Common Strategies Actually Do Prevent Teenage Drinking

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Changing the environment of teen parties and places where alcohol is sold can go a long way to stop young people from drinking, according to a new study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The study looked at fourteen large public universities in California between 2003 and 2006. After finding that heavy drinking at off-campus parties was a common problem, tough new policies were put in place and enforced at half the universities, while the other schools were monitored for comparison. Universities that really focused on these strategies had the highest degree of success. Here’s what they used:

Nuisance party enforcement operations.

School Crime Data Reveals Safety Concerns for Georgia Children

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A new report on school crime and safety shows that students and teachers still have serious concerns in Georgia and across the nation. The Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics compiled data from 2008 - 2009 to give us a snapshot of what’s going on in public high schools across the state:

8.2% of Georgia students said they were threatened or injured with a weapon at school
4.2% admitted they carried a weapon to school during the month prior to the survey
11.7% were involved in a physical fight on school grounds
32.9% said drugs were available to them on school property
4.2% admitted using alcohol on school grounds
7,000 teachers (5.8%) said they were threatened with injury by a student
4,900 teachers (4%) said they were physically attacked by a student
35.2% of teachers said student misbehavior interfered with their teaching

The national snapshot is somewhat different, since the surveys included different age groups.  A startling number of children – 1.2 million – were victims of crime at school.  They reported 619,000 thefts and 743,100 violent crimes and assaults.  (Students surveyed in 2008 were 12-18 years old)  Here are some other surprising numbers:

15 homicides and 7 suicides of children at school during the 2008-2009 school year
8% of students were threatened with a weapon at school
20% of schools reported gang activity
32% of students said they were bullied in 2007

Report Urges Feds to Focus on Why Black Teenage Boys are Failing in School

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The Council of the Great City Schools is calling on the  federal government to do something about the academic and social achievement gap between black and white kids. “Black males continue to perform lower than their peers throughout the country on almost every indicator,” says the groundbreaking report A Call for Change: The Social and Educational Factors Contributing to the Outcomes of Black Males in Urban Schools. The study focuses on six areas in black kids' lives, including readiness to learn, in-school experience and college/career preparation. Here are a few things the report found:

One out of every three black children lived in poverty compared with one out of every ten white children in 2007. Black or poor students attending public school were more likely to be held back during their K-8 school career than their classmates.

New Research on Children Sold for Sex in Georgia

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Every month, an estimated three to five hundred girls are being sold for sex in Georgia, according to a new fact sheet from the Governor’s Office for Children and Families. The Office monitors the problem and reports that girls as young as 12 are serving 10-15 men per night and sometimes up to 45 a night during periods of high demand, including sporting events and conventions. The fact sheet, which is released four times a year, is based on research done by Shared Hope International, The Shapiro Group and Citizens Against Trafficking. Researchers say girls who’ve been exploited often keep silent out of fear of physical and psychological abuse from their trafficker/pimp. Many are tattooed, branded or scarred, a method used by pimps to mark ownership and control over emotionally vulnerable girls, Citizens Against Trafficking reports.

Study Finds Drastic Increase in Kids with ADHD

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More parents are reporting their kids have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. The number is up from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. That means 1 million more kids were diagnosed with ADHD over the course of four years. The study, “Increasing Prevalence of Parent-Reported Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Children,” notes that all demographic groups have reporting this increase. No states had any significant decline in the number of children with ADHD.

Feds Say Suspension Overused on Minority Students

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A growing number of schools suspend over 50% of their racial and ethnic students in a given year, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center study. The study, called Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis, found that zero tolerance policies in schools have led to suspension being overused as a disciplinary tool, especially for kids of color. This corresponds with the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice’s public school discipline study across the state, which is underway right now. As JJIE.org reported Friday, Georgia Appleseed is surveying parents and kids in Phase II of its study on school discipline methods in public schools. An early version of the study, called Effective School Discipline: Keeping Kids in Class, showed a high number of minority kids being punished by out-of-school suspension, which adversely affected their success in school.

Alcoholic Energy Drinks Banned by Some States

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Students nationwide have been getting sick from alcoholic energy drinks, spurring several states to ban them, according to USA Today. After nine Central Washington University students got ill, Washington State restricted the sale of products that combine “beer, strong beer, or malt liquor with caffeine, guarana, taurine or other similar substances,” the Seattle Post-Intelligencer explains. Utah, Oklahoma, Montana and Michigan have also restricted the sale of caffeinated malt liquors. As JJIE.org reported this week, the Cobb Alcohol Taskforce is fighting for a ban on alcoholic energy drinks. Taskforce members complain that manufacturers market the cheap drinks (about $3 per 24-ounces) nicknamed “blackout in a can” and “cocaine in a can” to young people using fruit flavors that mask the taste of alcohol.

New Link Between Early Teen Drinking and Alcoholism

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Kids who begin drinking at 14 or younger are nearly twice as likely to be dependent on alcohol as those who begin drinking between 15 and 17. They are six times more likely to become alcoholics than people who wait until the legal age of 21 to start drinking, according to a new report from the Center for Substance Abuse Research. These findings come from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The report goes on to suggest that alcohol education and prevention efforts start as early as middle school. JJIE.org reports today on the issue of alcoholic energy drinks, sometimes called 'cocaine in a can.'  The companies that make these drinks often target teens in their advertising.

Survey for Georgia Teens and Parents: Your Views On School Discipline

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A new survey to gauge what parents and students think about  public school discipline is being fielded right now by the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice. The non profit group is analyzing student discipline issues across the state. They're looking at student discipline data and interviewing a wide range of people connected with schools and courts, including principles, teachers, school probation officers, attorneys and juvenile court judges. Twelve school districts representing a range of geography and economics are currently participating and have been promised anonymity.  JUSTGeorgia and the Barton Center are helping get the word out to families. “We want a broad based and diverse group of parents and students to respond.  We’ve asked a number of stakeholder groups around the state to forward surveys to their mailing list so we can get as many views as possible,“ said Rob Rhodes, Director of Legal Affairs at Georgia Appleseed.

New Project Studies Kids Transferred to Adult Court

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A new study is underway that focuses on a group of kids we don’t know much about: kids who are arrested and transferred from juvenile court to adult criminal court. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has awarded a grant of $500,000 to Westat Inc., a research organization, to conduct the Survey of Juveniles Charged in Adult Criminal Courts. According to Youth Today, Westat will partner with the National Center for Juvenile Justice to survey states on the number of kids transferred, their demographics and the charges they faced. This may be hard because each state’s juvenile justice system is different and some states do not have data related to kids transferred into adult court.