University of Virginia Experts Can Address Issues Associated
with National Bullying Prevention Awareness Week
Bullying is not a matter
of bad kids versus good kids, but is a situation in which both children need
help in learning how to channel their emotions and interact successfully with
others. So says a professor of clinical and school psychology at the University
of Virginia Curry School of Education and author of a book on bullying. In
addition the co-founder and co-director of an innovative mentoring program
for middle school girls, can speak specifically to
issues of bullying among girls.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/university-of-v-1.php
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Changing the Global Dietary
Environment: Top International Experts to Meet at McGill Conference on Childhood
Obesity
Leading international experts
from health, agriculture, food, education, finance, management, environmental
protection, politics and economics will meet at the McGill University Health
Challenge Think Tank November 7, 8 and 9 to tackle one of the most serious
threats to our children's health and well-being: the global childhood obesity
pandemic.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/changing-the-gl.php
Obese Children Show Early
Signs of Heart Disease
Children who are obese or
who are at risk for obesity show early signs of heart disease similar to obese
adults with heart disease, a study by researchers at Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis has found. Based on this study, these
subtle markers can help physicians predict who could be at risk for heart
disease and heart attacks. Those who are overweight during childhood also
have an increased risk of obesity in adulthood and are at greater risk for
complications such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, because
obesity increases total blood volume, which leads to extra stress on the heart.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/obese-children.php
**Civic Engagement
Hourly Wage-Earners Less
Likely to Volunteer, Says Study
If time is money, then people
directly paid for their time are less willing to give it up for free, a new
study shows. Workers paid by the hour are less likely to do volunteer work
outside of their jobs, says a paper by researchers from the University of Toronto's Rotman
School of Management and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. That's
because the way they are paid conditions them to think about time in money
terms. The researchers found that hourly-waged workers in the U.S. spent an average of 36 percent less
time volunteering than workers on salary.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/hourly-wageearn.php
Foundation Center Names 50 New Funding Information Centers
in 2007
The Foundation Center has been rapidly expanding its national
network of Cooperating Collections (www.foundationcenter.org/collections)
to bring funding information resources to more people in more communities
across the country. The designation of 50 new U.S. funding information centers in 2007,
as well as one in Mexico City, brings the grand total to 345 to
date.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/foundation-cent.php
**Community Development
HUD Announces $8.1 Million
in New Funding to Protect Children in Houston and Harris County from Dangerous Lead in the Home
At least 550 homes in Houston and Harris County will become healthier places to raise
children due to $8.1 million in funding announced by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development. The funding is part of nearly $150 million
awarded nationwide and a total of $12 million throughout Texas to identify and clean up potentially
dangerous lead-based paint hazards in older privately owned low-income housing.
HUD's grants are provided through the Department's Lead-Based Paint Hazard
Control and Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration grant programs.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/hud-announces-8.php
**Economic Security
The Effects of Welfare
and IDA Program Rules on the Asset Holdings of Low-Income Families
This report from the Urban
Institute examines the effects of a comprehensive set of 13 welfare, Food
Stamp, individual development account (IDA), earned income tax credit (EITC),
and minimum wage program rules on the asset holdings of low-education single
mothers and families. The majority of current social policies focus primarily
on income supports and social services. However, building assets can also
help individuals, families, and communities expand their economic horizons.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/the-effects-of.php
War Spending Placed Above
Domestic Priorities
President Bush recently
vetoed a $35 billion expansion of SCHIP. Meanwhile, he has proposed a $70
billion increase in defense spending. See how defense spending continues to
exceed domestic spending as a percent of GDP in this EPI’s Economic Snapshot. The analysis shows that the entire
increase in discretionary spending as a share of GDP since 2002 will be due
to a growth in defense spending rather than domestic initiatives.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/war-spending-pl.php
**Education
Significant Gains in
Educational Achievement by Blacks Go Underappreciated
Politicians and policy makers
often decry the state of American schools and label them as "failing,"
in part because of their apparent failure to adequately educate students of
color. According to the Economic Policy Institute,
such analyses, however, fail to acknowledge the significant gains in achievement
by blacks since 1990, as shown in the recently released results of the National
Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation's Report Card.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/significant-gai.php
Reducing Class Size May
Be More Cost-Effective than Most Medical Interventions
Reducing the number of students
per classroom in US primary schools may be more cost-effective than most public
health and medical interventions, according to a study by researchers at Columbia
University Mailman School of Public Health and the Virginia Commonwealth University. The study indicates that class-size
reductions would generate more quality-adjusted life-year gains per dollar
invested than the majority of medical interventions.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/study-shows-red.php
Poor Italian Schoolboys
Have Lessons for Today's Teachers
A veteran teacher, administrator
and education researcher is reviving interest in one of the classic stories
of 20th-century education -- the experiences of disadvantaged schoolboys inspired
to overcome discouragement and adversity by their teacher, who also was a
priest in their remote Italian village. "You Won't Remember Me: The
Schoolboys of Barbiana Speak to Today," published
by Teacher's College Press at Columbia University, is an account of the school where
students learned to overcome social-class limitations. "It resonates
today as educators help socially disadvantaged students realize their potentials,"
said Marvin Hoffman, founding director of the University of Chicago's North Kenwood Oakland Charter School.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/poor-italian-sc.php
Schools Not Sustaining
Mental Health Aid to Children Displaced by Hurricane Katrina
Despite strong initial efforts
to support the mental health needs of students displaced by Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita, many schools have not been able to fulfill students' mental health
needs over the long term, according to a RAND Corporation study. Researchers
found that schools in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas were quick to implement a comprehensive
approach to assisting students immediately after the storms, enrolling displaced
students, getting them books and uniforms, and providing
other services, such as one-on-one counseling. However, within six months
of the storms, some schools determined there was
no need for those additional services and returned to an emphasis on academics.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/schools-not-sus-3.php
Department of Education
Celebrates Launch of Charter School Resources at Pan-American Elementary
Charter School
U.S. Department of Education
Assistant Deputy Secretary Morgan Brown today visited Pan-American Elementary
School (PAES) in Phoenix, Ariz., to celebrate the release of the Department's
new Innovation in Education guide, K-8 Charter Schools: Closing the Achievement
Gap. This new resource profiles seven charter schools from across the U.S., including PAES, making strides under
No Child Left Behind to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged students
and their peers.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/us-department-o-1.php
Reducing School Violence
Topic of Tuesday TV Show
Amid the backdrop of tragic
school shootings this year, the U.S. Department of Education's monthly TV
show, Education News Parents Can Use, will devote its coverage to the topic
of "Reducing School Violence: Keeping Children Safe and Ready to Learn."
What are the common characteristics of school-based violence prevention and
anti-bullying programs that work? What does the research tell us about the
link between school environment, safety, and learning? How does No Child
Left Behind help protect students -- and those who teach them -- from violence?
The Education News Parents Can Use TV series airs monthly during the school
year.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/reducing-school.php
**Health
Despite Bipartisan Congressional
Support, SCHIP Override Vote Fails
An attempt by the U.S. House
of Representatives to override President Bush's veto of a bill reauthorizing
the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) failed today by a vote
of 273 to 156. Two Democrats voted to sustain the veto and 44 Republicans
voted to overturn it. The bill, which the Senate previously had approved by
a veto-proof margin, contained significant dental provisions. The American
Dental Education Association (ADEA) is grateful to members of Congress for
their bipartisan support of the SCHIP bill. Clearly, a majority in Congress
understands the need to stabilize access to dental care for children by establishing
a federal dental benefit in the SCHIP program.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/despite-biparti.php
Senate Republican Leadership
to Seek Reconsideration Of SCHIP Plan That Would
Fail To Make Progress In Covering Uninsured Children
According to the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities Senator the Senate Minority Leader plans
to ask for reconsideration of the SCHIP legislation that he and the Senate
Minority Whip offered as an alternative during Senate floor debate on SCHIP
on August 1. In contrast to the bipartisan SCHIP bill the Senate and House
approved last month but the President vetoed, which the Congressional Budget
Office estimates would cover 3.8 million children who otherwise would be uninsured,
the plan that the Senator Leader intends to offer again would not make any
progress in reducing the number of uninsured low-income children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/senate-republic.php
A Roadmap to Health Insurance
for All: Principles for Reform
Presidential candidates,
governors, and members of Congress are advancing proposals to expand health
insurance coverage to all Americans---the most important step in improving
access to quality health care. A report, prepared for The Commonwealth Fund
Commission on a High Performance Health System, explores the different options
and how each may not only increase coverage for the uninsured, but also improve
quality and efficiency and gain control over spiraling health care costs.
Proposals are grouped into three approaches: tax incentives and the individual
insurance market; mixed private/public group insurance with shared responsibility
for financing; and public insurance.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/a-roadmap-to-he.php
Commission of Nation's
Leading Health Policy Experts Says Mix of Private/Public Insurance Most Practical
Way to Achieve Universal Coverage
Health insurance reform
plans that build on a mix of private and public health insurance, where costs
are shared among government, employers, and enrollees would have great potential
to move the system to high performance and would be the most practical to
implement according to a new report released by The Commonwealth Fund Commission
on a High Performance Health System. Affordable, comprehensive health insurance
coverage for all Americans is essential to achieving a high performance health
system, say the report authors.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/commonwealth-fu.php
Study Examines Effects
of Caregiving
Two new USC studies overturn
myths about caregiving. The first shows caregiving
is not necessarily harmful to one's mental and physical health. The second
shows that lower education levels, rather than cultural factors, are behind
caregivers who compromise their health by putting the needs of family over
themselves. The findings, which appeared in the September 2007 journal Aging
& Mental Health, analyzed mental health and physical health differences
between African-American and white caregivers.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/usc-study-exami.php
Effectiveness of Most
PTSD Therapies is Uncertain
Many people, including significant
proportions of active duty military personnel and veterans, suffer from post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), often in conjunction with other injuries or illnesses.
While several drugs and psychotherapies are used to treat PTSD, many of the
studies concerning their effectiveness have problems; as a result, they do
not provide a clear picture of what works and what doesn't, says a new report
from the Institute of Medicine.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/effectiveness-o.php
**Substance Abuse
Random Drug Testing Not
Reliable in Keeping Teen Athletes from Using
Random drug and alcohol
testing does not reliably keep student-athletes from using. In fact, the mere
presence of drug testing increases some risk factors for future substance
use, Oregon Health & Science University researchers report. Their findings
are published in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, the
journal of the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Random drug and alcohol testing
does not reliably keep student-athletes from using.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/2007/10/random-drug-tes.php
