Return-Path: <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f8AI3Sf15709; Mon, 10 Sep 2001 14:03:28 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 14:03:28 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <MAEBLPCCEIIMGAKFAAAHGEPPDMAA.nsledd@famlit.org> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Nancy Sledd" <nsledd@famlit.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-family@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-FAMILY:237] Excerpts from Connect for Kids Weekly -- September 10, 2001 X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2911.0) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 8122 Lines: 166 ********************************************** Connect for Kids Weekly--September 10, 2001 Read the Weekly online at http://www.connectforkids.org/weekly ********************************************** **Juggling Work and Family -- Interactive! Whether you're a Mom, Dad or caretaker, chances are you're struggling to balance the demands (and joys) of work and family. On Sunday, September 16th, PBS airs a program for all of us -- and pairs it with an interactive site where you can find out just how many other Americans share your predicament and what they are doing about it. http://www.connectforkids.org _________________________________ PARENTS AND SCHOOLS: BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS **What, Me Inside a School? When's the last time you spent some time inside your local school? Perhaps you wonder if teachers really welcome your help, or why your help is valuable. The California Teachers Association has some ideas and tips for parents who want to get involved. http://www.cta.org/family_tips/get_involved.html **Finding and Keeping Good Teachers: What Parents Can Do >From learning about your state's teacher qualifications requirements to starting a future teachers club, there's a lot you can do to help ensure that schools employ well-qualified teachers. The George Lucas Foundation's new Web site on improving teacher preparation includes a section on what parents can do. http://www.glef.org/tphome.html **Federal Education Bill Still Pending Congressional sources report that while their bosses were away during the August recess, staffs for members of the education Conference Committee worked to settle the less controversial elements of the legislation reauthorizing Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This fall the Committee will take up the most contested issues -- funding levels, how states measure school performance, whether to use a national standard to assess schools fairly and how to define "failing schools." **Talk Back About Parental Involvement Connect for Kids is preparing our Parental Involvement feature, which will be posted on the Connect for Kids Web site in November. If you have suggestions for resources we should include, or articles we should write, let us know. E-mail jan@benton.org. _________________________________ **Toyota Family Literacy Teacher of the Year Do you know an outstanding family literacy teacher? Nominations for the Toyota Family Literacy Teacher of the year are due October 1. http://www.famlit.org/nfld/nfld.html _______________________________ WELFARE RE-AUTHORIZATION: SETTING THE AGENDA A potentially polarizing debate between the right and the left over welfare reauthorization is beginning to take shape, and it portends serious consequences for the millions of children dependent on welfare benefits. Conservatives, finding reduced welfare caseloads as evidence of welfare-to-work success, are turning their attention to family and marriage policies, like abstinence-only sex education programs. Liberals, arguing that welfare reform has not yet proven its success, say reducing child poverty and improving family well-being should drive reauthorization decisions. **Government Announces Further Declines in Welfare Caseloads Reporting further welfare caseload declines between September 2000 and March 2001, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Thompson has announced he will participate in a series of national "listening and discussion sessions" about states' experiences implementing welfare reforms and running assistance programs to prepare for next year's reauthorization of federal welfare reform legislation. http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/news/tables.htm **From Caseload Reduction to Poverty Reduction The National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support outlines an agenda for transforming welfare from a punitive system into one that would give low-income people access to the income, training and supports they need to lift and keep themselves out of poverty. http://www.nationalcampaign.org/Download/tanfvision.doc _________________________________ IT'S A SMALL WORLD **UNICEF: State of the World's Children 2002 UNICEF reports that despite progress -- worldwide reductions in mortality rates among young children, the near eradication of polio, and significant reductions in certain learning disabilities -- broken promises have hurt the children of the 1990s. Over 10 million children die each year from preventable causes, 149 million children in developing countries suffer from malnutrition, some 100 million children are not in primary school, and millions of children are subjected to labor, sexual trafficking and induction into the armed forces. http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01ma17.htm _____________________________ KIDS AND COMPUTERS **Computer/Internet Access Common Among School-age Children Nine out of ten school-age children (6-to-17 years old) had access to a computer at home or in school in 2000, according to the Census Bureau. While children's home computer and Internet access varied by household income, computer use at school was more nearly equal across income, race or ethnic groups. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/computer.html **Arm the Child Rather Than the Computer Few parents fail to warn their children about the dangers of giving personal information to strangers, but many do not caution their children about giving out such information online. To protect children from harm, schools and parents concerned about violent or sexually inappropriate online content must "arm the child rather than the computer." These are some of the ideas embraced in "Nontechnical Strategies to Reduce Children's Exposure to Inappropriate Material on the Internet," a workshop summarized in this National Academy Press publication. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10168.html _________________________________ **Bullets Don't Got No Name: Consequences of Fear in the Ghetto This Joint Center for Policy Research report finds that mothers in violent neighborhoods organize their entire lives around protecting their children, impeding their opportunities for improving their own education or finding work. http://www.jcpr.org/policybriefs/vol3_num10.html **Going to School Without a Home Over the course of a year, 1.35 million children in the United States will experience homelessness. The National Coalition for the Homeless argues that there is no reason for these children to have their lives disrupted by having to go to a different school, leaving their friends, teachers and education behind. http://www.nationalhomeless.org/truth.html **Poor Housing Linked to Poor Children's Health A 1998 survey of Boston families revealed substantial health risks to children and resultant health problems due to their families' poor housing conditions, according to the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning. Families awaiting moves to voucher-assisted homes reported peeling paint, water leaks, rat infestation, lack of heat and running water, holes in the walls and floors and other housing hazards more frequently than families occupying voucher units. http://www.aeclp.org/main_page_2.html#Research Explores Link Between Access to Affordable Housing and Poor Child Health **Out of Reach 2001 The 2001 edition of National Low-Income Housing Coalition's annual rental housing affordability study will be released on Wednesday, September 12. The report documents the gap between income and rental housing costs for the millions of poor in the United States. The Housing Wage, which is the hourly wage renters must earn to afford the Fair Market Rent, is calculated for every local jurisdiction, as well as each state, metro, and non-metro area in the county. http://www.nlihc.org/index.htm **************************************** ABOUT CONNECT FOR KIDS The Connect for Kids Weekly is an electronic newsletter of Connect for Kids (http://www.connectforkids.org/), a resource for adults who want to build better communities for kids and families. The Benton Foundation, our publisher, works to realize the social benefits made possible by the public interest use of communications.
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