ED’s Safe and Supportive Schools News Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools AUGUST 25, 2011 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 39 | |
In This Issue 1. Secretary Duncan’s Message to ED employees: Gearing up for the Fall 2. Obama Administration Releases Final Application for Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge3. National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2010, Volumes I and II Based in part on Monitoring the Future is now Available Online 4. HHS’ SAMHSA releases the presentation “Suicide: The Challenges and Opportunities Behind the Public Health Problem.” 5. NIH Announces National Children’s Study Upgrading Data Gathering, Analysis —Federal Study Seeks Collaborations on Improving Information Systems6. HHS awards $40 Million in grants to sign up children for health coverage Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan encourage governors to support back-to-school enrollment 7. Graphic Cigarette Package Warning Labels May Reduce Smoking Demand 8. PBS “In The Mix” Program Highlights for September 2011 The opinions expressed herein may not always reflect the views of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools or the US Department of Education, nor do they imply an endorsement. We hope that you find this information to be useful. If you think ED’s SAFE & SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL NEWS would be helpful to a friend or colleague, please send them to this website to: self enroll, change information, or unsubscribe. Contact Us: If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me at [log in to unmask]. David Quinlan Editor | Secretary Duncan’s Message to ED employees: Gearing up for the Fall As we enjoy these final weeks of summer, the Department is also gearing up for the fall with a number of big projects ahead. I wanted to bring you up to date on our plans for our youngest learners. Just about everyone involved in education policy can agree on one thing: high-quality early-learning programs are one of the best investments we can make. The years from birth through preschool are critical to building a strong foundation for success in school and beyond. By providing support and resources, we can help make sure young children don’t have to play catch-up on their first day of kindergarten. The Department is giving significant attention to early learning through our priorities in i3, Race to the Top, and Promise Neighborhoods. ED now has a major new initiative that significantly invests in early learning. The $500 million Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge competition is our newest and most ambitious early learning effort. It will help prepare young children for success when they enter kindergarten and will reward states that set a high bar for quality early learning programs and enroll more children from low-income families in such programs. I expect we’ll see ambitious and innovative ideas for serving our youngest learners come out of this competition. We have a very short schedule for getting these funds out the door by the end of 2011, and I’m particularly pleased with how the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge team has created interactive ways to generate interest and collect suggestions and comments. In fact, a draft of our proposal on our Web site generated several hundred responses. This is helping simplify the process for stakeholders and keeping the team on schedule. We’ve been customer-focused throughout the process, and we’ve reaped the benefits — 36 states and the District of Columbia have told us they intend to apply. We’re succeeding at finding new ways to reach our customers and get information quickly out to where it’s needed. As always, thank you for all that you do for our nation’s students — including the youngest ones. Enjoy the rest of the summer. SOURCE: Letter to U.S. ED Employees from Arne Duncan, 8/8/2011 Obama Administration Releases Final Application for Race to the Top-Early Learning ChallengeThe Obama Administration recently released the final application for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC), which will provide $500 million in state-level competitive grants to improve early learning and development programs. The goal of the RTT-ELC is to better prepare more children with high needs for kindergarten because children from birth to age 5, including those from low-income families, need a strong foundation for success in school and beyond. Robust research shows that high-quality early learning programs improve children’s health, social-emotional development, cognitive ability, and school success. High-quality programs also help close the wide school readiness gap that exists between children with high needs and their peers. Yet, the U.S. lacks a coordinated system for improving and evaluating early learning and development programs as well as sharing best practices across programs and states. “The Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge will reward states that are leading the way in improving quality and coordination among their early learning and development programs, and as a result, better serving children and families,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “This fund will leverage best practices and pave the way to reinventing early education in the United States.” RTT-ELC will set a high bar and reward states with the strongest plans to improve the quality of early learning and development programs. In their applications, states must demonstrate a commitment to building coordinated systems, aligning resources and policies, and increasing access to high-quality early learning and development programs for children who need them most. RTT-ELC will focus on five key areas of reform: -Establishing Successful State Systems by building on the State’s existing strengths, ambitiously moving forward the state’s early learning and development agenda, and carefully coordinating programs across agencies to ensure consistency and sustainability beyond the grant; -Defining High-Quality, Accountable Programs by creating a common tiered quality rating and improvement system that is used across the state to evaluate and improve program performance and to inform families about program quality; -Promoting Early Learning and Development Outcomes for Children to develop common standards within the state and assessments that measure child outcomes, address behavioral and health needs, as well as inform, engage and support families; -Supporting A Great Early Childhood Education Workforce by providing professional development, career advancement opportunities, appropriate compensation, and a common set of standards for workforce knowledge and competencies; and -Measuring Outcomes and Progress so that data can be used to inform early learning instruction and services and to assess whether children are entering kindergarten ready to succeed in elementary school. Grant awards will range from around $50 million up to $100 million, depending on state population and proposed plans. Applications are due on October 19 and the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services will announce winners in December. To view the application and learn more about the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, visit http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge. National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2010, Volumes I and II Based in part on Monitoring the Future is now Available Online National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975–2010, Volumes I and II are now available. Volume I (http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/mtf-vol1_2010.pdf) provides data and trends on 8th, 10th, and 12th graders, and Volume II (http://monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/mtf-vol2_2010.pdf) addresses data on college students and adults aged 19–50. These monographs report long-term trends in the use of a host of licit and illicit substances from 1975 to 2010, as well as in key attitudes, beliefs, age of initiation, exposure to use, and perceived availability. A special Occasional Paper (http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/occpapers/mtf-occ74.pdf) graphically charts trends in use for many key demographic subgroups (in Volume 1) defined by gender, college plans, region, population density, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity. For more information, visit the Monitoring the Future Web site (http://monitoringthefuture.org/). For additional information regarding the Monitoring the Future study, please e-mail us at [log in to unmask] . Comments by the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse--In this video (http://www.youtube.com/user/NIHOD#p/u/91/8ji6hVWmma0) , NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow discusses the most recent findings from the Monitoring the Future survey. Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of approximately 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed (12th graders since 1975, and 8th and 10th graders since 1991). In addition, annual follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sample of each graduating class for a number of years after their initial participation. The Monitoring the Future Study has been funded under a series of investigator-initiated competing research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health. MTF is conducted at the Survey Research Center in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. SOURCE: U.S. ED’s Higher Education Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Violence Prevention, August 12, 2011 HHS’ SAMHSA releases the presentation “Suicide: The Challenges and Opportunities Behind the Public Health Problem.” SOURCE: Suicide Prevention Resource Center’s The Weekly Spark, 8/12/2011NIH Announces National Children’s Study Upgrading Data Gathering, Analysis —Federal Study Seeks Collaborations on Improving Information SystemsThe National Children’s Study is changing its approach to informatics—the science of classifying, cataloging, storing, analyzing, and retrieving information, study officials recently announced. The new approach, termed facilitated decentralization, seeks to test a variety of different yet compatible information systems to identify those that will best meet the needs of the study. Study officials invite interested researchers in the federal government and in research institutions to collaborate on new informatics components to be integrated into the study’s main informatics system. The National Children’s Study (http://www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/Pages/default.aspx) is a multi-site research study examining the effects of environment and genetics on the growth, development and health of children across the United States, from pre-conception to age 21. Because of its size, length, and complexity, the study will be conducted as two separate but related studies: a vanguard, or pilot study and a main study. The vanguard study seeks to evaluate the ease, acceptability, and costs involved in the methods needed to conduct the main study. Results from the vanguard study will be used to inform the design of the main study, which is planned to begin in mid-2012. The new components for the National Children’s Study informatics systems will be tested in the vanguard study. To learn more about opportunities to collaborate on informatics as well as other aspects of the study, researchers are invited to attend National Children’s Study Research Day on Aug. 24, 2011 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md. Additional information is available at: http://www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/newsandevents/events/Pages/ncsresearchday.aspx The National Children’s Study is led by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with a consortium that includes the NIH’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency. “The idea is to identify and develop systems that not only meet the study’s current needs, but can also be adapted and upgraded easily to meet the changing needs of the study as it proceeds through its 21 year span,” said Capt. Steven Hirschfeld, M.D., United States Public Health Service, the acting director of the National Children’s Study and director of clinical research. Dr. Hirschfeld explained that the facilitated decentralization approach for the study seeks to move away from proprietary informational systems to publicly available, non-proprietary systems. The National Children’s Study will establish uniform standards for the new informational systems components to be studied. In addition to being non proprietary, prospective components must open architecture based—meaning that it can be easily upgraded by researchers wishing to collaborate to expand the system’s capacity. Dr. Hirschfeld added that the new approach is the first time that different systems can be evaluated concurrently. In addition, the approach is intended to facilitate efforts to classify the concepts and terminology needed to carry out the study. Many conditions and disorders that National Children’s Study scientists will study are unique to childhood and are not uniformly found in the current classification systems that researchers use for their analysis of adult studies. For example, different terminology systems vary on how they have classified a structural birth defect affecting the roof of the mouth. The condition is generally referred to as cleft palate, but different terminologies in use may or may not include a cleft lip within the term or the concept. The NCS is working to coordinate the various terminology systems that apply to early childhood, relate them to terms and concepts across the life course, and ensure that a robust informatics infrastructure supports a uniform terminology. Information for researchers interested in collaborating in the study’s new facilitated decentralization approach is available at: http://www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/about/overview/Pages/NCS_concept_of_operations_04_28_11.pdf. About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): The NICHD sponsors research on development, before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Institute’s Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/. SOURCE: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), 8/12/2011 HHS awards $40 Million in grants to sign up children for health coverage Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan encourage governors to support back-to-school enrollment The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced $40 million in grants for efforts to identify and enroll children eligible for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Grants were awarded to 39 state agencies, community health centers, school-based organizations and non-profit groups in 23 states. The two-year grants are authorized under the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009. "Today's grants will help us identify and enroll children in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, ensuring that more children have the health care they need," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "Keeping Americans healthy from a young age is the right thing to do, and it saves money by avoiding preventable diseases and conditions as they get older. The activities we are funding will help eligible children get covered, stay healthy and prepare them to succeed in school." The grants will build on the Secretary's Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge to find and enroll all eligible children and support outreach strategies that have been shown to be successful. Grants were made in five focus areas: 1) Using technology to facilitate enrollment and renewal (approximately $20 million to ten grantees) 2) Retaining eligible children in coverage (approximately $3 million to four grantees) 3) Engaging schools in outreach, enrollment and renewal activities (approximately $5 million to seven grantees) 4) Reaching children who are most likely to experience gaps in coverage (approximately $10 million to fourteen grantees) 5) Ensuring eligible teens are enrolled and stay covered (approximately $3 million to four grantees). Grant amounts range from $200,000 to $2.5 million with the largest grants going to the technology focus area. For a list of grantees, please visit: http://www.insurekidsnow.gov/professionals/reports/chipra/CHIPRA-Cycle-II-Grant-Summaries.pdf "We are making great progress enrolling eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP and the grants released today help keep these important efforts moving forward. They are a part of our commitment to help all eligible children get the health coverage they need," said Cindy Mann, CMS deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicaid, CHIP and Survey & Certification. A new study just released by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that, despite an increase in eligible children between 2008 and 2009, the total number of eligible but uninsured children declined from 4.7 million in 2008 to 4.3 million in 2009, in part due to outreach and enrollment efforts. Efforts to streamline Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and renewal practices, combined with robust outreach activities, have helped reduce the numbers of uninsured children. For example, Oregon, a previous CHIPRA outreach grantee, has cut its percentage of uninsured children in half, from 11.3 percent in 2009 to 5.6 percent in 2011. In the past two years, Oregon enrolled 94,000 eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP. In addition to its efforts in reducing paperwork for families and establishing a timely and cost-effective online application process, Oregon used its grant funding to provide direct one-on-one enrollment assistance to families and conduct vigorous outreach activities throughout the school system. "We want to help others achieve what Oregon has accomplished and more," said CMS Administrator Donald M. Berwick, M.D. "Simplifying enrollment and renewal systems and ensuring that signing up for health coverage is standard practice in schools and health centers are central to sustaining the progress we've made. The CHIPRA grants are designed to support these efforts that will have lasting effects." Today's CHIPRA outreach grant announcement follows the August 12, 2011 release of a joint letter from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to the nation's governors urging them to encourage schools to "undertake children's health coverage outreach and enrollment activities when classes begin this fall." The letter suggests promising strategies such as enlisting school athletic coaches to help promote enrollment. HHS is supporting such efforts by providing a strategy guide to states, schools, community groups, and other stakeholders as part of the "Get Covered, Get in the Game" initiative the agency conducted in 2010 with CHIPRA funding. CHIPRA, together with the Affordable Care Act, allocates a total of $140 million for enrollment and renewal outreach, including $112 million in grants to states, community groups and health care providers, $14 million specifically for organizations serving American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), and $14 million reserved for national enrollment campaign activities. The first $40 million in grants, as well as $10 million in AI/AN grants, were awarded in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Graphic Cigarette Package Warning Labels May Reduce Smoking Demand Will graphic cigarette package warning labels significantly reduce demand? A new study highlighted in Medical News Today suggests it will. New U.S. policy taking effect next year requires that tobacco companies cover 50 percent of one side of a cigarette pack with a text warning. But the federal Food and Drug Administration recently unveiled nine new cigarette warning labels, which include graphic images of lung and mouth cancer. A sample of more than 400 adult smokers from four states participated in an experimental auction on cigarette packs with four different kinds of warning labels. All packs carried the same message: “smoking causes mouth cancer.” The first pack featured a text-only message on the side of the pack, the current U.S. policy. The second had a text-only message that covered 50 percent of the lower half of the front, back and one side of the pack. A third had the same text message, but with a photo depicting mouth cancer. The fourth package had the same text and graphic photo, but was a mostly unbranded pack, meaning all color and symbolic brand elements were removed except for the brand's font, size and descriptors. "We found that the label with just the front text warning had little effect on consumers," said study co-author Matthew Rousu, professor of economics at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. "However, demand was significantly lower for packs with grotesque images, with the lowest demand associated with the plain, unbranded pack." The bids for cigarette packs that had a grotesque photo and no brand imagery received bids that were 17 percent lower than the bids for the package with the current US warning label. "Results from our study suggest that the new health warnings with graphic pictures will reduce demand for cigarettes," Rousu said. SOURCE: Join Together Daily, Aug 11, 2011 PBS “In The Mix” Program Highlights for September 2011 Week of: Sept. 3 -- # 411 -- SCHOOL: MAKING THE GRADE (Guide) Sept. 10 -- #701 -- THE WAY WE SEE IT: What Makes A Teacher Worth Listening To? (Guide) Sept. 17 -- #705 -- FIT FOR LIFE: EAT SMART & EXERCISE (Guide) DVD w/Spanish subtitles Sept. 24 -- # 431 -- TEEN IMMIGRANTS (Guide) *The In the Mix website www.inthemix.org provides extensive companion areas on over 60 programs, with video clips, transcripts, discussion guides, resources, how to get DVDs and more. |