DROPOUTS HIGHER THAN BELIEVED?
(November 13, 2001) The Manhattan Institute and the Black Alliance for Educational Options released a study concluding high school graduate rates are lower than the 86% presented by the National Center for Education Statistics for 1998. Pointing out that the National Center statistics include GED and other alternative as the same as high-school diplomas, they found that by looking just at high school gradates, the national graduation rate from high school is only 74%. [more...]

ON LINE SPECIAL HOME SCHOOL EDUCATION
(November 26, 2001) Chris Sewell founded the “Special Education Homeschooling Resources Vault” so parents who are homeschooling and/or tutoring special needs children can access educational tips submitted by parents and teachers to help ADD/ADHD, deaf, hard-of-hearing, autistic, reading impaired, dyslexic and learning impaired children receiving. This members-only web site is updated weekly.

STUDIES ON SMALLER SCHOOLS
(December 2001) A study available through the Heartland Institute, found that although many studies indicated, “smaller schools can provide higher student achievement in a safer and more disciplined environment—and they can do so cost-effectively.... a majority of parents and teachers did not regard reducing school size as a pressing education reform, even though more than 80 percent agreed smaller schools are better at spotting troubled students.”

FUNDING FROM TUITION TAX CREDITS
(December 12, 2001) The National Center for Policy Analysis, describes how in Arizona, schools are receiving funding by “taxpayers who make a voluntary donation to a school tuition organization (STO) of their choice receive a matching (dollar-for- dollar) tax credit up to a maximum of $500. Thus when taxpayers make a $500 contribution, they reduce their state tax payments by $500.” STOs are required by law to give at least 90% of their revenue to scholarships or grants for students to attend private schools. This tax credit mechanism is being closely looked at by several other states.

STATE WILL RUN PHILADELPHIA'S SCHOOLS
(December 22, 2001) Jacques Steinberg reported for The New York Times, that the governor of Pennsylvania has assumed responsibility for the city’s long-troubled public school system. In a state takeover believed to be “the largest such action of its kind,” Philadelphia will eventually put a five-person, state-controlled panel in charge of its district of 220,000 students, one of the 10 largest urban systems in the nation. This arrangement is expected to lead to the hiring of Edison Schools, a private company, as a systemwide consultant and manager of several dozen schools. State Governor, Mark S. Schweiker, said such extreme action was necessary because more than half of the city’s students failed to achieve a basic level of comprehension on state reading and math tests.

TEEN HELP IN THE NEWS
(December 26, 2001) Lou Kilzer, a staff reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, writes of a girl and other children being pulled from a boot camp program in Mexico called High Impact, and alleges the program had deplorable conditions and is closely associated with Teen Help and the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs (WWASP). In a statement released on the Strugglingteens.com discussion Board, Ken Kay, President of WWASP asserts High Impact is not owned or marketed by Teen Help, and the “article was riddled with blatant inaccuracies and falsehoods.” Lou Kilzer has written several articles in the past critical of WWASP and Teen Help.

WEB SITE CATCHES PLAGIARISM
(December 31,2001) University of Minnesota, University of California, Duke, and Cornell professors have signed up for students to turn their papers in to Turnitin, which compares the papers by students with material in their database and on the web to catch inadvertent unattributed quotations and plagiarism. Some professors see it as a teaching tool to help teach students to understand proper use of intellectual property.

STUDY: PLACEBO ALTERS BRAIN FUNCTION
(January 3, 2002) Health – Medlinda T. Willis, for ABCNEWS.com reports about a new study that shows that placebos cause changes in brain function. The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, is the “first of its kind to suggest that patients with major depression who receive placebos experience changes in brain function similar to changes caused by medication.”

SOLITUDE IN WILDERNESS GETS OLYMPIC HOPEFUL BACK ON TRACK
(January 6, 2002) Paul Newberry wrote for Associated Press that U.S. Olympic short track speedskater, Apolo Anton Ohno, had been a struggling teen. After “flopping” at the Olympic trials at age 15, overweight and undisciplined from partying and “hanging out with the wrong crowd, he locked himself in a secluded cabin to do some soul searching. After spending a week of solitude “just thinking about the whole year and what I could have done, he had “his skating epiphany”, deciding then and there that he wanted to remain a short- track speedskater. “That week was definitely the hardest week ever. It was just so emotional for me.” Three years later, he finished first overall and No. 1 in all three individual events on the World Cup circuit. Now at age 19, he thoroughly dominated the U.S. Olympic trails last month, winning eight of nine races.

NEW STRATEGIES FOR FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION
(January 6, 2002) Aaron Donovan reported for The New York Times that a Manhattan company, Iempower, has developed an alternative method of paying for college. Through its Web site, MyRichUncle.com, empower matches students with a network of well-heeled investors who provide money to pay for undergraduate or graduate degrees. Students agree to pay a fixed percentage of income for a set period after graduation. Repayments rates vary and are capped so that no one pays more than 15% of future earnings, though the actual repayment is not known until graduates are well into their careers.

COURTS FROWN ON ONLINE BAD-MOUTHING
(January 7, 2002) USA Today reports that employers are winning key legal victories against former workers who criticize them online. While civil libertarians claim this will chill free speech, employers are saying this simply “to stop people from spreading vicious lies.” This information was brought to our attention by those who felt it relates to some of the controversies on the StrugglingTeens discussion board.

NEW THEORIES PUSH END OF ADOLESENCE INTO THE 30s
(January 8, 2002) The Washington Post reported that the Society for Adolescent Medicine, a physicians’ organization, now says on its Web site that it cares for persons 10 to 26 years of age. A National Academy of Sciences committee, surveying programs for adolescents, discussed extending its review to age 30. The MacArthur Foundation has funded a $3.4 million project called Transitions to Adulthood, which pegs the end of that transition at 34.

EDUCATION BILL EMPHASIZES PHONICS?
(January 9, 2002) Diana Jean Schemo reported for the New York Times that the education bill signed into law by President Bush on Jan 8 includes an ambitious federal commitment to teaching reading, which is expected to emphasize phonics over other methods of early reading instruction. The administration is requiring schools to adopt “scientifically based” ways to teach reading, a phrase education officials interpret as referring to systematic phonics. Congressional National Reading Panel findings have highlighted the success of phonics in giving children the building blocks for reading. Critics complain only reading studies based on laboratory models were studied, thereby ignoring the vast majority of more qualitative studies on whole language approaches to reading.

PARENTS: PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE NECESSARY
(January 10, 2002) The New York Times reporter Yilu Zhao, investigated how numerous parents struggling with reduced income are still paying for private schools for their children, many of which charge more than $20,000 a year in tuition for a single child. One school has received 190 applications — a quarter more than last year — for 15 openings in its kindergarten. Though the terrorist attacks left some parents less able to afford them, it also created an uncertain atmosphere that made the security and intimacy of private schools more attractive to parents.

MATH GENDER GAP DOESN’T EXIST?
(January 11, 2002) University of North Carolina researchers say the answer to the long standing question of why boys do better in math than girls is, they don’t! Claiming previous studies that had found a consistent gap in math performance based their studies on the top students, researchers found when examining a full range of the student population, “girls had higher average math scores than boys until about age 11 and higher reasoning scores at ages 11 to 13.” By the end of high school, boys had only a 1.5 percent advantage over girls.

ACNE DRUG LINKED WITH DEPRESSION
(January 11, 2002) The Washington Post reported: “Accutane, the acne medicine that was prescribed to a Florida teenager who crashed a plane into a skyscraper on Saturday, has long been controversial, with critics and proponents debating whether the drug can cause depression and suicidal behavior.” Steven Galson, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said one small study showed “evidence that could be a causal link”. A prospective trial is being “designed with the company to study the matter.”

NEWSPAPER ADS: “TALK WITH YOUR KIDS”
(January 13, 2002) The American Psychological Association, the National Mental Health Association and the Ad Council sponsored a full page newspaper ad in Sunday papers today, exhorting: “Talk with your kids”. Included in the ad copy was the web site, “to learn more about how you can help children of all ages cope with their emotions.”

NONPROFITS TO HELP BUILD SCHOOLS
(January 14, 2002) The Denver Post, reports a novel approach in Colorado to meet public school construction needs. Nonprofits are being organized where developers pledge a certain amount to for each building constructed in the town. The money collected goes to the Nonprofit organized for that purpose, which can then provide the money to the school for school construction.

DRUG EDUCATION FOR PRINCE HENRY?
(January 15, 2002) ArcaMax’s electronic magazine for parents reported Prince Charles’s response to son Harry’s use of pot and alcohol was to have him visit a drug clinic and meet recovering addicts. The report quotes Gilbert J. Botvin, Ph.D., drug abuse prevention expert and Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Director of Cornell’s Institute for Prevention Research: “exposure to addicts is not a deterrent to drug and alcohol abuse among teenagers…the only really effective way... is to teach them the solid social skills, drug refusal skills, and self-management skills that equip them to make good decisions on their own,” A recent study by Dr. Botvin at Cornell University shows these prevention tools cut binge drinking in half among adolescents. Dr. Botvin is the founder of Life Skills Training, “widely regarded as the most effective and rigorously tested school-based prevention program.”

SCHOOL FUNDRAISER: WEBSITE SPONSORSHIPS
(January 16, 2002) New York-based PackJam.com, a web site allows students, parents, teachers, club members and coaches to sell local sponsorships on a site developed exclusively for their school. Schools keep a minimum of 50 percent of the ad revenue, with individuals selling ads earning an additional 6 percent commission. Free home pages are offered to individuals within the school and homework, news, events, opinions, school closings and lunch menus can be posted. Schools can also take polls or participate in the school’s own chat rooms. PackJam.com provides the free service to schools and youth organizations nationwide with over 110,000 schools in its growing database.