Studies in the News is a very current compilation of items significant to the Legislature and Governor's Office. It is created weekly by the State Library's Research Bureau to supplement the public policy debate in California’s Capitol. To help share the latest information with state policymakers, these reading lists are now being made accessible through the State Library’s website. This week's list of current articles in various public policy areas is presented below.

Service to State Employees:

• When available, the URL for the full text of each item is provided.

• Items in the State Library collection can be checked out to state officials and staff.

• Access to all materials listed will be provided by the State Information Reference Center, either by e-mail to cslsirc@library.ca.gov or by calling 654-0261.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE & LAW ENFORCEMENT

RESEARCH

"Bullying Among 9th Graders: An Exploratory Study." By Sandy Harris, Garth Petrie, and William Willoughby. IN: Bulletin [of the National Association of Secondary School Principals], Vol. 86, No. 630 (March 2002) [Online].

Full Text at: www.nassp.org/news/bltn_9thbully0302.html

["This exploratory study conducted at two Nevada high schools examines bullying in the ninth grade. Nearly 75% of students reported they have observed bullying at their school but said they were most likely to tell a parent or friend instead of a teacher or administrator. The study recommends that principals lead the effort to reduce bullying and provides a series of recommended strategies." ECS e-Connection April 24, 2002) 1.]

[Request #S5085]

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EDUCATION

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Improving the Odds: The Untapped Power of Schools to Improve the Health of Teens. By R.W. Blum and others, Center for Adolescent Health and Development, University of Minnesota. (The Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota) 2002. 20 p.

Full Text at: www.allaboutkids.umn.edu/presskit/monograph.pdf

[“[This report finds that] students who attend small schools are less likely than others to engage in risky behavior such as drug use, violence or early sexual activity, largely because they feel better connected to their teachers and one another.” San Francisco Chronicle (April 12, 2002) A6.]

[Request #S5087]

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State Performance Indicators. By the Education Commission of the States. State Notes: Accountability. (The Commission, Denver, Colorado) 2002. 6 p.

Full Text at: www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/32/12/3212.doc

["The four main categories of indicators used for the charts relate to: students, including assessment scores, demographics (ethnicity, socioeconoimic status), dropout rate and truancy; professional staff, including staff attendance, experience, and salary levels; program information such as curriculum, climate and parent involvement; and expenditures and the use of resources."]

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Accountability for All: What Voters Want From Education Candidates. Public Education Network/Education Week (The Network, Washington, DC) National Survey of Public Opinion. 2002. 28 p.

Full Text at: www.publiceducation.org/download/2002PollReport.pdf

["This national public opinion poll indicates that improving public schools remains a top priority for most Americans, the public is deeply concerned about funding for education, and will vote against elected officials who cut support for public schools ... putting pressure on nearly 40 states now struggling with significant budget shortfalls that threaten to reduce state funding for schools by $10 billion nationwide." HandsNet (May 3, 2002).]

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Early Learning and Care and Public Opinion: A Report on a Survey in Washington State. By the Economic Opportunity Institute (The Institute, Seattle, Washington) March 2002. 4 p.

Full Text at: www.eoionline.org/ELC-PublicOpinion2002.pdf

["There is overwhelming public support for public policies to improve the quality and availability of early learning and care for children, according to this Washington state survey. Three out of four voters favor providing funds to make voluntary, all-day kindergarten available to all 5-year-olds and voluntary, high quality preschool available to all 3 and 4-year-olds." Connect for Kids (April 22, 2002).]

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Senate Testimony. By Edward Zigler, Yale University. Presented to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (The Committee, Washington, DC) February 12, 2002. 2 p.

Full Text at: www.senate.gov/~labor/Hearings-2002/feb2002/021202awit/Zigler.pdf

["In response to... President and Mrs. Bush's impetus to assure that every child in America will be a successful reader,... the author states that... cognitive skills are very important, but they are so intertwined with the physical, social, and emotional systems that it is myopic, if not futile, to dwell on the intellect and exclude its partners."]

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A Survey of the Status of Equality in Public Education in California; A Survey of a Cross-Section of Public School Teachers. By Louis Harris. Prepared for Public Advocates, Inc., with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. (Public Advocates, San Francisco, California) April 30, 2002. 15 p.; Appendices.

Full Text at: www.publicadvocates.org/equality_article-latest3.pdf

["More than 1,000 teachers statewide were asked about major problems they encountered in schools ... [This study finds that] problems that tend to impede learning ... are clustered on campuses that serve families who receive public assistance ... or who are non-English speaking." Sacramento Bee (May 3, 2002) A3.]

[Request #S4977]

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EMPLOYMENT

INCOME

The Recession Hits Children: 2001 Undoes Much of the '90s Employment Gains for Parents. By the Children's Defense Fund. (The Fund, Washington, DC) 2002. 9 p.

Full Text at: www.childrensdefense.org/pdf/fs_recession01.pdf

["From late 2000 to late 2001, the number of children with one or more out-of-work parents surged by 1.2 million children (or 41 percent), wiping out most of the employment gains during the late 1990s for low-income families. Single mothers were especially hard hit by the combination of job losses and reduced cash assistance. In 2001 they suffered a 25 percent jump in unemployment, the same year that states spent $546 million less on cash assistance for low-income families." Connect for Kids (April 22, 2002).]

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ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES

PESTICIDES

Learning Curve: Charting Progress on Pesticide Use and the Healthy Schools Act. By Corina McKendry, California Public Interest Research Group Charitable Trust. Prepared for Californians for Pesticide Reform. (Pesticide Reform, San Francisco, California) [May] 2002. 40 p.

Full Text at: www.calpirg.org/reports/learning_curve_final.pdf

["The study shows that school districts up and down the state have listed 54 pesticides they may use in the next year, compared with 42 used two years ago.... CalPIRG surveyed 15 of the state's more than 1,000 school districts. Districts in the report include those in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Ana and San Francisco, representing about 25 percent of the state's student population." San Diego Union Tribune (May 3, 2002) B4.]

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HEALTH

ACCESS TO CARE

Women's Health in the United State: Health Coverage and Access to Care: Kaiser Women's Health Survey. By Alina Salganicoff and others, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (The Foundation, Washington, DC) May 2002. 63 p.

Full Text at: www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/uploaded_files/Women's_Health_in_the_US_Report.pdf

["This new study finds most women report generally positive experiences with the health care system, but a sizable share continue to face problems. One in four (24%) nonelderly women reported delaying or going without care in the past year due to costs, compared to 16% of men. One in five (21%) nonelderly women did not fill a prescription because they could not afford it, compared to 13% of men. Women are also more likely than men to express concerns about the quality of the health care they receive." Kaisernetwork Healthcast Alert (May 8, 2002).]

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Using Market Research to Improve Enrollment of Families Eligible for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families. By Eric Marder Associates, Inc. Prepared for the Medi-Cal Policy Institute. (The Institute, Oakland, California) 2002. 72 p.

Full Text at: www.medi-cal.org/documents/UsingMarketResearchtoImproveEnrollment.pdf

["As many as 1.85 million California children may be eligible for health insurance through Medi-Cal or Healthy Families. Although the state spends nearly $21 million annually to advertise these two programs, to date, these children have not been enrolled.... This study provides a model for evaluating the impact and effectiveness of a range of marketing strategies, as well as the potential enrollment impacts of program changes."]

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Local Efforts to Increase Health Insurance Coverage among Children in California. By Peter Long, UCLA School of Public Health. Prepared for the Medi-Cal Institute. (The Institute, Oakland, California) 2002. 26 p.

Full Text at: www.medi-cal.org/documents/LocalEffortsToInsureChildren.pdf

["In California, local organizations play a central role in the state's efforts to enroll low-income children in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.... Outreach programs have been implemented to reach the 726,000 uninsured children who may qualify for Medi-Cal and the additional 535,000 who qualify for Healthy Families.... This background paper examines the practices of a variety of local programs involved in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families outreach to develop a clearer picture of effective strategies."]

[Request #S5096]

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Household Food Security in the United States, 2000. By Mark Nord and others, Food and Economics Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report No. 21. (The Department, Washington, DC) 2002. 44 p.

Full Text at: www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr21/fanrr21.pdf

["This report, based on data from the September 2000 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households, as well as on how much they spent on food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in federal and community food assistance programs.... About 17 percent of food-insecure households -- 2.4 percent of all U.S. households -- obtained emergency food from a food pantry at some time during the year."]

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Evidence-Based Practices in Mental Health Services for Foster Youth. By Lynne Marsenich, California Institute for Mental Health. (The Institute, Sacramento, California) 2002. 74 p.

Full Text at: www.cimh.org/downloads/Fostercaremanual.pdf

["This publication reports and examines the relevant literature, and considers this information in the context of the California foster care environment as described through key informant interviews. It is designed to initiate and inform interdisciplinary dialogue between mental health and child welfare administrators and practitioners, researchers, the judiciary, families and foster youth."]

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Trends in Cigarette Smoking Among High School--Students: 1991-2001. IN: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 51, No. 19. (May 17, 2002) pp. 409-412.

Full Text at: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5119a1.htm

["Smoking among U.S. high school students has dropped to its lowest level in a decade.... The average retail price of cigarettes jumped 70 percent from December 1997 to May 2001, and CDC analysts said studies by health economists show that high cost deters many youngsters from smoking." The Sacramento Bee (May 17,2002) A7.]

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HOUSING

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Housing Strategies to Strengthen Welfare Policy and Support Working Families. By Barbara Sard and Margy Waller, Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, and The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Brookings Institution. (The Institute, Washington, DC) April 2002. 12 p.

Full Text at: www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/sardwallerhousingwelfare.pdf

["This report examines the consequences of the dearth of affordable housing for low-income families. The authors note that less than a third of the families that receive monthly income from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program also receive housing assistance from the federal government. The report provides suggestions for decreasing the affordable housing gap, helping families live closer to employment opportunities and facilitating the transition from welfare to work." California Policy Forum NewsWire (April 16, 2002).]

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HUMAN SERVICES

CHILD CARE

Estimating the Size and Components of the U.S. Child Care Workforce and Caregiving Population: Key Findings from the Child Care Workforce Estimate: Preliminary Report. By Alice Burton and others, Center for the Child Care Workforce. (The Center, Washington, DC) May 2002. 52 p.

Full Text at: www.ccw.org/pubs/workforceestimatereport.pdf

["In response to the rising demand for data on the child care workforce, this two-year research project is working to develop a framework and methodology for quantifying the size and characteristics of the U.S. child care workforce, with a focus on the workforce serving children ages 0 through 5 (excluding children enrolled in kindergarten."]

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Toward Better Child Care Worker Compensation: Advocacy in Three States. By Carol J. DeVita and others, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, The Urban Institute. (The Institute, Washington, DC) April 2002. 69 p.

Full Text at: www.ffcd.org/ourwork.htm

["This report illustrates how efforts to improve child care worker compensation in Georgia, Massachusetts, and Washington offer lessons to foundations, advocates and other stakeholders in the child care community. The three-state study examined how advocates worked to elevate child care worker compensation on each state's public agenda. The three states were selected for their diverse geographic, socioeconomic, and political environments, and for their unique approaches to addressing childcare compensation." HandsNet (May 3, 2002).]

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Navigating the Child Care Subsidy System: Policies and Practices that Affect Access and Retention. By Gina Adams and others, New Federalism: Issues and Options for States, The Urban Institute. (The Institute, Washington, DC) Series A, No. A-50. 2002. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/310450.pdf

["This analysis of interviews with agency staff and welfare-to-work parents finds a serious catch-22 for families eligible for child care subsidies: low-wage moms have to miss so much work to apply for and maintain their child care subsidies that they jeopardize their ability to keep their jobs. Complications include requiring multiple face-to-face visits during work hours and insufficient resources for processing child care subsidies by phone or computer." Connect for Kids (April 22, 2002).]

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Assessing the Context of Permanency and Reunification in the Foster Care System. By Westat, Inc. and Chapin Hall Center for Children. Prepared for U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (The Center, Chicago, Illinois) December 2001. Various pagings.

Full Text at: aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/fostercare-reunif01/

["Improving the permanency of living arrangements for children in the child welfare system has been a central focus of federal and state policy for the past two decades. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 creates faster timeframes for decision making and incentives for adoption to move children more quickly out of the foster care system and find them permanent living arrangements. This report provides a description of current reunification efforts and assesses the status of reunification in permanency policy and practice." HandsNet (March 29, 2002).]

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Improving the Odds for the Healthy Development of Young Childen in Foster Care. By Sheryl Dicker and others, Promoting the Emotional Well-Being of Children and Families, National Center for Children in Poverty. Policy Paper No. 2. (The Center, New York, New York) 2002. 29 p.

Full Text at: cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/ProEmoPP2.pdf

["This policy paper is about what child welfare agencies, courts, and other partners can do to improve the physical, developmental, and emotional health of young children in foster care. It highlights the special risks these children face and identifies strategies that service providers, courts, policymakers, and advocates can use to enhance their healthy development."]

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Meeting the Health Care Needs of Children in the Foster Care System - Framework for a Comprehensive Approach: Critical Components. By Maria Woolverton and Jan McCarthy, Georgetown University Child Development Center. (The Center, Washington, DC) March 2002. 4 p.

Full Text at: www.georgetown.edu/research/gucdc/fccomponents.pdf

["This report identifies the 'critical components' of a comprehensive, community-based health care system to address the health, mental health and developmental services that children in foster care need. Included are an initial health screening, better management of health care data and information, coordination of care, cultural sensitivity, parental involvement, and improved evaluation and monitoring." Connect for Kids (April 29, 2002).]

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Is Teen Marriage a Solution? By Naomi Seiler, Center for Law and Social Policy. (The Center, Washington, DC) April 2002. 21 p.

Full Text at: www.clasp.org/pubs/teens/teenmariage02-20.pdf

["This paper discusses the potential implications of teen marriage.... There is reason to be concerned that such marriages are often unstable. In contrast, preventing teen pregnancy in the first place carries with it none of these concerns.... A focus on teen pregnancy prevention is particularly appropriate in any effort to address out-of-wedlock births because 80 percent of teen births are out-of-wedlock."]

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Policies That Improve Family Income Matter for Children. By Nancy Cauthen, National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University (The Center, New York, New York). Policy Brief No. 1. April 2002. 8 p.

Full Text at: cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/ESBrief1.pdf

["The purpose of this series is to synthesize what is known from research about the effectiveness of various policies in increasing parental employment -- either by increasing incentives to work or decreasing work disincentives -- and increasing family income. This introductory brief sets the stage for the research syntheses on each of the eight policy options that will be covered and discusses how income fits into a broader concept of family economic security, addresses the role public policies can play in helping families to achieve economic security, and summarizes research on the effects of family income on children's development." HandsNet (April 29, 2002).]

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Strengthening Couples and Marriage in Low-Income Communities. By Theodora Ooms, Resource Center on Couples and Marriage Policy, Center on Law and Social Policy. (The Center, Washington, DC) 2002. 18 p.

Full Text at: www.clasp.org/pubs/familyformation/Strengthening%20Couples%20and%20Marriage%20in%20Low-Income.pdf

["The evolving marriage 'movement' is, for the most part, inadvertently ignoring the needs and circumstances of low-income couples.... This paper explores what can be done to help strengthen two-parent families and marriage in low-income communities? Much of the discussion focuses on the situation in African-American, urban, low-income communities largely because there is some relevant research to draw upon, which is not the case with other racial/ethnic groups."]

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[The following studies, reports, and documents have been ordered or requested, but have not yet arrived. Requests may be placed, and copies will be provided when the material arrives.]

EDUCATION

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

"Functional Neuroanatomical Differences Between Adults and School Age Children in the Processing of Single Words. By Bradley L. Schlaggar and others, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri. IN: Science, Vol. 296, No. 5572 (May 24, 2002) pp. 1476-79.

["Scientists have discovered that children appear to use their brains to handle words far differently than do adults, suggesting a generation gap that extends to the most fundamental functions of the brain. The new research highlights how dramatically children differ mentally from grown-ups." ECS e-Clips (May 24, 2002).]

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HEALTH

RESEARCH

"Violence Exposure, Trauma, and IQ and/or Reading Deficits Among Urban Children." By Virginia Delaney-Black and others. IN: The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 156, No. 3 (March 2002) pp. 280-285.

["Exposure to violence in childhood has been associated with lower school grades. However, the association between violence exposure and performance on standardized tests (such as IQ or academic achievement) in children is unknown. It is also not known whether violence exposure itself or subsequent symptoms of trauma are primarily responsible for negative outcomes. This study examined the relationship between violence exposure and trauma-related distress."]

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