Category: Research


What We’re Reading

Filed Under: Research, Uncategorized, What We're Reading by Tracey Savell Reavis — Leave a comment
September 28, 2012

ThisAmericanLife.org: In a recent podcast, the host of this radio show interviews Paul Tough, author of the book, How Children Succeed. The focus of the discussion, and of the book, is on new research that suggests just how important non-cognitive skills are to the success of kids.

So what exactly are non-cognitive skills? Qualities like character, impulse control, motivation and persistence are a few examples. Tough’s book outlines how traditional ways to measure intelligence in American schools may be not be the most effective.  His research shows that non-cognitive skills are increasingly being viewed as vital in education and ultimately influence a kid’s success in school. And he presents evidence that these skills can be learned in the classroom.

What’s also mentioned is that poverty-related stress can inhibit the development of cognitive skills. Poverty and the difficult living conditions that go hand-in-hand with it affect many of the students served by Communities In Schools. In the podcast we learn that mentoring gives kids an opportunity to learn and strengthen these necessary non-cognitive skills, and that it can actually create positive change.

Also in the podcast, students talk about their struggles with some of the skills discussed, like restraint and impulse control, and how their involvement in structured programs is helping them overcome obstacles.

Facethefactsusa.org: The goal of this organization is simple: Report facts on key issues facing America, and present the information with colors and shapes in a daily infographic. They started on July 30 and are delivering a new fact every day, counting down 100 days before the Nov. 6 presidential election. Topics in the news have included the economy, life in America, health care and education. Fact No. 58, from earlier this week, touched on college education and the economy; data showed which degrees seemed to lead to higher paychecks.

As it turns out, getting a degree in the highly touted STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – can lead to salaries of nearly $35,000 more annually than the average American wage.

But the numbers also showed that only one in 10 degrees were awarded in these fields in 2009. Additionally, while 57.3 percent of whites hold STEM degrees, only 14 percent of black and Hispanic students received STEM degrees.

Communities In Schools site coordinators continue to introduce and reinforce the opportunity to take STEM coursework, so that students can prepare to be successful in the industries that demand these skill sets.

Readers are encouraged to join the conversation by posting comments on the website.

WSJ.com: Just how prepared are high school students who are about to enter college? Not very, if you go by the recent findings by The College Board, administers of the SAT college entrance exam. The SAT Report on College & Career Readinessrevealed this week that only 43 percent of students in the class of 2012 who took the college entrance exam actually graduated from high school with the level of academic preparedness they will likely need to have success in college.

“This report should serve as a call to action to expand access to rigor for more students,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton. “Our nation’s future depends on the strength of our education system. When fewer than half of kids who want to go to college are prepared to do so, that system is failing. We must make education a national priority and deliver rigor to more students.”

The study also reported on the increased number of students taking the test and the decrease in the average scores. More than 1.66 million students took the SAT in the class of 2012, making it the largest class of SAT takers in history. Both the average scores in reading and writing were lower by one point from 2011, but the scores in math remained unchanged from a year ago.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: Research, What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
August 24, 2012

A new survey revealed that many teachers use their own money to buy students' school supplies. Photo courtesy Wirawat Lian-udom via Flickr.

Chronicle of Philanthropy: This week, The Chronicle of Philanthropy unveiled a new, comprehensive study on how people in the United States donate to charities. Among its numerous resources, the study includes interactive maps, an examination of the roles of religion and tax breaks in giving, and a ranking of the 50 states by how much their citizens donate. According to The Chronicle, Utah is the most generous state in both dollars contributed and time volunteered. Where does your state rank on the list? Visit the study to find out.

Education Week: Numerous studies have shown that the more students miss school, the more likely they are to eventually drop out. Missing school prevents students from learning new information and often leaves them struggling to keep up in their classes. Even when a student is pulled out of the classroom for disciplinary reasons, it can have a negative effect on his or her overall education.

This week, 50 national groups reached out to school districts across America to ask them to stop issuing out-of-school suspensions to students, and instead find more “constructive” courses of discipline. The groups included several educational and race equity powerhouses, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.

For many students, making it to school on time isn’t as simple as getting on the bus. Barriers such as poverty, community violence and a lack of positive role models keep thousands of students from making it to school on a daily basis. And when a school pulls a student out of class, he or she is missing even more valuable learning time. Communities In Schools site coordinators help students learn positive behaviors so that they are not taken out of class for disciplinary reasons. During the 2010-2011 school year, 82 percent of students receiving Communities In Schools services met their suspension reduction goals.

Huffington Post: When you were a student, did you ever wonder where your classroom snacks came from? Or your construction paper, calculator or scissors? According to a survey by Adopt-A-Classroom, necessity items for students are routinely coming out of teachers’ wallets. The survey asked questions about the work spending habits of 1,188 K-12 teachers from public, private and charter schools across the country. In tabulating the results, Adopt-A-Classroom discovered that 91 percent of the survey participants routinely purchased items for their students. Most of the supplies the teachers mentioned were for the classroom, like crafts and snacks. But just as often, the teachers mentioned products to help children survive outside school, like toothbrushes, soap and alarm clocks.

Communities In Schools makes sure that the students we serve get everything they need to succeed in school and in life. Like these amazing teachers, we provide children with food and clothing. During the back-to-school season, many of our affiliates work with the community to make sure students the first day of school with all the supplies they need to effectively learn in the classroom.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: Research, What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
July 27, 2012

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Photo courtesy NASA.

Chronicle of Philanthropy: A new study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation revealed that in 2010, 15.7 million children in the United States lived below the poverty line. This is a marked increase from the Foundation’s 2005 study of the same subject, and signifies the long-term effects of the 2007-2009  recession.

As people across the country deal with unemployment or underemployment, their children struggle to gain access to the resources they need to succeed. During the 2010-2011 school year, 87 percent of the 1.26 million children Communities In Schools served were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Our site coordinators work around the clock to make sure students get everything they need to survive and thrive, including food, medical care and clothing. We also make sure their emotional needs are met during this stressful time by providing mentors, counselors and more.

Education Week: This week is the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. In connection with the conference, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new statistics about the spread of HIV and AIDS in the United States and their effect on our youth. As of 2009, people ages 15-29 make up 21 percent of the U.S. population; but they account for 39 percent of all new HIV infections. And according to the CDC, while about half of all teens report they are sexually active, only 60 percent of those having sex report using condoms.

The Education Week article offers an enlightening look at how sex education differs in schools across the United States, and asks whether or not promoting abstinence-only programs is what’s best for today’s students.

GOOD: This week we said goodbye to Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. Since her historic journey on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983, Ride has served as a powerful role model for young women with a passion for science, technology, engineering and math. She was a leader in the fight to break down gender barriers and promote the role of women in STEM subjects. Among many speaking engagements and initiatives, in 2001 Ride and other female scientists founded Sally Ride Science, a company dedicated to producing classroom materials and programs for students that promote diversity in the workplace.

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Stopping the “Summer Slide”

Filed Under: Families, Research by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
July 10, 2012

Communities In Schools of the Tecumseh Area, Mich. is teaching kids a life skill this summer by leading a bike safety program.

While it can drive parents crazy to have their kids home all day, students love summer break. No getting up early to catch the bus, no homework and no sitting in a classroom all day. Summer break means freedom from academic responsibility and lots of fun.

Unfortunately, all that time away from the classroom tends to have a negative impact on students once school starts up again in the fall. Known to teachers as the “summer slide,” students tend to forget a lot of what they learned while they’re away from school for so long. Instead of learning new material when they return to school in the fall, many students end up needing to spend the first few weeks of the school year reviewing and having to catch up. Studies from The Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning reveal that the average student falls two months behind in their reading skills during the long break.

The summer slide is a major contributing factor to the achievement gap affecting students living in poverty. According to The Johns Hopkins Center, students who live below the poverty line have less access to summer educational opportunities, and are therefore more likely to forget even more information than their more affluent peers.

Fortunately, there are ways we can all keep students learning over the summer. Across the Communities In Schools network, many of our affiliates offer programs that are both educational and take advantage of the fun this sunny season can offer. Whether it’s summer camp, kayaking trips, tending a community garden, swimming lessons or visits to college campuses, we make sure that our students are learning valuable life skills that they will need to succeed in school and in life.

If you’re looking for a way to prevent the summer slide and make sure your child keeps learning, organizations like Scholastic and The Southern Poverty Law Center offer some great free and low-cost ideas. Take advantage of your student’s open schedule to go to the zoo, museums or on a nature hike. Even something as simple as cooking together offers a great opportunity for a child to learn science, analytical reading and math!

Summer is a great time for students to read books that interest them without the stress of grades, testing and deadlines. Anindita Basu Sempere, executive director of TheWritingFaculty.com, advises parents, guardians and mentors to encourage children to take advantage of not having homework and foster a love of reading. She recently shared some tips on preventing the summer slide with The Washington Post.

For even more great ideas, we built a Pinterest board full of games and activities that promote summer engagement (including some great ones for rainy days). Feel free to repin them and share with friends!

For children, summer is supposed to be fun and carefree. But that doesn’t mean that learning needs to stop. By putting the brakes on the summer slide, we can start to close the achievement gap and make sure that every student starts school in the fall ready and excited to learn new material.

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What We’re Reading

Filed Under: Race Equity, Research, What We're Reading by Briana Kerensky — Leave a comment
May 25, 2012
Truck Farm Chicago's truck

Truck Farm Chicago is a traveling garden; it drives across the city to teach children and families about the value of healthy food. Photo courtesy Food Truck Chicago.

New York Times: A recent New York Times analysis revealed that while the New York City public school system initially appears racially diverse, in reality the schools are highly segregated. About 650 of the nearly 1,700 schools in the system have populations that are 70 percent a single race. This causes many students to live in what the author of the article calls a “hermetic reality;” studies have shown that not giving students the opportunity to learn with children of other races and cultures eventually erodes their academic progress and leaves them unprepared for the diversity of life outside the classroom. While the article offers little in the way of solutions to this problem, we all must do more to make sure children are exposed to a wide variety of cultures and races. Not only so that they are better prepared to compete in the global market, but also to open their minds to the wide world of opportunities around them.

Chronicle of Philanthropy: This month, Indiana University handed out the United States’ first bachelor’s degrees in philanthropic studies. According to Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, the philanthropic studies degree is a liberal arts program designed to produce future nonprofit leaders who are not only well-versed in the day-to-day operations of nonprofit management, but also comfortable with weighing the philosophical questions they may encounter. Communities In Schools always makes sure students receiving our services know about the value of philanthropy and giving back. In fact, giving back to peers and community is one of our Five Basics. It’s wonderful to see a college major dedicated to the subject!

GOOD: Nonprofit organization Truck Farm Chicago is taking the term “food truck” quite seriously. A Ford truck with a small garden in the truck bed, Truck Farm Chicago drives back and forth across the city to teach children and their families about the environment and healthy eating. In a city where childhood obesity exceeds the national average, this is an extremely important lesson to impart. Communities In Schools works hard to make sure children understand the value of healthy eating as well. Our affiliates work with local organizations such as food banks to provide cooking classes so that children know how to make their own healthy meals. We also have community gardens across the nation, giving students and their families access to a constant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables.

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