(An item from ISHN Member information service) A blog post in Education Week underlines the need to address health and social issues that cause students to miss event a few days of school. These would include problems such as asthma, bullying, head lice, pregnancy and other issues. Missing even a few days of school seems to make a difference in whether 8th graders perform at the top of their game, according to a new analysis of results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The report, the first of a planned series of analyses of NAEP's background-survey data, looks at how 4th and 8th graders use existing school time, including their attendance, instructional time, and homework.Fifty-six percent of 8th graders who performed at the advanced level in NAEP reading in 2011 had perfect attendance in the month before the test, compared with only 39 percent of students who performed below the basic level. In comparison, nearly one in five 8th graders at the basic level and more than one in four below basic in reading had missed three or more days in the past month. Read more.
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(An item from ISHN Member information service) The issue of transient or homeless families is part of a series of topics addressed in our ISHN International Discussion Group on Equity, Disadvantage & Disparities. Several articles in Issue #9, 2012 of the Educational Researcher examine the challenges facing these students and families. The introductory article summaries the risks and potential ways to promote resilience among these students. Other articles examine the impact of transience on the children's exucutiive functioning and reading skills. Two other articles focus on the long-term effects on development and educational achievement. The closing commentary calls for greater clarity in our shared terminology, underlying concepts and measurement. Read more.
An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2012 of The School Community Journal helps us to shed misconceptions about the service needs of high risk families living in small, rural towns. The study "examines the process of planning and implementing a needs assessment for a rural school serving low-income students. It illustrates how needs assessments necessarily reflect the planners’ assumptions about at-risk families. Caseworkers interviewed 13 at-risk and 16 not-at-risk families. Rather than finding the need for improved delivery of services that is commonly reported, especially in urban areas, what families most sought was respect. In addition, teachers and parents held different perspectives on many issues, and a successful project would need to address those differences directly. Read more.
(An item from ISHN Member information service) An in-depth report from the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada on their regular national report on student achievement in mathematics reveals that student and school characteristics account for 78% of the variance between student scores. Student characteristics include socio-economic status, support at home for learning, gender, aboriginal status, after school activities, student use of technology etc). School characteristics include size, demographics, presence of special needs students and teacher experience/qualifications). The report suggests that the other factors including the liking school, having friends at school, curriculum, teaching methods, student assessment practices and staff attitudes towards testing can make the learning more equitable and more effective. One of the interesting items is that playing with computer games after school helps math learning (but may not be so good for physical activity). The high quality of the report makes it good reading for advocates of health and social development advocates in that it demonstrates the need for a "whole child" approach to learning. It also may prompt the question as to why educational authorities are not issuing similar reports on the social role of schooling and student learning on health, social development and safety. Read more.
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) An article in August 2012 Issue of the International Journal for Equity in Health examines the "healthy living" strategies in tow Canadian provinces using several policy documents for the analysis. The authors report that " Initiatives active between January 1, 2006 and September 1, 2011 were found using provincial policy documents, web searches, health organization and government websites, and databases of initiatives that attempted to influence to nutrition and physical activity in order to prevent chronic diseases or improve overall health. Initiatives were reviewed, analyzed and grouped using the descriptive codes: lifestyle-based, environment-based or structure-based. Initiatives were also classified according to the mechanism by which they were administered: as direct programs (e.g. directly delivered), blueprints (or frameworks to tailor developed programs), and building blocks (resources to develop programs) 60 initiatives were identified in Ontario and 61 were identified in British Columbia. In British Columbia, 11.5 % of initiatives were structure-based. In Ontario, of 60 provincial initiatives identified, 15 % were structure-based (ie addressed social determinants). Ontario had a higher proportion of direct interventions than British Columbia for all intervention types. However, in both provinces, as the intervention became more upstream and attempted to target the social determinants of health more directly, the level of direct support for the intervention lessened. Read more..
(An item taken from the daily/weekly/monthly ISHN Member information service) An article in the June 2012 Issue of the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity shows the value of using an evidence-based and experience-tested implementation model to improve both the effectiveness and sustainability of a school nutrition program in a tough, low income environment. .Read More
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