Education
Higher Education Gap May Slow Economic Mobility
The New York Times – February 20, 2008
Economic mobility, the chance that children of the poor or middle class will climb up the income ladder, has not changed significantly over the last three decades, a study being released on Wednesday says. The authors of the study, by scholars at the Brookings Institution in Washington and sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, warned that widening gaps in higher education between rich and poor, whites and minorities, could soon lead to a downturn in opportunities for the poorest families. The researchers found that Hispanic and black Americans were failing behind whites and Asians in earning college degrees, making it harder for them to enter the middle class or higher. “ A growing difference in education levels between income and racial groups, especially in college degree, implies that mobility will be lower in the future than it is today,” said Ron Haskins, a former Republican official and welfare expert who wrote the education section of the report.
Motherhood not the end of the line
Telegram & Gazette – February 15, 2008
Twenty-two years ago, when Worcester school officials saw that a growing number of pregnant teens were dropping out of school, they asked Worcester Comprehensive Child Care Services Inc. to provide child care, parenting classes and basic services at Burncoat High School to help students stay in school. Ten years later, the social services agency began a teen parent support center at South High. The program serves teen mothers from public and parochial high schools on the city’s south side, while the Burncoat program serves north side student parents. Since the programs began, 177 students have used the services. Most have graduated, and more than half have gone to college. According to a recent study by the National Women’s Law Center, dropping out of high school had been thought of as a problem for boys, but an alarmingly high number of teen girls are dropping out. One in four teenage girls in the United States does not finish high school, according to the report, and Massachusetts, with 24 percent of girls dropping out, was 22nd among 43 states ranked in the nation. The report, “When Girls Don’t Graduate, We All Fail,” says that if teenage mothers don’t get a good education, their children are also more likely not to finish high school and to continue they cycle.
YWCA receives $150,000 grant to help high school students graduate
Carolina Newswire – February 20, 2008
The YWCA of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, in conjunction with Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools and Exchange/Scan, has received a one-year grant of $150,00 from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to launch a program at Carver High School designed to increase high school graduation rates among high-risk public-school students. The program, which began February 1 and continues until January 2009, targets 50 high-risk eleventh graders at Carver High School. Carver High School has the second highest drop-out rate in the school district. The YWCA was one of 60 applicants, out of 300 total, chosen to receive a portion of a $7-million appropriation by the N.C. General Assembly to schools, agencies and nonprofit organizations for drop-out prevention. The program will focus on four serve areas: 1) Tutoring; 2) Developing “assets,” or positive experiences and qualities that foster human development; 3) Employment and career-building skills, including community service; and 4) Parent/teen workshops.
Juvenile Justice
A Home Remedy for Juvenile Offenders
The New York Times – February 20, 2008
The program, called the Juvenile Justice Initiative, sends medium-risk offenders back to their families and provides intensive therapy. The city says that in just a year, it has been significant success for the juveniles enrolled, as well as cost savings from the reduced use of residential treatment centers. The city said that in the year since the program began, fewer than 35 percent of the 275 youths who have been through it have been rearrested or violated probation. While in-home services mean that hundreds of teenagers with criminal records are returned to their communities, city officials say it is a trade they are willing to make. But whether the children go to residential correctional facilities or not, they come back to the community eventually anyway, Mr. Richter said, and the program “helps parents learn how to supervise and manage their adolescents so that they act responsibly instead of engaging in dangerous behaviors”.
Foster Care
Building a life after foster care
St. Petersburg Times – February 11, 2008
Tye Maner spoke during the opening session of a youth summit presented by the Junior League of Tampa and Connected by 25, a nonprofit organization that serve young adults ages 18 to 25 who have aged out of the foster care system. Organizers brought together 16-and 17-year-old foster children, with a few younger teens, to help equip them with life skills they’ll need when they are no longer eligible for foster care. Teens spend the day meeting in a pavilion at Busch Gardens, where they heard advice about fitness and nutrition, social and business etiquette, money and legal issues. Susan Touchton, Junior League of Tampa president, said improving the lives of children in the foster care system is an essential mission of the organization, along with education and literacy.
Bill would alter foster care process
Lexington Herald-Leader – February 24, 2008
Frankfort – In Jefferson County, attorneys volunteer to help indigent families at a crucial first hearing to determine whether a child must live in foster care or can stay with an appropriate family member. Parents in the rest of the estate aren’t as lucky – indigent parents go to court without a lawyer initially. State Rep. Darryl Owens House Bill 151 would require attorneys to be appointed before the first hearing in child protection cases, called the temporary removal hearing. It directs judges to tell families in writing and orally that they stand to lose their children permanently. The bill would also give court-appointed attorney in child protection courts the first raises they’ve had since the 1980s. Additionally, is would require that an attorney be appointed for indigent parents who want to appeal the termination of their parental rights.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Chicago Looks to “Turnarounds” to Lift Failing Schools
The Christian Science Monitor – February 15, 2008
Harvard Elementary on Chicago’s South Side is one of several public schools here to get a top-to-bottom housecleaning in recent years – including replacing the principal and most teachers – in a bid to lift student achievement out of the nation’s academic basement. The drastic approach is known as “turnaround,” and Chicago is embracing it more than any US city, though it’s unproven and is controversial among teachers, many parents, and students. For an encore, the city is proposing simultaneous turnarounds at eight Chicago schools in the fall: four high schools and four elementary schools that feed into them. Even for a city that already leads the nation in school-reforms ideas, the proposal is unusually bold and sweeping. Districts across the US – many with schools facing reconstitution requirements under the No Child Left Behind law – are watching with interest. The eight schools slated for turnaround are among the worst performers in the district: At high schools, an average student misses at least 35 days of school a year, dropout rates are above 10 percent, and the passing rate on state tests hovers at about 10 percent.
U.S. specifies state higher ed spending
Stateline.org – February 11, 2008
New legislation being considered by Congress would force states to spend a minimum amount on higher education based on their past spending – or lose some federal funds. The provision is being called a “dangerous precedent” by critics, but is seen by supporters as a stopgap for rising tuition at public institutions. The provision, part of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, would require each state’s higher education funding to be at or above the average it spent over the last five years. If states don’t commit that amount, they could lose their share of federal money from the $65 million Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership grant program to help low-income students. The act, which moved one step closer to giving higher education its most significant overhaul in a decade when the U.S. House passed it on a 354-58 vote Thursday (Feb. 7), boosts grant money for college students and aims to hold down the cost of tuition.
How is Dropout Prevention Working?
RedOrbit – February 3, 2008
In a city where thousands slip away from school – whether as dropouts or truants – school officials believe the mentoring and other support volunteers from Communities in Schools provide can make a difference. The program has been in Richmond since 1996. It works with more than 2,000 kids in 24 schools, and school officials hope to broaden its reach. Most recently, the city school system, Communities in Schools and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have joined forces to open a program targeted at high school students who have fallen behind in credits and are trying to catch up while juggling other demands, such as parenthood or a job. The program, called the Performance Learning Center, has 70 students, some of whom Fitrer expects to graduate this year – instead of dropping out, as he feared they might.
Juvenile Justice
County anticipates project will help reduce recidivism
KC Community News – February 7, 2008
Johnson County has applied for a Success Through Achieving Re-entry pilot project grant. S.T.A.R. will allow the county to hire a re-entry officer, Corrections Director Betsy Gillespie said. The officer will visit juvenile offenders from the area who have been sentenced to time in a state correctional facility and work with them to develop a transition plan. “They will make contact and ensure that (offenders) are developing the pieces of their plan to return to the community,” she said. Gillespie said part of the project, which is funded through the Juvenile Justice Authority, will help families travel to correctional facilities to see the juveniles. Gillespie said “a re-entry place will be established in the community before they are released.” This will be a sort of halfway house, she said. Juveniles will stay for about 90 days after release.
Foster Care
For immigrants, child-welfare solutions murky
The Columbus Dispatch – February 11, 2008
As the U.S. immigrant population has grown, so too has its contact with the child-welfare system. Advice and direction for social workers hasn’t always followed. “There really has been little guidance at the federal level, and in the states, it’s hit or miss,” said Yali Lincroft, a consultant to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a child-advocacy group based in Baltimore, and a researcher on immigration and child-welfare policy. The challenges are complicated: Agencies struggle to recruit foster families from immigrant and refugee communities, hire bilingual staff and educate caseworkers in cultural differences. Federal money cannot be used for the care of undocumented children, leaving local jurisdictions responsible for the entire cost. And the strong preference for placing children with close friends or family becomes debatable when the adults are undocumented and cannot meet the foster-care background requirements.
For former foster care youth, Mi Casa is their home
Contra Costa Times – February 4, 2008
Mi Casa is a new program in Concord for young adults who have outgrown their foster care placements. Young men and women can stay up to two years at Mi Casa, where they are matched with case workers, pay a third of their income in rent and receive a $100 monthly stipend to help with groceries. In other ways, the home will operate like a college dorm, right down to a resident manager who’s also a young adult. “The most critical things these young adults don’t have are positive, support relationships,” said program manager Amy Lawrence, who works for Lutheran Social Services. “And the most important part of the work we do is being those relationship for people, and helping them build more of their own.
Chicago Looks to “Turnarounds” to Lift Failing Schools
The Christian Science Monitor – February 15, 2008
Harvard Elementary on Chicago’s South Side is one of several public schools here to get a top-to-bottom housecleaning in recent years – including replacing the principal and most teachers – in a bid to lift student achievement out of the nation’s academic basement. The drastic approach is known as “turnaround,” and Chicago is embracing it more than any US city, though it’s unproven and is controversial among teachers, many parents, and students. For an encore, the city is proposing simultaneous turnarounds at eight Chicago schools in the fall: four high schools and four elementary schools that feed into them. Even for a city that already leads the nation in school-reforms ideas, the proposal is unusually bold and sweeping. Districts across the US – many with schools facing reconstitution requirements under the No Child Left Behind law – are watching with interest. The eight schools slated for turnaround are among the worst performers in the district: At high schools, an average student misses at least 35 days of school a year, dropout rates are above 10 percent, and the passing rate on state tests hovers at about 10 percent.
U.S. specifies state higher ed spending
Stateline.org – February 11, 2008
New legislation being considered by Congress would force states to spend a minimum amount on higher education based on their past spending – or lose some federal funds. The provision is being called a “dangerous precedent” by critics, but is seen by supporters as a stopgap for rising tuition at public institutions. The provision, part of the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, would require each state’s higher education funding to be at or above the average it spent over the last five years. If states don’t commit that amount, they could lose their share of federal money from the $65 million Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership grant program to help low-income students. The act, which moved one step closer to giving higher education its most significant overhaul in a decade when the U.S. House passed it on a 354-58 vote Thursday (Feb. 7), boosts grant money for college students and aims to hold down the cost of tuition.
How is Dropout Prevention Working?
RedOrbit – February 3, 2008
In a city where thousands slip away from school – whether as dropouts or truants – school officials believe the mentoring and other support volunteers from Communities in Schools provide can make a difference. The program has been in Richmond since 1996. It works with more than 2,000 kids in 24 schools, and school officials hope to broaden its reach. Most recently, the city school system, Communities in Schools and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have joined forces to open a program targeted at high school students who have fallen behind in credits and are trying to catch up while juggling other demands, such as parenthood or a job. The program, called the Performance Learning Center, has 70 students, some of whom Fitrer expects to graduate this year – instead of dropping out, as he feared they might.
Juvenile Justice
County anticipates project will help reduce recidivism
KC Community News – February 7, 2008
Johnson County has applied for a Success Through Achieving Re-entry pilot project grant. S.T.A.R. will allow the county to hire a re-entry officer, Corrections Director Betsy Gillespie said. The officer will visit juvenile offenders from the area who have been sentenced to time in a state correctional facility and work with them to develop a transition plan. “They will make contact and ensure that (offenders) are developing the pieces of their plan to return to the community,” she said. Gillespie said part of the project, which is funded through the Juvenile Justice Authority, will help families travel to correctional facilities to see the juveniles. Gillespie said “a re-entry place will be established in the community before they are released.” This will be a sort of halfway house, she said. Juveniles will stay for about 90 days after release.
Foster Care
For immigrants, child-welfare solutions murky
The Columbus Dispatch – February 11, 2008
As the U.S. immigrant population has grown, so too has its contact with the child-welfare system. Advice and direction for social workers hasn’t always followed. “There really has been little guidance at the federal level, and in the states, it’s hit or miss,” said Yali Lincroft, a consultant to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a child-advocacy group based in Baltimore, and a researcher on immigration and child-welfare policy. The challenges are complicated: Agencies struggle to recruit foster families from immigrant and refugee communities, hire bilingual staff and educate caseworkers in cultural differences. Federal money cannot be used for the care of undocumented children, leaving local jurisdictions responsible for the entire cost. And the strong preference for placing children with close friends or family becomes debatable when the adults are undocumented and cannot meet the foster-care background requirements.
For former foster care youth, Mi Casa is their home
Contra Costa Times – February 4, 2008
Mi Casa is a new program in Concord for young adults who have outgrown their foster care placements. Young men and women can stay up to two years at Mi Casa, where they are matched with case workers, pay a third of their income in rent and receive a $100 monthly stipend to help with groceries. In other ways, the home will operate like a college dorm, right down to a resident manager who’s also a young adult. “The most critical things these young adults don’t have are positive, support relationships,” said program manager Amy Lawrence, who works for Lutheran Social Services. “And the most important part of the work we do is being those relationship for people, and helping them build more of their own.
Monday, February 11, 2008
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Chief Executive of Gates Foundation Plans to Step Down
The Chronicle of Philanthropy - February 6, 2008
After helping to build the nation’s largest philanthropy, Patty Stonesifer has announced she is stepping down as chief executive of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Ms. Stonesifer will continue to work at the foundation, overseeing an as-yet-undefined grant-making project. She will officially leave her current position at the beginning of 2009 and will help the foundation’s co-funders, Bill and Melinda Gates, find a replacement, who could be appointed as early as September. She said the foundation has hired an executive-search company and will look at candidates from around the world with a mix of corporate government, and nonprofit experience.
Colleges could turn away 60,000, report says
St. Petersburg Times – February 5, 2008
Tampa – Between 40,000 and 60,000 students – many of them minorities – could be denied an education in one of Florida’s 11 public universities, thanks to years of insufficient funding and complicated political factors that have college presidents preparing to slash enrollment. So concludes ENLACE Florida, a grant-funded group that promotes college access and readiness for minorities, in a report sent today to lawmakers and education officials across the state. ENLACE officials conclude their report, “Florida’s Higher Education on the Brink,” by urging lawmakers and college educators to convene a summit that produces bold solutions. State university leaders have recently discussed the need for such a forum.
Local tech training faces deep cuts
Daily Press – February 11, 2008
President Bush’s proposed 2009 federal education budget slashes all career and technical education funding, currently more than $1.27 billion, to zero. If Congress lets the proposed cuts stand, Virginia school districts, regional education centers and colleges would lose more than $27 million, about $19 million of which goes to school districts. Lan Neugent, state assistant superintendent of technology and career education, said the state would lose about 5 percent of its career and technical education funding. In a press conference Monday, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spelling said programs slated for elimination, including career and technical education, were “less important and less effective” than those left in the budget, including several new proposals.
Juvenile Justice
Judge Rules to Dismiss Cases of 17-Year-Olds Seen as Adults
The New York Times – February 6, 2008
A Rhode Island judge ruled Tuesday that felony cases brought while state law briefly treated 17-year-olds as adults would be dismissed or transferred to Family Court. The judge, Daniel A. Procaccini of Superior Court, ruled that about 100 pending case would be dismissed. Cases in which a grand jury has returned an indictment will be transferred to Family Court, but they can be returned to Superior Court if the attorney general thinks the crime is egregious and should be elevated to the adult level. The dismissed cases can be refilled in juvenile court, according to the ruling. The initial change in law, which took effect July 1, was meant to save millions of dollars a year by transferring juvenile defenders to state prison. The law set off a furor among law enforcement officials and children’s advocates, and failed to take into account that juveniles are housed in protective custody, which is more expensive. The legislature repealed the law in mid-November, but the change did not apply retroactively.
Foster Care
Oregon’s foster care fails nearly every way
The Oregonian – February 4, 2008
Salem – A new federal review of Oregon’s child welfare program finds the state failed in 11 or 14 areas crucial to the safety and well-being of children in foster care. Among the conclusions: Oregon has a serious shortage of foster homes; reports of abuse are not quickly investigated; kids don’t get the mental health care they need; and caseworkers aren’t in with the children or their parents as often as they should. More than 12,000 children – thousands living in temporary foster homes – are in state custody at any given time. The state has until April 7 to submit its improvement plan to the U.S. Administration for Children and Families. More recently, the state has begun to reinvest in its child welfare program. The 2007 Legislature approved money for 100 additional caseworkers. This month, the agency will ask the Legislature for $3.4 million to hire assistants who can help lighten caseworker workloads so they have the time to visit children in their care.
Plan seeks to help teens in foster care
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – January 29, 2008
A new initiative announced Tuesday will serve as a safety net for African-American youths who age out of Milwaukee County’s foster care system before finding permanent homes and have difficulty with a cultural identity. The initiative, called “Year of the Child” is aimed at improving the health, safety and well-being of children in out-of-home care. “Many of these children are moving from home to home, without a cultural identity, and this is hindering their growth,” said Ald. Joe Davis Sr., who unveiled the initiative during a news conference at City Hall. Davis, who was joined by a consortium of leaders from social-services providers, non-profit organizations and other youth-oriented agencies, said he was inspired to come up with the plan after visiting South Africa. El-Amin said the initiative’s goals include recruiting more African-American foster care parents and helping to connect foster children with their biological parents, if possible. Another focus is to assist foster care youths who age out of the foster care system.
Chief Executive of Gates Foundation Plans to Step Down
The Chronicle of Philanthropy - February 6, 2008
After helping to build the nation’s largest philanthropy, Patty Stonesifer has announced she is stepping down as chief executive of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Ms. Stonesifer will continue to work at the foundation, overseeing an as-yet-undefined grant-making project. She will officially leave her current position at the beginning of 2009 and will help the foundation’s co-funders, Bill and Melinda Gates, find a replacement, who could be appointed as early as September. She said the foundation has hired an executive-search company and will look at candidates from around the world with a mix of corporate government, and nonprofit experience.
Colleges could turn away 60,000, report says
St. Petersburg Times – February 5, 2008
Tampa – Between 40,000 and 60,000 students – many of them minorities – could be denied an education in one of Florida’s 11 public universities, thanks to years of insufficient funding and complicated political factors that have college presidents preparing to slash enrollment. So concludes ENLACE Florida, a grant-funded group that promotes college access and readiness for minorities, in a report sent today to lawmakers and education officials across the state. ENLACE officials conclude their report, “Florida’s Higher Education on the Brink,” by urging lawmakers and college educators to convene a summit that produces bold solutions. State university leaders have recently discussed the need for such a forum.
Local tech training faces deep cuts
Daily Press – February 11, 2008
President Bush’s proposed 2009 federal education budget slashes all career and technical education funding, currently more than $1.27 billion, to zero. If Congress lets the proposed cuts stand, Virginia school districts, regional education centers and colleges would lose more than $27 million, about $19 million of which goes to school districts. Lan Neugent, state assistant superintendent of technology and career education, said the state would lose about 5 percent of its career and technical education funding. In a press conference Monday, U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spelling said programs slated for elimination, including career and technical education, were “less important and less effective” than those left in the budget, including several new proposals.
Juvenile Justice
Judge Rules to Dismiss Cases of 17-Year-Olds Seen as Adults
The New York Times – February 6, 2008
A Rhode Island judge ruled Tuesday that felony cases brought while state law briefly treated 17-year-olds as adults would be dismissed or transferred to Family Court. The judge, Daniel A. Procaccini of Superior Court, ruled that about 100 pending case would be dismissed. Cases in which a grand jury has returned an indictment will be transferred to Family Court, but they can be returned to Superior Court if the attorney general thinks the crime is egregious and should be elevated to the adult level. The dismissed cases can be refilled in juvenile court, according to the ruling. The initial change in law, which took effect July 1, was meant to save millions of dollars a year by transferring juvenile defenders to state prison. The law set off a furor among law enforcement officials and children’s advocates, and failed to take into account that juveniles are housed in protective custody, which is more expensive. The legislature repealed the law in mid-November, but the change did not apply retroactively.
Foster Care
Oregon’s foster care fails nearly every way
The Oregonian – February 4, 2008
Salem – A new federal review of Oregon’s child welfare program finds the state failed in 11 or 14 areas crucial to the safety and well-being of children in foster care. Among the conclusions: Oregon has a serious shortage of foster homes; reports of abuse are not quickly investigated; kids don’t get the mental health care they need; and caseworkers aren’t in with the children or their parents as often as they should. More than 12,000 children – thousands living in temporary foster homes – are in state custody at any given time. The state has until April 7 to submit its improvement plan to the U.S. Administration for Children and Families. More recently, the state has begun to reinvest in its child welfare program. The 2007 Legislature approved money for 100 additional caseworkers. This month, the agency will ask the Legislature for $3.4 million to hire assistants who can help lighten caseworker workloads so they have the time to visit children in their care.
Plan seeks to help teens in foster care
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – January 29, 2008
A new initiative announced Tuesday will serve as a safety net for African-American youths who age out of Milwaukee County’s foster care system before finding permanent homes and have difficulty with a cultural identity. The initiative, called “Year of the Child” is aimed at improving the health, safety and well-being of children in out-of-home care. “Many of these children are moving from home to home, without a cultural identity, and this is hindering their growth,” said Ald. Joe Davis Sr., who unveiled the initiative during a news conference at City Hall. Davis, who was joined by a consortium of leaders from social-services providers, non-profit organizations and other youth-oriented agencies, said he was inspired to come up with the plan after visiting South Africa. El-Amin said the initiative’s goals include recruiting more African-American foster care parents and helping to connect foster children with their biological parents, if possible. Another focus is to assist foster care youths who age out of the foster care system.
Monday, February 04, 2008
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Bush proposes vouchers for poor kids in bad schools
Detroit Free Press – January 28, 2008
President Bush is trying one last time to use public dollars so children can attend private schools. In his final State of the Union address Monday, Bush proposed $300 million for a “Pell Grants for Kids” program that would give low-income kids languishing in academically poor inner-city schools a chance to go to faith-based and parochial schools or any other private school. Named after the popular Pell Grants that give college student government aid to defray tuition, the proposal echoes previous voucher plans Bush has proposed – and Congress has ignored. It would build on the No Child Left Behind law Bush has championed by giving some low-income parents more options to take their children out of public schools rated as poor.
Educators applaud efforts to extend high school
Mlive. com – January 21, 2008
State educators are considering a proposal to raise the number of years before graduation for some Michigan high school students. Under today’s regulations, students count as “dropouts” in state records if they don’t finish high school in four years – even if they receive their diplomas within the next year. But that could soon change. Students take five years to graduate for a variety of reasons, Handeyside said. Some must compensate for habitually skipping class. Others come back after dropping out. Some missed school because of chronic illness or long-term suspension. The state Board of Education is mulling a plan that would allow these students five years to graduate. Students would have to seek approval for the one-year extension on a case-by-case basis. Changing the way the state maintains its graduation statistics matters a lot to districts trying to keep up with state and federal standards, educators say. The way the state counts graduates now artificially lowers schools’ graduation rates, interfering with efforts to make adequate yearly progress, Handeyside said. The state board will vote Feb. 12 on the idea. If passed, the U.S. Department of Education must approve the measure for it to take effect.
State’s schools battle high dropout rates with new approaches
IndyStar.com – January 23, 2008
About a quarter of Indiana students and half of those in Indianapolis Public Schools fail to graduate from high school in four years, according to data released by the state Tuesday. That rate of failure has schools launching a wave of new programs and overhauling old ones to improve graduation figures. Indianapolis schools have turned to nights school, mentors and graduation coachers, schools in malls, and beefed-up courses on study skills for “C” and “D” students in an effort to see more students earn diplomas. The payoff is still ahead, though. Districts acknowledge that their graduation rates remain too low but predict dramatic changes as the programs take hold. Ben Davis has seen fewer dropouts over the past two years, and the school is considering adding a December graduation ceremony.
Juvenile Justice
State must provide lawyers for youth parolees
San Francisco Chronicle – January 31, 2008
A federal judge has ordered California to provide lawyers for juveniles who are sometimes held for months while awaiting hearings on parole violations. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento had already ruled that the state’s extended detention of juveniles arrested for breaking parole violated their constitutional rights to a prompt hearing. On Tuesday, Karlton said state authorities must provide lawyers at those hearings, starting Feb. 15. More than 2,400 juveniles are on parole after completing sentences at institutions run by the state Division of Juvenile Justice, formerly the California Youth Authority. When accused of violating their parole – by criminal conduct, or by disregarding a condition such as not reporting to their parole officer – they can be held for up to 60 days while awaiting a decision, under the state’s rules. If convicted of a parole violation, a youth can be returned to state custody for as long as a year. By the court’s standard, Karlton said, juvenile parolees – who lack the maturity, education and skills of adults – are always entitled to legal representation.
Foster Care
Number of children in foster care dropping
Lincoln Journal Star – January 28, 2008
Fewer Nebraska children were in foster care at the end of 2006, but much needs to be done to improve the safety and proper development of those children, especially the youngest ones, according to the state’s Foster Care Review Board. The year 2006 saw a 16.4 percent reduction in children in foster care and fewer children returning to foster care. More children – 423 compared to 347 the before – were adopted. Still, recommendations by the review board, in its annual report released Monday, called for reducing the workloads and increasing pay for foster care caseworkers. It also proposed creating a system of oversight for the many contracts the Department of Health and Human Services has with outside companies for foster care services. Too many children in foster care – more than half in 2006 – were moved from placement to placement four or more times, the report said.
Md. Moves to Recruit 1,000 Foster Parents by 2010
The Washington Post – January 1, 2008
Maryland has launched an aggressive campaign to increase the number of foster families, aiming to recruit at least 1,000 foster parents by 2010. More than 10,000 children in Maryland are in out-of-home placements, and about 20 percent are in group homes. Donald plans to ask the business community, faith-based groups and others to help in the campaign. People who are foster parents already will play a central role. Donald said Maryland will incorporate strategies used in other states, including “fosterware parties,” at which participants tell family members and friends about the experience of being a foster parent. The state would give the foster parent a stipend for refreshments. The state also will give bonuses to foster parents who help recruit, offering $500 if a child is placed in a home. Donald said that there are several reasons for the decline in foster families and that she expects the “1000 by 10” initiative to address many of them by offering the support services that families have sought.
School focuses on foster-care students
Daily News – January 29, 2008
A new South Bronx charter school opening this fall will have a unique focus-catering to students and families in the child welfare system. The Mott Haven Academy Charter School, which won approval from the state Board of Regents just last week, will open in a temporary site with 90 students in kindergarten and first grade. Students will be selected through a lottery process, but classes will include children in the foster care system and preventive services programs. The charter school will offer a standard curriculum, but students will also be able to receive on-site counseling, medical care and other invention services. Also, school staffers will receive specialized training in child abuse and neglect to better react to children’s needs.
Bush proposes vouchers for poor kids in bad schools
Detroit Free Press – January 28, 2008
President Bush is trying one last time to use public dollars so children can attend private schools. In his final State of the Union address Monday, Bush proposed $300 million for a “Pell Grants for Kids” program that would give low-income kids languishing in academically poor inner-city schools a chance to go to faith-based and parochial schools or any other private school. Named after the popular Pell Grants that give college student government aid to defray tuition, the proposal echoes previous voucher plans Bush has proposed – and Congress has ignored. It would build on the No Child Left Behind law Bush has championed by giving some low-income parents more options to take their children out of public schools rated as poor.
Educators applaud efforts to extend high school
Mlive. com – January 21, 2008
State educators are considering a proposal to raise the number of years before graduation for some Michigan high school students. Under today’s regulations, students count as “dropouts” in state records if they don’t finish high school in four years – even if they receive their diplomas within the next year. But that could soon change. Students take five years to graduate for a variety of reasons, Handeyside said. Some must compensate for habitually skipping class. Others come back after dropping out. Some missed school because of chronic illness or long-term suspension. The state Board of Education is mulling a plan that would allow these students five years to graduate. Students would have to seek approval for the one-year extension on a case-by-case basis. Changing the way the state maintains its graduation statistics matters a lot to districts trying to keep up with state and federal standards, educators say. The way the state counts graduates now artificially lowers schools’ graduation rates, interfering with efforts to make adequate yearly progress, Handeyside said. The state board will vote Feb. 12 on the idea. If passed, the U.S. Department of Education must approve the measure for it to take effect.
State’s schools battle high dropout rates with new approaches
IndyStar.com – January 23, 2008
About a quarter of Indiana students and half of those in Indianapolis Public Schools fail to graduate from high school in four years, according to data released by the state Tuesday. That rate of failure has schools launching a wave of new programs and overhauling old ones to improve graduation figures. Indianapolis schools have turned to nights school, mentors and graduation coachers, schools in malls, and beefed-up courses on study skills for “C” and “D” students in an effort to see more students earn diplomas. The payoff is still ahead, though. Districts acknowledge that their graduation rates remain too low but predict dramatic changes as the programs take hold. Ben Davis has seen fewer dropouts over the past two years, and the school is considering adding a December graduation ceremony.
Juvenile Justice
State must provide lawyers for youth parolees
San Francisco Chronicle – January 31, 2008
A federal judge has ordered California to provide lawyers for juveniles who are sometimes held for months while awaiting hearings on parole violations. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento had already ruled that the state’s extended detention of juveniles arrested for breaking parole violated their constitutional rights to a prompt hearing. On Tuesday, Karlton said state authorities must provide lawyers at those hearings, starting Feb. 15. More than 2,400 juveniles are on parole after completing sentences at institutions run by the state Division of Juvenile Justice, formerly the California Youth Authority. When accused of violating their parole – by criminal conduct, or by disregarding a condition such as not reporting to their parole officer – they can be held for up to 60 days while awaiting a decision, under the state’s rules. If convicted of a parole violation, a youth can be returned to state custody for as long as a year. By the court’s standard, Karlton said, juvenile parolees – who lack the maturity, education and skills of adults – are always entitled to legal representation.
Foster Care
Number of children in foster care dropping
Lincoln Journal Star – January 28, 2008
Fewer Nebraska children were in foster care at the end of 2006, but much needs to be done to improve the safety and proper development of those children, especially the youngest ones, according to the state’s Foster Care Review Board. The year 2006 saw a 16.4 percent reduction in children in foster care and fewer children returning to foster care. More children – 423 compared to 347 the before – were adopted. Still, recommendations by the review board, in its annual report released Monday, called for reducing the workloads and increasing pay for foster care caseworkers. It also proposed creating a system of oversight for the many contracts the Department of Health and Human Services has with outside companies for foster care services. Too many children in foster care – more than half in 2006 – were moved from placement to placement four or more times, the report said.
Md. Moves to Recruit 1,000 Foster Parents by 2010
The Washington Post – January 1, 2008
Maryland has launched an aggressive campaign to increase the number of foster families, aiming to recruit at least 1,000 foster parents by 2010. More than 10,000 children in Maryland are in out-of-home placements, and about 20 percent are in group homes. Donald plans to ask the business community, faith-based groups and others to help in the campaign. People who are foster parents already will play a central role. Donald said Maryland will incorporate strategies used in other states, including “fosterware parties,” at which participants tell family members and friends about the experience of being a foster parent. The state would give the foster parent a stipend for refreshments. The state also will give bonuses to foster parents who help recruit, offering $500 if a child is placed in a home. Donald said that there are several reasons for the decline in foster families and that she expects the “1000 by 10” initiative to address many of them by offering the support services that families have sought.
School focuses on foster-care students
Daily News – January 29, 2008
A new South Bronx charter school opening this fall will have a unique focus-catering to students and families in the child welfare system. The Mott Haven Academy Charter School, which won approval from the state Board of Regents just last week, will open in a temporary site with 90 students in kindergarten and first grade. Students will be selected through a lottery process, but classes will include children in the foster care system and preventive services programs. The charter school will offer a standard curriculum, but students will also be able to receive on-site counseling, medical care and other invention services. Also, school staffers will receive specialized training in child abuse and neglect to better react to children’s needs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)