Adolescents with Chronic Insomnia Report
Increase in Personal Problems
Documenting a "twofold to fivefold"
increase in personal problems among adolescents with persistent sleeplessness,
public health researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center
at Houston say they have completed the first prospective study demonstrating
the negative impact of chronic insomnia on 11 to 17 year olds.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/adolescents-wit.php
**************************************************************************
Have a Website? Place HandsNet Headlines on your site
– visit http://www.handsnet.org/addheadl.htm
************************************************************************
Childhood Personality Can Predict Important
Outcomes in Emerging Adulthood
A new study in the Journal of Personality
reveals the extent to which children's personality types can predict the timing
of key transitional moments between childhood and adulthood. The study set
out to examine whether childhood personality would predict the timing of important
transitional events moving into adulthood, including leaving the parents'
home, establishing a romantic relationship, and entering the world of part-time
work.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/childhood-perso.php
Playing Numerical Board Games Boosts
Number Skills of Low-income Preschoolers
A study conducted with low-income preschoolers
attending Head Start found that certain numerical board games increased early
math learning. Board games with consecutively numbered, linearly arranged
spaces helped children learn about counting, identifying numerals and comparing
the sizes of numbers.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/playing-numeric.php
Computer Games Can Make Kids More Social,
Not Less
Contrary to common education wisdom,
computer games and other technologies can foster community-building, a strong
sense of identity and higher-level planning even in very young students, UC
Davis researchers report.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/computer-games.php
Risky Teen Behavior Nay Not Occur at
Home or School: But How to Track?
How can researchers track where teens
go when not in or near home or school to see if this movement has an impact
on health-related behavior such as smoking or sexual activity? The answer
is through that ubiquitous teen accessory -- the cell phone.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/risky-teen-beha.php
Can Involvement in Extra-Curricular
Activities Help Prevent Juvenile Delinquency?
The study, conducted by Northeastern
University researchers,
looked separately at delinquency and risky behaviors for both young men and
young women in a suburban high school and how involvement in outside activities
influenced those behaviors.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/can-involvement.php
Youth Sports Concussion Program Points
to Need for Proper Treatment of Concussion in Children
The Chief of Neuropsychology
at Children's National
Medical
Center
and director of the Safe Concussion Outcome, Recovery and Education (SCORE)
Program, has published a successful concussion management program for children
based on his pioneering work in this area.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/youth-sports-co.php
**Community Building
5000 Dreams - 20 Finalists - Your Vote
Helps Decide the Final Four
The Case Foundation has announced the
Top 20 Finalists in the Make It Your Own Awards. Now, it’s up to the online
community to vote and decide which of these finalists will become the Final
Four and receive an additional $25,000 to make their community dreams come
true. If you are one of the first ten people to choose the four projects
that become the Final Four, you will receive $2,500 for the charity of your
choice!
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/case-foundation.php
**Economic Security
Does Education Increase Economic Mobility?
Not only are the children of relatively well-off parents
more likely to earn more as adults, but they are more likely to get a college
degree than children of parents with lower incomes. The policy challenge is
to make it possible for more young people from the bottom quintiles of the
family income distribution to access higher education and succeed in college.
One promising avenue for many low-income students is community college.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/does-education.php
Payday Lending Benefits Communities
Stricken By Natural Disaster Says Working Study
The study assesses the impact of payday
lenders in California
communities struck by natural disaster between the years of 1996-2005 and
finds that "access to finance is welfare improving at whatever cost."
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/payday-lending.php
Early Snapshot of Impact of Credit
Crunch on Student Loans at Private
Colleges and Universities
A significant number of private colleges
and universities report reductions in student loan availability and borrower
benefits, according to the results of a survey conducted by the National Association
of Independent Colleges and Universities.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/national-associ-1.php
Housing and Credit Crisis Sink Florida
Consumer Confidence Five Points
Florida's consumer
confidence fell five points to 68 in March, reflecting growing pessimism about
the national economy in the midst of the housing and credit crisis, a new
University of
Florida study
reports.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/housing-and-cre.php
The National Fund for Workforce Solutions:
A History of Collaboration
In 2007, several national foundations
and the U.S. Department of Labor launched the National Fund for Workforce
Solutions, a $50 million effort to strengthen and expand high-impact workforce
development initiatives across the country. This report traces how national
foundations, smaller local foundations, and government agencies helped to
shape this new national workforce development initiative.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/the-national-fu.php
Expanding the EIC in 2009
This tax season, Oregon will require
a minimum wage worker who was employed full-time, year-round last year and
supported one child to pay about $321 in state income taxes. By expanding
the Earned Income Credit (EIC), Oregon can give
a hand up to low-wage working families, rather than leaving them behind. Oregon’s EIC
ties for sixth smallest among 23 states.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/expanding-the-e-1.php
Statement on the Report of the Trustees
of Social Security and Medicare
Those interested in the release of
the report of the trustees of Social Security and Medicare assessing the fiscal
health of the government's two biggest benefit programs (combined approximately
one third of the federal budget), the authors of a popular book on the federal
budget say asking the "right" questions is key.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/statement-on-th.php
**Education
Despite Little
Experience, Teach for America Educators Outpace Veterans in Drawing Achievement
From Students
Teach for America
teachers may be new to the profession, but they are generally more effective
than their experienced colleagues, finds a new Urban Institute analysis. On
average, high school students taught by TFA corps members performed significantly
better on state-required end-of-course exams, especially in math and science,
than peers taught by far more experienced instructors.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/despite-little.php
Cooperative Classrooms Lead to Better
Friendships, Higher Achievement in Young Adolescents
Students competing for resources in
the classroom while discounting each others' success are less likely to earn
top grades than students who work together toward goals and share their success,
according to an analysis of 80 years of research.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/cooperative-cla.php
Beating the Odds: The Real Challenges
Behind the Math Achievement Gap
This paper, prepared
for the Carnegie-IAS Commission on Mathematics and Science Education, by Jobs
for the Future, highlights several obstacles to raising math achievement that
deserve more attention, then describes the key characteristics
of model schools that are rising to the challenge.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/beating-the-odd.php
Family Wealth May Explain Differences
in Test Scores in School-Age Children
A new study using new methods to examine
the dynamics of wealth found that family wealth might partly explain differences
in test scores of school-age children, and examined how wealth affects children's
cognitive achievement at different stages of childhood. Wealth had a stronger
effect on school aged children than on preschoolers, and had a stronger association
with math than reading skills.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/family-wealth-m.php
Minorities and College
Even though the number of black and Hispanic students
entering college has increased dramatically over the last 30 years, students
from these groups still lag well behind white students in earning college
degrees, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/education-news.php
Awards Affirm Cal State
L.A.'s
Recipe for Diversity, Legacy of Access
For creating, following and sharing
a successful recipe for diversity within higher education, California State University, Los Angeles
received a series of national awards that spotlight decades of bolstering
educational access in underserved communities and of fostering diversity with
excellence beyond the baccalaureate degree.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/awards-affirm-c.php
New Pilot to Help Schools Most in Need
of Intervention and Reform
The US Department of Education announced
the Differentiated Accountability Program pilot, which will allow states to
design a more nuanced system to distinguish between schools in need of dramatic
intervention and those that are closer to meeting goals. The new pilot will
assist states by helping target resources and interventions to those schools
most in need of intensive interventions and significant reform.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/deputy-secretar.php
University
of Virginia Curry School of Education Professors Release First Findings of Virginia
High School Safety Study
Each April, concerns about school safety
rise as the anniversaries of the shootings at Colorado's Columbine High School and
Virginia Tech approach. Despite these and other publicized cases of school
violence, new research from the University of
Virginia finds
that conditions in Virginia high
schools are generally safe and that serious acts of violence are rare.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/university-of-v-2.php
**Health
PTSD Associated with More, Longer Hospitalizations
for Urban Poor
Researchers from Boston University
School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center have found
post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with more hospitalizations, longer
hospitalizations and greater mental healthcare utilization in urban primary
care patients. These findings appear in the current issue of Medical Care.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/ptsd-associated.php
Health Screening for California Legislators, Staff on Capitol Lawn Finds Kidney Disease, Diabetes, High
Blood Pressure
To celebrate World Kidney Day and to
promote early kidney health screening, The National Kidney Foundation (NKF)
held a free health screening on March 11 and 12 for legislators and their
staff, as well as state and governmental relations employees. The most startling
result was a sharp increase in previously undiagnosed kidney disease compared
to NKF's screening results in 2007.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/health-screenin.php
Medicare Out-of-Pocket Costs: Can Private
Savings Incentives Solve the Problem?
Medicare's benefit structure leaves
beneficiaries with significant out-of-pocket costs, particularly if they lack
supplemental coverage; such costs disproportionately affect low-income, old,
and chronically ill beneficiaries. This Commonwealth Fund report analyzes
the extent to which incentives for private saving could relieve the burden
of post-retirement health care costs.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/medicare-outofp.php
**Nonprofit Management
TechSoup Announces NetSquared Top 21
Mashup Challenge Finalists
The Top 21 new social media projects, which were chosen
from a field of 122 entries, will get an opportunity to display and discuss
their Mashups with the 350 conference participants
- including venture capitalists, philanthropy experts, Web developers and
social activists. The three top projects, as decided by a vote of conference
participants, will divide most of a $100,000 Technology Innovation Fund raised
by TechSoup for the Conference.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/techsoup-announ.php
**Nutrition and Healthy Living
Why Don't Kids Walk to School Anymore?
According to a University of Michigan researcher, concerns
about safety are the main reason that less than 13 percent of U.S.
children walked or biked to school in 2004, compared to more than 50 percent
who did so in 1969.By identifying environmental elements conducive to walking
and biking to school, the researchers may help improve children's physical
health and reduce the incidence of childhood obesity, especially prevalent
among minority children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/why-dont-kids-w.php
Partners Can Help or Hinder Attempts
at Changing Diet
For people trying to make a change
in their diet, significant others generally play a positive and supportive
role, but sometimes respond in negative ways, according to a study in the
March/April Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/partners-can-he.php
Obesity May Keep Some Women from Getting
Screened for Breast, Cervical Cancer
A review of cancer screening studies
shows that white women who are obese are less likely than healthy weight women
to get the recommended screenings for breast and cervical cancer, according
to researchers at the University of
North Carolina
at Chapel Hill's
School
of Public Health.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2008/03/obesity-may-kee.php
