Education
Study echoes MPS, voucher findings
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – May 26, 2008
A second round of results comparing high school graduation figures for Milwaukee Public Schools and a group of private schools in the city’s publicly funded voucher program has reached the same conclusion as a report issued in January: Students who attend voucher schools are more likely to graduate than those who attend MPS. The second report, issued today, adds data for the class of 2007 to its figures. The report was funded by and released by School Choice Wisconsin, the main organization for advocacy for Milwaukee’s voucher program, which is the oldest and largest of its kind in the United State. About 19,000 students attended about 120 private schools in the city this year, with public funds of up to $6,401 per student going to the schools. Warren’s figures for 2007 showed a bigger gap in graduation rates between the voucher school and MPS than any of the prior four years. He concluded that the number of 2007 voucher graduates was 85% of the number of incoming voucher freshman who started in the fall of 2003, while for MPS the figure was 58%.
Three of 10 students who start high school in Florida won’t finish
Orlando Sentinel – May 27, 2008
By even the most optimistic count, three out of 10 students who started high school to earn a diploma won’t cross the state. They were held back, dropped out or just can’t meet the requirements for graduation. According to state figures, 72.4 percent of students who enrolled in ninth grade managed to graduate last spring, which means more than 37,000 students didn’t make it. About the same rate is expected this year. In Central Florida, an Orlando Sentinel database charting the performance of 50 high schools by 20 measures show graduation rates last year differed wildly among schools, ranging from a low of about 51 percent at Evans High in Orange County to more than 98 percent at Professional and Technical High School in Osceola. Though many Central Florida high schools are short on graduates, the Sentinel database points to some bright spots, especially among technical and magnet schools that offer programs tailored to students’ special interests.
Helping parents stay in school
The Mercury News – May 26, 2008
Riquisha, a 12th grader, has a little boy named Manny. Julian Logoai, also a 12th grader, has a son named Samatua, Karen Garcia has a little guy named Kevin, and J.D. Tacson, one of the boys in the group, has a son named Jaylin. All are participants in the Cal-SAFE (short for California School And Family Education) program at Island High School, which has been helping teen parents for 31 years. The new mothers and fathers receive the education and support they need-including on site child care – to help them graduate from high school, raise healthy children and embark on successful careers. The program includes academic, parenting, nutritional and prenatal education, including guest speaker on topics ranging from the merits of breastfeeding to the dangers of lead paint. Cal-SAFE also provides meal supplements for pregnant and lactating mothers, transportation to doctors’ appointments and job interviews and child care and development assessments. In addition, volunteer visiting “grandparents” visit the school to play, read and socialize with the babies.
Juvenile Justice
Transforming juvenile justice
Indy Star – May 27, 2008
Far fewer youths file into Marion County’s juvenile lockup each day, a key result of a reform effort that has reduced crowding and diverted thousands of children into programs outside the center’s walls. But architects of the overhaul of the juvenile justice system see the changes as only a starting point. In the third year of a program fueled by a national advocacy group, officials are aiming at ending racial disparities in punishment and transforming a system that many see as perpetuating delinquency rather than healing it. The Annie E. Casey Foundation selected Indianapolis as a new site for its three-year Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiate in 2005. The program began two years ago, just as crowding and unsafe condition inside the center brought heave outside scrutiny. In Indianapolis, early data show stark changes taking hold without a surge in juvenile crime. In 2004, the detention center held 171 detainees on an average day, far more than the 144 beds could accommodate. Earlier this year, the same measure was below 100. Officials have closed units to reduce capacity to 112. Detention admissions have fallen by more than half, to 2,214 last year.
“Young and in Trouble”
Press-Telegram – May 17, 2008
A multimedia presentation addressing juvenile crime in Long Beach, California and the most common offenses that gets youths into trouble. Crimes committed by juveniles have been declining for the past 10 years, but not in Long Beach, where 13 children are arrested or cited every day, and more than 4,000 every year.
Foster Care
Study of ’94 Adoption Law Finds Little Benefit to Blacks
Washington Post – May 27, 2008
A 1994 federal law that paved the way for more white adults to adopt black children has left many parents ill-equipped for the situation and has not achieved the goals of giving black children an equal chance of being adopted and recruiting more black adoptive parents, a study concludes. The study, being released today, found that the Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA) did succeed in increasing the rate of black adoption, but only by a small margin, and that black children still disproportionately end up in temporary foster homes. Because the law forbids discussion of race during the adoption process, it prevents social workers from preparing white parents for the challenge of raising black children in a largely white environment, said the report, titled “Finding Families for African American Children: The Role of Race and Law in Adoption From Foster Care.” It cited studies showing that dark-complexioned children in white homes tend to struggle with identity issues related to skin color, self-esteem and discrimination that their new parents are often not equipped to handle.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
College Immaterial for High School Students in Vocational Training
Houston Press – May 15, 2008
Next fall, thanks to a $200,000 industry grant, Charles Milby High will open the country’s first Academy for Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology. Milby’s student body is 99 percent black and Hispanic and 79 percent poor. Last year, a Johns Hopkins University study dubbed it a “dropout factory” where more than 40 percent of freshmen don’t make it to their senior year. The new petroleum academy, which will teach students about lucrative careers in an industry clamoring for technical workers, could prove a powerful incentive for kids to stay in school. In Texas, the high-school dropout rate for African Americans and Hispanics ranges as high as 50 percent. Research show that a mix of career and technical education classes and academic courses lowers the dropout rate. A 1998 University of Michigan study found that high-risk students were eight to ten times less likely to drop out in 11th and 12th grades if they enroll in a career and technical education program instead of a general program.
Career Education Urged to Lower Dropout Rate
Education Week – May 20, 2008
In cooperation with the Washington-based Council of Chief State School Officers, the Southern Regional Education Board, in Atlanta, issued a report last week calling for states and schools to increase substantially the quality of their career and technical education. The report notes that the latest reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act requires that schools and two-year colleges accepting Perkins money must, for the first time, integrate rigorous academic and career and technical instruction, and link secondary and postsecondary education. It cites a recent study by the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education showing that high school students at all levels of achievement were less likely to drop out if they took a combination of academic and career or technical courses. The report encourages states to provide incentives for districts and high schools to work together with two-year colleges, technology centers, and employers to craft occupation-specific courses.
Target demographic: Pasco teens talk to peers about high school dropout rates
Tri City Herald – May 25, 2008
Mayra Rivera thought about dropping out of high school. The 17-year-old has faced “a lot of obstacles” in getting her education, including having a baby four months ago, she said. But she stuck with school and now wants to help other teens make the same choice. That’s why Rivera and some classmates at New Horizons High School in Pasco have created posters, TV and radio spots and T-shirts aimed at curbing dropout rates and reaching students with the message their destination should be graduation. The students became involved after the Pasco School District received a $270,000 state grant earlier this year to improve on-time graduation rates and work on dropout prevention with Columbia Basin College, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties and other community partners. The goals of the grant include lowering dropout rates among students who are particularly at-risk – such as freshman and those in special education, juvenile justice and foster care – and bring dropouts back to school.
Juvenile Justice
Juvenile courts can confuse kids, parents, report says
Ventura County Star – May 20, 2008
Two years in the making, a report on California’s juvenile courts warn that children and parents are often bewildered by what happens in the courtrooms, and judges and attorneys don’t always have access to all the information they need to make decisions. The California Judicial Council’s stem-to-stern inspection is the first full-scale examination of court procedures and effectiveness. Many courts are failing in their basic responsibility to make sure children and parents know what is happening to them, according to the report, which was released in April. Fifty-eight recommendations emerged in the study, some of them based on simple but new concepts. “Up in Sacramento, they hand out restaurant-style beepers to preserve anonymity as kids wait for their cases to come up in court,” Back said. “There are some practical suggestions on the list, like using looping videos in courthouse waiting areas to explain to people just exactly what is going on inside the courtroom,” Back said. Such tapes are already available in Ventura County, in English and Spanish.
Foster Care
Adoption Outreach: Goal is to get more black kids placed
Omaha World-Herald – May 18, 2008
The pressing need for permanent homes for black children is nothing new in a country where more than a half-million children – a third of them black – are in state foster care systems at any given time. One 2007 federal government study indicated that black children were more than twice as likely as their white peers to wind up in foster care. And, on average, they remained in foster care nine months longer. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, working with court officials and private agencies, is ramping up efforts to streamline the adoption of foster-care children and better tell their stories on Internet listings. The African-American Empowerment Network, a 20-month-old Omaha coalition that advocates self-help solutions to societal problems, and Sigma Treatment Foster Care of Omaha, the state’s only black-owned foster agency, promote adoption. Iowa also is aiming to reduce its own disproportionate rate of black children in state care with an effort called parent partners. African-American parents who regained their children from foster care are serving as coaches for other parents trying to get their children back.
Foster care can pose more options than adoption
Battle Creek Enquirer – May 18, 2008
Although the state tries to place foster children in the care of relatives, there is a stark difference in financial support and regulatory standards between kinship, or relative, care providers and licensed foster care providers. A recent evaluation of the Michigan Department of Human Services by John Goad, titled “Michigan Department of Human Services: An evaluation of the capacity to assure the safety of foster children,” states thousands of foster children placed in the care of relatives by MDHS are treated as “second class citizens” compared to those in licensed foster care homes and receive far less protection than children placed with licensed care providers. In addition to failing to provide adequate financial support to unlicensed relative care providers, the report stated MDHS allows placement of foster children with relatives known to be dangerous, with relatives about whom little or nothing is known and fails to provide “even the inadequate safeguards the agency provides children in licensed foster homes.”
Sunday, May 18, 2008
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
New online school targets Latinos
Salt Lake Tribune – May 18, 2008
BOISE, Idaho – The state’s newest virtual charter school is expected to go online this fall, buy only after a strategic campaign to recruit Hispanics and teenagers at risk of quitting or getting kicked out of public high schools. The nonprofit online charter school is part of Insight Schools, a Portland-based company that operates one of the largest networks of virtual high schools in the country. With school in Oregon, California, Washington and Wisconsin, Insight plans to open more this fall in Idaho, Minnesota and Kansas. If the Idaho school opens in September as scheduled, Green wants to maintain a Latino student population of at least 20 percent. As part of their recruiting strategy, administrator bought ads on Spanish radio stations, advertised classes with bilingual brochures and drafted Latino community leaders to serve on its board of directors. In Idaho, more than 2,100 high school students dropped out last year. Of those, 468 claim Latino heritage, according to the state Department of Education.
New schools for poor?
Rocky Mountain News – May 12, 2008
Some prominent Denver foundations are working on a plan that could create new schools for thousands of poor children in Colorado in the next few years. The loose-knit group, called the New Schools Collaborative, includes the Piton Foundation, the Donnell-Kay Foundation and the Daniels Fund, names known for their work in urban education. The idea is to pool money and knowledge to help jump-start the creation or replication of schools that have proved successful with students from low-income families. That includes expanding homegrown models such as West Denver Preparatory Charter School on South Boulevard, which Head of School Chris Gibbons wants to grow from a single school to three by 2015. It also includes importing to Denver successful models such as Envision Schools of California. Goals of the New Schools Collaborative have hit as high as enrolling 40,000 students in as many as 10 new schools a year for the next 10 years.
Dropout Dilemma: Parkway Spends Big to Keep Kids Coming to School
KSDK.com - May 16, 2008
Parkway’s Fern Ridge High School is a public school with a proven track record of reaching out to students “at risk” of quitting school. When it comes to class size Fern Ridge has an eight to one student-teacher ratio. “So here you can sit down with the teacher and explain what you need help with, and they help you, instead of just giving you the quick answer for your question,” Parker explained. And, there are fewer than 100 students in the entire school. Compare that to the traditional high school and the district’s average high school class size of 23 students per class. Since its creation, in 1992, Fern Ridge’s principal says his school has served as a district-wide, “safety net” for students “at risk” of dropping out. “We’re nearing close to 500 graduates over that period now, that would have been potential drop outs before,” touts Principal Desi Kirchhofer. The most important piece? Personal relationships. Staff members work hard to show they care about each student. Fern Ridge’s success is not without cost. Over $15,000 are spent on each student at the school. Compare that to the Parkway district’s average $9,500 expenditure per-pupil. Still, the district’s dropout rate is 1.7 percent, where Missouri’s, state-wide is 4.2 percent.
Juvenile Justice
Leaving Hard Time Behind
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
When Emily Tow Jackson first started talking to leaders of local youth organization in the late 1990s about supporting their efforts to improve the Connecticut juvenile-justice system, many were skeptical that a grant maker wanted to get involved. But over the past eight years, the Tow Foundation and its grantees have won a string of victories in their efforts to persuade the state that sending kids to prison is not necessarily the best way to reduce crime. Those successes are part of a growing effort by grant makers to find new ways to help young people who get in trouble with the law. In recent years, a handful of local and national grant makers, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the JEHT Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Eckerd Family Foundation, have produced research and financed model efforts that emphasize rehabilitation, rather than harsh punishment. Other grant makers are taking note. The number of foundation that receive information on juvenile-justice issues through the Youth Transition Funders Group, a network of grant makers focused on youth issues, has grown to 37, three times as many as in 2003.
New law lets courts blend juvenile, adult jail sentences
Sun Journal - May 14, 2008
Due to special circumstances in Armstrong’s case, he could be given a mixed juvenile-adult sentence. His pleas on unrelated burglary charges enable authorities to send him to juvenile detention, while charging him as an adult for the more serious crime. But if that had not been the situation, prosecutors would have had to choose between trying Armstrong as an adult and sending him to an adult prison, or trying him in juvenile court where the maximum penalty is incarceration until age 21. The bill Gov. John Baldacci ceremonially signed Tuesday allows a more general application of blended sentences in which prison time can be split between a juvenile and adult facility. The bill allows prosecutors, in the most egregious cases, to charge juveniles as an adult. “The juvenile will serve the initial portion of their sentence in a juvenile facility and then they will finish the remainder of their sentence in an adult facility,” Baldacci said.
Foster Care
Study: Big gaps in foster vs. traditional homes
USA Today – May 18, 2008
Children in foster care live in poorer, more crowded and less educated homes than kids in other families, often taking them from one disadvantaged environment into another, new research shows. The Annie E. Casey Foundation study is the first analyze 2006 Census Bureau date, the most recent available, for a detailed look at foster parents. “The gaps were so pervasive,” says demographer William O’Hare. O’Hare finds foster households have a lower average income,
$56, 364, than do all households with children, $74,301, even though they care for more kids. Half of foster households have three or more children compared with 21% of all other households with that many. The study also finds foster parents are more likely than others to be unemployed and lack a high school diploma.
New online school targets Latinos
Salt Lake Tribune – May 18, 2008
BOISE, Idaho – The state’s newest virtual charter school is expected to go online this fall, buy only after a strategic campaign to recruit Hispanics and teenagers at risk of quitting or getting kicked out of public high schools. The nonprofit online charter school is part of Insight Schools, a Portland-based company that operates one of the largest networks of virtual high schools in the country. With school in Oregon, California, Washington and Wisconsin, Insight plans to open more this fall in Idaho, Minnesota and Kansas. If the Idaho school opens in September as scheduled, Green wants to maintain a Latino student population of at least 20 percent. As part of their recruiting strategy, administrator bought ads on Spanish radio stations, advertised classes with bilingual brochures and drafted Latino community leaders to serve on its board of directors. In Idaho, more than 2,100 high school students dropped out last year. Of those, 468 claim Latino heritage, according to the state Department of Education.
New schools for poor?
Rocky Mountain News – May 12, 2008
Some prominent Denver foundations are working on a plan that could create new schools for thousands of poor children in Colorado in the next few years. The loose-knit group, called the New Schools Collaborative, includes the Piton Foundation, the Donnell-Kay Foundation and the Daniels Fund, names known for their work in urban education. The idea is to pool money and knowledge to help jump-start the creation or replication of schools that have proved successful with students from low-income families. That includes expanding homegrown models such as West Denver Preparatory Charter School on South Boulevard, which Head of School Chris Gibbons wants to grow from a single school to three by 2015. It also includes importing to Denver successful models such as Envision Schools of California. Goals of the New Schools Collaborative have hit as high as enrolling 40,000 students in as many as 10 new schools a year for the next 10 years.
Dropout Dilemma: Parkway Spends Big to Keep Kids Coming to School
KSDK.com - May 16, 2008
Parkway’s Fern Ridge High School is a public school with a proven track record of reaching out to students “at risk” of quitting school. When it comes to class size Fern Ridge has an eight to one student-teacher ratio. “So here you can sit down with the teacher and explain what you need help with, and they help you, instead of just giving you the quick answer for your question,” Parker explained. And, there are fewer than 100 students in the entire school. Compare that to the traditional high school and the district’s average high school class size of 23 students per class. Since its creation, in 1992, Fern Ridge’s principal says his school has served as a district-wide, “safety net” for students “at risk” of dropping out. “We’re nearing close to 500 graduates over that period now, that would have been potential drop outs before,” touts Principal Desi Kirchhofer. The most important piece? Personal relationships. Staff members work hard to show they care about each student. Fern Ridge’s success is not without cost. Over $15,000 are spent on each student at the school. Compare that to the Parkway district’s average $9,500 expenditure per-pupil. Still, the district’s dropout rate is 1.7 percent, where Missouri’s, state-wide is 4.2 percent.
Juvenile Justice
Leaving Hard Time Behind
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
When Emily Tow Jackson first started talking to leaders of local youth organization in the late 1990s about supporting their efforts to improve the Connecticut juvenile-justice system, many were skeptical that a grant maker wanted to get involved. But over the past eight years, the Tow Foundation and its grantees have won a string of victories in their efforts to persuade the state that sending kids to prison is not necessarily the best way to reduce crime. Those successes are part of a growing effort by grant makers to find new ways to help young people who get in trouble with the law. In recent years, a handful of local and national grant makers, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the JEHT Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Eckerd Family Foundation, have produced research and financed model efforts that emphasize rehabilitation, rather than harsh punishment. Other grant makers are taking note. The number of foundation that receive information on juvenile-justice issues through the Youth Transition Funders Group, a network of grant makers focused on youth issues, has grown to 37, three times as many as in 2003.
New law lets courts blend juvenile, adult jail sentences
Sun Journal - May 14, 2008
Due to special circumstances in Armstrong’s case, he could be given a mixed juvenile-adult sentence. His pleas on unrelated burglary charges enable authorities to send him to juvenile detention, while charging him as an adult for the more serious crime. But if that had not been the situation, prosecutors would have had to choose between trying Armstrong as an adult and sending him to an adult prison, or trying him in juvenile court where the maximum penalty is incarceration until age 21. The bill Gov. John Baldacci ceremonially signed Tuesday allows a more general application of blended sentences in which prison time can be split between a juvenile and adult facility. The bill allows prosecutors, in the most egregious cases, to charge juveniles as an adult. “The juvenile will serve the initial portion of their sentence in a juvenile facility and then they will finish the remainder of their sentence in an adult facility,” Baldacci said.
Foster Care
Study: Big gaps in foster vs. traditional homes
USA Today – May 18, 2008
Children in foster care live in poorer, more crowded and less educated homes than kids in other families, often taking them from one disadvantaged environment into another, new research shows. The Annie E. Casey Foundation study is the first analyze 2006 Census Bureau date, the most recent available, for a detailed look at foster parents. “The gaps were so pervasive,” says demographer William O’Hare. O’Hare finds foster households have a lower average income,
$56, 364, than do all households with children, $74,301, even though they care for more kids. Half of foster households have three or more children compared with 21% of all other households with that many. The study also finds foster parents are more likely than others to be unemployed and lack a high school diploma.
Monday, May 12, 2008
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
High dropout rates Alabama’s biggest economic problem, study finds
The Birmingham News – April 30, 2008
Alabama’s high school dropout rate is the biggest threat to the state’s long-term economic growth and a large reason why people here earn less than the average American, a nonprofit education advocacy group states in a report being released today. The Southern Education Foundation, based in Atlanta, commissioned a study that concluded almost 60 percent of the state’s income gap with the rest of the nation can be blamed on Alabama’s lower levels of education. “Something has to be done about that extraordinary dropout rate, or the consequences are going to be far more severe in Alabama’s income and economy than they ever have been,” said Steve Suitts, the foundation’s vice president. The study found that if Alabama’s education levels were equal to the national average, 59 percent of the gap between Alabama’s per capita income and the national average could be closed. “It really quantifies what I think is common sense for most people, and that is that in an increasingly global society, where the rewards of education decided whether someone is going to get a decent job, that education matters a great deal more than it used to,” Suitts said.
Will raising age limit lower dropout rates?
Star Tribune – May 3, 2008
Should Minnesota follow the lead of many other states and raise the high school dropout age from 16 to 18? Minnesota legislators hope to solidify just such a proposal in the next few days. The intent is to force at least some of the state’s thousands of high school dropouts every year to state in school. Though there’s little evidence nationwide that raising the dropout age improves graduation rates, proponents want to drive the point home that it’s bad to leave school at 16 or 17. There appears to be no direct correlation between a higher mandatory attendance age and graduation rates. Data from 2004 and 2005 that 16 of 28 states that, at the time, had a dropout age of 16 had graduation rates above the national average of 75 percent. Even proponents of raising the dropout age concede more needs to be done to make sure the kids staying in school can find a reason for being there.
Juvenile Justice
Del. aims to reduce juvenile recidivism
The Daily Times – May 11, 2008
Juvenile offenders who are locked up in Delaware are more likely than not to wind up being arrested again, either as youth or adults, according to the latest state study of recidivism rates. The study shows that 78 percent of offenders released from juvenile justice centers in fiscal 2006 were re-arrested within a year. Fourty-four percent of released offenders were re-arrested for felonies, while 28 percent were re-arrested on misdemeanor charges and 5 percent for violating probation. To find ways to improve the juvenile justice system, including reducing recidivism, officials recently hired a consultant to conduct an assessment. Shay Bilchik director of The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University, began his review in March. He is expected to have a preliminary report by the end of June.
Foster Care
A Foster Child Comes of Age
The Washington Post – May 8, 2008
A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that an increasing number of young people are “aging out” of foster care, even as research shows that many are ill-prepared for life after they system. Many have not finished high school or college and have limited employment and job skills. A 2005 study by researchers at the University of Chicago found they have higher rates or homelessness and incarceration than their peers. Virginia and other states are starting to address these problems, with some allowing children to stay in foster care longer, offering transitional housing and providing financial assistance so that they can pursue higher education. The University of Chicago researchers found that young people coming out of foster care often are more isolated socially than peers and are more likely to suffer from mental health issues.
State foster care could get boost
Detroit Free Press – May 8, 2008
Michigan’s strained foster care system might get some support from the private sector under a plan soon to be introduced in the state Legislature. The bills outlined Tuesday by two Republican lawmakers would create a state foster care advisory board to propose improvements and help educate people about how they can help support the support. The panel also would help foster children who are getting older and soon will be on their own to transition out of the system. The plan would create a trust fund that would be supported by charitable donations, including a checkoff option on state income tax forms. Department of Human Services spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet said Tuesday that lawmakers shared the concept with department representatives last week and they are willing to look at the proposal. Last month, the Department of Human Services announced a task force of more than 60 members aimed at improving Michigan child welfare systems including protective services, adoption, juvenile justice and foster care.
High dropout rates Alabama’s biggest economic problem, study finds
The Birmingham News – April 30, 2008
Alabama’s high school dropout rate is the biggest threat to the state’s long-term economic growth and a large reason why people here earn less than the average American, a nonprofit education advocacy group states in a report being released today. The Southern Education Foundation, based in Atlanta, commissioned a study that concluded almost 60 percent of the state’s income gap with the rest of the nation can be blamed on Alabama’s lower levels of education. “Something has to be done about that extraordinary dropout rate, or the consequences are going to be far more severe in Alabama’s income and economy than they ever have been,” said Steve Suitts, the foundation’s vice president. The study found that if Alabama’s education levels were equal to the national average, 59 percent of the gap between Alabama’s per capita income and the national average could be closed. “It really quantifies what I think is common sense for most people, and that is that in an increasingly global society, where the rewards of education decided whether someone is going to get a decent job, that education matters a great deal more than it used to,” Suitts said.
Will raising age limit lower dropout rates?
Star Tribune – May 3, 2008
Should Minnesota follow the lead of many other states and raise the high school dropout age from 16 to 18? Minnesota legislators hope to solidify just such a proposal in the next few days. The intent is to force at least some of the state’s thousands of high school dropouts every year to state in school. Though there’s little evidence nationwide that raising the dropout age improves graduation rates, proponents want to drive the point home that it’s bad to leave school at 16 or 17. There appears to be no direct correlation between a higher mandatory attendance age and graduation rates. Data from 2004 and 2005 that 16 of 28 states that, at the time, had a dropout age of 16 had graduation rates above the national average of 75 percent. Even proponents of raising the dropout age concede more needs to be done to make sure the kids staying in school can find a reason for being there.
Juvenile Justice
Del. aims to reduce juvenile recidivism
The Daily Times – May 11, 2008
Juvenile offenders who are locked up in Delaware are more likely than not to wind up being arrested again, either as youth or adults, according to the latest state study of recidivism rates. The study shows that 78 percent of offenders released from juvenile justice centers in fiscal 2006 were re-arrested within a year. Fourty-four percent of released offenders were re-arrested for felonies, while 28 percent were re-arrested on misdemeanor charges and 5 percent for violating probation. To find ways to improve the juvenile justice system, including reducing recidivism, officials recently hired a consultant to conduct an assessment. Shay Bilchik director of The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University, began his review in March. He is expected to have a preliminary report by the end of June.
Foster Care
A Foster Child Comes of Age
The Washington Post – May 8, 2008
A recent study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that an increasing number of young people are “aging out” of foster care, even as research shows that many are ill-prepared for life after they system. Many have not finished high school or college and have limited employment and job skills. A 2005 study by researchers at the University of Chicago found they have higher rates or homelessness and incarceration than their peers. Virginia and other states are starting to address these problems, with some allowing children to stay in foster care longer, offering transitional housing and providing financial assistance so that they can pursue higher education. The University of Chicago researchers found that young people coming out of foster care often are more isolated socially than peers and are more likely to suffer from mental health issues.
State foster care could get boost
Detroit Free Press – May 8, 2008
Michigan’s strained foster care system might get some support from the private sector under a plan soon to be introduced in the state Legislature. The bills outlined Tuesday by two Republican lawmakers would create a state foster care advisory board to propose improvements and help educate people about how they can help support the support. The panel also would help foster children who are getting older and soon will be on their own to transition out of the system. The plan would create a trust fund that would be supported by charitable donations, including a checkoff option on state income tax forms. Department of Human Services spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet said Tuesday that lawmakers shared the concept with department representatives last week and they are willing to look at the proposal. Last month, the Department of Human Services announced a task force of more than 60 members aimed at improving Michigan child welfare systems including protective services, adoption, juvenile justice and foster care.
Monday, May 05, 2008
This Week's News: Youth in Transition
Education
Special Schools for Pregnant Girls?
The Christian Science Monitor - April 30, 2008
Soon after getting pregnant, high school sophomore Alicia Mattocks worried that bullies might purposely slam her into a locker and that a teacher’s rules wouldn’t allow frequent bathroom runs. But it was the thought of not having to go to school quite so early, when she felt her worst, that pushed her to transfer to the Marian Pritchett School, and alternative public school in Boise for pregnant and parenting students. That decision, she says, saved her from dropping out. Pritchett school, however, faces a funding shortfall because state grants that fund it have dried up. Separate schools for pregnant teens have dwindled in recent years because of concern for educational equality, budget constraints, and changing social mores. But with one-third of all girls who drop out citing motherhood as a reason for leaving, these specialty schools from a bygone era may yet hold some lessons about how to keep kids in school. “The support for these specialized programs is critical in that they provide models of possibility in what can be done in school systems,” says Wendy Luttrell, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The school offers day care and a baby-supply store. Mothers can nurse their babies at the back of classrooms. The school’s size – just 45 students – allows the girls to get a lot of attention. Classes start after 9am and extracurricular activities are focused on skills such as business, parenting, and family law.
High school students unprepared for college
The Daily Collegian – May 5, 2008
As the world continues to evolve and entry-level positions and opportunities for career advancement in the job market become more competitive, a college education and related training will carry more weight than ever for students. But according to a statewide study released this month, Massachusetts high school graduates are starting the race a step behind. The study and subsequent reports highlight concerns that the state’s public schools aren’t doing enough to prepare all their students for college course work. Consequently, because of the student’s lack of basic skills in such subjects as English and math, they’re forced to take remedial classes, which don’t count towards a degree and have higher numbers of drop-outs. The report was conduct jointly by the state Departments of Elementary and Secondary and Higher Education. They found that the problem isn’t centered in any one particular area and it crosses socioeconomic lines.
Juvenile Justice
State rethinks seven deadly sins law
The Florida Times-Union – May 3, 2008
Set to land in legislator’s hands in 2009, a proposed rewrite of the state’s juvenile code would regress from get-tough statutes that automatically send to adult criminal courts cases involving youths 13 and older who are accused of the most heinous crimes. Instead, juvenile court judges would decide which cases are fit for superior court. “By and large, most juvenile [charged as adults] are kids who are exercising very poor judgment, but they can be rehabilitated,” said Sharon Hill, a retired Fulton County juvenile court judge. She serves as executive director of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit public interest law center that is a partner in the code rewrite project. But several prosecutors call the proposed policy shift a mistake, and say juvenile courts are not equipped to hand out sentences matching the severity of today’s violent youth offenders.
Gov taps juvenile justice guru
Trib.com – May 2, 2008
Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced Thursday that retiring District Judge Gary P. Hartman of Worland will join the governor’s office as a special adviser on juvenile justice issues. Hartman, who has served as judge in Wyoming’s 5th Judicial District since 1983, will be charged with evaluating Wyoming’s juvenile justice system and working with the departments of Health, Corrections, Family Services and Education to formulate new policies, the governor’s office said. Hartman said an important part of his new job will be helping the state achieve compliance with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The governor’s office said Hartman will also take a lead in developing community juvenile service boards, a measure approved this year by the Wyoming Legislature.
Foster Care
Kentucky Program Puts Youth on the Right Track
The New York Times – May 4, 2008
Boys’ Haven, a nonprofit home for neglected and abused youth in Louisville area, races thoroughbreds as a part of an equine job-training program that is not even a year old. Finding gainful employment for young men and women who are aging out of foster care is the stated goal, but on this day, and for this 1 minute 14 seconds, all anyone cared about was winning. “We think of the racing as a motivational factor for the kids to hang in there and went to stay with the program,” said Verson C. Rickert Jr., the executive director of Boys’ Haven, which has been serving girls as well for several years. Still, job training is the main emphasis, Rickert said, “We think it’s a great fit for the kinds of kids we have here who often have a lot of barriers and restraints for getting on in other kinds of work.”
Special Schools for Pregnant Girls?
The Christian Science Monitor - April 30, 2008
Soon after getting pregnant, high school sophomore Alicia Mattocks worried that bullies might purposely slam her into a locker and that a teacher’s rules wouldn’t allow frequent bathroom runs. But it was the thought of not having to go to school quite so early, when she felt her worst, that pushed her to transfer to the Marian Pritchett School, and alternative public school in Boise for pregnant and parenting students. That decision, she says, saved her from dropping out. Pritchett school, however, faces a funding shortfall because state grants that fund it have dried up. Separate schools for pregnant teens have dwindled in recent years because of concern for educational equality, budget constraints, and changing social mores. But with one-third of all girls who drop out citing motherhood as a reason for leaving, these specialty schools from a bygone era may yet hold some lessons about how to keep kids in school. “The support for these specialized programs is critical in that they provide models of possibility in what can be done in school systems,” says Wendy Luttrell, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The school offers day care and a baby-supply store. Mothers can nurse their babies at the back of classrooms. The school’s size – just 45 students – allows the girls to get a lot of attention. Classes start after 9am and extracurricular activities are focused on skills such as business, parenting, and family law.
High school students unprepared for college
The Daily Collegian – May 5, 2008
As the world continues to evolve and entry-level positions and opportunities for career advancement in the job market become more competitive, a college education and related training will carry more weight than ever for students. But according to a statewide study released this month, Massachusetts high school graduates are starting the race a step behind. The study and subsequent reports highlight concerns that the state’s public schools aren’t doing enough to prepare all their students for college course work. Consequently, because of the student’s lack of basic skills in such subjects as English and math, they’re forced to take remedial classes, which don’t count towards a degree and have higher numbers of drop-outs. The report was conduct jointly by the state Departments of Elementary and Secondary and Higher Education. They found that the problem isn’t centered in any one particular area and it crosses socioeconomic lines.
Juvenile Justice
State rethinks seven deadly sins law
The Florida Times-Union – May 3, 2008
Set to land in legislator’s hands in 2009, a proposed rewrite of the state’s juvenile code would regress from get-tough statutes that automatically send to adult criminal courts cases involving youths 13 and older who are accused of the most heinous crimes. Instead, juvenile court judges would decide which cases are fit for superior court. “By and large, most juvenile [charged as adults] are kids who are exercising very poor judgment, but they can be rehabilitated,” said Sharon Hill, a retired Fulton County juvenile court judge. She serves as executive director of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, a nonprofit public interest law center that is a partner in the code rewrite project. But several prosecutors call the proposed policy shift a mistake, and say juvenile courts are not equipped to hand out sentences matching the severity of today’s violent youth offenders.
Gov taps juvenile justice guru
Trib.com – May 2, 2008
Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced Thursday that retiring District Judge Gary P. Hartman of Worland will join the governor’s office as a special adviser on juvenile justice issues. Hartman, who has served as judge in Wyoming’s 5th Judicial District since 1983, will be charged with evaluating Wyoming’s juvenile justice system and working with the departments of Health, Corrections, Family Services and Education to formulate new policies, the governor’s office said. Hartman said an important part of his new job will be helping the state achieve compliance with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The governor’s office said Hartman will also take a lead in developing community juvenile service boards, a measure approved this year by the Wyoming Legislature.
Foster Care
Kentucky Program Puts Youth on the Right Track
The New York Times – May 4, 2008
Boys’ Haven, a nonprofit home for neglected and abused youth in Louisville area, races thoroughbreds as a part of an equine job-training program that is not even a year old. Finding gainful employment for young men and women who are aging out of foster care is the stated goal, but on this day, and for this 1 minute 14 seconds, all anyone cared about was winning. “We think of the racing as a motivational factor for the kids to hang in there and went to stay with the program,” said Verson C. Rickert Jr., the executive director of Boys’ Haven, which has been serving girls as well for several years. Still, job training is the main emphasis, Rickert said, “We think it’s a great fit for the kinds of kids we have here who often have a lot of barriers and restraints for getting on in other kinds of work.”
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