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Financing Alternative Education Pathways
The National Youth Employment Coalition profiles innovative practices and creative state and local policy mechanisms used to finance alternative education pathways in this report highlighting programs in a number of states. The executive summary is an 11 page pdf file. The Role of Law Enforcement in Public School Safety: A National Survey
This report identifies the range of roles played by law enforcement in schools and factors related to these roles. The report also presents in-depth case studies of 14 schools and the law enforcement agencies that serve those schools. I downloaded the executive summary, the first 19 pages of the report. 220 page pdf file.
++++++++++ Study Backs Benefits of Preschool
NPR’s Morning Edition today (November 2, 2005) reported on the success of the State of Oklahoma’s statewide preschool program. New research says that the program is a success at helping kids prepare for school. The research also identifies three factors that are particularly important to that success: All teachers come from the public school system and have appropriate degrees. Teachers’ salaries come from the public school system, with an average salary of $35,000 per year. The average salary nationwide for a pre-school teacher is $24,000 per year. All teachers received specialized training in working with young children.
All children enrolled in the pre-kindergarten program made gains while in the program. Biggest gains were among Hispanic children. Listen to the story on NPR at the link above. The study is in the latest issue of Developmental Psychology.
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The Nation’s Report Card – No Gains in Reading There has been a small gain in math proficiency in the past two years but nearly zero gain in reading scores since 1992 despite more than a decade of focus on boosting student achievement. ++++++++++ Parents Challenge School Zero Tolerance Policy California parents are going to court over school suspensions under zero tolerance policies. Both parents and community leaders say they leave no room for individual judgment. Researchers at the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and the Applied Research Center in Oakland, California have concluded that the get-tough policies have swept up children who pose no threat to safety. They also concluded that punishment has fallen disproportionately on minorities. ++++++++++ Students E-Mail Reports of Crime and Bullying A new web site, www.alertrecall.com, makes it possible for kids to report crimes, potential crimes, dangerous situations, bullying, drug activity, gang fights, and other activities anonymously. The web site is the creation of Phoenix, Ariz., police officer Cecil Jackson. Within two days of the web site going online a tip led to the arrest of a 17-year-old boy in the shooting of another teen. Since March, when the site went online, 60,000 emails have come in. ++++++++++ Dropout Rates: They’re Not What You May Think They Are Karen Pittman, in her column in The Forum, reports on the new method of calculating high school drop out rates. The new definition quadruples the dropout rate from a tolerable 8% to an appalling 32%. Non-graduation rates in urban areas are closer to 50%. What happened? The new calculations look over four years, comparing ninth grade enrollment to high school graduation numbers. The previous method didn’t. For what its worth, and I read a lot to pull together this newsletter each week, school dropouts look to be the next major kids issue. Pittman says: If one-third of youth are not in school and up to another one-third is in school but unprepared for secondary education, work or life in general, the solutions have to push beyond the school day, the school building and the four-year timeline. No wonder IBM is worried. ++++++++++
IBM Encourages Employees to be Teachers
Worried the United States is losing its competitive edge, IBM will financially back employees who want to leave the company to become math and science teachers. ++++++++++
Access to Public School for Homeless Children A federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, requires that homeless children have access to public school educations. That means any children displaced by Hurricane Katrina must be educated wherever they end up. Read more about the McKinney-Vento Act here. ++++++++++ Learning Behind Bars
The American School Board Journal presents an article on education in state juvenile justice programs around the country and finds that educational requirements vary widely state to state. ++++++++++ Corrections Learning Network
CLN is a distance learning initiative funded through the U.S. Department of Education. It provides interactive instructional programming for correctional facilities. At this web site find out what course offerings CLN provides and details about the organization and how it operates.
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Early Childhood Development Brings an Economic High Rate of Return
This article from the fedgazette online magazine examines early childhood development programs as a priority for state and local governments and a key to economic benefits. Studies find that well-focused investments in early childhood development yield high public as well as private returns. The article makes a case for public funding of early childhood development in Minnesota and backs it up with research, studies, and program results.
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School Bus Drivers Can File Charges Against Motorists Who Pass Stopped School Buses
In West Virginia’s Kanawha County 152 bus drivers have been trained how to check an offender’s license plate and properly file criminal complaint paperwork in magistrate court. They are expected to impact the problem of cars passing school buses as children are getting on and off.
++++++++++ Evaluation of G.R.E.A.T. – School-based Gang Prevention Program
A five-year longitudinal evaluation shows the Gang Resistance Education and Training has modest positive effects on adolescents’ attitudes and delinquency risk factors, but no effects on their involvement in gangs and actual delinquent behaviors. 6 page downloadable report.
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High/Scope Perry Preschool Project Members at the Age of 40
The Perry Preschool project examines the lives of 123 African Americans born in poverty and at high risk of failing in school. From 1962-1967, at ages 3 and 4, the subjects were randomly divided into a program group who received a high-quality preschool program based on the High/Scopes’ participatory learning approach. A comparison group received no preschool program. At age 40, 97% of the study’s participants still living were interviewed. The study found that the 40 year old adults who had the preschool program Had higher earnings Were more likely to hold a job Had committed fewer crimes, and Were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not have the preschool.
++++++++++ A Guide to Developing, Maintaining, and Succeeding with Your School Resource Officer Program
This new COPS publication addresses the difficulties SRO program have experienced in recruiting, screening, retaining, training, and supervising SROs. The report documents promising methods in use in selected SRO programs and is intended to allow new or startup SRO programs to benefit from the experiences of others. Downloadable as a series of pdf files. You might want to start with the Executive Summary which is 16 pages and gives you a review of the contents of each chapter.
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Back to School Tips
The American Academy of Pediatrics has put up a back to school website with all sorts of good information in it. -- First day of school, moving/starting at a new school, backpack safety, homework and study habits are some of the kinds of information available here. ++++++++++
No Child Left Behind Act – Most Students with Disabilities Participated in Statewide Assessments, but Inclusion Options Could Be Improved
This new GAO Report found that, during the 2003-2004 school year, at least 95 percent of students with disabilities participated in statewide reading assessments in 41 of the 49 states that provided data. For more information click on the link above which will take you to the complete report (43 pages, pdf file). Page two of the report is a one page synopsis of the contents.
++++++++++ Young Readers Make Big Gains Nine-year-olds in the U.S. are reading better than they have in 30 years, despite a tripling of the number of students from non-English-speaking homes. The disparity in achievement between races in both reading and math is narrowing too. The results for older students were flat. ++++++++++ Juveniles Who Think in Pictures Get a New Approach to Learning A pilot program in Iowa aimed at helping justice-involved youth with learning difficulties improve their thinking and reading skills gives youth the tools they need to improve their reading abilities. Seventeen adjudicated juveniles, visual-spatial learners, who primarily think in pictures, were taught a variety of techniques geared toward their learning style. ++++++++++ 28% of America’s 8th Graders Are At Risk of Not Graduating High School Students who enter ninth grade reading significantly below grade level are 20 times more like to quit high school than are their highest achieving classmates. The Alliance for Excellent Education says there is a connection between literacy levels and staying in school. At this site you can click on your state to see how your 8th graders are doing. ++++++++++ The Barksdale Reading Institute
Five years ago Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale launched the institute in the state of Mississippi with the intent to positively impact reading skills of children in that state. He and his wife put up $100 million of their own money to improve “preliteracy” skills for preschoolers and reading for children in kindergarten through third grade. An independent analysis by a University of Mississippi research center recently confirmed that the program was making a “statistically significant difference.” Barksdale has been approached by a number of states to finance similar programs, but he's sticking with Mississippi. ++++++++++ School Bus Sexual Assaults
Experts say that sexual assaults on school buses, one of the fastest-growing forms of school violence, seldom register as a safety concern. Administrators, teachers and bus drivers say the nature and frequency of the attacks are increasing, and at younger ages. The victims are as young as 6; the attackers as young as 8. ++++++++++ |
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