Studies in the News is a very current compilation of items significant to the Legislature and Governor's Office. It is created weekly by the State Library's Research Bureau to supplement the public policy debate in California’s Capitol. To help share the latest information with state policymakers, these reading lists are now being made accessible through the State Library’s website. This week's list of current articles in various public policy areas is presented below.

Service to State Employees:

• When available, the URL for the full text of each item is provided.

• Items in the State Library collection can be checked out to state officials and staff.

• Access to all materials listed will be provided by the State Information Reference Center, either by e-mail to cslsirc@library.ca.gov or by calling 654-0261.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE & LAW ENFORCEMENT

CHILDREN & YOUTH

Infant Homicide. By Child Trends. (Child Trends, Washington, DC) 2002. 7 p.

Full Text at: www.childtrendsdatabank.org/pdf/72_PDF.pdf

["This new study finds that the infant homicide rate has reached a thirty year high. The rate is almost equal to the homicide rate of teenagers. The study tracked both infant and teen homicide rates from 1970 to 2000. Between 1970 and 2000, the homicide rate of infants increased from 4.3 infant deaths per 100,000 to 9.1 infant deaths per 100,000. Half the infant homicides occur by the fourth month of life, and the risk of infant homicide is highest on the day of birth." CDF Child Health Information Project (December 13, 2002).]

[Request #S7040]

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EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Theoretical Perspectives, Research Findings, and Classroom Implications of the Learning Styles of American Indian and Alaska Native Students. By R. Soleste Hilberg and Roland Tharp, Center for Research, Education, and Excellence at the University of Santa Cruz. ERIC Digest EDO-RC-02-3. (The Center, Santa Cruz, California) September 2002. 2 p.

Full Text at: crede.ucsc.edu/products/print/erics/eric11_learningstyles.pdf

["It's long been known that the culture of a student is one factor that influences his or her learning style, but recent research indicates that even in mono-cultural classrooms, individuals operate with a broad range of learning styles. The authors discuss general theoretical perspectives on learning styles and their own work on the learning styles of American Indian and Alaska Native students. They maintain that even in single-culture classrooms, teachers must use a variety of instructional approaches so that all students can learn effectively. This digest also includes case studies of instructional approaches that accommodate different learning styles and a discussion of their effectiveness."]

[Request #S7042]

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School Dress Codes and Uniform Policies: [Issue Theme.] Policy Report: Reporting on Policy Issues in K-12 Management. Number 4. By Wendell Anderson. (ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon) Fall 2002. 20 p.

Full Text at: eric.uoregon.edu/pdf/policy_reports/policy%20report%20dress%20code.pdf

["Opinions abound on what students should wear to class. Some people believe that a dress code improves student behavior, reduces differences among socioeconomic levels, and enhances students' self-confidence. Others say that it infringes upon students' First Amendment rights, stifles individuality, and imposes unnecessary means of control. This report examines the issue of school dress codes and uniform policies from a variety of perspectives. It presents a brief history of dress codes and uniforms, focusing on the last fifteen years, examines the motivations behind establishing dress codes and presents arguments for and arguments against dress codes and uniforms. Because so many legal issues have been raised over dress codes and uniforms, the report also examines some of the legal actions and important court decisions regarding restrictive dress codes and uniforms. And finally, the report offers suggestions and guidelines from a variety of sources for developing, implementing, and enforcing school dress codes and school-uniform policies."]

[Request #S7043]

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California's Teaching Force: Key Issues and Trends 2002. By the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning. (The Center, Santa Cruz, California) 2002. 52 p.

Full Text at: www.cftl.org/documents/KeyIssues2002.pdf

["Lowest-scoring Schools Getting Subpar Teachers: Schools with the lowest passing rates on California's high school exit exam have twice as many underprepared teachers and more poor minority students than higher-performing schools, according to a new report.... In schools in which less than a quarter of students passed the math portion of the test, on average, 21 percent of teachers were underprepared." Sacramento Bee (December 11, 2002) A6.]

[Request #S7046]

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GENERAL GOVERNMENT

RESEARCH

Public Communication Campaigns and Evaluation: [Special Theme.] The Evaluation Exchange. Vol. 8, No. 3. (Harvard Family Research Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Massachusetts) Winter 2002. 20 p.

Full Text at: www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/eval/issue20/index.html

[Includes: "Using Behavioral Change Theory to Communicate Effectively: The Case with Latino Parent Involvement;" "Using Information Architecture to Improve Communication;" "Credibility, Relevance, and Inescapable Truths: Effective Messages for Youth;" "Understanding Research: Ten Tips;" and others.]

[Request #S7047]

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HEALTH

ASTHMA

"With Every Breath You Take; Breathless: Asthma's Grip on Our Cities." By Kimi Eisele. IN: Onearth, A Publication of the Natural Resources Defense Council, vol. 24, no. 4 (Winter 2003) pp. 14-19.

["Air pollution may be doing more than triggering asthma attacks. It may also be an element in the development of the disease. In industrialized countries, asthma is becoming more common and severe. Five thousand people die of it every year in the U.S. Currently, it is the sixth most common chronic condition in the nation. While there is no scientific consensus that polluted air is helping to drive this epidemic, the evidence pointing to it as a major culprit is getting harder to ignore."]

[Request #S7048]

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State Efforts to Improve Children's Oral Health. By Brendan Krause, the NGA Center for Best Practices, National Governor's Association. (The Association, Washington, DC) November 20, 2002. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.nga.org/cda/files/1102CHILDORALHEALTH.pdf

["States can use a combination of approaches to improve the quality of children's oral health. This brief highlights how states are addressing the following problems: promoting education and prevention; increasing coverage and access; enhancing the dental workforce; improving financing and reimbursement; and improving the quality of data and surveillance."]

[Request #S7049]

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An Epidemic: Overweight and Unfit Children in California Assembly Districts. By Sarah Stone and others, Samuels and Associates. Prepared for California Center for Public Health Advocacy. (The Center, Davis, California) December 2002. 85 p.

Full Text at: www.publichealthadvocacy.org/policy_briefs/study_documents/Full_Report1.pdf

["More than 25% of California children are overweight and about 40% are not physically fit, according to a statewide study of fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders. The study reviewed physical fitness and body composition tests for 1.2 million children in public schools and then organized the data by Assembly district." California Healthline (December 12, 2002).]

[Request #S7051]

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"State-Specific Trends in U.S. Live Births to Women Born Outside the 50 States and the District of Columbia." By B. Sappenfield and others. IN: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 51, no. 48 (December 6, 2002) pp. 1091-1095.

Full Text at: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5148a3.htm

["This report presents state-specific comparisons of live births in 1990 and 2000 to women born outside the 50 states and DC and compares maternal characteristics and live-birth outcomes for these women with those for state-born mothers. Maternal characteristics and reported birth outcomes (preterm births and low birthweight) were analyzed by race/ethnicity. Findings from the study include: state-born women across all racial/ethnic groups were more likely to be unmarried than their counterparts born outside the 50 states and DC; and, overall, state-born women were more likely to give birth to a preterm infant or a low-birthweight infant than were those born outside the 50 states and DC." National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health and Georgetown University, MCH Alert (December 20, 2002) online.]

[Request #S7052]

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Care of Women in U.S. Hospitals, 2000. By H. Joanna Jiang and others. HCUP Fact Book No. 3. AHRQ Publication No. 02-0044. (Agency for Healthcare, Research and Policy, Rockville, Maryland) December 2002. 56 p.

Full Text at: www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/factbk3/factbk3.pdf

["This report shows that pregnancy and childbirth accounted for 4.4 million hospital admissions in 2000, or one of every four hospital stays, and that depression was the second leading reason for the hospitalization of younger women. Other leading reasons for admitting younger women to the hospital include uterine fibroids, gallbladder disease, back problems, and asthma. This fact book includes other such statistics along with a wealth of data on why women of different ages are hospitalized, what happens to them in the hospital, what hospitals charge for their care, and who pays the bill."]

[Request #S7054]

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HUMAN SERVICES

CHILD CARE

Welfare to Work and Child Care Selection: Which Families Use Subsidies and Home Based or Center Care?; Working Paper. By Diane Hirshberg, University of Oregon, and others. Prepared for the California Department of Social Services. (Policy Analysis for California Education, Berkeley, California) November 2002. 38 p.

Full Text at: pace.berkeley.edu/wp_02-5.pdf

["This paper reports on subsidy use and selection patterns for 1,974 parents in three California counties. All had successfully moved from cash aid to jobs or work activities under the state CalWORKs program in 2000-2001, and therefore needed child care. All sampled parents -- residing in Kern, Orange, or Santa Clara county -- were eligible for child care aid when they were initially sampled."]

[Request #S7055]

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The Matrix of Financial Resources for Child Care Facilities Development in California. By Prudence Beidler, National Economic Development and Law Center. (The Center, Oakland, California) Revised November 2002. 48 p.

Full Text at: www.buildingchildcare.org/Matrix%20(web).pdf

["This document is designed to help child care providers and child care advocates in their efforts to access financial assistance to build, purchase, expand or renovate child care centers and homes. The bulk of this document is composed of a grid of information about financial resources, primarily in the form of loan capital, that are child care friendly."]

[Request #S7056]

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Caring For Children: The Cost of Protecting Vulnerable Children. By Roseana Bess and others. (The Urban Institute, Washington, DC) November 2002. 2 p.

Full Text at: www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/310586_FactPerspectives.pdf

["Child welfare financing in SFY 2000 benefited from a brighter fiscal picture: States had greater access to some federal funds, the economy and state revenue collections were booming, and child welfare spending to prevent foster care placements increased. But child welfare financing is already changing in many states. This new fiscal picture could threaten recent strides made in enhancing child welfare services."]

[Request #S7057]

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Key Facts: Children and Video Games. By the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation. (The Foundation, Menlo Park, California) Fall 2002. 4 p.

Full Text at: www.kff.org/content/2002/3271/Video_Game_Key_Facts.pdf

["This publication synthesizes and compiles information on children and video games, including: that more than two-thirds of all children 2-18 live in a home with a video game system; that 92% of children and adolescents ages 2-17 play video games; that children 2-18 spend, on average, between 20-23 minutes a day playing video games; and, that on ay given day, 44% of boys report playing video games compared to 17% of girls."]

[Request #S7058]

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Failing Our Families: A State-By-State Report Card on Family Supports Under Welfare Reform. By Daniel HoSang, Center For Third World Organizing. (The Center, Oakland, California) 2002. 40 p.

Full Text at: www.ctwo.org/growl/pdf/Failing%20Our%20Families.pdf

["This state-by-state report card on family supports under welfare reform finds many states have policies that shut the door to opportunity for welfare families." Connect for Kids Weekly (November 25, 2002).]

[Request #S7059]

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Building Strong Families: An In-Depth Report on a Preliminary Survey on What Parents Need to Succeed. By Eugene C. Roehlkepartain and others. (YMCA of the U.S.A., Chicago, Illinois and the Search Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota) 2002. 92 p.

Full Text at: www.abundantassets.org/pdfs/BSFIn-DepthReport.pdf

["Parents expect a lot from themselves and little from others, according to this survey... A majority of parents surveyed feel they are successful despite the challenges of jobs, sibling rivalry, overscheduled kids and financial pressures. Fifty-three percent report they don't often seek support from extended family, friends and community resources, but that talking with other parents and professionals and having trusted adults spend time with their children would be helpful." Connect for Kids Weekly (November 25, 2002).]

[Request #S7060]

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California Child and Family Services Review: Statewide Assessment. By the California Department of Social Services. (The Department, Sacramento, California) July 2002. 222 p.

Full Text at: www.dss.cahwnet.gov/cfsr/res/pdf/CAStatewideAssessment.pdf

["Society's youngest victims -- children who are abused and neglected ... are often victimized again when California's social welfare system comes to their rescue. Since 1988, the number of foster children in California has more than doubled ... resulting in a huge shortage in qualified foster parents, social workers overloaded with as many as 60 to 70 cases each, and a doubling of state spending on foster care. SFGate.com (December 1, 2002).]

[Request #S7061]

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The Health and Well-Being of Children in Immigrant Families. By Jane Reardon-Anderson and others. The Urban Institute. (The Institute, Washington, DC) November 2002. 8 p.

Full Text at: www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/310584_B52.pdf

["The report ... found that poor immigrant families were more likely than their native-born counterparts to have two parents in the household and that poverty often persisted in these families even when both parents worked. Since it is wages, not lack of employment or work ethic, that is at issue, what these families seem to need are work supports to enable them to boost their wages." San Francisco Chronicle (November 26, 2002) A5.]

[Request #S7062]

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[The following studies, reports, and documents have been ordered or requested, but have not yet arrived. Requests may be placed, and copies will be provided when the material arrives.]

CHILD CARE

"Caring for Our Young: Child Care in Europe and the United States." By Dan Clawson and Naomi Gerstel, University of Massachusetts. IN: Contexts, vol. 1, no. 4 (Winter 2002) pp. 28-35.

["While working parents in the United States struggle to find and afford private child care of even mediocre quality, parents in most European countries easily find publicly funded programs offering good-to-excellent care. Using a comparative perspective, the study synthesize a large body of research and examines the social and political assumptions underlying the quality and types of care available across countries." AScribe Newswire (November 19, 2002) online.]

[Request #S7064]

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