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

CHILDREN & YOUTH

"Longitudinal Relations Between Children's Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood: 1977-1992." By L. Rowell Huesmann and others, University of Michigan. IN: Developmental Psychology, vol. 39, no. 2 (2003) pp. 201-221.

["This study examines the longitudinal relations between TV-violence viewing at ages 6 to 10 and adult aggressive behavior about 15 years later for a sample growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Follow-up archival data and interview data reveal that childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both males and females. Identification with aggressive TV characters and perceived realism of TV violence also predict later aggression. These relations persist even when the effects of socioeconomic status, intellectual ability, and a variety of parenting factors are controlled."]

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From Prison to Home: The Effect of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities: Conference Proceedings. (The Urban Institute, Washington, DC) January 2003.

["Parental incarceration as a contributing factor to children's service needs has remained relatively hidden from the health and human services and juvenile justice systems serving these children. The papers presented at this Urban Institute conference address the needs of children whose parents are incarcerated." Connect for Kids (March 3, 2003).]

Overview of conference and access to all links below. 2 p.:
http://www.urban.org/urlprint.cfm?ID=8273

Background Paper. 33 p.:
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410632_HHSConferenceBackground.pdf

Effects of Parental Incarceration on Young Children. 20 p.:
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410627_ParentalIncarceration.pdf

The Antisocial Behavior of the Adolescent Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Developmental Perspective. 23 p.:
http://www.urban.org/Uploadedpdf/410631_AntisocialBehavior.pdf

Prisoners and Families: Parenting Issues During Incarceration. 14 p.:
http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/410628_PrisonersandFamilies.pdf

Exploring the Needs and Risks of the Returning Prisoner Population. 23 p.:
http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/410626_ReturningPrisonerPopulation.pdf

The Psychological Impact of Incarceration: Implications For Post-Prison Adjustment. 17 p.:
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410624_PyschologicalImpact.pdf

The Skill Sets and Health Care Needs of Released Offenders. 35 p.:
http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/410629_ReleasedOffenders.pdf

A Woman's Journey Home: Challenges for Female Offenders and Their Children. 23 p.:
http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/410630_FemaleOffenders.pdf

Criminal Justice and Health and Human Services: An Exploration of Overlapping Needs, Resources, and Interests in Brooklyn Neighborhoods. 16 p.:
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410633_CriminalJustice.pdf

Services Integration: Strengthening Offenders and Families, While Promoting Community Health and Safety. 20 p.:
http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/410625_ServicesIntegration.pdf

Incarceration, Reentry and Social Capital: Social Networks in the Balance. 19 p.:
http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/410623_SocialCapital.pdf

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CULTURE AND SOCIETY

CULTURAL POLICY

From Children's Services to Children's Spaces: Public Policy, Children and Childhood. By Peter Moss and Pat Petrie. (RoutledgeFalmer, New York, New York) 2002. 201 p.

["This book illustrates how different ways of thinking about children produce different childhoods, different public provisions for children (including schools) and different ways of working with children. It argues that how we understand children and make public provision for them involves political and ethical choices." NOTE: From Children's Services to Children's Spaces ... is available for 3-day loan.]

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Sex On TV 2003: A Biennial Report of the Kaiser Foundation. By Dale Kunkel and others, University of California, Santa Barbara. (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park, California) February 2003. 83 p.; Appendices.

Full Text at: www.kff.org/content/2003/20030204a/Sex_on_TV_3_Full.pdf

["The medium's treatment of sexual content in recent years has grown increasingly frequent and prominent, raising important societal concerns about sexual behavior. Therefore, it is the goal of this study to identify the common patterns or approaches that are employed in the realm of sexual messages on television."]

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EDUCATION

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Addressing the Achievement Gap: A Challenge for Washington State Educators. By G. Sue Shannon and Pete Bylsma, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. (The Office, Olympia, Washington) November 2002. 105 p.

Full Text at: www.k12.wa.us/research/pubdocs/Achievementgapstudy.pdf

["The research office of the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction has issued a report on the achievement gap between racial and ethnic student groups. The report contains information on closing the gap, the gap's overall size and the conditions that contribute to its creation." Education Commission of the States, e-Connection (February 5, 2003).]

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Closing the Door on After School Programs: An Analysis of How the Proposed Cut to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program Will Affect Children and Families in Every State. Compiled By the After School Alliance. (The Alliance, Washington, DC) 2003. 142 p.

Full Text at: www.afterschoolalliance.org/charts/chart_book.pdf

["This report illustrates the effect the proposed cut would have on the availability of after school programs in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Where available, analysis of the state's ability to meet the current demand for after school program grants is also provided. A review of the data shows that the demand for 21st Century afterschool programs far exceeds the resources available. In fact, among the 31 states reporting 2002 grant data, 75 percent of applicants' funding requests had to be denied. Without doubt, the 40 percent budget cut proposed by President Bush would widen this gap significantly."]

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Schools' Use of Assessments for Kindergarten Entrance and Placement: 1998-99. By Naomi Prakash, Educational Statistics Services Insitute, and others. (National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC) March 2003. 11 p.

Full Text at: nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003004.pdf

["This report uses data from the base-year (kindergarten) of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 to describe the use of entrance or placement tests prior to kindergarten by schools in the U.S. It examines the different ways that schools use the information from these tests. It describes schools use of entrance and placement tests by public and private schools, and by schools with different concentrations of low-income children, different grade levels taught, and different numbers of children enrolled."]

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Young Children’s Access to Computers in the Home and at School in 1999 and 2000. By Amy H. Rathbun, Education Statistics Services Institute, and others. NCES 2003-036. (The National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC) March 2003. 133 p.

Full Text at: nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003036.pdf

["This report examines young children’s access to and use of computers in different settings. It describes children’s access to various computer resources (e.g., school computer labs, Internet access) in their homes, classrooms, and schools. The report also looks at the ways in which kindergartners and first-graders use computers in their homes and classrooms for various purposes."]

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Prekindergarten in U.S. Public Schools: 2000-2001. By Timothy Smith, Westat, and others. NCES 2003-019. (The National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC) March 2003. 113 p.

Full Text at: nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003019.pdf

["This report provides national estimates on classes that serve children prior to kindergarten in U.S. public schools. It includes information on the number of schools that offered general or special education prekindergarten classes, the number and characteristics of children enrolled in such classes, support services offered to and received by these children, the number and characteristics of teachers assigned to prekindergarten, and funding sources used by the schools."]

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The Link Between Early Learning and Care and School Readiness. By Jen Brown, Economic Opportunity Institute. (The Institute, Seattle, Washington) October 2002. 4 p.

Full Text at: www.econop.org/ELC/EarlyLearning/SchoolReadiness0-8b.pdf

["According to this brief, quality child care and early education experiences are essential to help young children enter school ready to succeed. Children who participate in high quality early childhood education programs learn better and are more successful in school."]

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"Survey Finds Americans Support Early Learning Investments But Fear Taking Public Money from K-12 Education." By Christopher Blunt, Market Strategies, Politics and Policy Group. IN: Child Poverty News & Issues, vol. 13, no. 1 (Winter 2003) pp. 4-5.

Full Text at: www.nccp.org/news/win03/win03_03.html

["Early childhood programs benefit individual children, but they can produce even larger indirect benefits for the larger community. Many Americans believe such programs are a public good, worthy of public investment, but recognize that public resources are not unlimited. This national poll shows that the public understands child brain development begins extremely early in life, and there is strong support for increasing public investment in early learning programs--as long as those investments are not perceived as taking money from K-12 education." National Center for Children in Poverty listserv (March 19, 2003).]

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Blending and Braiding Funds to Support Early Care and Education Initiatives. By Margaret Flynn and Cheryl D. Hayes. (The Finance Project, Washington, DC) January 2003. 24 p.

Full Text at: www.financeprojectinfo.org/Publications/FP%20Blending%20Funds%201_24.pdf

["This strategy brief highlights the successes and lessons learned in blending early childhood funding streams. It presents financing strategies that state and local policy makers, community leaders, and program coordinators can employ to align, coordinate, and integrate discrete, categorical funding streams." ECPEN listserv (March 7, 2003) 1.]

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A Snapshot of Head Start Children, Families, Teachers, and Programs: 1997 and 2001. By Rachel Schumacher and Tanya Rakpraja, Center for Law and Social Policy. (The Center, Washington, DC) March 2003. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.clasp.org/DMS/Documents/1047305635.76/Head_Start_brief1.pdf

["With the federal Head Start program scheduled for reauthorization by Congress in 2003, there is a need to understand what the program and the children and families it serves look like today and how they have changed since the last reauthorization in 1998. This policy brief, the first in a series of analyses of Head Start Program Information Report (PIR) data by CLASP, compares key PIR data from the most recently available progam year, 2000-2001, with data from the 1996-1997 program year."]

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Incentives For Attracting and Retaining K-12 Teachers: Lessons For Early Education. By Wendy Laurence and others, Policy Analysis for California Education. (PACE, Berkeley, California) 2002. 24 p.

Full Text at: pace.berkeley.edu/Policy_Brief_02-3_Teach.Inc.pdf

["We have witnessed a remarkable growth in the early education sector in California. Thus far, however, little attention has been paid to the essential stability and quality of the workforce compared to the ambitious K-12 initiatives. Early educators have much to learn from their colleagues in the broader public education arena about more aggressively exploring alternative strategies for reducing turnover and raising educational quality. Ideally in the coming years, the early education community and policymakers will experiment carefully with a variety of approaches to avoid a mistake made by policymakers in the K-12 arena, who have funded a variety of programs while knowing little about their effectiveness."]

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EMPLOYMENT

PARENTAL LEAVE

"Parental Leave: The Impact of Recent Legislation on Parents' Leave Taking." By Wen-Jui Han and Jane Waldfogel. IN: Demography, vol. 40 no. 1 (February 2003) pp. 191-200.

["This new study ... reported that the Family and Medical Leave Act has not increased leave-taking by new fathers at all and has increased new mothers' leaves only slightly." The Sacramento Bee (March 3, 2003) D3.]

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HEALTH

IMMUNIZATIONS

Insurance Mandates for Childhood Immunizations. By Johanna M. Donlin, National Conference of State Legislatures. Legisbrief. Vol. 11, No. 14. (NCSL, Denver, Colorado) March 2003. 2 p.

["Vaccine costs and the associated expense for office visits remain concerns for state policymakers. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia require insurance companies to cover childhood immunizations.... At least 13 states choose to include an immunization mandate as part of their 'well-child' coverage. Many states also restrict an insurance company's ability to charge co-pays, co-insurance or apply a deductible to immunizations."]

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A Shared Destiny: Community Effects of Uninsurance. By the Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance, Board on Health Care Services, Institute of Medicine. (National Academies Press, Washington, DC) March 2003. 276 p.

Full Text at: books.nap.edu/books/0309087260/html/index.html

["This study shows that the adverse effects of being uninsured go well beyond those without health coverage. It affects the entire community through less access to care, a weakened capacity to respond to emergencies, poorer population health and possibly a less robust economy." Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's statement on covering the uninsured (March 12, 2003).]

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HOUSING

HOME OWNERSHIP

"Does Home Ownership Affect Child Outcomes?" By Donald R. Haurin, Ohio State University, and others. IN: Real Estate Economics, vol. 30, no. 4. (2002) pp. 635-666.

["According to this nationwide study, parents who own their own home may be helping to boost their children’s educational achievements and even reduce behavioral problems. The research showed that for children living in owned homes rather than rental units, math achievement scores are up to 9 percent higher, reading achievement is up to 7 percent higher and behavioral problems are 1 to 3 percent lower. The study shows that discrimination against minorities in providing loans or others assistance to buy homes is hurting children. The study suggests that discrimination against minorities in the housing market has the effect of reducing the level of cognition and increasing the behavioral problems of minority children."]

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HUMAN SERVICES

ADOPTION

Adoption Dynamics: The Impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act. By Fred H. Wulczyn, Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (The Department, Washington, DC) 2002. 8 p.

Full Text at: aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/fostercare-issues02/ASFA/

["Results from the study support four main conclusions. They are: 1) It is too soon to say whether ASFA had an impact on the likelihood of adoption; 2) During the mid-1990s (just prior to ASFA’s passage), adoptions were not slowing down; 3) The data presented reveal both pre- and post-ASFA effects; 4) The evidence available suggests that the time for reunification has slowed."]

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"More Than a Work Support? Issues Around Integrating Child Development Goals Into the Child Care Subsidy System." By Gina Adams and Monica Rohacek. IN: Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 17 (December 2002) pp. 418-440.

Full Text at: www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1000449_ECRQtrly.pdf

["Over the past decade, policymakers have become increasingly concerned about the development of low-income children, as well as about helping low-income parents work. Yet, all too often, child development and parental work goals are seen as separate.... This article describes current approaches to child care subsidies, and identifies a number of the issues and opportunities facing those who want to integrate a stronger child development focus into the subsidy system."]

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"Business Leaders: 'Unlikely Allies.'" By Jean Tepperman, Action Alliance for Children. IN: Children's Advocate (January-February 2003) p. 5.

Full Text at: www.4children.org/pdf/103busi.pdf

["Getting business leaders to lobby for children's issues may seem like a hard sell but with state budgets shrinking, it's worth the effort. The author reports on how some children's advocates have won support from the business community." Connect for Kids (March 17, 2003).]

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Comparing Outcomes For Los Angeles County's HUD-Assisted and Unassisted CalWORKs Leavers. By Nandita Verma and Richard Hendra, Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation. Prepared for the Department of Public Social Services, Los Angeles County. (The Corporation, New York, New York) January 2003. 54 p.

Full Text at: www.mdrc.org/Reports2002/tanf_la/post_tanf_la.pdf

["This report examines three groups of CalWORKs recipients who stopped receiving welfare in quarter 3 of 1998. Two of the groups were receiving federal housing assistance at the time of exit from welfare.... While a clear employment advantage was not evident for any one of the housing assistance groups, leavers with tenant-based assistance were somewhat more likely to have the most positive employment-related outcomes."]

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The Uses (and Misuses) of Social Indicators: Implications for Public Policy. By Kristin Anderson Moore and others, Child Trends. (Child Trends, Washington DC) February 2003. 6 p.

Full Text at: www.childtrends.org/PDF/SocialIndicatorsRB.pdf

["The saying goes that 'what gets measured gets done'—so social indicators are key. They can inform public policy choices, and act as 'canaries in the coal mine' to identify particularly promising (or unpromising) strategies to evaluate. But, as this brief explains, they are no substitute for rigorous research to establish cause and effect, or credit specific policies or programs with outcomes." Connect for Kids (February 24, 2003).]

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Determining "What Works" in Social Programs and Social Policies: Toward a More Inclusive Knowledge Base. By Lisbeth Schorr, Pathways Mapping Initiative of the Project on Effective Interventions, Harvard University. (Brookings Institution, Washington, DC) February 26, 2003. 38 p.

Full Text at: www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/views/papers/sawhill/20030226.pdf

["Individuals and organizations are forming coalitions and acting together because they have found that fragmented, piecemeal, narrowly categorical approaches do not achieve their goals. But these groups are often stymied when they search for reliable and coherent information about 'what works' in order to improve specific outcomes. The lack of a broad range of solid, readily accessible, coherent information about 'what works' to change community-wide outcomes is frustrating, not only to local activists, but also to service providers, policy-makers, and funders."]

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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.]

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

CULTURAL POLICY

Family Life and Family Policies in Europe, Volume 2: Problems and Issues in Comparative Perspective. By Franz-Xaver Kaufmann, University of Bielefeld, and others. (Oxford University Press, New York, NY) 2002. 360 p.

["Volume 2 is a comparative study of family change in Europe and its dependency on social policy regimes. The authors explore family discourse, family law, single parents, gender relations, the 'new fathers', divorce, and abortion within the framework of national policies vis-a-vis the family." NOTE: Family Life and Family Policies ... will be available for 3-day loan.]

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EDUCATION

ACCOUNTABILITY

Our Schools And Our Future... Are We Still At Risk? Edited By Paul E. Peterson (Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, California) 2003. 378 p.

Full Text at: www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/osof.html

["Twenty years ago ... A Nation at Risk ... awakened millions of Americans to a national crisis in primary and secondary education.... In this report the Task Force looks at the response to the report and analyzes why it produced so much activity and so little improvement.... They conclude that fundamental changes are needed ... and offer recommendations based on three core principles: accountability, choice and transparency." NOTE: Our Schools and Our Future ... will be available for 3-day loan.]

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