Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Connect for Kids Weekly - August 18, 2003

Aug 20, 2003

We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).

NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG
**Garbage Collector
**Hey Parents, It's Back to School!
**Fresh Angles: High School Views

THE RISING COSTS OF COLLEGE
**Students Face Another Year of Big Tuition Increases in Many States
**SREB Fact Book on Higher Education
**California Capping College Enrollments for First Time in Decades

READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL
**Getting Ready for School -- Don't Forget a Dental Check-Up
**Responsive Schools Initiative: Meeting the Needs of Immigrant Students and Their Families
** The Teacher Shortage and its Implications for Recruitment Policy
**State Investments in Preschools
**State High School Exams: Put to the Test
**Just in Time for School, Reading Rainbows Gets a Reprieve

KIDS' AND PARENTS' HEALTH
**Low Birth Weight and Residential Proximity to PCB-Contaminated Waste Sites
**What Parents Want
**Fire Safety for Babies and Toddlers -- Prepare. Practice. Prevent.

COMBATING RISING OBESITY RATES
** Preventing Obesity
**Archives for Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine: Obesity
**Risk Syndrome Found in One Million Overweight Teens
**Fair Warning for Fat Peddlers
**What Congress Could Do to Counter Obesity

NEW MEASURES SUGGESTED BY WOMEN IN THE SENATE
**Increasing Access to the School Lunch Program
**Improving High Schools
**Improving the Coordination of Mental Health Services for Kids

NEXT ON THE EDUCATION AGENDA: IMPLEMENTING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
**Lesson Plans for Turning Around Low-Performing Schools - A Guide for Governors
**A Practical Guide to Talking with Your Community
**States Announce Data on Schools in Need of Improvement

REFORMING WELFARE REFORM
**TANF Spending Still Outpaces Block Grants

FOCUS ON THE STATES

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PRIVACY POLICY


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NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG

**Garbage Collector
What do Junkfood John, Itchy Ritchie and Hairy Mary have in common? They were all buddies of Connect for Kids' Robert Capriccioso in his youth. Join him in pondering a collection of the ages.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=190791

**Hey Parents, It's Back to School!
It's back to school time! Our Parental Involvement in Education page is full of ideas for helping kids off to a great start--from walking school buses to Dr. Math to the neglected "R"--Connect for Kids has you covered.
http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_subject.htm?doc_id=82761

**Fresh Angles: High School Views
FreshAngles.com started as a project of the information technologies department at Bergen County Academies, a public magnet school in Hackensack, N.J. The project's teen reporters cover news, sports, and lifestyle topics in solid journalistic style. In English Teachers, Beware, Andrew Chong translates IM-speak for the uninitiated.
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=190792


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THE RISING COSTS OF COLLEGE

**Students Face Another Year of Big Tuition Increases in Many States
Struggling with huge budget deficits and ballooning college enrollments, many states significantly raised public college tuitions for the 2003-2004 academic year, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Some say the increases are not so bad, considering the actual dollar amount; others warn they represent a fundamental shift in funding higher education from the state to the student, and may limit access to a public college education.
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i49/49a02401.htm

**SREB Fact Book on Higher Education
The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) reports that in the 16 SREB states in the year 2000, one in five people had a bachelor's degree or higher, but racial and economic gaps in educational attainment remain. And costs are rising: over the last two decades the proportion of annual income needed to pay for one year of college (including room and board) has increased most dramatically for low-income families, while the costs covered by Pell grants for the neediest students have declined (from 36 percent to 17 percent for public four-year college).
http://www.sreb.org/main/EdData/FactBook/factbookindex.asp

**California Capping College Enrollments for First Time in Decades
It was a bold promise that became a model for the rest of the nation: any Californian who wanted a college education could have one, reports the Sacramento Bee. With that mission, California built its vast, tiered system of public higher education with an open door for high school graduates with the right grades. But California's record budget crisis has state leaders reneging. For the first time in 43 years ago, enrollment will be capped, students will be turned away by the thousands, and fees will rise for those enrolling. (See the August 11, 2003 article, "Costs Crush College Promise.")
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/7205231p-8150959c.html


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READY TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL

**Getting Ready for School -- Don't Forget a Dental Check-Up
Over 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental-related illness. As millions of children head back to school, the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics say a healthy mouth is important for overall health. They are encouraging parents to make dental exams a regular part of their children's back-to-school routine.
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/augada.htm

**Responsive Schools Initiative: Meeting the Needs of Immigrant Students and Their Families
One out of every five U.S. students is a recent immigrant or born to parents who are immigrants. The Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University describes in-depth how four very different schools -- in Greenbay, Wisconsin, Leadville, Colorado, Stamford, Connecticut and Columbus Junction, Iowa -- are changing their strategies and programs to meet their students' needs.
http://www.yale.edu/21c/report.html

** The Teacher Shortage and its Implications for Recruitment Policy
Urban school districts that serve large numbers of poor and minority children often start the year with substitute teachers in their classrooms. Special education, math, science, and foreign language teachers remain hard to find. The Center on Reinventing Public Education argues that it's time to change human resource policies and address persistent, systemic problems in finding and keeping good teachers, as well as the institutional constraints that limit districts' ability to cope with these challenges.
http://www.crpe.org/pubs/introTeacherShortage.shtml

**State Investments in Preschools
There is growing public support for expanding preschool programs, but with states entering their third straight year of budget shortfalls, this National Institute for Early Education Research survey of 31 states finds that 16 out of 19 states with settled budgets suffered losses in state preschool programs. Some states have dealt with the budget situation by eliminating transportation and comprehensive child development services, and reducing funding for evaluation efforts, professional development, accreditation support and technical assistance. Illinois, New Jersey and Louisiana were the only states with settled budgets to increase preschool funding.
http://nieer.org/resources/files/budget.pdfs

**State High School Exams: Put to the Test
In its second report on high school exit exams, the Center for Education Policy reports that several states have revised or delayed their exit exam requirements in response to public opposition, high failure rates, and concerns about negative effects of tests on minority, poor, and special needs students. Yet most of the adjustments made affect small numbers of students, or are temporary extensions to give states time to fix problems before withholding diplomas. While exit exams often encourage schools to add remedial courses for students at risk of failure, their costs are substantial and there is some evidence they increase drop-out rates.
http://www.ctredpol.org/highschoolexit/1/exitexam4.htm

**Just in Time for School, Reading Rainbows Gets a Reprieve
In June 2003, Connect for Kids' Robert Capriccioso reported on the funding crisis faced by the Reading Rainbow television program, despite twenty strong years of promoting kids' literacy. Connect for Kids readers responded--and your voices were heard. In this Marketplace update interview, the show's host, LeVar Burton, explains how the show has found funds to carry on.
http://www.marketplace.org/play/audio.php?media=/2003/08/full_levar

Read "Rainbow's End?" on Connect for Kids:
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=178123


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KIDS' AND PARENTS' HEALTH

**Low Birth Weight and Residential Proximity to PCB-Contaminated Waste Sites
Kaiser reports on evidence that women who live near sites contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in New York are more likely to deliver low birth weight infants. The study found a statistically significant 6 percent increased risk of giving birth to a male infant of low birth weight.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19262

**What Parents Want
A new poll finds that parents support the provision of health care in schools -- for their own children and for their peers, especially uninsured children.
http://www.healthinschools.org/pubs/paper/parentpoll.asp

**Fire Safety for Babies and Toddlers -- Prepare. Practice. Prevent.
A child under the age of five is twice as likely to die in a residential fire than the rest of the population. The U.S. Fire Administration's public awareness and education campaign urges parents and caregivers to prepare by installing and maintaining working smoke alarms, storing lighters and matches out of children's reach, and practicing a fire escape plan with small children, including helping toddlers understand how to quickly respond in case of fire and planning how adults can escape with babies.
http://usfa.fema.gov/usfaparents/about.shtm


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COMBATING RISING OBESITY RATES

** Preventing Obesity
A new American Academy of Pediatrics policy proposes using the diagnostic tool of body mass index (BMI) for all children and adolescents to improve the prevention and early identification of obesity. Currently, 15.3 percent of 6- to 11-year-olds and 15.5 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds are at or above the 95th percentile for BMI. Among its recommendations, the AAP suggests doctors routinely promote physical activity and unstructured play, and recommend limiting television and video time to a maximum of two hours per day.
http://www.aap.org/policy/s100029.html

**Archives for Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine: Obesity
This study found that food assistance programs like school lunch and breakfast, and food stamps play a protective role for low-income children's health, particularly for girls in food-insecure households. Such girls who participated in all three nutrition programs had a significantly reduced chance of being at risk of overweight when compared with their counterparts in nonparticipating households and controlling for other factors. Find this and more in the August 2003 Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine devoted to obesity issues. (Abstracts available; full texts require subscription).
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/157/8/780

**Risk Syndrome Found in One Million Overweight Teens
Nearly 1 million U.S. teenagers suffer from a syndrome associated with being overweight that makes them unusually prone to diabetes and premature heart disease later in life. In its August 11 article, "Risk Syndrome Found in Overweight Teens," the Washington Post reports on the research.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46645-2003Aug11.html

**Risk Syndrome Found in One Million Overweight Teens
Nearly 1 million U.S. teenagers suffer from a syndrome associated with being overweight that makes them unusually prone to diabetes and premature heart disease later in life. In its August 11 article, "Risk Syndrome Found in Overweight Teens," the Washington Post reports on the research.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46645-2003Aug11.html

**Fair Warning for Fat Peddlers
As the high costs of increasing rates of obesity gain greater public attention, the food industry may come under increasing public and legal scrutiny for its marketing and promotion strategies. In this Washington Post opinion piece Ben Kelley suggests advocates and the food industry can learn valuable lessons on what to do, and what not to do, from the responses of the auto industry and tobacco industry to public pressures for more accountability.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52279-2003Aug12.html

**What Congress Could Do to Counter Obesity
The American Food School Service Association reports on three proposals in Congress to address some of the root causes of the accelerating obesity rates among children: 1) a bill to help schools stock their vending machines with healthier choices, 2) the Obesity Prevention Act, and 3) the Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity Act.
http://www.asfsa.org/newsroom/sfsnews/legupdate0603.asp


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NEW MEASURES SUGGESTED BY WOMEN IN THE SENATE

**Increasing Access to the School Lunch Program
Senator Dole has introduced legislation in Congress that would eliminate the reduced price category for school meals, resulting in no-charge breakfasts and lunches for all children from households with incomes below 185 percent of the poverty line -- making it easier for the 2.5 million children currently receiving reduced price meals to take advantage of nutritious school meals.
http://www.asfsa.org/newsroom/sfsnews/doleleg.asp

**Improving High Schools
While the No Child Left Behind Act focuses attention on younger students, the Alliance for Excellent Education calls the Pathways for All Students to Succeed Act (PASS Act) -- introduced by Senator Murray in July -- the "first comprehensive high school initiative in years." The proposal is designed to improve the chances for success among vulnerable students during high school by focusing on adolescent literacy, academic counselors and a grant program to help improve student achievement in low-performing high schools.
http://www.all4ed.org

**Improving the Coordination of Mental Health Services for Kids
Senator Collins plans to introduce a bill to help states improve coordination of mental health services for children in September.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19274


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NEXT ON THE EDUCATION AGENDA: IMPLEMENTING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

**Lesson Plans for Turning Around Low-Performing Schools - A Guide for Governors
Governors are paying close attention to how to implement the accountability measures in the No Child Left Behind Act, as evidenced by this key report issued at the latest National Governors Association (NGA) conference. "During the next several years, the NGA will continue to study states' best practices for turning around low-performing schools and helping governors design practical solutions and strategies that ultimately improve student achievement," said Dane Linn, director of the NGA Center's Education Division.
http://www.nga.org/nga/newsRoom/1,1169,C_PRESS_RELEASE^D_5816,00.html

**A Practical Guide to Talking with Your Community
**A Practical Guide to Talking with Your Community Regardless of where they stand with regards to the new education law, states and local districts are struggling to comply with its provisions. This handbook from the Learning Alliance is designed to help educators and parent leaders explain and discuss the law, its requirements, and its implications for local schools and districts to various groups in their communities.
http://www.learningfirst/publications.nclbguide

**States Announce Data on Schools in Need of Improvement
This is the last month states can announce the names and numbers of schools in need of improvement, based on the new accountability measures required by the No Child Left Behind legislation. The Education Commission of the States is tracking the state-by-state reporting.
http://www.ecs.org/ecsmain.asp?page=/html/newsMedia/e-Clips.asp


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REFORMING WELFARE REFORM

**TANF Spending Still Outpaces Block Grants
Changes under the 1996 welfare reform law that created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has not meant states are spending less on welfare. States are spending less on cash assistance, but more on child care and other services. The combination of state budget problems and flat federal funding for TANF means that without additional funding, states will be forced to cut these and other supports for working families, especially if welfare caseloads rise as job losses continue.
http://www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1057932457.18/02_TANF_spending.pdf


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FOCUS ON THE STATES

**State by State News
California
Governor Davis has signed a bill banning flame retardants that can harm fetal development, reports the Kaiser Family Fund.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19308

Delaware
Unlike some states, Delaware did not adjust how schools are rated on adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind. Fifty-seven percent of the state's public schools failed to make adequate yearly progress in math and reading under a new rating system mandated by the federal school reform act known as No Child Left Behind. 25 of the state's 28 high schools are rated as under academic review, including one Newsweek magazine recently touted as among the best in the nation. At the middle school level, the story is similar, with only three of the state's 33 middle schools making adequate yearly progress
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/08/12delawareschools.html

Georgia
Kaiser reports that Georgia's CHIP Program faces a $63 million deficit and enrollment could be capped.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19277

Kansas
Seven districts and 33 schools were the first designated "on improvement" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act because they did not make enough progress toward improving students' reading and math scores.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/6516715.htm

Louisiana
Louisiana has enacted a law requiring public schools with kindergarten through sixth grade to provide at least 30 minutes each school day of quality physical activity for students, effective for the 2004-2005 school year and thereafter.
http://www.legis.state.la.us/leg_docs/03RS/CVT2/OUT/0000KT2Y.PDF

Michigan
The Detroit News examines how cuts to Michigan's budget are "making it increasingly difficult" for thousands of children with serious mental and emotional problems to obtain treatment, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19304

Missouri
The Kansas City Star reports that 147 mostly rural school districts in Missouri have agreed to sue over the adequacy and equity of the state's school funding system, which was last rewritten in 1993 after a judge ruled in favor of a previous legal challenge. With falling state revenues, the school funding formula has not been fully funded for three years--when the formula is not fully funded, the inequities increase.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/6505161.htm

Seven districts and 33 schools require help from the state because they did not make enough progress toward improving students' reading and math scores, educators in Kansas report.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/6516715.htm

New Hampshire
Here's a toolkit to help schools and teachers meet the New Hampshire No Child Left Behind highly qualified teacher requirements.
http://www.ed.state.nh.us/ProfessionalDevelopment/HQT/Guidance_for_Highly_Qualified_Teachers.pdf

North Carolina
Responding to the Charlotte Observer's quality series on the child welfare system, Michael Petit, president of Every Child Matters, notes that the federal government could do better in supporting quality child welfare services for abused kids.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6537327.htm

The majority of North Carolina school districts are teaching "abstinence only" for preventing pregnancy and STDs.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=19311

Oregon
Three hundred and sixty-five Oregon schools, including more than two-thirds of the state's high schools, were tagged by the state as educationally inadequate under tough new standards required by federal law.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/106068947435730.xml

Pennsylvania
About half of all public schools in Pennsylvania aren't meeting minimum standards in math, reading or other areas, according to a federally mandated report released yesterday by the state Department of Education.
http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20030813schoolreport0813p1.asp

Washington
Three 16-year-old boys have died in work-related accidents in Washington this week, prompting calls for stronger enforcement of laws governing underage workers, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/135292_teenworkers16.html


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Have a great week, everyone!