FSCA NEWS

Just a brief reminder that the deadline for program proposals for the annual ASCA Conference is September 5, 2007. The 2008 Conference will be held in Atlanta, June 28-July 1, and the conference theme is “ Setting New Standards.” I encourage you to consider submitting a program or encourage a colleague to do the same.
Florida school counselors are doing some great things in our counseling programs that should be shared with others. For those of you that have never presented at ASCA, it is a rewarding professional experience and I encourage all professional school counselors to experience it at least once. There are a number of you presenting at other national conferences and meetings this year, consider submitting those programs for the ASCA Conference. Additional info and application are available online at www.schoolcounselor.org

Hurricane Katrina and School Counseling Services =AD CAS079
CounselorAudioSource.Net

THIS WEEK: Michael Barocco, a school counselor at Archbishop Rummel High
School in Metairie, Louisiana speaks about school counseling two years after
the Katrina hurricane. Mr. Barocco is interviewed by CAS Contributing Editor
Edina Renfro-Michel of Montclair State University.
Runtime 42:07
You can download this podcast directly through the link:
http://www.counseloraudiosource.net/feeds/cas079.mp3

NIMH: Suicide Prevention

Compilation of background and news about suicide prevention topics, including statistics, recommendations to the media for reporting on suicide, documents on nationals efforts concerning suicide prevention, and booklets on topics such as depression and suicide in older adults and antidepressant medications for children and adults. Also includes information for researchers and links to related resources. From the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

URL: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/suicideprevention/

Pay It Forward Foundation -- Youth Service Mini-Grants (Deadline: 10/15/07)
The Pay It Forward Foundation is accepting applications for its mini-grants that support one-time only service-oriented projects identified by youth as activities they would like to perform to benefit their school, neighborhood, or greater community. Projects must be based on the concept of one person doing a favor for others, who in turn do favors for others - with the results growing exponentially.
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops1081.asp

The Department of Education has issued the following memorandum regarding the 2007 FACTS.org ePEP Materials Toolkit to arrive in September.  The memorandum may be viewed at:

   http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-4580/epeptoolkit-memo.pdf

CREATING SAFE SCHOOLS IS EVERYONE’S BUSINESS Bullying in schools is a long-standing, widespread problem, yet parents and school leaders often overlook the harassment occurring in their own communities. Many adults imagine bullying to be the noticeable intimidation of a child by a physically more powerful peer. While such harassment certainly occurs, the overwhelming majority of bullying involves a variety of behaviors that are not physical in nature, such as gossiping, spreading rumors, and name-calling. These anti-social behaviors are often dismissed as a normal part of growing up by many adults, but they have highly detrimental effects on students’ well-being and academic performance. To learn how to create a more respectful and healthy school culture, the adults in childrens’ lives must understand what contemporary student harassment looks like. The popular image of the physically more powerful child beating up a weaker peer makes identifying a "bully" and a "victim" seem easy. While some youth may be seen as more aggressive and hostile than others, both research and conversations with students show that nearly all students have had experiences bullying and being bullied. A child who is visibly teased, for example, also may be spreading rumors and hurting other students. Realizing this, schools are moving away from "zero-tolerance" policies of identifying "bullies" and removing them from the classroom. Instead, many school leaders have begun focusing on the way their school environment can encourage respectful behaviors among all students. Even when an actual act of bullying is addressed, write Ryan Schwartz and Debra Chasnoff, in PTA’s Our Children magazine, the underlying factors that lead to negative behavior are rarely acknowledged. Children in all grade levels use difference as a reason to discriminate, exclude, and make fun of their peers. Perceived distinctions based on race, class, religion, gender, sexual orientation, body type, and physical or mental abilities are the main foundation for harassment, especially in middle school.

http://www.pta.org/pr_magazine_article_details_1187297022546.html

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: HELPING YOUR CHILD OVERCOME SEPARATION Clinical psychologist Mark Crawford says separation anxiety is fairly common among children ages 6 to 10. "It's most often associated with a child's fear of something happening to a parent if they are not there to watch over them," Crawford explains. "Children have this irrational fear that, 'If I can't see Mom or see Dad, something may happen to them and they may not come back." Crawford suggests a child doesn't have to be going off to school to experience anxiety. It can happen at home when a parent leaves a room for a couple of minutes. "It's pretty dramatic. Typically, what happens is children will cling onto the parents, quite literally, they will grab on to their leg or their hand. They'll almost have a panic response."  The behavior usually occurs with one parent and not the other, Crawford says. "Anxiety in kids can look sometimes like defiance, rebellion, anger or stubbornness when it's really just panic, kids panicking because they are so afraid." Children will even  actually outgrow separation anxiety, Crawford says, but there are many things parents can do to speed up the process. Make sure children meet their new teacher and see where they'll sit in the classroom before school starts in order to get familiar with the environment. Allow the child to pick out a new backpack and school supplies, reports Judy Fortin for CNN. Sending along a transitional item like a photo, special toy or note from Mom or Dad can help ease fears on the first day. Crawford advises parents to model confidence. "What happens a lot of times -- a parent's anxiety feeds the child's anxiety. ... Just say 'I'll be fine. You'll be fine. This is where you're supposed to be, and I will be here, and everything will be OK.' "

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/family/08/20/hm.separation.anxiety/index.html

The Department of Education has issued the following memorandum regarding the District Reporting of Major Area of Interest.

Memo:  http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-4576/mairpt-memo.pdf

Questions & Answers:  http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-4577/mairpt-att1.pdf

File Specifications:  http://info.fldoe.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-4578/mairpt-att2.pdf

What To Expect Your First Year Teaching [pdf]

http://www.teachersfirst.com/whatexpect.pdf

The Teachers First website has been offering up high-quality lessons, teaching units, and web resources for teachers for almost ten years. Along with these resources, they have also created a number of papers and presentations that are designed to support the careers of teachers who are just entering the profession. One such resource is the helpful 48-page manual by Amy DePaul titled "What To Expect Your First Year of Teaching". The document was prepared under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement and it contains a cornucopia of insights and observations from both veteran and first-year teachers. Visitors can skip around the report at their leisure and they may also wish to forward it along to other fellow educators.

Give Kids Good Schools Week: Give Kids Good Schools Week, Oct. 15-22, is part of a national public education campaign providing Americans with the information and resources they need to take action in their communities and improve their public schools. Visit GiveKidsGoodSchools.org, to learn the facts about quality public education and for easy-to-use materials such as: FAQ About Public Schools, How is My School Doing? and Tips to Start Public School Conversations.

Free Teleconference on Exploring Educational Services for Childhood Cancer Survivors: This free teleconference on Aug. 23, 2007, at 2 p.m. EST: empowers parents to be effective advocates for their children, covers ways to overcome roadblocks to receiving educational services and support, acquaints noneducators with the differences between a 504 Plan and an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and offer parents recommendations for communicating effectively with their school district. Register online.

Celebrate Inclusive Schools Week: ASCA is a partner in Inclusive Schools Week Dec. 3-7, 2007, celebrated annually to highlight and celebrate the progress schools have made in implementing inclusive practices to ensure a quality education for an increasingly diverse student population, including students with disabilities and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Inclusive Schools Week is organized by the Urban Special Education Leadership Collaborative and Education Development Center Inc. Get more information.

Teen Internet Safety Survey: The third annual Teen Internet Safety Survey conducted by Cox Communications Inc., in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), reveals a mix of encouraging and troubling news. Survey results reveal increased involvement by parents and guardians in monitoring Internet use. Still, many teens remain unconcerned about the risks of sharing personal info online, and nearly two-thirds post photos or videos of themselves. See the complete survey results.

Learn About Job Corps: Job Corps is a federal program in which students can finish high school, prepare for college or technical school or receive certification in a technical trade. And best of all, it's free for those who are eligible. Job Corps provides income-eligible young men and women with an opportunity to gain the experience they need to begin a career or advance to higher education. Most students live on campus, but some commute to their assigned centers for training. Job Corps provides hands-on training in more than 100 career areas, helps students earn a high school diploma or GED, and assists with transitional support after graduation. Learn more.

The Florida Office of Drug Control and the Statewide Office of Suicide Prevention proudly invite you to participate in the 2007 Florida Suicide Prevention Symposium, November 6-7, 2007 at the Embassy Suites–University of South Florida in Tampa. The conference theme, Partnerships for Saving Lives, celebrates the collaborations between various organizations and individuals who work to prevent suicide.

This year's focus will acknowledge the strengths of existing partnerships as well as opportunities to forge new relationships as we work to reduce suicide and provide support to those affected by suicide. This year, the conference will feature innovative workshops, plenary sessions, and a new opportunity for poster presentations that will inspire our work and take us to a new understanding of the problem of suicide.

We invite the collaborative efforts from individuals and organizations such as suicide prevention planners, survivors, universities, crisis centers, clinicians, prevention specialists, coalitions, faith-based organizations, psychologists, and many others. This is an opportunity for all to share their perspectives and experiences in suicide prevention and learn about the latest research and best practices. Please share the attached brochure with your colleagues and friends.

www.preventioninflorida.org

From: Commissioner Blomberg
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:03:26 -0400

Dear Teachers:
 
Welcome to the 2007-2008 school year.  Whether you are returning to the classroom or just beginning your teaching career, you play a fundamental role in Florida’s public education system.  Our state has been nationally recognized for education reforms that have led to increased student achievement for students of all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds.  This success is a direct result of your efforts, your passion for your students and the input you have provided the Department of Education along the way.  I am looking forward to another year of working together toward our common goal of ensuring all students are learning and reaching their full potential.  
 
As we begin this school year, I’d like to share with you some of what the Department of Education has been working on and will continue to focus on in the months to come.
Math and Science
The Department recently created the new Office of Mathematics and Science to bolster student achievement in these subjects, and to provide teachers with professional development for these areas – similar to what the Just Read, Florida! Office has done for Reading over the last six years.  We are also working to develop new, world-class Mathematics and Science standards, which you’ll be hearing about more as we move forward.  

Major Areas of Interest
This year’s ninth grade class will be the first to choose a Major Area of Interest, which is really just an opportunity for students to arrange four of their eight elective courses into a related area of study.  A Major Area of Interest lets students explore or pursue a subject they are passionate about.  It helps them see a particular elective course in the context of a larger, related area of study, allowing them to understand how a particular course fits into preparing for a real-world career.  Choosing a high school Major Area of Interest is not like choosing a college major, nor is it a lifelong decision.  Students have the ability to change their Major Area of Interest if they decide that a particular area is not for them.  Florida school districts have played an integral role in creating the Major Areas of Interest available to students.  Currently, there are more than 440 different Major Areas of Interest offered throughout the state.  
 
In preparation for the selection of a Major Area of Interest and to give students hands-on involvement in plotting their educational paths, middle school students statewide will log on to FACTS.org, the state’s online academic advising system, to access the ePersonal Education Planner (ePEP).  This tool enables students to choose their own educational and vocational goals and then to map out the high school courses that will help them reach those goals.  As educators, you help guide your students’ choices.  The FACTS.org Web site, located at www.FACTS.org <http://www.facts.org/> , provides valuable resources to assist you in this endeavor.

Sunshine Connections
Through a partnership with Microsoft, the Department of Education is in the process of developing an online clearinghouse of resources and tools designed exclusively for Florida educators.  Called Sunshine Connections, this online environment gives you access to a wide variety of resources designed to enhance curriculum, professional development opportunities, strategies to assist with classroom management, differentiating instruction, and other important topics. While a number of districts have already been participating in the Sunshine Connections pilot project, this resource will become available to many more districts during the 2007-2008 school year.  To begin using some of the valuable resources already available to you and to learn more about the project, visit www.sunshineconnections.org
 
Your expertise, enthusiasm, talents, and caring nature are the keys to success for your students.  Keep up the good work and keep doing what you do best – teaching.  I’m certain we’ll once again see the results of your efforts in every student that moves on well prepared for the next challenge.  
 
My best wishes for a wonderful school year.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jeanine Blomberg
Commissioner    

The Clorox Company Foundation -- Education and Youth Development Grants (Oakland, CA)

The Clorox Company Foundation supports programs that prepare young people to participate successfully in society and to contribute back to the communities in which they live. The Foundation gives priority to projects that strive to reach the following goals: 1) improve the academic performance of children, especially through strategies that foster reform within the public schools; 2) prepare youth for the world of work and for community leadership; and 3) promote positive relationships among youth from diverse cultural and ethnic groups.

Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status in Oakland, CA.

Deadline: October 1, 2007

Please Note: The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) does not administer this funding opportunity.

Contact the Clorox Company Foundation directly for complete program information and application guidelines: http://www.thecloroxcompany.com/community/guidelines.html

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/apa-pro080807.php

Public release date: 18-Aug-2007

Contact: Pam Willenz
public.affairs@apa.org
202-336-5700
American Psychological Association

Psychologists reflect on 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's speech to APA Annual Meeting

King was an early identifier of the role of social science and mental health professionals in studying the impact of social injustice and advocating for social change

SAN FRANCISCO—In the summer of 1967, seven months before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed the American Psychological Association (APA) annual meeting outlining the important role he believed psychologists and other social scientists should play in helping the United States overcome the legacy of slavery and continued racism.

King asserted that the promotion of mental health and psychological development was largely contingent on society’s ability to afford opportunity and justice for all of its citizens. King challenged his APA audience to expand their scope beyond traditional work settings in order to acquire culturally competent skills and have a wider impact. He wanted social scientists to study and support specific structural changes, such as strategies to reduce earnings, health and educational disparities, that would foster the psychological well-being of large segments of society. King acknowledged that many within the white majority would have difficulty accepting such change but that it was up to social scientists to study such resistance and help people overcome it.

“In Dr. King’s day, most psychologists of the time were generally uninterested in implementing new professional roles that could help ameliorate the complex problems of racial and structural inequities that existed in the 60s,” remarks Dr. Michael D’Andrea, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii and the Executive Director of the National Institute for Multicultural Competence. “What Dr. King saw that others had to learn was that individuals could realize new and untapped dimensions of their psychological health when they worked collectively to ameliorate the various forms of violence, injustice and oppression that diminish people’s sense of dignity and value as human beings.”

D’Andrea will be part of a panel at the APA’s 115th annual convention in San Francisco reflecting on the King speech and examining whether psychology has fulfilled King’s visions. The panelists will also announce plans for a three-year “national discussion” on race, peace and justice grounded in King’s teachings. This discussion will consist of town hall style forums at universities across the United States.

Has Psychology Fulfilled Dr. King’s Vision? Inequity and Racism as Public Health Issues

In 1967, King also called on social scientists to help build an understanding of the underlying causes of the urban violence and inner city rioting of the period.

King spoke of the need for social scientists to address what he called the “three pillars” of oppression and mental disorder in society. King wanted psychologists to study the interlinkages among the complex problems of racism, classism and militarism.

King was ahead of his time in his belief that social structures that foster social injustice and discrimination can lead to negative health outcomes and reduce psychological wellness, according to Dr. Thomas A. Parham, PhD, professor of Psychology at the University of California at Irvine, and another APA panelist.

Today, 40 years later, there is a growing body of published research that supports King’s hypothesis. Currently, hundreds of studies, most published in psychological and medical journals within the last ten years, document the effects of racial discrimination on physical health including blood pressure and heart disease. While some health experts regard this evidence as preliminary, others now consider racism to be a health risk and a public health problem.

Understanding Modern Day Racism and Building a More Culturally Competent Mental Health Services Infrastructure

King would be pleased with the advancements made within the fields of counseling and psychology toward more cultural awareness, inclusion and competency, but more work has to be done, according to the APA panelists.

“One of modern psychology’s most important contributions is its understanding of how individuals form their racial and cultural identities as well as their attitudes about in-group and out-of-group behavior and characteristics, states Parham. “What I would like to see my colleagues attack next is a better understanding of the complex ways in which racism, sexism, ableism, classism and heterosexism continue to manifest themselves as new forms of injustice in our contemporary society.”

“Particular attention needs to be directed to the manner in which these new forms of injustice undermine the mental health not only of persons in marginalized groups but of those within the majority group who consciously and unconsciously hold on to discriminatory views,” Parham concludes

“Today psychologists are increasingly accepting the mantel of working within our professional realms, both at an individual and societal level, to understand, challenge and ameliorate the effects of racism and other forms of prejudice and intolerance,” states Jessica Henderson Daniel, PhD, assistant professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and a member of the APA Board of Directors. As Dr. King knew, racism and other forms of prejudice are not only costly to individuals; they are costly to whole communities and to society at large.”

###

Presentations: “Remaining Awake During a Great Revolution: What Psychologists Can Do,” Michael D’Andrea, EdD, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and “Relevance of MLK’s Teachings for Psychology: A Liberatory Perspective,” Thomas A. Parham, PhD, University of California-Irvine

Session 2103 – Symposium: Relevance of Martin Luther King’s Teachings for Contemporary Psychologists, 9:00 – 9:50 AM, Saturday, August 18, Moscone Center, Second Floor-West Building, Room 2007, Session Chair: Judy Daniels, EdD, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Discussant: Joseph L. White, PhD, University of California-Irvine

The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 148,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/osu-ydh081507.php

Public release date: 18-Aug-2007

Contact: Marilynn Brewer
Brewer.64@osu.edu
614-292-9640
Ohio State University

You don't have to hate other groups to love your own, researcher says

SAN FRANCISCO – Shiite vs. Sunni. Red state vs. Blue state. Immigrant vs. native.

While it may appear that conflict is an inevitable part of interaction between groups, research actually suggests that fighting, hating and contempt between groups is not a necessary part of human nature, according to an Ohio State University professor of psychology.

“There's still this belief that a group's cohesion depends on conflict with other groups, but the evidence doesn't support that,” said Marilynn Brewer of Ohio State .

“Despite evidence to the contrary, you still see this theory in the research literature and in many textbooks.”

Brewer has spent much of her career studying “ingroups” – the groups we belong to – and their relations with “outgroups” – those groups to which others belong.

She discussed the nature of these intergroup relations in her invited address Saturday Aug. 18 in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. The address was in honor of Brewer winning the 2007 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the APA.

In her address, Brewer said recent evidence suggests that people's attachment to their ingroups has nothing to do with conflict – or indeed any other kind of relation – to other groups.

Instead, people join groups to find a place of trust and security.

“Simply put, we prefer people of our kind, people we know we can rely on. That doesn't mean you have to hate anyone else. But you will be more likely to trust people from your own group,” Brewer said.

In one recent study, for example, Brewer found that people tended to put more trust in total strangers when they learned this stranger attended the same university they did.

“All you need is to have that shared group identity,” she said.

The evolutionary history of humans suggests there is no need to require intergroup conflict to account for the formation of ingroups. Early humans didn't live under dense population conditions in which groups had to compete for local resources.

Given the costs of fighting, and the lack of need to compete, groups would have been more likely to flee from each other rather than fight.

That doesn't mean ingroup bias is benign, Brewer said. Ingroup bias is the basis for discrimination, the favoring of people in your group over those in another.

“You don't have to hate people from other groups in order to disadvantage them and to deny them the opportunities you have in your group,” she said. “That's a real downside to ingroup bias.”

Another common misconception about the formation of groups is that people join to boost their self-esteem. In other words, the argument is that the purpose of joining groups is to say “my group is better than your group.” Again, research disproves this theory, Brewer said.

“The basic underlying mechanism for ingroup favoritism is trust and security and not self-esteem,” she said.

Research has shown that when people are asked why their ingroup is better than other groups, they focus on traits such as trustworthiness, friendliness and kindness.

People don't necessarily say their group is wealthier or smarter or more successful than others.

“Most people are reality bound. They know if their group is not as good as others when it comes to things like wealth, and they won't pretend otherwise,” Brewer said.

“If people were just looking for self-enhancement, they would just say their group is the best at everything, and that isn't the case. What people are really looking for is trust and security.”

While conflict and hate don't need to be a part of group membership, a look at the news today shows that conflict does occur often, when groups battle over resources, or threats to identity or values.

When people are secure about their own identity and the identity of their group, and there is no competition for resources, conflict is not normally a problem. But if people are insecure about what their group means, or their place in it, they may support conflict as a way to enhance cohesion within the group, Brewer said.

That suggests that marginal members of a group – those who feel least included – will be the ones most concerned about keeping distance between groups and pushing hostility toward outgroups.

One way to minimize conflict between groups may be to take advantage of the fact that people belong to many groups with cross-cutting memberships, Brewer said. People have their national and racial identities, occupational and religious groups, school or alumni groups, as well as neighborhood, hobby and club affiliations.

“People have these different group identities and we've been working on ways to find out how people understand these memberships and how it affects their attitudes toward other groups,” she said.

“We do find that those people who have multiple identities and experience these identities in complex, cross-cutting ways, are indeed more accepting of diversity and have more positive feelings toward racial and religious outgroups. That suggests that there are psychological ways of breaking the boundaries of our small ingroup-outgroup distinctions.”

###

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/jaaj-srd081607.php

Public release date: 20-Aug-2007

Contact: Lisa Worley
305-243-5184
JAMA and Archives Journals

Survey reveals disparities in skin cancer knowledge, protection among high school students

In a survey of Florida high school students, white Hispanic teens were more likely to use tanning beds and less likely to consider themselves at risk for skin cancer or protect themselves from the sun than white non-Hispanic teens, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) rays is a major risk factor for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and the majority of lifetime exposure occurs by age 18, according to background information in the article. White Hispanics have a lower rate of skin cancer than white non-Hispanics, but are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage. This suggests that “there are differences in knowledge and behavior related to the prevention of skin cancer in white Hispanic and white non-Hispanic populations; therefore, we hypothesize that these differences may exist in students and may be related to early acquisition of knowledge,” the authors write.

Fangchao Ma, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues surveyed 369 Florida high school students (221 white Hispanics and 148 white non-Hispanics) about their skin cancer knowledge, perceived risk and sun protection behaviors. In addition, students were asked questions related to burning and tanning after sun exposure to determine their skin type.

Compared with white non-Hispanic students, white Hispanic students were:

• More likely to tan deeply (44.2 percent vs. 31 percent)

• 60 percent less likely to have heard of skin self-examination and 70 percent less likely to have been told how to perform it

• About 1.8 times as likely to never or rarely wear sun-protective clothing

• About twice as likely to never or rarely use sunscreen

• Less likely to think they had an average or above-average risk for skin cancer (23.1 percent vs. 39.9 percent)

• 2.5 times as likely to have used a tanning bed in the previous year

“These differences between white Hispanic and white non-Hispanic students remained significant after age, sex, sun sensitivity and family history of skin cancer were controlled for,” the authors write.

“Our survey indicated that a significantly lower proportion of white Hispanics than white non-Hispanics wore sun-protective clothing or used sunscreen with a sun protection factor of 15 or higher, regardless of skin sensitivity to the sun,” they conclude. “Such gaps indicate that there is a need to include white Hispanic students in skin cancer prevention programs targeting young persons.”

(Arch Dermatol. 2007;143(8):983-988. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)

Editor’s Note: This study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health through the Redes En Acción program. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Editorial: Teen Skin-Cancer Education Should Address Appearance

Teens tan because they like the effect it has on their appearance, and showing how tanning can damage the skin has been shown to help change sun-related behavior in young people, writes Ann F. Haas, M.D., of the National Coalition for Sun Safety, Sacramento, Calif., in an accompanying editorial.

“The current strategy consists of providing acceptable, healthy alternatives to tanning (highlighting the positive features of the alternatives), emphasizing the negative appearance aspects of tanning and working to change the social norms regarding the ‘tanned-is-healthy-and-attractive’ message,” Dr. Haas writes. “The message should be sex and age appropriate and include a cross section of the adolescent community, including family, school settings, health care providers and the media.”

(Arch Dermatol. 2007;143(8):1058-1061. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)

Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

Girls Gotta Have IT

from Digital Smarts Blog by Power to Learn

The K-12 NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology) Alliance (College Board, ISTE, American School Counselor Association, Girl Scouts, and other organizations) offers a free kit packed with materials for encouraging girls to consider careers in information technology (IT). The kit includes the following publications: Totally Amazing Careers in Engineering, Science Can Take Her Places!, Girls and Information Technology, Computing Degrees and Careers, IT is all about Me, and more. You can download the materials in pdf format from the site.

http://childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp

America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics' primary mission is to enhance and improve consistency in data collection and reporting on children and families. After a decade of publishing its report, the Forum presents this newly restructured 10th anniversary edition of America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007 which provides the Nation with a summary of national indicators of child well-being and monitors changes in these indicators. In addition to providing data in an easy-to-use, non-technical format, the purpose of the report is to stimulate discussions among policymakers and the public, exchanges between data providers and policy communities, and improvements in Federal data on children and families.

http://www.cescal.org/

The Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCaL)

The Center’s mission is to promote excellence in the field of school counseling and to assist school counselors, their site and central office administrators as they design, implement and evaluate their school counseling programs. CESCaL will provide training by national leaders in school counseling, on-line support for creating school counseling programs and consultation from state and national leaders in school counseling and administration with experience in implementing ASCA National Model® school counseling programs.  

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards honor young people in grades 5 through 12 who have demonstrated exemplary voluntary service to their communities. Maximum Award: $5,000. Eligibility: Students in grades 5-12 who have conducted a volunteer service activity within the past year. Deadline: October 31, 2007.

http://www.prudential.com/view/page/public/12846

Source: PEN Weekly NewsBlast for August 17, 2007

www.PublicEducation.org

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: THE MISSING PIECE OF A WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATION Michael Pritchard is a healer, and a pioneer in the field of social-emotional learning (SEL), the often-neglected missing piece in a well-rounded education. For the past two decades, he has been touring the country, talking and listening to students, teachers, and parents. He has written two books and produced a series of award-winning videos that focus on the critical issues of character and emotional intelligence for middle and high school students. "What I try to teach kids is that we have to be more real about our emotions," explains Pritchard. "Shakespeare said, 'Always give sorrow words. Grief that does not speak whispers to the over-fraught heart and bids it to break.' I'm teaching kids that tears that do not flow will make other organs weep inside us. We get sick if we try to hold all that pain in. And then, the unaddressed grief turns to anger, and the anger to rage. And it has two directions -- out to the community, or inward toward the self, and self-destructivenes  s." For years, most mainstream educators have marginalized Pritchard and other SEL advocates. Now, their pleas for others who work with youths to "get real" about students' emotions are finally being heard. Late last year, the Illinois State Board of Education distributed the state's new Social and Emotional Learning Standards for K-12 students. Just as standards in language arts and math, for example, require students to achieve certain benchmarks, the SEL guidelines hold them accountable for proficiency in self-awareness, social awareness, and decision making. For Maurice Elias, author of "Raising Emotionally Intelligent Teenagers and Emotionally Intelligent Parenting", this is one school reform effort that just might work. "When you look at the literature on education reform, it's replete with failure," says Elias. "We've been treating students as if they're not people -- as if they're somehow sponges, and not human beings that come in with their emotions in full play."I  don't know of anybody that can learn in the absence of a positive relationship," he adds. "We learn from the people we care about. And yet we somehow pretend that in school, it doesn't matter. So, those who are actually concerned about academics should be concerned about social and emotional learning as well." Numerous studies link emotional well-being to academic success, and stress to failure, writes Ken Ellis in Edutopia. For Pritchard, teaching SEL is a no-brainer. "I say to the principals, 'No matter what we teach kids, love is more important than any knowledge we give them.' Because they can't become the gift that they're supposed to become if they're disconnected from their heart."

http://www.edutopia.org/michael-pritchard-cultivating-emotional-intelligence

http://www.sparconline.net/

The Support Personnel Accountability Report Card (SPARC) is a continuous improvement tool that gives a school site an opportunity to demonstrate effective communication and a commitment to getting results. Modeled after the School Accountability Report Card (SARC), the SPARC has been developed by an advisory group of Los Angeles County counselors, counselor supervisors, counselor educators, and California Department of Education consultants.

http://www.cyberbullying.us/

NEW - We have created two new Fact Sheets. The first summarizes our MySpace research concerning the extent to which adolescents post personal information on their profile pages. The second is a heavily-requested document that provides parent/teenager "scripts" to promote dialogue and discussion about cyberbullying. We hope they are of use to you; please see the Resources section for additional downloads.

If you are an adult who has dealt with cyberbullying affecting youth in your life (children, students, clients, etc.), we would like to hear your story. You can anonymize the experience if you'd like, but please provide as many details as possible.

From: "Martin, Patricia" <PMartin@collegeboard.org>
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:03:15 -0400
Conversation: Announcing Open Position at NOSCA--K-12 School Counselor/Practitioners
Subject: Announcing Open Position at NOSCA--K-12 School Counselor/Practitioners

Hi all,

We need your help in locating the best possible person to fill out our NOSCA team.  

We are looking for a replacement person for Margo McCoy Howe's position here at NOSCA.  Margo will still be working with us on various large project, but she is no longer on staff.  We would like you  to pass the attached  notice on to school counselors who you think might qualify and be interested in the job.  Salary will be based on the experience of the applicant.   We are looking for an individual who will bring the following attributes to the NOSCA team:

•    Strong  effective practitioner skills
•     Substantial expertise in college counseling processes
•     Commitment to equity
•    High  level of writing and presentation skills
•    Must be  able to relocate to DC area  
•    Must   be able to do considerable travel

Candidates can apply on line at this site:  http://www.collegeboard.com/about/association/careers/openings.html <http://www.collegeboard.com/about/association/careers/openings.html>
 
Thanks, in advance, for your help.  Feel free to give my number to people who might want to call to talk about the position.

In the meantime, have a great school year!
Pat Martin

 
Patricia J. Martin
Assistant Vice President
National Office for School Counselor Advocacy
The College Board
1233 20th Street NW, Suite 600
Washington DC 20036 -2375
(202) 741-4714
(202) 741-4743 Fax
pmartin@collegeboard.org

Back-to-School Transitions: Tips for Parents, a fact sheet from the National Association of School Psychologists, provides tips for parents to reduce anxiety and improve student functioning at the beginning of the school year. http://www.nasponline.org/resources/home_school/b2shandout.aspx

The Effectiveness of Universal School-Based Programs for the Prevention of Violent and Aggressive Behavior, in this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, summarizes the recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, convened to study the role of these programs in preventing violence in low socioeconomic and high crime school settings. The Task Force determined that all grade and age groups benefited from these programs and that they should be employed universally. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5607a1.htm?s_cid=rr5607a1_e

Federal Research Grants for School-Based Interventions to Prevent Obesity (R01, R03, and R21) (Deadlines: Vary)
The National Institutes of Health is accepting applications for its School-Based Interventions to Prevent Obesity Grant Program. The purpose of this program is to encourage the formation of partnerships between academic institutions and school systems in order to develop and implement controlled, school-based intervention strategies designed to reduce the prevalence of obesity in childhood.
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops1073.asp

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/osu-ysd080907.php

Public release date: 11-Aug-2007

Contact: Paul von Hippel
von-hippel.1@osu.edu
Ohio State University

Year-round schools don't boost learning, study finds

NEW YORK – Students in “year-round” schools don't learn more than their peers in traditional nine-month schools, new research has found.

A sociologist at Ohio State University found that, over a full year, math and reading test scores improved about the same amount for children in year-round schools as they did for students whose schools followed a traditional nine-month calendar.

“We found that students in year-round schools learn more during the summer, when others are on vacation, but they seem to learn less than other children during the rest of the year,” said Paul von Hippel, author of the study and research statistician in sociology at Ohio State.

The problem with year-round schools may be that they don't actually add more school days to the 180 typically required, von Hippel said. Instead of a three-month summer vacation, year-round schools typically have several breaks of three to four weeks spread throughout the year. The total number of school days and vacation days remains unchanged, but they are distributed more evenly over the calendar.

Although school districts often adopt year-round schedules to help alleviate overcrowding, some educators have claimed that eliminating the long summer vacation will provide academic benefits for students.

“The results don't support that claim,” von Hippel said.

Von Hippel presented his results Aug. 11 in New York City at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

One supposed benefit of year-round calendars is that they do away with the slowdown or loss of learning that students commonly experience over the summer. But “year-round schools don't really solve the problem of the summer learning setback – they simply spread it out across the year,” von Hippel said.

The study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. Von Hippel examined reading and math test scores of children in kindergarten and first grade in 748 public schools and 244 private schools from around the country.

Scores from students in 27 public schools classified as year-round (none of the private schools had a year-round calendar) were compared to scores of students in schools with traditional calendars.

Nearly all of the year-round schools were in urban and suburban areas, and most were in the West. Children attending year-round schools were mostly Hispanic and tended to be somewhat poorer than average, but their poverty was moderate rather than severe. Year-round schools also tended to have problems with overcrowding. In fact, year-round schedules are often adopted to cope with crowding. By staggering students' schedules, year-round schools can arrange for some students to be in session when others are on vacation; in this way, schools can accommodate more students than they could on a traditional nine-month calendar.

Von Hippel said he was able to take into account issues such as poverty and overcrowding when comparing scores to ensure that comparisons between test scores in year-round and traditional schools were fair.

Reading and math tests were given to students at the beginning and end of kindergarten and first grade; comparing these test scores allowed von Hippel to estimate the amount learned during kindergarten, during the summer between kindergarten and first grade, and first grade.

Over a twelve-month period, average test score gains were less than 1 percent larger in year-round than in nine month schools – which von Hippel said is “an absolutely trivial difference.”

Some proponents of year-round schools argue that they may do the most good for students that come from especially poor families. This study found mixed results for that argument, he said.

Compared to other students, disadvantaged children did seem to gain slightly more in reading test scores in year-round schools than they did in nine-month schools. However, these students from poor families saw no increase in math scores in year-round compared to traditional schools.

“There may be a slight advantage for students from the poorest families in attending year-round schools, at least when it comes to improving their reading,” he said.

While the results of the study contradict one major argument for year-round schools, von Hippel said this should not be taken as an argument against year-round schedules.

“On purely academic grounds, I wouldn't advocate a year-round calendar, but I can't recommend against it, either,” he said.

If a school has a non-academic reason for adopting a year-round calendar – such as coping with overcrowding – it can do so without any major harm to academics. And if it already has a year-round calendar, there is no academic reason to switch back.

“On the other hand, if a school is considering a year-round calendar in hope of boosting academic achievement, it seems unlikely that those hopes will be realized,” von Hippel said.

###

This research was supported in part by grants from the Spencer Foundation and the National Institute for Child Health and Development.

http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?pl=325&sl=127&contentid=176

ASCA Foundation

ASCA Foundation

The ASCA Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 fund established to encourage grants to further the school counseling profession and the development of all students. Individual and corporate donations will be used to support the projects of the foundation.

Vision/Mission Statement
The purpose of the ASCA Foundation is to foster research and provide education on topics of value to school counselors and their students. The foundation will provide scholarships and grants to benefit school counseling programs.

Foundation Objectives

• Initiate projects to enhance the personal, career and academic development of all students
• Promote research to demonstrate school counseling efficacy
• Increase public awareness of the school counseling profession
• Promote standards and best practices in school counseling programs
• Develop educational materials and professional development opportunities for the advancement of school counseling
• Support publications emphasizing excellence in school counseling

Each year, ASCA awards $1,000 scholarships for up to 10 deserving students in a full-time master's-level school counseling program. For more information or to apply, download the application.

For more information on the ASCA Foundation or to make a tax-deductible donation, contact the ASCA office, (703) 683-ASCA.

http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/070719grants4509.aspx

Date: 7/18/2007
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press
Telephone: 240-276-2130

FY 2008 Forecast Provides Look Ahead at SAMHSA Grant Opportunities

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is offering an early look at its 2008 grant opportunities in a new funding forecast and help developing applications in an updated manual.