News & Views
NEWS & VIEWS - NOVEMBER 2005
Oct 26, 2005, 14:59
GIRL DIES IN TENNESSEE TREATMENT FACILITY (September 21, 2005) The Leaf Chronicle in Clarksville, TN, reported that a 14-year-old New York girl collapsed and died at the Chad Youth Enhancement Center. The incident occurred after a facility employee tried to guide her into a "time out" area following an emotional outburst. Chad is a privately owned residential facility specializing in rehabilitating mentally disturbed youth between the ages of 8 and 18. Preliminary autopsy results indicated trauma from force was not a contributing factor in the death. More…
AUTHOR JAY GREENE & ED MYTHS (September 22, 2005) US News reported Jay Greene, author of the book Education Myths: What Special-Interest Groups Want You to Believe About Our Schools-and Why It Isn't So, says before public education can be fixed, we have to be absolutely clear on exactly what is wrong. Greene, Head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, examines 18 widely held beliefs about the public school system and explains why he thinks misguided ideas are getting in the way of change. More…
STUDENTS BULLY CANADIAN TEACHERS (September 26, 2005) A Canadian publication, Canoe - CNEWS, reported a study conducted by 3 of the province's teachers unions showed that 4 out of every 10 Ontario teachers experience bullying in the classroom. The study randomly surveyed more than 1,200 teachers during a two-week period. More…
AUSTRALIA LOOKS AT VOUCHER (September 27, 2005) The Weekend Australian reported that Professor Allan Fels predicts Australian schools are on the verge of a revolution that will deliver greater choice to parents. Fels said it was time to debate a voucher system that would allow parents to spend a taxpayer-grant at either public or private schools. More…
CAN KIDS' BRAINS BE TRAINED? (September 27, 2005) An Associated Press article in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette reported scientists found that using special computer games to train children's brains improved their ability to pay attention. With increased interest in developing therapies for attention problems, the research sheds light on how a normal youngster's brain pays attention. However, other specialists cautioned that it's not clear just how much the games helped. More…
ACCOUNTABILITY FOR STUDENTS (September 29, 2005) Education News.org posted a letter about student accountability toward learning by Dorothy Rich, founder of the MegaSkills Education Center. She feels children need more ways to show what they can do and have learned to do, thus building the dignity and respect they need for themselves as learners. Adults all too often do what their children need to do, and that is a problem. Elementary students need to attend parent-teacher conferences whenever possible so they can listen and respond to what the adults are saying, thus learning what they need to do to improve their education. More…
AUTISM LEGISLATION PROJECT (September 30, 2005) EducationNews.org posted a letter from Krista C. Dunning, a volunteer at the Autism Legislation Project (ALP), and a third year law student at the University of Alabama School of Law, who is attempting to complete a comprehensive guide to the state of autism legislation in Texas. The letter said one of the goals of ALP is to organize a comprehensive guide to autism legislation in each of the 50 states. Anyone willing to help Krista accomplish this goal should email her. More…
MOST COLLEGES NOW WIRELESS (October 2005) Intel reported this year's survey of college campuses with 1,000 or more students found on average, 98 percent of the top 50 campuses are covered by a wireless network, up from 64 percent in 2004. The survey also said that 74 percent have 100 percent wireless network coverage on campus compared to just 14 percent last year. More…
ANCHORAGE STUDENTS INVOLVED IN HAZING (October 2, 2005) An Alaska television station, KTUU.com, reported that Anchorage Police are now looking into a hazing incident involving West High School students. Anchorage School Superintendent Carol Comeau suspended nine students who allegedly used a paddle in the hazing incident. "Unfortunately, when students transition from the eighth to ninth grade, sometimes upperclassmen think they can initiate the ninth graders into the school and it's totally wrong. It's not acceptable and it's dangerous, and we just don't want to condone that in any way," said Comeau.
COUPLE CHARGED WITH 33 CRIMINAL COUNTS (October 2, 2005) The Wichita Eagle in Kansas reported Federal officials raided the home of Arlan and Linda Kaufman, operators of two residential facilities in Newton, KS, looking for evidence of Medicare fraud. Included in the more than 400 items seized were videotapes that federal prosecutors found so alarming they filed 33 criminal charges against the couple. These charges included enslaving and sexually abusing the mentally ill residents who lived with them for more than a decade. More…
TENNESSEE: JACKSON ACADEMY CLOSES (October 7, 2005) The Dickson Herald reported Jackson Academy, a mental health residential treatment facility for boys ages 8-18, voluntarily closed for business reasons on September 30, 2005. Prior to the closure, the department of child services had been investigating allegations of physical abuse and at-risk behavior involving caretakers against the youths. Those cases are now closed. More…
RUTHERFORD HOUSE ACCEPTS DISPLACED CHILDREN (October 8, 2005) The Shreveport Times reported Rutherford House in Shreveport, LA, a residential treatment center for court-adjudicated youth took in 55 teens including 11 from Harbour House who were displaced by Hurricane Rita, nearly doubling their size. More…
METH TREATMENT DIFFICULT (October 10, 2005) The North Platte Bulletin in Nebraska, reported that treating methamphetamine addiction is one of the most difficult challenges in substance abuse recovery. Statistics indicate that only one out of a hundred meth addicts who seek treatment remain clean after the first attempt. More…
PLANS FOR AUTISM CENTER UNDERWAY (October 12, 2005) The Delaware Wave reported Expanding Horizons, a nonprofit group that focuses on educating autistic students ages 2-21, is helping the Cape Henlopen School District construct a $400,000 residential training center for autistic students. More…
CHILDREN PLAY LETHAL GAMES (October 14, 2005) An Associated Press article in the Boston Globe reported that a 13-year-old boy died from what some call "the choking game," which appears to have become popular among some middle and high school students. According to the story, the boy used a cloth rope to choke himself to experience the sensations that occur when losing consciousness. More…
LEAPNOW OFFERS NEW PROGRAMS (October 14, 2005) Sam Bull, Executive Director, Lifelong Education Alternatives & Programs, (LEAPNow), announced two new programs: LEAPYear and Latitudes. LEAPYear, held in Thailand and Bali, is designed to serve some of the "quirky students" who may be out of step with "normal" education deadlines. Latitudes is for students who want to earn travel credits without doing the guided inner journey that is an integral part of the LEAPYear program. Students participating in these programs are in their first year of college at the New College of California in the BA Humanities program.
RESURGENCE IN CHARACTER EDUCATION (October 15, 2005) Blackenterprise.com reported a recent study of scientific literature in support of character education indicates that much of it is working as it should. Partly due to federal funding, character education has experienced a major resurgence in popularity over the past decade in the United States. More…
VIOLENCE AMONG GIRLS ON RISE (October 16, 2005) The Boston Herald reported parents and school officials are becoming concerned over the rise in violent behavior among girls. A recent University of Florida study found that more girls than boys in urban schools are involved in at least five hitting or shoving matches by the seventh grade. The study suggests there is a growing gender gap in regards to teen meanness. More…
PARENTS FLEEING TO CHARTER SCHOOLS (October 16, 2005) The LA Daily News Opinion reported that over the past two years California Charter school enrollment has exploded, indicating that parents are desperate for alternatives to the public school system. If the enrollments continue at this rate, it is predicted that by 2012, approximately 20 percent or more of all California public school students will enroll in charter schools. More…
EFFECTIVE EDUCATION (October 16, 2005) The Providence Journal posted an editorial by Julia Steiny who said that belonging to the social network of the local community plays an extremely large role in the effective education of children. She added that schools themselves are natural communities that could be organizing and teaching all the adults in those communities' how to grow and develop children. More…
DOCUMENTS RELEASED ON MORNING STAR (October 17, 2005) SanDiego.com reported that newly released documents reveal multiple allegations of sexual abuse at Morning Star Boys Ranch, Spokane, WA, dating back more than 25-years. To date there are five allegations filed against the program that indicate "inappropriate interactions between the boys and adults associated with the program over the past decade. More…
IRELAND: TEEN PLACEMENT DIFFICULT (October 17, 2005) The Ireland online reported that a troubled 14-year-old boy who set fire to a room with children in it, is awaiting an assessment to see if he is appropriate for placement at a therapeutic care center in Sweden. Since Ireland does not have a facility suitable for his needs, the teen is currently in custody at a juvenile detention center. More…
BRAIN SCAN PATTERNS (October 18, 2005) The New York Times reported after almost 30 years, researchers have not developed any standardized tool for diagnosing or treating psychiatric disorders based on imaging studies. Imaging technology has not lived up to the hopes invested in it in the 1990's - labeled the "Decade of the Brain" by the American Psychiatric Association. More…
PARENTING PROGRAM LAUNCHED (October 19, 2005) PR Newswire reported Talaris Research Institute, a nonprofit company based in Seattle, WA, and KCTS/Seattle Public Television are launching their second year of "Parenting Counts: A Focus on Early Learning." More…
TEST GAINS EVAPORATE (October 19, 2005) The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation reported that from 2003-2005 almost twenty states indicated gains in the percentage of eighth-graders rated "proficient" (or the equivalent) in reading on their individual state tests. Among those states, only three showed any progress at even the "basic" level on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and none made any progress in eighth grade reading at NAEP's "proficient" level. More…
COLLEGE MAJORITY: FEMALE (October 20, 2005) USA Today reported that for the first time women earned more than half the degrees granted statewide in every category last year. Nationally, the male/female ratio on campus today is 43/57. More…
SIZE VS. ACHIEVEMENT (October 21, 2005) EducationNews.org reported Herbert J. Kiesling found a direct but negative relationship between school size and student achievement during his study of high schools enrolling from 100 to 4,000. He found that as the schools got bigger, student achievement declined. Larger schools have higher rates of absenteeism, dropouts, discipline problems, disorder and violence. More…
MASS. DROPOUT RATE INCREASES (October 22, 2005) The Boston Herald reported the Massachusetts high school dropout rate in 2004 reached its highest in 14 years at 3.7 percent. A state report said 10,633 students statewide left school prior to graduation last year. In Boston, the state's largest school system, 31 percent of the current junior class is expected to drop out prior to graduation in 2007, according to the report. More…
PUNISHMENT NOT WORKING (October 23, 2005) The Providence Journal posted an article by Julia Steiny that reported the United States prison population is the largest in the world. But curiously, research shows that punishment rarely works to curb chronic, maladaptive behavior. In fact, punishment tends to make the behavior worse. She believes that the burgeoning prison population is a living testament that the threat of negative consequences isn't reducing the incidence of criminal behavior. More…
UTAH REGULATIONS (October 24, 2005) An editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune reported that even though the Utah Legislature passed a new law to license and inspect therapeutic schools, some people are calling on Congress to help regulate the industry. The editorial also pointed out that the Utah regulations should be allowed to take affect without interference from Congress as many do not agree with the federal government overseeing the regulation. More…
SECURITY SOFTWARE (October 25, 2005) David Zweifler, AVP, G.S. Schwartz & Co. Inc., New York, NY, 212-725-4500, ext. 312, announced that a new multi-front home network security solution from Sereniti, Inc., www.sereniti.com, is now available to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content through their computers or peripheral equipment like X-Box, MP 3 and iPods.