’s child welfare system. The review will look at several measurements related to adoption.
Educator, producer work to open residential school
Mail Tribune – November 25, 2007
A Southern Oregon educator and a film producer have taken steps to establish a residential high school in hopes of improving the lives of the state’s homeless, foster and adjudicated teenagers by teaching them filmmaking. Steve Pine, regional coordinator for career and technical education at Southern Oregon Education Service District, and Sam Baldoni, owner of Inspired Films Inc., hope to launch the Oregon Youth Academy for grades nine through 12 as early as fall 2009. Homeless, foster and adjudicated youth are among the most likely to drop out of high school, Pine said. Dropouts cost society millions in welfare, criminal prosecution, incarceration and lost wages over time, Pine said. “How can we build a future for kids who have had no opportunities, no parenting, no mentoring, who bounce around from foster home to foster home?” “Then they age out. They get pregnant. They’re on welfare. They go to jail. It adds up. What we can do is open an academy and take in 200 to 400 at a time, change their lives and in turn, they can help others.”
Nurturing city school helps keep young mothers on track
Chicago Tribune – November 18, 2007
Welcome to the Simpson Academy for Young Women, the city’s lone school dedicated to pregnant and parenting students, where the arrival of a child often collides with childhood itself. The stolid brick building near Roosevelt Road and Ashland Avenue serves 276 girls between the ages of 11 and 18. Attendance and test scores are up; so is satisfaction. While teen birth rates are at an all-time low, nearly 10 percent of all babies in Illinois were born to teens, according to state health officials. Without a high school diploma, the chance of providing a safe and stable home for any of them is slim. Yet, only 64 percent of teen mothers in the state graduate or get a GED, according to the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health. The advocacy group reported in 2006 that almost a quarter of pregnant and parenting youth in Chicago school said they were “encouraged” to leave. At Simpson, girls receive a different message: Now that you’re expecting, an education is more crucial than ever.
Standardized Tests in College?
Newsweek Education – November 16, 2007
When U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings suggested a year ago that American colleges and universities consider using standardized tests to measure performance, the outrage in academia was loud and swift. Critics worry that No Child Left Behind type of accountability measures are being unleashed on college campuses. But now some influential college leaders seem to have had a change of heart. This week, two big consortiums of public colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, agreed to launch a website that will allow applicants, their parents and legislators to compare undergraduate experiences, costs and eventually – test scores that measure “student outcomes.” Participating colleges will begin administering standardized tests to how much test scores measure writing, analytic ability and critical thinking go up for students between freshman and senior year. The site, call College Portrait, is still being tested but a preliminary version is now online.
Seeking a “Gold Standard” in D.C. Charter Education
Washington Post – November 19, 2007
Now, some charter leaders in the city that is a national epicenter for their movement are planning to take the next step in this sifting process. They say they want to create a “gold standard designation,” to publicly identify for the first time which charters are doing the most to raise teaching quality and academic achievement for low-income students. Ramona Edelin, executive director of the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, likened the initiative to a certification system to show “what high quality really means in terms of children of color from impoverished backgrounds, which is the vast majority of the students charter schools educate here.” National charter school leaders say the idea of certifying their best, already used in California, is likely to spread as the 4,000 U.S. charter schools face a strong pushback from traditional public school advocates. National research show that charter schools on average are no better at raising achievement than regular public schools. But high-performing charter groups such as KIPP, Achievement First, Uncommon Schools, Aspire, YES and Green Dot say they are not average.
Juvenile Justice
California: a leader in number of youths in prison for life
Los Angeles Times – November 19, 2007
California has sentenced more juveniles to life in prison without possibility of parole than any state in the nation except Pennsylvania, according to a new study by the University of San Francisco’s Center for Law and Global Justice. California currently has 227 inmates serving such sentences for crimes committed before they turned 18; Pennsylvania has 433. The study, titled “Sentencing Children to Die in Prison,” also found that the United States has far more juveniles serving life terms than any other country – 2, 387 at present –with Israel running a distant second at 7. In the United States, life terms have fallen disproportionately on youths of color, with black juveniles 10 times more likely than white juveniles to be given a life without parole sentence, the report found. In California, black juveniles are 20 times more likely to receive such sentences.
Juveniles languish in adult jails
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – November 19, 2007
Laws passed in the mid-1990s to toughen sanctions on youthful offenders have created a backlog of teenagers awaiting trial or serving sentences in adult facilities. At any given time, the nation’s jails house 7,500 teenagers, including many how have not been convicted, according to a study released last week. Liz Ryan, of the Campaign for Youth Justice in Washington, D.C., said, “At a minimum, we shouldn’t do any harm to kids that haven’t been convicted of anything.” Her nonprofit advocacy group looked at government data on incarcerated youths and found teenagers were 36 times more likely to commit suicide in adult jails than juvenile facilities, and they were 34 times more likely to re-offend if they had been tried as adults. Youth made up 1 percent of the incarcerated population, but they made up 21 percent of “substantiated victims” of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence in 2005, the study found.
Juvenile offenders start life over with a crochet hook
The Christian Science Monitor – November 21, 2007
South Portland, Maine – At first glance, stubborn cowlicks and goofy humor are the most unruly things noticeable about the teen-age boys gathered in a late afternoon meeting of the Blank Project at the Long Creek Youth Development Center. The Blanket Project is for those who earn it through good behavior – and once involved, they’re careful not to lose the privilege. Yes, it’s touchy-feely, but the program is about more than making the boys feel good. “It helps the kids build those skills they’ve not been exposed to at all, or have had no opportunity to practice,” says Dan Reardon, a consultant and former CEO of the Bass shoe company who has volunteered 20 hours a week here as a mentor for more than a decade. “To create something from beginning to end, being able to give to their families and communities, talking for hours and hours – those are the social skills that will help make them successful outside. That’s restorative justice – to make everybody whole.” The blankets – dozens of them crocheted, dozens more cut-and-tied fleece – are largely given back to the communities in which crimes were committed. They go to homeless shelters, day-care centers, and retirement homes.
Foster Care
Nebraska wins award for number of foster children adopted
Omaha World-Herald – November 17, 2007
Nebraska won a $336, 000 award from the federal government for getting a record number of foster children adopted last year, state officials announced Friday. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services helped 456 children into new, permanent families during the calendar year of 2006. Atkinson said several factors contributed to the increase in adoptions. Among them was a directive from Gov. Dane Heineman to find permanent homes for children who had been in foster care for 15 of the previous 22 months. Another factor was the department’s effort to improve its performance on a coming federal review of the state’s child welfare system. The review will look at several measurements related to adoption.
Educator, producer work to open residential school
Mail Tribune – November 25, 2007
A Southern Oregon educator and a film producer have taken steps to establish a residential high school in hopes of improving the lives of the state’s homeless, foster and adjudicated teenagers by teaching them filmmaking. Steve Pine, regional coordinator for career and technical education at Southern Oregon Education Service District, and Sam Baldoni, owner of Inspired Films Inc., hope to launch the Oregon Youth Academy for grades nine through 12 as early as fall 2009. Homeless, foster and adjudicated youth are among the most likely to drop out of high school, Pine said. Dropouts cost society millions in welfare, criminal prosecution, incarceration and lost wages over time, Pine said. “How can we build a future for kids who have had no opportunities, no parenting, no mentoring, who bounce around from foster home to foster home?” “Then they age out. They get pregnant. They’re on welfare. They go to jail. It adds up. What we can do is open an academy and take in 200 to 400 at a time, change their lives and in turn, they can help others.”
Sunday, November 18, 2007
This Week's News:Youth in Transition
Education
Report: States gaming NCLB system
Stateline.org – November 13, 2007
On paper, Alabama last year showed remarkable gains in improving its schools. But a new report claims that Alabama – and a number of states – are manipulating statistics to make their schools appear better than they really are. The report released Tuesday (Nov. 13) by Education Sector, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., contends that states are gaming the system under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the 2002 law that measures states’ annual progress toward getting all students reading and doing math at grade level by 1014. In a ranking based on 11 statistics that states annually report to the U.S. Education Department Alabama jumped to 5th place in the country in how well it appears to be meeting various education measures, up from 22nd place last year. “This didn’t happen because Alabama students learned much more in 2006 than they did in 2005,” the report said. It happened because the state exploited loopholes in the law and set low standards for its statewide test so that more students passed those tests, inflating the state’s record in meeting the law’s benchmarks, according to the report. “Many states did exactly the same things, said the group, which contends Congress needs to close these loopholes when lawmakers rewrite NCLB this year or next.
CPS may get culinary school for dropouts, at-risk kids
Chicago Tribune – November 12, 2007
For many Chicago high school dropouts or those at risk of leaving school, the thought of developing a career in the culinary field can be as foreign as a seven-course dinner at a fancy restaurant. Those thoughts could move a bit closer to home Wednesday, when the Chicago Board of Education is expected to approve plans for the first high school of its kind in the district – which would target dropouts and 11th graders on the verge of dropping out and provide vocational training in a specific career field, in this case the culinary arts. “They are going to offer high school diplomas and take students who may have historically struggled or may have dropped out and really give them the opportunity to graduate, not just with a high school diploma, but with real skills that will help them in the job market,” Duncan said. “It’s a chance for students to have a second crack at a very high-quality education.”
A second chance for Oakland’s dropouts
The Oakland Tribune – November 15, 2007
Oakland – Beginning next year, dozens of Oakland youth who drop out of school will have another chance to continue their education. And they won’t need to return to high school to do it. At a news conference on Wednesday at Laney College, Oakland school district and Laney officials announced an initiative that will allow dropouts to simultaneously earn high school and college credits at the community college – for free. The program is called Gateway to College. It began in Portland in 200 and has since taken root in a network of 18 other community college around the country, including Laney. This will be the first such partnership in California. Laney will receive $350,000 to start the program over the course of three years, but is main funding source is already in place. Normally, when a student leaves high school, the state dollars allocated for their education follow them out the door. But if dropouts sign up for Gateway to College, Laney will receive the same amount of money that would have gone to the school district.
Juvenile Justice
UI center holds sixth annual conference on racial disparities
Iowa Press-Citizen - November 16, 2007
Less than three weeks ago, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver ordered the establishment of the Youth Race and Detention Task Force to address the over-representation of minority youth in Iowa’s juvenile detention centers. Recent reports have also drawn attention to the fact that minority students are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school and be involved in the child welfare system. State and national leaders in the fields of juvenile justice, child welfare, education, health, and family and human services will gather Nov. 28-30 in Des Moines to discuss the disproportionate numbers of minority youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and ways to address the disparity. They will pay special attention to how the issue connects with school systems.
Prof’s study shows deficiencies in law system
The Daily Northwestern – November 13, 2007
Illinois is not fulfilling its obligation to provide defense attorneys to juveniles charged with delinquent offenses, according to a report written by attorneys from the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern School of Law and the National Juvenile Defender Center. The report, “An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings” cites several Illinois counties where minors are assigned attorneys minutes before – and sometimes, not until – their meeting with a judge. “There is absolutely no way a lawyer has information to effectively represent their client,” said NU law professor Cathryn Crawford, co-author of the report. “There is no information to argue with the judge. The judge is not provided information to make an individualized determination of the case.”
Foster Care
Racial disparities in foster care
The Philadelphia Inquirer – November 14, 2007
Racial or ethnic prejudices, conscious or unconscious – even ignorance can lead social workers to see abuse or neglect where none exists, the experts say. They caution that stereotyping on the part of social workers is just one factor in the racial gap, and probably a small one at that. Other factors – higher rates of poverty, inadequate housing and child care, for example – are believed to be major contributors to abuse and neglect among minorities. Nationally, blacks make up about 15 percent of the childhood population, yet account for 34 percent of children in foster care, according to the GAO. Black children on average stay in foster care 9 months longer than whites. “Bias or cultural misunderstandings and distrust between child welfare decision makers and the families they serve,” the report said, was one of several factors accounting for the gap, as were poverty and lack of access to services. Strategies to reduce the gap include cultural competency programs, creating multicultural teams of social workers, recruiting minority families as foster parents, and relying more heavily on relatives who can step in during a crisis.
President Bush Helps Launch National Adoption Day 2007
PRNewswire – November 16, 2007
Washington – The National Adoption Day Coalition joined President George W. Bush at the White House today honoring the annual nationwide celebration of adoption from foster care known as National Adoption Day. On Saturday, November 17, hundreds of communities in all 50 states will hold courtroom celebrations to finalize more than 3,330 adoptions of children from foster care, bring the total number of finalized adoptions as part of the National Adoption Day activities to more than 20, 000. Right now, there are 114,000 children waiting in the foster care system that are legally and permanently separated from their biological parents. Unless they are connected with adoptive parents they will not only lose the opportunity for family joys as simple as Thanksgiving dinner, but they will also be at an increased risk for being undereducated, unemployed, homeless and/or involved in substance abuse or criminal activity.
Report: States gaming NCLB system
Stateline.org – November 13, 2007
On paper, Alabama last year showed remarkable gains in improving its schools. But a new report claims that Alabama – and a number of states – are manipulating statistics to make their schools appear better than they really are. The report released Tuesday (Nov. 13) by Education Sector, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., contends that states are gaming the system under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the 2002 law that measures states’ annual progress toward getting all students reading and doing math at grade level by 1014. In a ranking based on 11 statistics that states annually report to the U.S. Education Department Alabama jumped to 5th place in the country in how well it appears to be meeting various education measures, up from 22nd place last year. “This didn’t happen because Alabama students learned much more in 2006 than they did in 2005,” the report said. It happened because the state exploited loopholes in the law and set low standards for its statewide test so that more students passed those tests, inflating the state’s record in meeting the law’s benchmarks, according to the report. “Many states did exactly the same things, said the group, which contends Congress needs to close these loopholes when lawmakers rewrite NCLB this year or next.
CPS may get culinary school for dropouts, at-risk kids
Chicago Tribune – November 12, 2007
For many Chicago high school dropouts or those at risk of leaving school, the thought of developing a career in the culinary field can be as foreign as a seven-course dinner at a fancy restaurant. Those thoughts could move a bit closer to home Wednesday, when the Chicago Board of Education is expected to approve plans for the first high school of its kind in the district – which would target dropouts and 11th graders on the verge of dropping out and provide vocational training in a specific career field, in this case the culinary arts. “They are going to offer high school diplomas and take students who may have historically struggled or may have dropped out and really give them the opportunity to graduate, not just with a high school diploma, but with real skills that will help them in the job market,” Duncan said. “It’s a chance for students to have a second crack at a very high-quality education.”
A second chance for Oakland’s dropouts
The Oakland Tribune – November 15, 2007
Oakland – Beginning next year, dozens of Oakland youth who drop out of school will have another chance to continue their education. And they won’t need to return to high school to do it. At a news conference on Wednesday at Laney College, Oakland school district and Laney officials announced an initiative that will allow dropouts to simultaneously earn high school and college credits at the community college – for free. The program is called Gateway to College. It began in Portland in 200 and has since taken root in a network of 18 other community college around the country, including Laney. This will be the first such partnership in California. Laney will receive $350,000 to start the program over the course of three years, but is main funding source is already in place. Normally, when a student leaves high school, the state dollars allocated for their education follow them out the door. But if dropouts sign up for Gateway to College, Laney will receive the same amount of money that would have gone to the school district.
Juvenile Justice
UI center holds sixth annual conference on racial disparities
Iowa Press-Citizen - November 16, 2007
Less than three weeks ago, Iowa Gov. Chet Culver ordered the establishment of the Youth Race and Detention Task Force to address the over-representation of minority youth in Iowa’s juvenile detention centers. Recent reports have also drawn attention to the fact that minority students are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school and be involved in the child welfare system. State and national leaders in the fields of juvenile justice, child welfare, education, health, and family and human services will gather Nov. 28-30 in Des Moines to discuss the disproportionate numbers of minority youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and ways to address the disparity. They will pay special attention to how the issue connects with school systems.
Prof’s study shows deficiencies in law system
The Daily Northwestern – November 13, 2007
Illinois is not fulfilling its obligation to provide defense attorneys to juveniles charged with delinquent offenses, according to a report written by attorneys from the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern School of Law and the National Juvenile Defender Center. The report, “An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings” cites several Illinois counties where minors are assigned attorneys minutes before – and sometimes, not until – their meeting with a judge. “There is absolutely no way a lawyer has information to effectively represent their client,” said NU law professor Cathryn Crawford, co-author of the report. “There is no information to argue with the judge. The judge is not provided information to make an individualized determination of the case.”
Foster Care
Racial disparities in foster care
The Philadelphia Inquirer – November 14, 2007
Racial or ethnic prejudices, conscious or unconscious – even ignorance can lead social workers to see abuse or neglect where none exists, the experts say. They caution that stereotyping on the part of social workers is just one factor in the racial gap, and probably a small one at that. Other factors – higher rates of poverty, inadequate housing and child care, for example – are believed to be major contributors to abuse and neglect among minorities. Nationally, blacks make up about 15 percent of the childhood population, yet account for 34 percent of children in foster care, according to the GAO. Black children on average stay in foster care 9 months longer than whites. “Bias or cultural misunderstandings and distrust between child welfare decision makers and the families they serve,” the report said, was one of several factors accounting for the gap, as were poverty and lack of access to services. Strategies to reduce the gap include cultural competency programs, creating multicultural teams of social workers, recruiting minority families as foster parents, and relying more heavily on relatives who can step in during a crisis.
President Bush Helps Launch National Adoption Day 2007
PRNewswire – November 16, 2007
Washington – The National Adoption Day Coalition joined President George W. Bush at the White House today honoring the annual nationwide celebration of adoption from foster care known as National Adoption Day. On Saturday, November 17, hundreds of communities in all 50 states will hold courtroom celebrations to finalize more than 3,330 adoptions of children from foster care, bring the total number of finalized adoptions as part of the National Adoption Day activities to more than 20, 000. Right now, there are 114,000 children waiting in the foster care system that are legally and permanently separated from their biological parents. Unless they are connected with adoptive parents they will not only lose the opportunity for family joys as simple as Thanksgiving dinner, but they will also be at an increased risk for being undereducated, unemployed, homeless and/or involved in substance abuse or criminal activity.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
For a Key Education Law, Reauthorization Stalls
New York Times – November 6, 2007
The leaders of the Senate and House education committees are signaling that time has run out for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act this year, leaving prospects for rewriting it uncertain during the presidential campaign in 2008. It passed Congress with bipartisan support in 2001 and will remain in effect even without Congressional action. But the administration and Democrats in Congress had repeatedly promised to make important changes to it this year, including some that would alter judging student performance. Despite dozens of hearings, month of public debate and hundreds of hours of Congressional negotiation, neither the House nor the Senate has produced a bill that would formally start the reauthorization process.
More dropouts after exit exam
Los Angeles Daily News – November 7, 2007
Sacramento – The number of California high school dropouts spiked in 2006, the first year serious were required to pass the state’s exit exam to graduate, according to a report presented Wednesday to the state Board of Education. The report’s findings validate the position of exit exam opponents who say the test is hardest on students who do not have access to good schools or good teachers, said Liz Guillen, director of legislative and community affairs for Public Advocates. That applies mostly to poor and minority students, she said. The San Francisco-based law firm has sued the state over the exam and sought alternatives.
Tuning in can stem dropping out
Boston Globe – November 5, 2007
The morning roundup is but one aspect that makes the South Brooklyn Community High School unusual. The staff at the experimental school is charged with getting involved in some of the most personal details of students’ lives, going so far as to show up at the homes of those who fail to report to class. The five-year-old school and more than two dozen like it in New York are this city’s most innovative attempt to remedy a dangerously high dropout rate – a problem that not only wreaks havoc with the students who quit, but with the society that ends up supporting them. In New York, where only half of all high school students graduate in four years, the South Brooklyn Community High School represents a sanctuary of sorts from students’ past failures and fading hopes. The school takes some of the city’s worst students – those who have been chronically truant and struggling academically. Yet, 69 percent of them graduate. If they remained in a regular high school, their chances of graduating would have slipped to 19 percent, according the city’s Department of Education.
Juvenile Justice
Group urges reforms to fight juvenile crime
Times Union – November 7, 2007
Law enforcement officials have called for a complete overhaul of the state’s juvenile justice system. A report, released last week, found that four out of 10 repeat crimes committed by juvenile delinquents could be prevented if reforms were adopted. The average cost statewide in New York to keep a juvenile in custody for a year is $150,000, according to the report. It pointed out that amount of money “would pay for over eight years of room, board and tuition” at the State University in Albany, said Meredith Wiley, a state director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, the New York chapter of the national organization. “Getting Juvenile Justice Right in New York: Proven Interventions Will Cut Crime and Save Money” found that dangerous young offenders need to be locked up, but too many don’t get intensive interventions to address their aggression, substance abuse and anti-social behavior. Placing other juvenile offenders, who do not need to be detained, in custody is ineffective and expensive, the report said. Community-based rehabilitation programs and special foster care would cut recidivism, crime and costs, the report said.
State must alter system for juvenile sex offenders
Courier-Journal – November 7, 2007
A Franklin Circuit Court judge again has ordered the Kentucky Juvenile Justice Department to abandon a “one size fits all” system it uses to classify and house juveniles who commit sex offenses. Judge Phillip J. Shepherd reaffirmed his earlier decision to strike down the department’s practice of housing minor offenders in a treatment program along with older youths who commit serious sex crimes. The practice violates state law and was not intended by lawmakers, who established a treatment-oriented system based on the child’s needs and the nature of the offense, Shepherd said in an order Thursday. Shepherd’s ruling comes as he is considering a broader challenge to the department’s entire system of classifying and housing youths by public defenders, who argue it funnels too many youths into state juvenile centers when they could be served at home or in their communities.
Foster Care
City’s foster care is faulted
Baltimore Sun – November 6, 2007
Baltimore foster children are still being sheltered at state office building and still missing medical and dental appointments, according to lawyers charged with monitoring a long-standing court decree on care for these children. In a more than 400-page document filed yesterday in federal court, the lawyers say the state Department of Human Resources and Baltimore’s Department of Social Services have persistently failed to comply with a 1988 agreement that called for swift reform in the care of foster children. State officials must respond to the contempt filing, and a federal judge is expected to consider the allegations. Attorneys hope the judge will appoint a full-time monitor who will follow up on the state’s efforts to improve foster child welfare in Baltimore, Such a system has worked well in other states, including Alabama and Utah, they said.
Should foster kids give DNA samples?
News-Journal – November 8, 2007
Daytona Beach – When children are removed from abusive or neglectful parents, an investigator takes their fingerprints and photographs for identification. But what if children, on their way to homes with foster parents or relatives, had to open their mouths and give a saliva swab? The idea of collecting foster children’s DNA is one a task force has recommended the state Department of Children & Families and other agencies consider studying. Some child advocates fear such a step would not only invade a foster child’s privacy, but make him or her feel even more like they’ve done something wrong, as opposed to being a victim. The DCF Task Force on Child Protection contends in a report that DNA is a “more thorough and under certain circumstances, successful technology for positively identifying a person” than fingerprints. The task force is looking at gaps in the current system and ways to improve children’s safety.
For a Key Education Law, Reauthorization Stalls
New York Times – November 6, 2007
The leaders of the Senate and House education committees are signaling that time has run out for reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act this year, leaving prospects for rewriting it uncertain during the presidential campaign in 2008. It passed Congress with bipartisan support in 2001 and will remain in effect even without Congressional action. But the administration and Democrats in Congress had repeatedly promised to make important changes to it this year, including some that would alter judging student performance. Despite dozens of hearings, month of public debate and hundreds of hours of Congressional negotiation, neither the House nor the Senate has produced a bill that would formally start the reauthorization process.
More dropouts after exit exam
Los Angeles Daily News – November 7, 2007
Sacramento – The number of California high school dropouts spiked in 2006, the first year serious were required to pass the state’s exit exam to graduate, according to a report presented Wednesday to the state Board of Education. The report’s findings validate the position of exit exam opponents who say the test is hardest on students who do not have access to good schools or good teachers, said Liz Guillen, director of legislative and community affairs for Public Advocates. That applies mostly to poor and minority students, she said. The San Francisco-based law firm has sued the state over the exam and sought alternatives.
Tuning in can stem dropping out
Boston Globe – November 5, 2007
The morning roundup is but one aspect that makes the South Brooklyn Community High School unusual. The staff at the experimental school is charged with getting involved in some of the most personal details of students’ lives, going so far as to show up at the homes of those who fail to report to class. The five-year-old school and more than two dozen like it in New York are this city’s most innovative attempt to remedy a dangerously high dropout rate – a problem that not only wreaks havoc with the students who quit, but with the society that ends up supporting them. In New York, where only half of all high school students graduate in four years, the South Brooklyn Community High School represents a sanctuary of sorts from students’ past failures and fading hopes. The school takes some of the city’s worst students – those who have been chronically truant and struggling academically. Yet, 69 percent of them graduate. If they remained in a regular high school, their chances of graduating would have slipped to 19 percent, according the city’s Department of Education.
Juvenile Justice
Group urges reforms to fight juvenile crime
Times Union – November 7, 2007
Law enforcement officials have called for a complete overhaul of the state’s juvenile justice system. A report, released last week, found that four out of 10 repeat crimes committed by juvenile delinquents could be prevented if reforms were adopted. The average cost statewide in New York to keep a juvenile in custody for a year is $150,000, according to the report. It pointed out that amount of money “would pay for over eight years of room, board and tuition” at the State University in Albany, said Meredith Wiley, a state director of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, the New York chapter of the national organization. “Getting Juvenile Justice Right in New York: Proven Interventions Will Cut Crime and Save Money” found that dangerous young offenders need to be locked up, but too many don’t get intensive interventions to address their aggression, substance abuse and anti-social behavior. Placing other juvenile offenders, who do not need to be detained, in custody is ineffective and expensive, the report said. Community-based rehabilitation programs and special foster care would cut recidivism, crime and costs, the report said.
State must alter system for juvenile sex offenders
Courier-Journal – November 7, 2007
A Franklin Circuit Court judge again has ordered the Kentucky Juvenile Justice Department to abandon a “one size fits all” system it uses to classify and house juveniles who commit sex offenses. Judge Phillip J. Shepherd reaffirmed his earlier decision to strike down the department’s practice of housing minor offenders in a treatment program along with older youths who commit serious sex crimes. The practice violates state law and was not intended by lawmakers, who established a treatment-oriented system based on the child’s needs and the nature of the offense, Shepherd said in an order Thursday. Shepherd’s ruling comes as he is considering a broader challenge to the department’s entire system of classifying and housing youths by public defenders, who argue it funnels too many youths into state juvenile centers when they could be served at home or in their communities.
Foster Care
City’s foster care is faulted
Baltimore Sun – November 6, 2007
Baltimore foster children are still being sheltered at state office building and still missing medical and dental appointments, according to lawyers charged with monitoring a long-standing court decree on care for these children. In a more than 400-page document filed yesterday in federal court, the lawyers say the state Department of Human Resources and Baltimore’s Department of Social Services have persistently failed to comply with a 1988 agreement that called for swift reform in the care of foster children. State officials must respond to the contempt filing, and a federal judge is expected to consider the allegations. Attorneys hope the judge will appoint a full-time monitor who will follow up on the state’s efforts to improve foster child welfare in Baltimore, Such a system has worked well in other states, including Alabama and Utah, they said.
Should foster kids give DNA samples?
News-Journal – November 8, 2007
Daytona Beach – When children are removed from abusive or neglectful parents, an investigator takes their fingerprints and photographs for identification. But what if children, on their way to homes with foster parents or relatives, had to open their mouths and give a saliva swab? The idea of collecting foster children’s DNA is one a task force has recommended the state Department of Children & Families and other agencies consider studying. Some child advocates fear such a step would not only invade a foster child’s privacy, but make him or her feel even more like they’ve done something wrong, as opposed to being a victim. The DCF Task Force on Child Protection contends in a report that DNA is a “more thorough and under certain circumstances, successful technology for positively identifying a person” than fingerprints. The task force is looking at gaps in the current system and ways to improve children’s safety.
Monday, November 05, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
ECS Launches One-of-a-kind, Nationwide High School Database to Boost Efforts by State Policymakers
EdNews – November 2, 2007
Denver, CO – Today the Education Commission of the States (ECS) goes live with three high school databases to assist state policymakers with questions about International Baccalaureate, student accountability, and student support and remediation. ECS also launches an updated database on promising local reform initiatives at the state and district level from around the country. “These databases address emerging or peaking issues for state policymakers,” ECS High School Policy Center Project Manager Jennifer Dounay said. “For instance, many states are concerned with dropout prevention and how to help young people drop back into the system after they’ve dropped out. The student support and remediation database helps policymakers assess what work is being done across the states to tackle this issue, along with a host of related topics.”
Bridging gaps in colleges is goal
Orlando Sentinel – November 1, 2007
Florida and 18 other public university systems are pledging to increase the number of minority and low-income students who graduate from college. The new initiative –dubbed Access to Success – calls for schools to provide detailed annual reports so the public can gauge progress. Organizers said these reports will make schools accountable and keep attention focused on the goals. The reports also would track graduation rates for low-income students, something that isn’t routinely done, organizers said. Access to Success is a project of the National Association of System Heads, a group of top administrators from higher-education systems across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
New Small Schools in N.Y.C. Post Higher Graduation Rate
Education Week – October 31, 2007
Small high schools that opened in New York City in 2002 as part of a closely watched secondary school improvement effort there are graduating far more of their students on time than other city high schools, researchers have found. At schools that are part of the city’s New Century High Schools initiative, 78 percent of students graduate in four years, compared with 58 percent at New York City high schools on average, according to the final report of an evaluation by Policy Studies Associates Inc., a Washington-based research group that has been studying the 10-year initiative since it began. The New Century schools enroll unusually high portions of poor and minority students and students with weaker academic skills, Yet in addition to outpacing the citywide graduation rate by 20 percentage points, they also produce a graduation rate nearly 18 percentage points higher then 10 schools with demographically similar students that were chosen by researchers as a comparison group. The study also found that only 3 percent of the New Century high school class of 2006 had dropped out over a four-year period, compared with nearly 15 percent citywide in 2005.
Juvenile Justice
Missouri Sees Teen Offenders as Kids, Not Inmates
NPR – October 30, 2007
The Northwest Regional Youth Center is where Missouri sends some of its most troubled – and troublesome – juvenile offenders. Street thugs from St. Louis mix with gang members from Kansas City and pint-sized, rural car thieves, yet there’s a sense of calmness. It’s part of Missouri’s treatment-orientated approach toward juveniles where lockups are designed to resemble college dorms and offenders are treated firmly, seriously and humanely. The result of Missouri’s focus on rehabilitation is a 7.3 percent recidivism rate. “The basic logic of youth corrections is that if you treat young people like inmates, they’ll act like prisoners,” Krisberg says. “If you treat them like young people capable of being citizens, they’ll much more likely act like citizens.”
Report: Juveniles jailed more than they should be
Daily Southtown – October 31, 2007
Children are routinely denied justice by juvenile courts in Illinois and are jailed when they shouldn’t be, a major study published today says. Kids younger than 17 are inappropriately shackled, locked up and often poorly defended by attorneys who misunderstand their role, the Illinois Juvenile Defense Assessment Project says. The 150-page report- which saw researchers from Northwestern University anonymously interview hundreds of children and juvenile-laws professionals statewide and also takes in courtroom observations and statistical data – says children often are refused rights adults take for granted. Many defense attorneys continue to believe that incarceration in the child’s best interest, forcing kids to plead guilty before the facts of a case have been tested, the report says. Judges in juvenile court tend to discourage the “zealous advocacy’ upon which the system is based. Parents unwilling or unable to pay legal fees also often urge their children to quickly plead guilty, the study found. Other problems cited by the study included overworked, underpaid public defenders, the fact that children usually meet their attorneys only moments before they appear before a judge and the complicated legal language judges and attorneys often used, confusing accused children.
Rhode Island lawmakers repeal law imprisoning teens
Times Argus – October 31, 2007
Rhode Island lawmakers voted Tuesday to repeal a recently enacted law that sent 17-year-old criminal offenders to adult prisons, a flawed cost-cutting step that seemed unlikely to save money and was denounced as unfair by childhood advocates. In a rushed session, the General Assembly decided that 17-year-olds charged with crimes should be sent to Family Court and the State Training School, a juvenile detention facility, overturning a policy that started almost four months ago. Under the law adopted Tuesday, the adult court records of 17-year-olds will be effectively hidden from public view once their cases are closed, making it easier for them to apply for jobs or get federal student loans. But House lawmakers rejected a more extensive repeal backed by the Senate that would have applied retroactively to almost 50 teenagers charged with adult offenses since July 1, when the now-repealed law took effect.
Foster Care
Payments lag for foster parents
Citizen-Times – October 28, 2007
The money North Carolina pays foster parents to care for children covers only about two-thirds of the actual cost, a new study shows. Only one state, Arizona, and the District of Columbia were paying the actual cost of caring for a child, the study found. Nationally, the rate averages 36 percent below what it should be. North Carolina is in the middle tier of states when it comes to reimbursing caregivers for foster children, According to the report, it is among 23 states that must raise rates 50-100 percent to meet parents’ costs; five states would have to more than double their rates. The report, “Hitting the MARC: Establishing Foster Care Minimum Adequate Care Rates for Children,” was released by Children’s Rights, the National Foster Parent Association and the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
ECS Launches One-of-a-kind, Nationwide High School Database to Boost Efforts by State Policymakers
EdNews – November 2, 2007
Denver, CO – Today the Education Commission of the States (ECS) goes live with three high school databases to assist state policymakers with questions about International Baccalaureate, student accountability, and student support and remediation. ECS also launches an updated database on promising local reform initiatives at the state and district level from around the country. “These databases address emerging or peaking issues for state policymakers,” ECS High School Policy Center Project Manager Jennifer Dounay said. “For instance, many states are concerned with dropout prevention and how to help young people drop back into the system after they’ve dropped out. The student support and remediation database helps policymakers assess what work is being done across the states to tackle this issue, along with a host of related topics.”
Bridging gaps in colleges is goal
Orlando Sentinel – November 1, 2007
Florida and 18 other public university systems are pledging to increase the number of minority and low-income students who graduate from college. The new initiative –dubbed Access to Success – calls for schools to provide detailed annual reports so the public can gauge progress. Organizers said these reports will make schools accountable and keep attention focused on the goals. The reports also would track graduation rates for low-income students, something that isn’t routinely done, organizers said. Access to Success is a project of the National Association of System Heads, a group of top administrators from higher-education systems across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
New Small Schools in N.Y.C. Post Higher Graduation Rate
Education Week – October 31, 2007
Small high schools that opened in New York City in 2002 as part of a closely watched secondary school improvement effort there are graduating far more of their students on time than other city high schools, researchers have found. At schools that are part of the city’s New Century High Schools initiative, 78 percent of students graduate in four years, compared with 58 percent at New York City high schools on average, according to the final report of an evaluation by Policy Studies Associates Inc., a Washington-based research group that has been studying the 10-year initiative since it began. The New Century schools enroll unusually high portions of poor and minority students and students with weaker academic skills, Yet in addition to outpacing the citywide graduation rate by 20 percentage points, they also produce a graduation rate nearly 18 percentage points higher then 10 schools with demographically similar students that were chosen by researchers as a comparison group. The study also found that only 3 percent of the New Century high school class of 2006 had dropped out over a four-year period, compared with nearly 15 percent citywide in 2005.
Juvenile Justice
Missouri Sees Teen Offenders as Kids, Not Inmates
NPR – October 30, 2007
The Northwest Regional Youth Center is where Missouri sends some of its most troubled – and troublesome – juvenile offenders. Street thugs from St. Louis mix with gang members from Kansas City and pint-sized, rural car thieves, yet there’s a sense of calmness. It’s part of Missouri’s treatment-orientated approach toward juveniles where lockups are designed to resemble college dorms and offenders are treated firmly, seriously and humanely. The result of Missouri’s focus on rehabilitation is a 7.3 percent recidivism rate. “The basic logic of youth corrections is that if you treat young people like inmates, they’ll act like prisoners,” Krisberg says. “If you treat them like young people capable of being citizens, they’ll much more likely act like citizens.”
Report: Juveniles jailed more than they should be
Daily Southtown – October 31, 2007
Children are routinely denied justice by juvenile courts in Illinois and are jailed when they shouldn’t be, a major study published today says. Kids younger than 17 are inappropriately shackled, locked up and often poorly defended by attorneys who misunderstand their role, the Illinois Juvenile Defense Assessment Project says. The 150-page report- which saw researchers from Northwestern University anonymously interview hundreds of children and juvenile-laws professionals statewide and also takes in courtroom observations and statistical data – says children often are refused rights adults take for granted. Many defense attorneys continue to believe that incarceration in the child’s best interest, forcing kids to plead guilty before the facts of a case have been tested, the report says. Judges in juvenile court tend to discourage the “zealous advocacy’ upon which the system is based. Parents unwilling or unable to pay legal fees also often urge their children to quickly plead guilty, the study found. Other problems cited by the study included overworked, underpaid public defenders, the fact that children usually meet their attorneys only moments before they appear before a judge and the complicated legal language judges and attorneys often used, confusing accused children.
Rhode Island lawmakers repeal law imprisoning teens
Times Argus – October 31, 2007
Rhode Island lawmakers voted Tuesday to repeal a recently enacted law that sent 17-year-old criminal offenders to adult prisons, a flawed cost-cutting step that seemed unlikely to save money and was denounced as unfair by childhood advocates. In a rushed session, the General Assembly decided that 17-year-olds charged with crimes should be sent to Family Court and the State Training School, a juvenile detention facility, overturning a policy that started almost four months ago. Under the law adopted Tuesday, the adult court records of 17-year-olds will be effectively hidden from public view once their cases are closed, making it easier for them to apply for jobs or get federal student loans. But House lawmakers rejected a more extensive repeal backed by the Senate that would have applied retroactively to almost 50 teenagers charged with adult offenses since July 1, when the now-repealed law took effect.
Foster Care
Payments lag for foster parents
Citizen-Times – October 28, 2007
The money North Carolina pays foster parents to care for children covers only about two-thirds of the actual cost, a new study shows. Only one state, Arizona, and the District of Columbia were paying the actual cost of caring for a child, the study found. Nationally, the rate averages 36 percent below what it should be. North Carolina is in the middle tier of states when it comes to reimbursing caregivers for foster children, According to the report, it is among 23 states that must raise rates 50-100 percent to meet parents’ costs; five states would have to more than double their rates. The report, “Hitting the MARC: Establishing Foster Care Minimum Adequate Care Rates for Children,” was released by Children’s Rights, the National Foster Parent Association and the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Students get second chance
Courier-Post – October 21, 2007
Now, after operating in the shadows of the traditional educational system since, December, the Community Educational Resource Network school at Bethel United Methodist Church on Westfield Avenue is getting national recognition and some much-needed start-up funds. The National Association for Street Schools, a Denver group that provides financial and logistic support to faith-based schools, has signed up as a sponsor. And through that group, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is providing $57,750 that will allow the school to pay an administrator. With the new funds, CERN will add a sister school next month: The East Side Preparatory Academy. CERN will enroll students who drop out of high school. These students are typically age 17 and up who are working toward a GED. East Side Prep will offer students, typically ages 16 and under, a four-year high school curriculum. Each will serve about 25 mostly Hispanic students from Camden.
Program to Deter High School Dropouts by Offering College Courses Is Approved
New York Times – October 24, 2007
Trying to improve New York’s high school graduation rates, state education officials are proposing to place 12,000 potential dropouts a year in college classes while they are still in high school. The plan, approved yesterday by the state’s Board of Regents, “would provide funding for student to take genuine college courses and receive credit for high school as well as for college,” said the state education commissioner, Richard P. Mills. “Instead of four-plus-four plan – four years of high school and four years of college – students could actually complete high school and a bachelor’s degree in seven years,” the commissioner said. A recent study of dual-enrollment programs in New York and Florida found that students in them were more likely to earn high school diplomas, to enroll in postsecondary education and to stay in college for more than one semester. The study, by researchers at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, also found that low-income students benefited more from such program than other students did.
Dreams put on hold for many illegal immigrant students
Los Angeles Times – October 26, 2007
The defeat of Senate legislation that would offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant students set off deep disappointment among many of them Thursday as they scrambled to figure out their futures. The legislation, known as the Dream Act, would have offered a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who had served in the military or completed two years of higher education and who had lived in the United States for at least five years, entered the country before age 16, graduated from high school, compiled no criminal record and demonstrated “good moral character.” The vote on the proposal Wednesday was 52-44, short of the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster and begin debate. Immigrant advocates said Thursday that they would continue to press for passage, though probably as part of a comprehensive measure that would also toughen border and workplace enforcement and increase family and work visas.
High school dropouts’ price is high
The News & Observer – October 25, 2007
High school dropouts are costing North Carolina taxpayers millions of dollars each year, according to a new report, but there’s sharp disagreement on what is the best way to solve the problem. The report released Wednesday by the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation says a single year’s group of dropouts costs the state’s taxpayers $169 million annually in lost sales tax revenue and higher Medicaid and prison costs. The report’s recommended solution of using taxpayer-funded vouchers to help students pay for private schools has drawn a sharp dividing line between supporters and critics of public schools.
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile offenders get the justice low-down
Houston Chronicle – October 22, 2007
Welcome to the juvenile justice system! Now leave. That, essentially, is the message of Harris County’s new orientation for juvenile delinquents. Akin to high school fish camp or a prospective college tour, the seminar is meant to help kids and their parents navigate the sometimes confusing juvenile courts system, organizers say – but not to invite them back. The orientation, started last month, will soon be a mandatory pit stop for juvenile delinquents sentenced to deferred prosecution, essentially the lightest punishment kids can get. The orientation, organized this fall by members of the Houston Bar Association, features a slate of speakers from each sector of the system: law enforcement, the courts, the defense and juvenile probation. Standing at the front of a courtroom, they explain everything from the arrest process to a judge’s orders, but spend the bulk of their time lecturing youngsters not to come back.
FM Program for juvenile offenders gets boost
The News-Press – October 21, 2007
Fort Myers authorities are keeping a close watch on juvenile offenders in the hopes of preventing them from being arrested again. The Fort Myers Police Department is using nearly $249,000 in federal grant money to extend its program for monitoring youth offenders who have been arrested in connection with violent crimes or gun possession charges. The program, now in its third year, relies on a team of four police officers, a gang-prevention officer and a juvenile probation officer to keep tabs on the dozens of juvenile offenders ordered to participate as part of their court sentence.
Foster Care
Foster youths exercise their voices at leadership summit
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – October 21, 2007
Help us be like normal teenagers. That was the theme of the messages shared by dozens of foster kids who met at this weekend’s second annual Foster Youth and Alumni Leadership Summit, designed to give a voice to current and former foster children. The participants—all between 14 and 24 years old—heard speakers and worked with facilitators to come up with recommendations for legislators and other state policy-makers. They presented those recommendations Sunday to the Washington Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care, which co-sponsored the event with Casey Family Programs.
NJ child welfare reform on track, federal monitor says
Newsday – October 22, 2007
Trenton, NJ – The state’s child welfare agency has made significant progress in achieving court-mandated reforms this year, but big challenges remain if the system is to achieve long-term goals for the protection of children. A report released Monday by the Washington-based Center for the Study of Social Policy found that between January and June, New Jersey accomplished everything it said it would to improve child welfare, including lowering caseloads, licensing more foster families and investigating allegations of abuse more quickly. However, the Department of Children and Families has a ways to go if New Jersey’s long-troubled child welfare system is to achieve lasting change, the report says. Despite many accomplishments outlined in the report, “the state’s child welfare system does not consistently function well and the urgency of the reforms remains,” the report concludes.
Students get second chance
Courier-Post – October 21, 2007
Now, after operating in the shadows of the traditional educational system since, December, the Community Educational Resource Network school at Bethel United Methodist Church on Westfield Avenue is getting national recognition and some much-needed start-up funds. The National Association for Street Schools, a Denver group that provides financial and logistic support to faith-based schools, has signed up as a sponsor. And through that group, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is providing $57,750 that will allow the school to pay an administrator. With the new funds, CERN will add a sister school next month: The East Side Preparatory Academy. CERN will enroll students who drop out of high school. These students are typically age 17 and up who are working toward a GED. East Side Prep will offer students, typically ages 16 and under, a four-year high school curriculum. Each will serve about 25 mostly Hispanic students from Camden.
Program to Deter High School Dropouts by Offering College Courses Is Approved
New York Times – October 24, 2007
Trying to improve New York’s high school graduation rates, state education officials are proposing to place 12,000 potential dropouts a year in college classes while they are still in high school. The plan, approved yesterday by the state’s Board of Regents, “would provide funding for student to take genuine college courses and receive credit for high school as well as for college,” said the state education commissioner, Richard P. Mills. “Instead of four-plus-four plan – four years of high school and four years of college – students could actually complete high school and a bachelor’s degree in seven years,” the commissioner said. A recent study of dual-enrollment programs in New York and Florida found that students in them were more likely to earn high school diplomas, to enroll in postsecondary education and to stay in college for more than one semester. The study, by researchers at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University, also found that low-income students benefited more from such program than other students did.
Dreams put on hold for many illegal immigrant students
Los Angeles Times – October 26, 2007
The defeat of Senate legislation that would offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant students set off deep disappointment among many of them Thursday as they scrambled to figure out their futures. The legislation, known as the Dream Act, would have offered a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who had served in the military or completed two years of higher education and who had lived in the United States for at least five years, entered the country before age 16, graduated from high school, compiled no criminal record and demonstrated “good moral character.” The vote on the proposal Wednesday was 52-44, short of the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster and begin debate. Immigrant advocates said Thursday that they would continue to press for passage, though probably as part of a comprehensive measure that would also toughen border and workplace enforcement and increase family and work visas.
High school dropouts’ price is high
The News & Observer – October 25, 2007
High school dropouts are costing North Carolina taxpayers millions of dollars each year, according to a new report, but there’s sharp disagreement on what is the best way to solve the problem. The report released Wednesday by the Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation says a single year’s group of dropouts costs the state’s taxpayers $169 million annually in lost sales tax revenue and higher Medicaid and prison costs. The report’s recommended solution of using taxpayer-funded vouchers to help students pay for private schools has drawn a sharp dividing line between supporters and critics of public schools.
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile offenders get the justice low-down
Houston Chronicle – October 22, 2007
Welcome to the juvenile justice system! Now leave. That, essentially, is the message of Harris County’s new orientation for juvenile delinquents. Akin to high school fish camp or a prospective college tour, the seminar is meant to help kids and their parents navigate the sometimes confusing juvenile courts system, organizers say – but not to invite them back. The orientation, started last month, will soon be a mandatory pit stop for juvenile delinquents sentenced to deferred prosecution, essentially the lightest punishment kids can get. The orientation, organized this fall by members of the Houston Bar Association, features a slate of speakers from each sector of the system: law enforcement, the courts, the defense and juvenile probation. Standing at the front of a courtroom, they explain everything from the arrest process to a judge’s orders, but spend the bulk of their time lecturing youngsters not to come back.
FM Program for juvenile offenders gets boost
The News-Press – October 21, 2007
Fort Myers authorities are keeping a close watch on juvenile offenders in the hopes of preventing them from being arrested again. The Fort Myers Police Department is using nearly $249,000 in federal grant money to extend its program for monitoring youth offenders who have been arrested in connection with violent crimes or gun possession charges. The program, now in its third year, relies on a team of four police officers, a gang-prevention officer and a juvenile probation officer to keep tabs on the dozens of juvenile offenders ordered to participate as part of their court sentence.
Foster Care
Foster youths exercise their voices at leadership summit
Seattle Post-Intelligencer – October 21, 2007
Help us be like normal teenagers. That was the theme of the messages shared by dozens of foster kids who met at this weekend’s second annual Foster Youth and Alumni Leadership Summit, designed to give a voice to current and former foster children. The participants—all between 14 and 24 years old—heard speakers and worked with facilitators to come up with recommendations for legislators and other state policy-makers. They presented those recommendations Sunday to the Washington Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care, which co-sponsored the event with Casey Family Programs.
NJ child welfare reform on track, federal monitor says
Newsday – October 22, 2007
Trenton, NJ – The state’s child welfare agency has made significant progress in achieving court-mandated reforms this year, but big challenges remain if the system is to achieve long-term goals for the protection of children. A report released Monday by the Washington-based Center for the Study of Social Policy found that between January and June, New Jersey accomplished everything it said it would to improve child welfare, including lowering caseloads, licensing more foster families and investigating allegations of abuse more quickly. However, the Department of Children and Families has a ways to go if New Jersey’s long-troubled child welfare system is to achieve lasting change, the report says. Despite many accomplishments outlined in the report, “the state’s child welfare system does not consistently function well and the urgency of the reforms remains,” the report concludes.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Making Cash a Prize for High Scores on Advanced Placement Tests
New York Times – October 15, 2007
The city is expanding the use of cash rewards for students who take standardized test with a $1 million effort financed by philanthropists who will pay students who do well on Advanced Placement exams. The program, which will be in 25 public schools and six private ones beginning this year, is enthusiastically supported by Schools Chancellor, Joel L. Klein. The A.P. program is intended to increase the number of low-income, black and Latino high school students in New York who take and pass A.P. tests. In city schools, less than I percent of black students pass an Advanced Placement exam, according to city data analyzed by the program.
Ninety-six groups receive U.S. Labor Department’s first YouthBuild awards
Employment & Training Administration News Release – October 13, 2007
Dayton, Ohio – U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced the award of $47 million to 96 groups that will provide education in construction as well as leadership training to at-risk young people across the United States, who will take part in building affordable housing in their own communities. “These $47 million in YouthBuild awards will help at-risk youth get the education, training and opportunity they need to achieve a better life,” said Secretary Chao. YouthBuild will include individuals who have been in juvenile justice system, youth aging out of foster care, high school dropouts and others.
Guard’s academy redirects dropouts
Athens Banner-Herald – October 20, 2007
There are 236 cadets enrolled in the Georgia National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy at Fort Gordon, an Army base near Augusta. The academy uses military discipline to instill pride, confidence and respect for others in high school dropouts and at-risk teens. The cadets – mostly boys, but 20 percent are girls who live in segregated barracks – begin each day with reveille at 5 a.m., followed by physical training, marching in formation from class to class, inspections, homework and lights out at 9 p.m. Officials at Fort Gordon boast that 75 percent of teens in their 5 ½-month program graduate, and of those, 90 percent land full-time jobs, go to college or join the military. Earning a GED is mandatory for graduation and is required by the military. Since the program began in 1993, “6,300 kids – high school dropouts who had nowhere to go except jail – have walked out of here with a diploma, at least a GED,” said Lt. Gen. David Poythress, head of the Georgia National Guard.
Expelled kids face long odds
Boston Herald – October 21, 2007
Hundreds of Bay State school children expelled for drug possession, weapons charges and other violations – many unresolved – remain idle and at risk of becoming dropouts because their options for reentering the education system are severely limited. State Department of Education figures show nearly 800 youngsters have been expelled during the past three school years. Cases in which expulsions lead to criminal charges can take months to resolve, leaving the student in learning limbo, especially when families are too poor to find alternatives. “Every student is entitled to a free public education,” said DOE spokeswoman Heidi Guarino. “But when a student has been expelled on a felony charge for drugs, weapons or assault on a school personnel, no other district is obligated to enroll that student. The options that remain for parents are private, parochial or home school.” In Boston, expelled students can qualify for an alternative program to get back to class. The program sets aside 100 slots for high school students and 80 slots for middle school students. It includes counseling and intervention work that preps children to return to school.
Juvenile Justice
Lifers as Teenagers, Now Seeking Second Chance
New York Times – October 17, 2007
In December, the United Nations took up a resolution calling for the abolition of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for children and young teenagers. The vote was 185 to 1, with the United States the lone dissenter. Indeed, the United States stands alone in the world in convicting young adolescents as adults and sentencing them to live out their lives in prison. According to a new report, there are 73 Americans serving such sentences for crimes they committed at 13 or 14. The group that plans to release the report on Oct. 17, the Equal Justice Initiative, based in Montgomery, Ala., is one of several human rights organizations that say states should be required to review sentences of juvenile offenders as the decades go by, looking for cases where parole might be warranted.
Foster Care
Grants will help foster kids get first apartment
The News Tribune – October 20, 2007
The state of Washington is about to lay out what might be the smartest $676, 589 it will spend over the next two years. It has approved three grants to help foster kids aging out of the system. The aim is to keep them from becoming homeless. The grants state with the big basic: a home. They follow through with guidance on how to pay for and maintain a place of your own. These, remember, are foster children, whose family homes were a mess. Many have moved around a good deal, and most go out on their own with few resources. They haven’t had the chance to learn by example.
Gov. Culver: Announces All Iowa Opportunity Foster Care Scholarship recipients
Iowa Politics – October 18, 2007
Governor Chet Culver today announced that 80 Iowa foster care youth will be the first to receive education assistance through the All Iowa Opportunity Foster Care Grant. The program, which was signed into law by Governor Culver on May 29, 2007, will provide educational assistance to Iowa youth who were in foster care, or who were adopted from foster care after their 16th birthdays. “I ran for Governor to expand access to high education,” said Governor Culver. “Today, Iowa ranks near the bottom in needs-based access to higher education. Iowa can do better. The All Iowa Opportunity Scholarship will give young people, including Iowa’s foster care youth, who have historically left behind the chance to go to college. This is good for them, and good for our state. We must continue to train, improve and expand our workforce to be able to meet potential workforce challenges in the coming years.”
Broward’s ChildNet subcontracts to place gay foster kids
Miami Herald – October 18, 2007
Recognizing the gap in service, Broward’s foster care agency, ChildNet, has contracted with the National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP) to recruit and train foster parents to take in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender foster children. “A lot of kids go through an awful lot because of gender identity questions and issues and their needs don’t get met in the absence of people who have had an experience with those issues,” said Larry Rein, interim president of ChildNet, which serves about 2,500 children, including about 600 in foster homes.
Making Cash a Prize for High Scores on Advanced Placement Tests
New York Times – October 15, 2007
The city is expanding the use of cash rewards for students who take standardized test with a $1 million effort financed by philanthropists who will pay students who do well on Advanced Placement exams. The program, which will be in 25 public schools and six private ones beginning this year, is enthusiastically supported by Schools Chancellor, Joel L. Klein. The A.P. program is intended to increase the number of low-income, black and Latino high school students in New York who take and pass A.P. tests. In city schools, less than I percent of black students pass an Advanced Placement exam, according to city data analyzed by the program.
Ninety-six groups receive U.S. Labor Department’s first YouthBuild awards
Employment & Training Administration News Release – October 13, 2007
Dayton, Ohio – U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced the award of $47 million to 96 groups that will provide education in construction as well as leadership training to at-risk young people across the United States, who will take part in building affordable housing in their own communities. “These $47 million in YouthBuild awards will help at-risk youth get the education, training and opportunity they need to achieve a better life,” said Secretary Chao. YouthBuild will include individuals who have been in juvenile justice system, youth aging out of foster care, high school dropouts and others.
Guard’s academy redirects dropouts
Athens Banner-Herald – October 20, 2007
There are 236 cadets enrolled in the Georgia National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy at Fort Gordon, an Army base near Augusta. The academy uses military discipline to instill pride, confidence and respect for others in high school dropouts and at-risk teens. The cadets – mostly boys, but 20 percent are girls who live in segregated barracks – begin each day with reveille at 5 a.m., followed by physical training, marching in formation from class to class, inspections, homework and lights out at 9 p.m. Officials at Fort Gordon boast that 75 percent of teens in their 5 ½-month program graduate, and of those, 90 percent land full-time jobs, go to college or join the military. Earning a GED is mandatory for graduation and is required by the military. Since the program began in 1993, “6,300 kids – high school dropouts who had nowhere to go except jail – have walked out of here with a diploma, at least a GED,” said Lt. Gen. David Poythress, head of the Georgia National Guard.
Expelled kids face long odds
Boston Herald – October 21, 2007
Hundreds of Bay State school children expelled for drug possession, weapons charges and other violations – many unresolved – remain idle and at risk of becoming dropouts because their options for reentering the education system are severely limited. State Department of Education figures show nearly 800 youngsters have been expelled during the past three school years. Cases in which expulsions lead to criminal charges can take months to resolve, leaving the student in learning limbo, especially when families are too poor to find alternatives. “Every student is entitled to a free public education,” said DOE spokeswoman Heidi Guarino. “But when a student has been expelled on a felony charge for drugs, weapons or assault on a school personnel, no other district is obligated to enroll that student. The options that remain for parents are private, parochial or home school.” In Boston, expelled students can qualify for an alternative program to get back to class. The program sets aside 100 slots for high school students and 80 slots for middle school students. It includes counseling and intervention work that preps children to return to school.
Juvenile Justice
Lifers as Teenagers, Now Seeking Second Chance
New York Times – October 17, 2007
In December, the United Nations took up a resolution calling for the abolition of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for children and young teenagers. The vote was 185 to 1, with the United States the lone dissenter. Indeed, the United States stands alone in the world in convicting young adolescents as adults and sentencing them to live out their lives in prison. According to a new report, there are 73 Americans serving such sentences for crimes they committed at 13 or 14. The group that plans to release the report on Oct. 17, the Equal Justice Initiative, based in Montgomery, Ala., is one of several human rights organizations that say states should be required to review sentences of juvenile offenders as the decades go by, looking for cases where parole might be warranted.
Foster Care
Grants will help foster kids get first apartment
The News Tribune – October 20, 2007
The state of Washington is about to lay out what might be the smartest $676, 589 it will spend over the next two years. It has approved three grants to help foster kids aging out of the system. The aim is to keep them from becoming homeless. The grants state with the big basic: a home. They follow through with guidance on how to pay for and maintain a place of your own. These, remember, are foster children, whose family homes were a mess. Many have moved around a good deal, and most go out on their own with few resources. They haven’t had the chance to learn by example.
Gov. Culver: Announces All Iowa Opportunity Foster Care Scholarship recipients
Iowa Politics – October 18, 2007
Governor Chet Culver today announced that 80 Iowa foster care youth will be the first to receive education assistance through the All Iowa Opportunity Foster Care Grant. The program, which was signed into law by Governor Culver on May 29, 2007, will provide educational assistance to Iowa youth who were in foster care, or who were adopted from foster care after their 16th birthdays. “I ran for Governor to expand access to high education,” said Governor Culver. “Today, Iowa ranks near the bottom in needs-based access to higher education. Iowa can do better. The All Iowa Opportunity Scholarship will give young people, including Iowa’s foster care youth, who have historically left behind the chance to go to college. This is good for them, and good for our state. We must continue to train, improve and expand our workforce to be able to meet potential workforce challenges in the coming years.”
Broward’s ChildNet subcontracts to place gay foster kids
Miami Herald – October 18, 2007
Recognizing the gap in service, Broward’s foster care agency, ChildNet, has contracted with the National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP) to recruit and train foster parents to take in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender foster children. “A lot of kids go through an awful lot because of gender identity questions and issues and their needs don’t get met in the absence of people who have had an experience with those issues,” said Larry Rein, interim president of ChildNet, which serves about 2,500 children, including about 600 in foster homes.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Bush Prodding Congress to Reauthorize His Education Law
The New York Times – October 9, 2007
With his domestic agenda in tatters, President Bush tried Tuesday to prod Congress into reauthorizing his biggest domestic achievement, the 2001 No Child Left Behind education law. But lawmakers have yet to come to terms on the legislation, and prospects for a deal this year appear dim. The bill would remain in effect even if it is not renewed, but the administration is seeking changes to it, and some opponents would like to see it thoroughly revamped.
Poor Students Perform Same at Public, Private Schools
Houston Chronicle – October 10, 2007
Low-income students who attend urban public high schools generally do just as well as private-school students with similar backgrounds, according to a study being released today. Students at independent private schools and most parochial schools scored the same on 12th-grade achievement tests in core academic subjects as those in traditional public high schools when income and other family characteristics were taken into account, according to the study by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy. While the finding is in line with a handful of recent studies, it’s at odds with a larger body of research that has found private-school students outperform those in public schools. However, the new study not only compared students by income levels but also looked at a range of other family characteristics.
High schools use after-school tutoring
Tuscaloosa News – October 9, 2007
Tuscaloosa – There are about 2,000 high schools nationally that have a graduation rate of 60 percent or less. And one of them is in Tuscaloosa. Central High had a graduation rate of 46 percent last year. But Alabama as a whole is lagging behind most of the country when it comes to graduation rates, ranking 44th nationally. According to the Washington, D.C. – based Alliance for Education, only 60.7 percent of Alabama ninth-graders in 2002-2003 made it to graduation. According to the alliance, if those dropouts in Alabama had graduated, it would have meant an additional $3.1 billion in income over their lifetimes. But that’s money that most of them will never see. And it’s a problem that is affecting communities across the county, affecting crime rates and social welfare costs and dragging down local economies, the alliance says. The problem arises from a combination of academic and social factors. Alabama has established the High Hopes program which is an after school tutoring program which is targets toward at-risk students to improve scores on the Alabama High School Graduation exam.
Juvenile Justice
GAO Study Reveals Boot Camp Nightmare
USA Today – October 10, 2007
The first federal inquiry into the boot camps and wilderness programs for troubled teens cataloged 1,619 incidents of abuse in 33 states in 2005, a congressional investigation out today reveals. The study, by the Government Accountability Office, also looked at a sample of 10 deaths since 1990 and found untrained staff, inadequate food or reckless operations were factors. There are no federal rules governing residential facilities for children, and some state do not license such programs. The findings are scheduled to be presented at a hearing of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Foster Care
Experts plumb rate of black children in system
The Courier-Journal – October 10, 2007
Yesterday’s conference was part of an effort by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services to try to reduce the disproportionate number of African-American children in state care. The conference, which drew child welfare workers from around the country, was meant to prompt states to examine their policies and work to reduce the number of minority children in foster care. Although national studies have shown African-American parents are no more likely to abuse or neglect children than white parents, about 33 percent of children in foster care are black although they represent only about 15 percent of the child population nationwide, according to date provided at the conference.
No home, no health care may await ex-foster kids
Reuters - October 9, 2007
New York – After leaving foster care, many children end up homeless, without adequate access to health care, warn researchers in a report published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Kushel’s team found that more than half of emancipated foster youth were uninsured. The rates ranged from about 46 percent of the stably housed ex-foster care youth to 77 percent of those who experienced homelessness. By comparison, roughly 30 percent of young adults in the general population report an episode of being uninsured. Kushel and colleagues conclude that “strategies to improve health outcomes among emancipated youth should address both their lack of health insurance and their risk of housing instability and homelessness.”
Bush Prodding Congress to Reauthorize His Education Law
The New York Times – October 9, 2007
With his domestic agenda in tatters, President Bush tried Tuesday to prod Congress into reauthorizing his biggest domestic achievement, the 2001 No Child Left Behind education law. But lawmakers have yet to come to terms on the legislation, and prospects for a deal this year appear dim. The bill would remain in effect even if it is not renewed, but the administration is seeking changes to it, and some opponents would like to see it thoroughly revamped.
Poor Students Perform Same at Public, Private Schools
Houston Chronicle – October 10, 2007
Low-income students who attend urban public high schools generally do just as well as private-school students with similar backgrounds, according to a study being released today. Students at independent private schools and most parochial schools scored the same on 12th-grade achievement tests in core academic subjects as those in traditional public high schools when income and other family characteristics were taken into account, according to the study by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy. While the finding is in line with a handful of recent studies, it’s at odds with a larger body of research that has found private-school students outperform those in public schools. However, the new study not only compared students by income levels but also looked at a range of other family characteristics.
High schools use after-school tutoring
Tuscaloosa News – October 9, 2007
Tuscaloosa – There are about 2,000 high schools nationally that have a graduation rate of 60 percent or less. And one of them is in Tuscaloosa. Central High had a graduation rate of 46 percent last year. But Alabama as a whole is lagging behind most of the country when it comes to graduation rates, ranking 44th nationally. According to the Washington, D.C. – based Alliance for Education, only 60.7 percent of Alabama ninth-graders in 2002-2003 made it to graduation. According to the alliance, if those dropouts in Alabama had graduated, it would have meant an additional $3.1 billion in income over their lifetimes. But that’s money that most of them will never see. And it’s a problem that is affecting communities across the county, affecting crime rates and social welfare costs and dragging down local economies, the alliance says. The problem arises from a combination of academic and social factors. Alabama has established the High Hopes program which is an after school tutoring program which is targets toward at-risk students to improve scores on the Alabama High School Graduation exam.
Juvenile Justice
GAO Study Reveals Boot Camp Nightmare
USA Today – October 10, 2007
The first federal inquiry into the boot camps and wilderness programs for troubled teens cataloged 1,619 incidents of abuse in 33 states in 2005, a congressional investigation out today reveals. The study, by the Government Accountability Office, also looked at a sample of 10 deaths since 1990 and found untrained staff, inadequate food or reckless operations were factors. There are no federal rules governing residential facilities for children, and some state do not license such programs. The findings are scheduled to be presented at a hearing of the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Foster Care
Experts plumb rate of black children in system
The Courier-Journal – October 10, 2007
Yesterday’s conference was part of an effort by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services to try to reduce the disproportionate number of African-American children in state care. The conference, which drew child welfare workers from around the country, was meant to prompt states to examine their policies and work to reduce the number of minority children in foster care. Although national studies have shown African-American parents are no more likely to abuse or neglect children than white parents, about 33 percent of children in foster care are black although they represent only about 15 percent of the child population nationwide, according to date provided at the conference.
No home, no health care may await ex-foster kids
Reuters - October 9, 2007
New York – After leaving foster care, many children end up homeless, without adequate access to health care, warn researchers in a report published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Kushel’s team found that more than half of emancipated foster youth were uninsured. The rates ranged from about 46 percent of the stably housed ex-foster care youth to 77 percent of those who experienced homelessness. By comparison, roughly 30 percent of young adults in the general population report an episode of being uninsured. Kushel and colleagues conclude that “strategies to improve health outcomes among emancipated youth should address both their lack of health insurance and their risk of housing instability and homelessness.”
Sunday, October 07, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
U.S. Department of Labor youth-related grants advance education and employment connections for troubled youth
Employment and Training Administration News Release - October 6, 2007
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is providing $2,950,000 in funding to six cities to ”blueprint” and implement a system that can reconnect youth that have dropped out of high school to a variety of high quality, innovative multiple education pathways. These pathways will offer alternative learning environments that engage these youth in rigorous and relevant academic studies and workforce preparation, while preparing and connecting them to post-secondary education opportunities. Former dropout youth will then be better prepared to enter the labor market and career pathways in high growth, high demand industries.
Study: School tests aim too low
The Enquirer – October 3, 2007
Ohio and other states are aiming too low on some state school tests, painting an unreliable picture of academic achievement and setting up elementary students to fail, a new study by the Fordham Institute says. The study, called “The Proficiency Illusion,” was released this morning. It says that No Child Left Behind’s mandated tests on math and reading create a false impression of success, especially in reading and especially in the early grades, in the 26 states studied in the report. Fordham’s study says states, including Ohio, are setting the cut scores too low and too inconsistently to accurately gauge how students are progressing.
Former dropout unveils program to get today’s dropouts back in school
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – October 2, 2007
Now, through an ambitious program that will seek out dropouts in their homes, the alarm is about to sound for 2,000 St. Louis young people when they should be in school. Members of the “In It 2 Win Coalition” have vowed to do everything in their vowed to do everything in their power to persuade dropouts to return to school. The program was announced Monday. “If they have a phone, we’re going to keep calling and calling,” promised Jamilah Nasheed, a dropout who earned her high school equivalency certificate and now serves St. Louis’ 60th legislative district in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Juvenile Justice
4-H Principles Underpin Program Helping Juvenile Offenders
AgNews – October 4, 2007
Kerrville – A new program based on 4-H principles is helping juvenile offenders develop character and life skills while giving them a chance at a better life, said program coordinators. The LIFE Skills program, which began in June, is a combined effort of the Kerr County Juvenile Board, the county’s juvenile probation department and the local Texas Cooperative Extension office. Juvenile offenders are ordered by the court to attend a series of two-hour LIFE Skills sessions as a condition of their probation. The length of time they must remain in the program is the same as their length of probation.
Releasing the names
Jersey City Reporter – September 28, 2007
Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy wants the public to know which violent juvenile offenders live in their neighborhoods. At a recent press conference in City Hall, Healy announced that he plans to push legislation on a state level that would allow the release of the names of violent juvenile offenders under the age of 18. Those against the legislation say that there is a reason for concealing of the identity of most juveniles and that the point of juvenile justice is the juvenile can be rehabilitated.
Foster Care
Crucial health care eludes foster kids
The Star-Ledger – October 4, 2007
Only 30 percent of foster children last year received a required evaluation of their medical and mental health needs, according to a report released by the Office of the Child Advocate yesterday. Based on a file review of 80 foster children, just under 30 percent were given the exams – waiting about four months for their turn, according to the report. Caseworkers from the Division of Youth and Family Services are responsible for seeing the exams occur, but the study said they missed 460 appointments, for a 19 percent “no-show” last year. Following the exams, only 11 percent of the foster children got all follow-up care they needed to address the medical, dental or psychological problems the exams revealed. More than three-quarters of the children had at least one chronic or acute medical condition an one-third had a behavioral or mental issue.
Foster care funds don’t cover parents’ bills, report says
USA Today – October 3, 2007
Most states pay foster parents far less than what middle-income families spend to raise their children, says a report out today by University of Maryland researchers. “Foster parents should receive the funds they need,” says co-author Julie Farber, director of policy at Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy group. Too often, she says, they either stop taking in foster kids or dig into their own pockets to pay for prom dresses and Boy Scouts uniforms. The report comes as more states report a shortage of families to care for the 500,000 children nationwide in foster care.
Benefit fashion services CSUS Guardian Scholars Program
The State Hornet – October 4, 2007
Most college students can’t image a childhood spent in foster care, but for a select few Sacramento State students, it’s a reality. In order to raise more awareness and funds for the program, the sixth annual Foster Youth Education Fund hosted, “Dancin’ in the Streets” Fashion Show and Tea Sept. 30 in the University Union Grand Ballroom. Sac State’s Guardian Scholars program, which celebrated its first year on campus in June, currently provides academic support services to 19 emancipated foster youth this semester as they transition out of the foster care system and into a university.
U.S. Department of Labor youth-related grants advance education and employment connections for troubled youth
Employment and Training Administration News Release - October 6, 2007
The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is providing $2,950,000 in funding to six cities to ”blueprint” and implement a system that can reconnect youth that have dropped out of high school to a variety of high quality, innovative multiple education pathways. These pathways will offer alternative learning environments that engage these youth in rigorous and relevant academic studies and workforce preparation, while preparing and connecting them to post-secondary education opportunities. Former dropout youth will then be better prepared to enter the labor market and career pathways in high growth, high demand industries.
Study: School tests aim too low
The Enquirer – October 3, 2007
Ohio and other states are aiming too low on some state school tests, painting an unreliable picture of academic achievement and setting up elementary students to fail, a new study by the Fordham Institute says. The study, called “The Proficiency Illusion,” was released this morning. It says that No Child Left Behind’s mandated tests on math and reading create a false impression of success, especially in reading and especially in the early grades, in the 26 states studied in the report. Fordham’s study says states, including Ohio, are setting the cut scores too low and too inconsistently to accurately gauge how students are progressing.
Former dropout unveils program to get today’s dropouts back in school
St. Louis Post-Dispatch – October 2, 2007
Now, through an ambitious program that will seek out dropouts in their homes, the alarm is about to sound for 2,000 St. Louis young people when they should be in school. Members of the “In It 2 Win Coalition” have vowed to do everything in their vowed to do everything in their power to persuade dropouts to return to school. The program was announced Monday. “If they have a phone, we’re going to keep calling and calling,” promised Jamilah Nasheed, a dropout who earned her high school equivalency certificate and now serves St. Louis’ 60th legislative district in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Juvenile Justice
4-H Principles Underpin Program Helping Juvenile Offenders
AgNews – October 4, 2007
Kerrville – A new program based on 4-H principles is helping juvenile offenders develop character and life skills while giving them a chance at a better life, said program coordinators. The LIFE Skills program, which began in June, is a combined effort of the Kerr County Juvenile Board, the county’s juvenile probation department and the local Texas Cooperative Extension office. Juvenile offenders are ordered by the court to attend a series of two-hour LIFE Skills sessions as a condition of their probation. The length of time they must remain in the program is the same as their length of probation.
Releasing the names
Jersey City Reporter – September 28, 2007
Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy wants the public to know which violent juvenile offenders live in their neighborhoods. At a recent press conference in City Hall, Healy announced that he plans to push legislation on a state level that would allow the release of the names of violent juvenile offenders under the age of 18. Those against the legislation say that there is a reason for concealing of the identity of most juveniles and that the point of juvenile justice is the juvenile can be rehabilitated.
Foster Care
Crucial health care eludes foster kids
The Star-Ledger – October 4, 2007
Only 30 percent of foster children last year received a required evaluation of their medical and mental health needs, according to a report released by the Office of the Child Advocate yesterday. Based on a file review of 80 foster children, just under 30 percent were given the exams – waiting about four months for their turn, according to the report. Caseworkers from the Division of Youth and Family Services are responsible for seeing the exams occur, but the study said they missed 460 appointments, for a 19 percent “no-show” last year. Following the exams, only 11 percent of the foster children got all follow-up care they needed to address the medical, dental or psychological problems the exams revealed. More than three-quarters of the children had at least one chronic or acute medical condition an one-third had a behavioral or mental issue.
Foster care funds don’t cover parents’ bills, report says
USA Today – October 3, 2007
Most states pay foster parents far less than what middle-income families spend to raise their children, says a report out today by University of Maryland researchers. “Foster parents should receive the funds they need,” says co-author Julie Farber, director of policy at Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy group. Too often, she says, they either stop taking in foster kids or dig into their own pockets to pay for prom dresses and Boy Scouts uniforms. The report comes as more states report a shortage of families to care for the 500,000 children nationwide in foster care.
Benefit fashion services CSUS Guardian Scholars Program
The State Hornet – October 4, 2007
Most college students can’t image a childhood spent in foster care, but for a select few Sacramento State students, it’s a reality. In order to raise more awareness and funds for the program, the sixth annual Foster Youth Education Fund hosted, “Dancin’ in the Streets” Fashion Show and Tea Sept. 30 in the University Union Grand Ballroom. Sac State’s Guardian Scholars program, which celebrated its first year on campus in June, currently provides academic support services to 19 emancipated foster youth this semester as they transition out of the foster care system and into a university.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Let the “No Child” law do its work
Christian Science Monitor – September 25, 2007
Congress begins debate this week on renewal of a 2001 education law that has led many more children to read and do math at their grade level. The gold-star success of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) argues for keeping the law’s mandate for state largely intact. The simple wisdom of the NCLB law is its recognition that reading and math are fundamental to learning other subjects, and that schools need to be independently judged. Before this law, US public schools were graduating many students who could barely read a sentence or multiply numbers. Since then, test scores in these subjects have risen. More than 70 percent of schools showed progress. And, most important, large gaps between white and minority students have narrowed. So far, NCLB’s successes outweigh its flaws. Congress should stick to the law’s purpose of ensuring basic education for as many children as possible, with as much transparency as possible.
School discipline tougher on African Americans
Chicago Tribune – September 25, 2007
America’s public schools remain as unequal as they have ever been when measured in terms of disciplinary sanctions such as suspensions and expulsions, according to little-noticed data collected by the U.S. Department of Education for the 2004-2005 school year. In every state but Idaho, a Tribune analysis of the date shows, black students are being suspended in numbers greater than would be expected from their proportions of the student population. There’s more at stake than just a few bad marks in a student’s school record. Studies show that a history of school suspensions or expulsions is a strong predictor of future trouble with the law – and the first step on what civil rights leaders have described as a “school-to-prison pipeline” for black youths, who represent 16 percent of U.S. adolescents but 38 percent of those incarcerated in youth prisons.
USC to assist needy
The State – September 21, 2007
USC will guarantee debt-free tuition for some of South Carolina’s poorest students beginning next year, officials said Thursday. About 200 students from low-income families will be offered fully paid tuition and fee grants in the fall of 2008 in what officials describe as the first of its kind program in South Carolina. The grants are indicative of a trend among private and public universities to give tuition grants to students who have had to take on major debts to attend college. “We believe this will help with our racial and economic diversity. Whether you are white or black, it is the goal of the program to break the cycle of poverty.”
Juvenile Justice
County’s juvenile delinquent program gets national kudos
Santa Cruz Sentinel – September 26, 2007
Santa Cruz County’s holistic approach to juvenile offenders has successfully reduced the number of minors detained in Juvenile Hall. That success is highlighted in a report scheduled for release today by the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. One of the keys to success in Santa Cruz County has been developing and seeking out existing community-based programs to connect young offenders to services and resources to help them stay out of trouble. Another key component are neighborhood accountability boards, which help divert low-risk offenders away from the formal criminal justice system. Family conferences also are used, to help an offender’s extended family become actively involved in helping to keep them out of trouble.
Juvenile services win praise
Chicago Tribune – September 26, 2007
Cook County juvenile court sent nearly 400 fewer youths to state prisons between 1997 and 2004 because they were referred instead to community-based support services, according to a report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation made public Wednesday. Court officials found a more efficient way to assess the mental health of kids by assigning each courtroom an expert who interprets psychological assessments and helps identify the appropriate treatment. Also, Cook County has teamed up with community counseling providers to expand programs that were once only for youths returning home from treatment to include those at risk of going there or to a prison. The Cook County Probation and Court Services Departments created an advisory panel in 2002 of current and former youth in the juvenile justice system to help assess the effectiveness of programs and find ways to improve them. Youth on probation in Cook County attend an orientation led by that council, which has been shown to reduce probation violations.
Greene County gets grant for juvenile drug court expansion
News-Leader – September 28, 2007
The Greene County Juvenile Office has been awarded a $420,000 Juvenile Drug Court-Reclaiming Futures grant to fund expansion and enhancement of Green County’s Juvenile Drug Court. Juvenile Drug Court is designed to enhance our capacity to provide intervention, treatment and structure to young people who have began the downward spiral of substance abuse and delinquent activity, Epperly said. One thing this community can wrap its arms around is a program that addresses substance abuse by children and delinquency behavior associated with adolescent substance abuse.
Foster Care
Foster care overhaul – some say long overdue – on governor’s desk
San Francisco Chronicle – September 29, 2007
More than 77,000 foster children live in California, more than in any other state. For decades, members of this largely invisible population have been moved from home to home until they were “emancipated” at age 18 and cut off from services. But the safety net for these youths might be expanding soon. Nine foster care overhaul bills are in front of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be signed or vetoed by Oct.14. In Washington, a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., seeks to extend benefits for foster youth to the age of 21. Experts and policymakers see the beginning of a revolution in a long-beleaguered system.
State high court considers ways to repair foster care
Houston Chronicle – September 25, 2007
Austin – Crowded dockets, poorly trained judges and lawyers and lack of collaboration with child protective caseworkers contribute to a legal system that consistently fails abused and neglected children, legal experts and child welfare officials told the Texas Supreme Court of Tuesday. The court is considering establishing a permanent judicial commission to help courts better serve children, youth and families in the foster care system.
Let the “No Child” law do its work
Christian Science Monitor – September 25, 2007
Congress begins debate this week on renewal of a 2001 education law that has led many more children to read and do math at their grade level. The gold-star success of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) argues for keeping the law’s mandate for state largely intact. The simple wisdom of the NCLB law is its recognition that reading and math are fundamental to learning other subjects, and that schools need to be independently judged. Before this law, US public schools were graduating many students who could barely read a sentence or multiply numbers. Since then, test scores in these subjects have risen. More than 70 percent of schools showed progress. And, most important, large gaps between white and minority students have narrowed. So far, NCLB’s successes outweigh its flaws. Congress should stick to the law’s purpose of ensuring basic education for as many children as possible, with as much transparency as possible.
School discipline tougher on African Americans
Chicago Tribune – September 25, 2007
America’s public schools remain as unequal as they have ever been when measured in terms of disciplinary sanctions such as suspensions and expulsions, according to little-noticed data collected by the U.S. Department of Education for the 2004-2005 school year. In every state but Idaho, a Tribune analysis of the date shows, black students are being suspended in numbers greater than would be expected from their proportions of the student population. There’s more at stake than just a few bad marks in a student’s school record. Studies show that a history of school suspensions or expulsions is a strong predictor of future trouble with the law – and the first step on what civil rights leaders have described as a “school-to-prison pipeline” for black youths, who represent 16 percent of U.S. adolescents but 38 percent of those incarcerated in youth prisons.
USC to assist needy
The State – September 21, 2007
USC will guarantee debt-free tuition for some of South Carolina’s poorest students beginning next year, officials said Thursday. About 200 students from low-income families will be offered fully paid tuition and fee grants in the fall of 2008 in what officials describe as the first of its kind program in South Carolina. The grants are indicative of a trend among private and public universities to give tuition grants to students who have had to take on major debts to attend college. “We believe this will help with our racial and economic diversity. Whether you are white or black, it is the goal of the program to break the cycle of poverty.”
Juvenile Justice
County’s juvenile delinquent program gets national kudos
Santa Cruz Sentinel – September 26, 2007
Santa Cruz County’s holistic approach to juvenile offenders has successfully reduced the number of minors detained in Juvenile Hall. That success is highlighted in a report scheduled for release today by the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. One of the keys to success in Santa Cruz County has been developing and seeking out existing community-based programs to connect young offenders to services and resources to help them stay out of trouble. Another key component are neighborhood accountability boards, which help divert low-risk offenders away from the formal criminal justice system. Family conferences also are used, to help an offender’s extended family become actively involved in helping to keep them out of trouble.
Juvenile services win praise
Chicago Tribune – September 26, 2007
Cook County juvenile court sent nearly 400 fewer youths to state prisons between 1997 and 2004 because they were referred instead to community-based support services, according to a report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation made public Wednesday. Court officials found a more efficient way to assess the mental health of kids by assigning each courtroom an expert who interprets psychological assessments and helps identify the appropriate treatment. Also, Cook County has teamed up with community counseling providers to expand programs that were once only for youths returning home from treatment to include those at risk of going there or to a prison. The Cook County Probation and Court Services Departments created an advisory panel in 2002 of current and former youth in the juvenile justice system to help assess the effectiveness of programs and find ways to improve them. Youth on probation in Cook County attend an orientation led by that council, which has been shown to reduce probation violations.
Greene County gets grant for juvenile drug court expansion
News-Leader – September 28, 2007
The Greene County Juvenile Office has been awarded a $420,000 Juvenile Drug Court-Reclaiming Futures grant to fund expansion and enhancement of Green County’s Juvenile Drug Court. Juvenile Drug Court is designed to enhance our capacity to provide intervention, treatment and structure to young people who have began the downward spiral of substance abuse and delinquent activity, Epperly said. One thing this community can wrap its arms around is a program that addresses substance abuse by children and delinquency behavior associated with adolescent substance abuse.
Foster Care
Foster care overhaul – some say long overdue – on governor’s desk
San Francisco Chronicle – September 29, 2007
More than 77,000 foster children live in California, more than in any other state. For decades, members of this largely invisible population have been moved from home to home until they were “emancipated” at age 18 and cut off from services. But the safety net for these youths might be expanding soon. Nine foster care overhaul bills are in front of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to be signed or vetoed by Oct.14. In Washington, a bill introduced by U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., seeks to extend benefits for foster youth to the age of 21. Experts and policymakers see the beginning of a revolution in a long-beleaguered system.
State high court considers ways to repair foster care
Houston Chronicle – September 25, 2007
Austin – Crowded dockets, poorly trained judges and lawyers and lack of collaboration with child protective caseworkers contribute to a legal system that consistently fails abused and neglected children, legal experts and child welfare officials told the Texas Supreme Court of Tuesday. The court is considering establishing a permanent judicial commission to help courts better serve children, youth and families in the foster care system.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
This Week's News:Youth in Transition
Education
Saving ninth-graders: Metro schools try to ease transition to high school
The Detroit News – September 19, 2007
Dearborn High School teachers and administrators were startled three years ago to learn that more than a third of their freshman failed one or more classes - a rate three times that of other grades. In 2005-06, Michigan schools saw 21,000 more students in ninth grad than eighth. The number of students in 10th grade dropped by nearly 15,000, as some dropped out or were held back. Experts and school officials say ninth-graders face greater peer pressure and tougher coursework. Some fail classes, and successive failures – along with the discomfort of being older than their peers- cause some to give up and drop out, experts say. Researchers at John Hopkins University found in 2004 that as many as 40 percent of freshman repeat ninth grade in cities with the worst dropout rates, and 10 percent to 15 percent of those students eventually get a diploma. Some Metro Detroit districts are tackling the ninth-grade bulge by creating smaller learning environments to help students transition to high school. These include a Freshman Academy in a separate hallway to seclude ninth-grades for three core academic courses, a special campus orientation and a peer-mentoring program linking ninth-graders with upperclassman.
“Inside Out” day aims to decrease dropouts
Cullman Times – September 21, 2007
Students at Good Hope Middles School made an important decision Friday, one that may affect the rest of their lives, when they signed a pledge to not drop out of school. The students in grades 6-8 made the declaration to stay in school after watching “Inside Out,” a 34-minute documentary about incarcerated dropouts. The prisoners featured in the film discussed how the decision to quit school negatively impacted their lives and played a part in getting them where they are today. The movie is the work of the Birmingham-based Mattie B. Stewart Foundation, an organization founded by the Birmingham radio personality Shelly Stewart for the sole purpose of influencing more students to finish high school.
Oregon Schools Adopt Mexican Curriculum, Stirring Debate
Fox News – September 21, 2007
Portland—Some Oregon high schools are adopting Mexico’s public school curriculum to help educate Spanish-speaking students with textbooks, an online web site, DVDs and CDs provided free by Mexico to teach math, science and even U.S. history. Similar ventures are under way in Yakima, Wash., San Diego, Calif., and Austin, Texas. The Oregon Department of Education and Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education are discussing aligning their curricula so courses will be valid in both countries. Oregon officials say the approach is intended as a supplement to keep students learning in Spanish while also gaining English skills.
Juvenile Justice
Professor to boost juvenile justice
Orlando Sentinel – September 18, 2007
Kids pleading guilty without talking to a lawyer. Teenagers waiving their rights without understanding the consequences. Little trial preparation by attorneys. These findings from a 2006 study of Florida’s juvenile-justice system make Gerald F. Glynn cringe. That’s why Glynn, an associate professor at Barry University School of Law in Orlando, is leading the charge for a new center to focus on improving legal representation for children in the juvenile justice system. “People need to remember that juvenile-justice system is about providing services and rehabilitation service to children at risk,” Glynn said. “The idea is to catch them and serve them before they become lifelong criminals.” Starting with a $779,000 grant from the Eckerd Family Foundation in Clearwater, Glynn is setting up training programs for lawyers who serve these and other children in the justice system.
Juvenile parolees’ constitutional rights violated, court rules
San Jose Mercury News – September 20, 2007
Sacramento—California violates juvenile offenders’ constitutional rights by not giving them a prompt hearing when they are accused of parole violations, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento gave the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 30 days to come up with a constitutionally acceptable process. Some juvenile offenders are in custody for months before they get a hearing, Karlton found. More than half are accused of technical violations of their parole, and in 75 percent of those cases they are eventually released to simply continue their parole, Karlton said in his ruling.
Foster Care
Youth Program aimed at getting foster children back in school
The News-Daily – September 16, 2007
In Clayton County, foster youth who drop out of high school are being targeted as part of a pilot program established by officials from DFCS to get them back into the classroom. Foster youth who have not been attending school for some time are sent to the Riverdale-based Youth Empowerment Project for tutoring before returning to school. The program will also help them prepare for the General Educational Development equivalency diploma (GED) exam. About half of all 15 year olds in foster homes are likely to graduate form high school, while the rest will either drop out or be incarcerated, according to Casey Family Programs, a group that studies foster care issues. Officials have been pleased with the program so far and are considering taking it to a regional level.
Foster Children Find Latino-friendly Homes
New America Media – September 17, 2007
In almost two years and a half, La Cuna has been able to secure a stable, safe place for 50 Latino children that are part of the County of San Diego’s foster care system. La Cuna, which means “the cradle,” in Spanish, was established to address the shortage of quality foster homes serving Latino babies and toddlers. Its mission it “to develop programs that allow foster infants to grow up healthy and happy, and to evaluate the results and create best practices that will improve the lives of Hispanic foster infants throughout California.” According to La Cuna information, the most current statistics for San Diego County, the breakdown of local children in foster care show that 2, 423 are Latino children, 1,723 are white and 1,423 are black children.
Saving ninth-graders: Metro schools try to ease transition to high school
The Detroit News – September 19, 2007
Dearborn High School teachers and administrators were startled three years ago to learn that more than a third of their freshman failed one or more classes - a rate three times that of other grades. In 2005-06, Michigan schools saw 21,000 more students in ninth grad than eighth. The number of students in 10th grade dropped by nearly 15,000, as some dropped out or were held back. Experts and school officials say ninth-graders face greater peer pressure and tougher coursework. Some fail classes, and successive failures – along with the discomfort of being older than their peers- cause some to give up and drop out, experts say. Researchers at John Hopkins University found in 2004 that as many as 40 percent of freshman repeat ninth grade in cities with the worst dropout rates, and 10 percent to 15 percent of those students eventually get a diploma. Some Metro Detroit districts are tackling the ninth-grade bulge by creating smaller learning environments to help students transition to high school. These include a Freshman Academy in a separate hallway to seclude ninth-grades for three core academic courses, a special campus orientation and a peer-mentoring program linking ninth-graders with upperclassman.
“Inside Out” day aims to decrease dropouts
Cullman Times – September 21, 2007
Students at Good Hope Middles School made an important decision Friday, one that may affect the rest of their lives, when they signed a pledge to not drop out of school. The students in grades 6-8 made the declaration to stay in school after watching “Inside Out,” a 34-minute documentary about incarcerated dropouts. The prisoners featured in the film discussed how the decision to quit school negatively impacted their lives and played a part in getting them where they are today. The movie is the work of the Birmingham-based Mattie B. Stewart Foundation, an organization founded by the Birmingham radio personality Shelly Stewart for the sole purpose of influencing more students to finish high school.
Oregon Schools Adopt Mexican Curriculum, Stirring Debate
Fox News – September 21, 2007
Portland—Some Oregon high schools are adopting Mexico’s public school curriculum to help educate Spanish-speaking students with textbooks, an online web site, DVDs and CDs provided free by Mexico to teach math, science and even U.S. history. Similar ventures are under way in Yakima, Wash., San Diego, Calif., and Austin, Texas. The Oregon Department of Education and Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Education are discussing aligning their curricula so courses will be valid in both countries. Oregon officials say the approach is intended as a supplement to keep students learning in Spanish while also gaining English skills.
Juvenile Justice
Professor to boost juvenile justice
Orlando Sentinel – September 18, 2007
Kids pleading guilty without talking to a lawyer. Teenagers waiving their rights without understanding the consequences. Little trial preparation by attorneys. These findings from a 2006 study of Florida’s juvenile-justice system make Gerald F. Glynn cringe. That’s why Glynn, an associate professor at Barry University School of Law in Orlando, is leading the charge for a new center to focus on improving legal representation for children in the juvenile justice system. “People need to remember that juvenile-justice system is about providing services and rehabilitation service to children at risk,” Glynn said. “The idea is to catch them and serve them before they become lifelong criminals.” Starting with a $779,000 grant from the Eckerd Family Foundation in Clearwater, Glynn is setting up training programs for lawyers who serve these and other children in the justice system.
Juvenile parolees’ constitutional rights violated, court rules
San Jose Mercury News – September 20, 2007
Sacramento—California violates juvenile offenders’ constitutional rights by not giving them a prompt hearing when they are accused of parole violations, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento gave the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 30 days to come up with a constitutionally acceptable process. Some juvenile offenders are in custody for months before they get a hearing, Karlton found. More than half are accused of technical violations of their parole, and in 75 percent of those cases they are eventually released to simply continue their parole, Karlton said in his ruling.
Foster Care
Youth Program aimed at getting foster children back in school
The News-Daily – September 16, 2007
In Clayton County, foster youth who drop out of high school are being targeted as part of a pilot program established by officials from DFCS to get them back into the classroom. Foster youth who have not been attending school for some time are sent to the Riverdale-based Youth Empowerment Project for tutoring before returning to school. The program will also help them prepare for the General Educational Development equivalency diploma (GED) exam. About half of all 15 year olds in foster homes are likely to graduate form high school, while the rest will either drop out or be incarcerated, according to Casey Family Programs, a group that studies foster care issues. Officials have been pleased with the program so far and are considering taking it to a regional level.
Foster Children Find Latino-friendly Homes
New America Media – September 17, 2007
In almost two years and a half, La Cuna has been able to secure a stable, safe place for 50 Latino children that are part of the County of San Diego’s foster care system. La Cuna, which means “the cradle,” in Spanish, was established to address the shortage of quality foster homes serving Latino babies and toddlers. Its mission it “to develop programs that allow foster infants to grow up healthy and happy, and to evaluate the results and create best practices that will improve the lives of Hispanic foster infants throughout California.” According to La Cuna information, the most current statistics for San Diego County, the breakdown of local children in foster care show that 2, 423 are Latino children, 1,723 are white and 1,423 are black children.
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