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It Matters to Teens if We Care
There's a link between delinquent behavior in teens and teachers who show concern for their students, according to new research from the University of Chicago. The researchers say having a teacher who students perceive cares - what they call "connectedness" - is associated with lower rates of drug and sexual risk behaviors among high risk youth.
The findings, reported in the current issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, show that "adolescents who reported low teacher connectedness were two times more likely to use marijuana and amphetamines, and two times more likely to be sexually active, have sex while high on alcohol or drugs, have a partner who was high on alcohol or other drugs during sex, and have multiple sexual partners."
"Risk & Protective Factors of Pennsylvania's Youth," a new paper to be released by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) this fall, reports similar findings - that it matters to young people if the adults in their lives show support for and encourage them.
A survey of about 75,000 Pennsylvania teens shows many of them do not feel supported or protected by their schools, families, neighbors and communities. The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS), conducted in 2003 by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, obtained data from a representative sample of 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th graders in urban, rural, and suburban communities in every region of the state.
The PAYS survey queried students about "protective factors" in their lives, such as clear standards for behavior communicated by families, schools and communities; strong bonds with adults who hold healthy beliefs; and an investment in positive lines of action such as school, service and work. These protective factors "can buffer young people from risks and promote positive youth development" and help smooth the journey from youth to adulthood.
Fully 45 percent of students responded that they are not praised by teachers for good work and that their teachers do not tell parents about good work. Home is where youth feel most appreciated for their accomplishments. Still, 25 percent reported that their parents do not express pride in their accomplishments, while one-third said they do not feel strong enough family attachments to share thoughts and feelings with parents.
A recent national survey echoes some bleak opinions of Pennsylvania's youth. In August, nearly one-third of all teens surveyed nationwide said "now is a bad time to be growing up."
Whether we agree with these perceptions or not is irrelevant. What matters is what our kids perceive, and this despair is a part of their lives. If they do not feel supported as young people, how can we expect them to transition successfully to become well-adjusted adult members of society?
"Risk & Protective Factors" also describes the risk factors in teens' lives, the variables that are known to increase the likelihood that a student will engage in one or more problem behaviors." Decades of research supports the view that alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, delinquency, poor school achievement, and other negative outcomes for young people are associated with the presence of a number of risk factors.
When there is an absence of hope and the belief that they are not supported, young people tend to think less about the risks they take, perhaps reasoning, "Who cares, anyway?" The fact that kids aren't buffered from risks means they have a more difficult time transitioning to adulthood. And we want all youth to be ready for whatever life throws their way: to be a productive member of society, a solid citizen and to earn a family-sustaining wage.
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Helping Youth Transition to Adulthood
In this issue of Partnerships, we focus on young people ages 12-21 in Pennsylvania and the needs they have as they transition to adulthood. Our goal is simple: To ensure that every Pennsylvania child is ready by age 21… ready for more education, work and life. What does that mean?
It means how well young people transition from middle school to high school, high school to college or work and beyond. It means the skills and supports young people need to move without difficulty from one phase of their lives to another. One in seven Pennsylvanians (1,688,643) is a young person 12-21 faced with the challenges of transitioning from youth to adulthood. This year Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children began dedicating resources to analyzing the conditions of teenagers in Pennsylvania. You'll read summaries of our first three reports in this newsletter:
"The Graduation Gap," "Youth Unemployment," and "Risk & Protective Factors." We will convene a coalition of key stakeholders to develop and advance a public policy agenda and reach out to policymakers at the state and federal levels to partner with PPC to improve chances that youth in PA will transition successfully to adulthood. If you are interested in more information on the coalition, contact Pete Trufahnestock, our Youth Policy Director, at ptrufahnestock@papartnerships.org or give him a call in our office.
The issue of a successful transition from youth to adulthood is gaining steam outside Pennsylvania, too. As you'll read in this newsletter, researchers, policy experts, educators, parents and community leaders recently converged in Washington for the White
House Conference on Helping America's Youth. Jan Richter from Connect for Kids was there and she filed a report on the summit. She graciously agreed to let PPC reprint her report, so please be sure to check it out. We also have joined a national learning partnership sponsored by the Forum for Youth Investment which will allow us to work side by side with our colleagues from around the nation who are trying to sort out the same challenges.
Like all Pennsylvanians (and parents!), we want our young people to have hope and anticipation for what the future holds. But there must be an expectation by our young people that their parents, teachers and community members will support them and care about the choices they make. The supports they need and the challenges they face are close to home for me this year as my own children go through major transitions - one as a recent college graduate to the world of work and one from middle school to high school.
All of us need to help pave the way for a successful transition from youth to adulthood for our own children and all the children who live in this great Commonwealth. Please join me in my travels.
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A Snapshot of Pennsylvania Youth
Poverty
One in three Pennsylvanians aged 12-21 lives in a low-income family, below 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines ($37,700 for a family of four).
Graduation Gap
Of the 153,523 ninth graders who started high school in 2000-01, those not reaching graduation in the same district four years later totaled 33,349, or 21.7 percent - more than one in five students.
Foster Care
In 2004, 12,166 children (eight out of 1,000) were placed in foster care/out of home for a variety of reasons including family instability, poverty and abuse and neglect.
Juvenile Justice
More than 40,000 Pennsylvania youth ages 12-21 had a juvenile court disposition in 2003.
Teen Parents
In 2002, 9.2 percent of babies in PA were born to mothers under age 20.
In Pennsylvania, there are 26,047 teenage girls who are juggling the challenges of being a young mother.
Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
Statewide, 1 in 50 students has limited English proficiency, but in some school districts such as Allentown, Lancaster and Lebanon, more than 1 in 10 students struggle to learn English.
Disabilities
Fourteen percent (255,370) of Pennsylvania high school students have disabilities.
Approximately 29,659 students (1.6 percent) have severe disabilities.
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PPC Donor Campaign Underway
PPC's vision is simple: to make Pennsylvania one of the best states in the nation to be a child and to raise a child. We are making headway by winning investments in children's health insurance, better early childhood education, supports for young parents, improved schools, and opportunities for our youth as they transition to adulthood.
But we have a long way to go to reach our vision.
Please join us in our efforts to make Pennsylvania a great place to be a child. Your donation to Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children will make a difference at the most fundamental level, through better schools, stronger families, and vibrant neighborhoods. With your help, PPC will continue to be a voice for children at the policymaking table.
Together, we can build a brighter future for Pennsylvania's children.
Contributions can be donated online using our secure collection system. Go to http://www.papartnerships.org/support_donationonline3.asp.
If you prefer to mail your donation, please make checks payable to Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and mail to PPC, 20 N. Market Square, Suite 300, Harrisburg, 17101-1632.
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PPC Remembers Dr. Tom Langfitt
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children fondly remembers Thomas W. Langfitt, 78, who died in August. Tom, a retired Philadelphia neurosurgeon and former chief executive of the Pew Charitable Trusts, served on the PPC Board of Directors since 2002.
Lucy Hackney, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children's founder and first board president, said Dr. Langfitt helped to secure the original funding for PPC. "Clearly Tom was our godfather, so to speak. He planted the major seeds," Hackney said. "Under Tom's leadership at the Pew, he enabled us to move forward through a very generous grant. He was singular for getting us started."
Though he was a prestigious neurosurgeon in Philadelphia social circles, Hackney said Dr. Langfitt was down to earth and dedicated to his statewide work on the PPC board. "Tom was a terrific guy. He was constantly supportive and always cheering for the organization," she said. "He was totally committed to children and supporting children and families."
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A Look at Graduation and Youth Employment in Pennsylvania
As part of our Youth in Transition to Adulthood project, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) released two fact sheets this summer on issues pertaining to youth employment and high school graduation.
Of the 153,523 ninth graders who started high school in 2000-01, those not reaching graduation four years later totaled 33,349 or 21.7 percent — more than one in five students.
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The first report, released in June, examined the "graduation gap" in Pennsylvania - the number of ninth graders in the 2000-01 school year who did not graduate from high school in the same district four years later.
Of the 153,523 ninth graders who started high school in 2000-01, those not reaching graduation four years later (2003-04) totaled 33,349 or 21.7 percent - more than one in five students. While the data show that the graduation gap is wide in urban districts, it is clear also that this is a statewide issue.
The data, culled from annual school district enrollment and graduation reports submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, show that more than two in five urban ninth graders; one in eight suburban ninth graders and one in six rural ninth graders in 2000-01 did not graduate from high school in the same district four years later. For example, if a ninth grade homeroom in a rural district has 24 students, just 20 students from that classroom will graduate four years later. In a suburban homeroom of 24 students, only 21 will graduate from high school in the same district four years later.
The graduation gap shows how many students were "lost" on the path to graduation: while the statewide average is 21.7 percent, the gap is 44.8 percent in urban districts; 16.1 percent in rural districts and 12.5 percent in suburban districts.
"The problems youth have in graduating from high school and transitioning successfully to adulthood are multifaceted and cannot be blamed solely on a school district's performance," said Joan L. Benso, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. "There are children living in poverty, kids with emotional and physical disabilities, kids in foster care and kids with unique challenges all across Pennsylvania. This is a statewide issue that needs to be addressed by policymakers from across the state."
The graduation gap extends to urban, rural and suburban communities across Pennsylvania. Benso noted that 46 of the 498 districts with high schools lose three out of 10 students on the way to graduation. These include 20 urban, 15 rural and 11 suburban districts.
The greatest student losses occur in the first two years of high school - 7.9 percent between 9th and 10th grades and 7.3 percent between 10th and 11th grades. Only 4.3 percent fail to make it from their junior year to senior year, and only 4.2 percent of seniors fail to graduate.
Some of the districts cited as having wide graduation gaps are among those working to improve graduation rates. Educators and administrators in many of these districts are committed to making positive changes and are implementing new programs such as replacing large impersonal high schools with smaller learning communities, hiring career resource coaches to help students focus on their futures, and requiring a more rigorous core curriculum for high school students to boost graduation rates.
To view data by county or school district, go to www.papartnerships.org/dropouts/index.asp.
Youth Unemployment at all-time High
"The State of Youth Employment" report, published in August, shows that one in 11 Pennsylvania youth 16-2 1 is idle, defined as not working and not enrolled in school. One in seven Pennsylvanians 19-2 1 is not working and not enrolled in school.
Broken down by geographic area, one in five urban Pennsylvanians 19-21 is idle; one in seven rural youth 19-21 is idle; and slightly more than one in nine PA youth ages 19-21 living in suburban areas are not employed and not enrolled.
One in seven young adults 19-2 1 is not working and not enrolled in school in the Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle metro center; in York, and one in nine in Lancaster.
The data, an analysis of 2000 U.S. Census Bureau statistics and Current Population Surveys from 1996-2004, show that only 60 percent of Pennsylvanians 19-21 were employed from 2002-2004. While 60 percent of idle youth in Pennsylvania are white, the employment challenges facing racial minorities are even greater: 1 in 3 African American and Hispanic youth (19-21) is idle.
"The picture in Pennsylvania of idle youth - those not working and not in school - looks quite bleak," Joan Benso said. "Work experience is a valuable part of a successful transition from youth to adulthood. Learning how to be a responsible employee in the teen years creates a smoother transition into the workforce as an adult."
Summer youth employment for high school students has been declining over recent years, too. From 2002 to 2004, less than half of Pennsylvania 16-18-year olds worked during the summer. Increased competition from jobless adults, a surge of retired workers re-entering the workforce, new college graduates working at jobs that do not require a college degree and a lack of jobs all impact youth employment.
PPC's report depicts job creation strategies as well as strategies to engage and employ in-school youth and out-of-school youth. Youth who are enrolled in school or who have graduated from high school face different challenges than those who have not graduated. The report explains why career and technical education (CTE) is a valuable component of the high school experience, particularly for students who do not go on to college.
While focusing attention on career and technical education is essential in preparing tomorrow's workforce, it is equally important to address the needs of young adults who have not successfully completed their high school education. PPC's youth unemployment report provides information on "second chance systems" and other strategies for out-of-school youth. For example, education programs that connect out-of-school youth to high-growth industries have specific roles for employers in providing quality assurance and on-the-job training and are operated by a range of organizations with strong connections to business and education.
To view youth employment data, go to www.papartnerships.org/youthunemployment/.
Both reports can be accessed online in the Publications section of our website, www.papartnerships.org.
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Time for a National Commitment to Youth?
Published: October 31, 2005
*reprinted with permission by Jan Richter,
Connect for Kids by: Jan Richter
The October 25, 2005 White House Conference on Helping America's Youth came almost a century after the 1909 White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children, which historians note marked the first major acknowledgement of a federal role in protecting and helping disadvantaged children.
Since then, the country has made huge strides in efforts to protect, educate and nurture children. But recently, Mrs. Bush and others have noted a constellation of problems facing teens and young adults who for one reason or another have failed to thrive in school and in the workplace.
What's the Problem?
Nationally, as many as 32 percent of students starting out in ninth grade do not graduate from high school on time. The situation is especially dismal for students in many of the nation's high-poverty urban and rural districts. Only half of all students of color attending public high schools graduate. Youth employment rates are at record low levels as well.
Arguing for improving the nation's high schools, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings told the National Association of Manufacturers in September of 2005 that "The one million students who drop out of high school each year cost our nation more than $260 billion dollars. That's in lost wages, lost taxes, and lost productivity over their lifetimes ...When you lose a million students every year that has a tremendous impact on our economy. And it represents the American Dream... denied."
But many say high school reform is just part of the answer. More than 5.4 million young people between the ages of 16 and 24 are already out of school and out of work, yet our nation lacks a coordinated national youth policy to address their needs.
Linda Harris, co-chair of the Campaign for Youth and senior policy analyst at the Center for Law and Social Policy, says "We cannot keep our economy strong, our communities safe and vibrant, and our young people on track unless we create the opportunities for these youth to be connected to the education, employment, counseling, skills, and credentials they need for successful adult life."
White House Conferences, Then and Now
This past year Mrs. Bush has been speaking and visiting programs across the country to give voice to her concerns about young people caught up in gangs and violence. The October 27 summit is part of that effort, designed to bring attention to exemplary programs around the country that keep young people safe and out of trouble.
The first-ever White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children in 1909, convened by President Theodore Roosevelt, brought national attention to the plight of orphans and dependent children and established the federal government's leadership role in reducing infant mortality, preventing childhood diseases and reforming child labor practices, an agenda that became the mandate for the Children's Bureau established in 1912.
While excitement was high among those invited to attend this year's White House Conference on Youth, expectations for this conference were more modest.
Prevention: Just Part of the Answer
Connect for Kids spoke with several leading youth experts who were invited to attend this year's Summit on Youth to learn more about what the federal government could do improve the odds for disadvantaged young people.
When Mrs. Bush began her initiative, she posed the question - what are our communities failing to provide that our young people turn to gangs? It's a question that helps focus attention on strengthening community efforts to help teens stay out of trouble.
Youth experts agree that prevention is important, but many say we should not give up on older youth or those who have already dropped out or made mistakes. They cite a number of proven programs and approaches that have helped young people get back on track and out of trouble.
Many of these programs, like Dennis Torbett's Project CRAFT (a program of the Home Builders Institute), offer personal counseling, hands-on job training and academic instruction. Project CRAFT (Community Restitution, Apprenticeship-Focused Training) is a job training and placement initiative for young people involved in the juvenile justice system. It helps participants learn a skill, earn a second chance and return to their communities ready to find and keep a job.
Torbett says the employment rate for Project CRAFT graduates is around 89 percent, and their recidivism rates are estimated at between ten and 15 percent. "This is indeed impressive when compared against a national recidivism average of 50 percent," says Torbett.
Funding Matters
Given what we already know about the kinds of programs and services that can help young people turn their lives around, many advocates say it is especially frustrating to see federal funding to support such programs fall flat. Over the years federal funding has not kept pace. Funding for youth employment programs decreased from $15 billion in 1979 (real dollars) to $3 billion today, for example, according to the ETS report on dropout rates, One Third of a Nation.
Dorothy Stoneman, founder and president of YouthBuild USA, reports that despite strong bipartisan support in Congress, YouthBuild's funding has failed to keep up with demand. The program, which provides personal counseling, hands-on job training and academic instruction for older youth who have no high school diploma, served 7,000 young people in 2004 - but had to turn away 10,000 more.
The National Network for Youth serves teens who have run away from untenable family circumstances, dropped out of school, or who, homeless, live in the shadows. Many are in the juvenile justice system despite not having committed any crime - locked up for a "status offense" like breaking curfew, running away or skipping school.
Vicki Wagner, president of the network, says we don't even know how many kids are homeless - some as young as 12 years old. "We use a census figure of 1.6 million, but there are one-night counts in communities across the country that would indicate the numbers are probably higher."
Wagner says that the Homeless and Runaway Youth Act is intended to provide an alternative to the juvenile justice system by establishing a continuum of care for youngsters without a family or home to go to. But Wagner notes that the flat funding for homeless and runaway youth services over three decades has taken a toll. Funding that once was adequate to run a 6- to 8-bed facility with comprehensive services now only provides a few days of intermittent counseling on the street or a couple of beds in an emergency shelter, says Wagner.
The Urban Health Initiative says it's hard for successful local programs to maintain their gains when state and federal dollars begin to disappear. Philadelphia's Youth Violence Reduction Partnership, led by Philadelphia Safe and Sound, has dramatically reduced youth homicide rates, for example, but is finding it hard to keep going in this era of diminishing public dollars.
Beyond Funding - A Waste of Potential
Sally Prouty is the head of the National Association of Conservation and Service Corps, which utilizes service as a strategy to successfully re-engage youth who are out of work and out of school. Modeled after the Depression-era CCC program, Youth Corps programs work to revitalize communities, restore the environment and prepare young people for responsible, productive lives.
Prouty says "we must focus on the potential in these young people and provide opportunities for them to experience success. At least one-quarter of adolescents are at serious risk of not becoming productive adults, meaning that a quarter of the future workforce lacks the skills and experiences they need to keep our economy strong and our communities healthy."
Furthermore, Prouty notes, when young people are productively engaged, they add value to their communities and the nation. Karen Pittman, head of the Forum for Youth Investment emphasizes the importance of making sure young people have a voice when policy and program decisions are made. "As stakeholders young people's ideas and priorities need to be included not just in the meetings, but in the programs, institutions and communities in which they live, learn, work and contribute," argues Pittman.
Chris Sturgis, co-chair of the Youth Transitions Funders Group, concurs: "When young people are among the decision-makers at the table, we make better decisions."
Like the first White House Conference on Children in 1909, this latest White House Conference on Youth in 2005 served to bring attention where attention is due - to the young people who need our help to grow up ready for work, family and life.
But we have much more to do to make sure our public policies and dollars are adequate and aligned to provide every young person with the multiple supports they need to get ready for a productive, responsible adulthood.
Jan Richter is advocacy director at Connect for Kids. If you want to receive her weekly updates on Re-Connecting Our Youth, email her at jan@connectforkids.org.
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This Page Last Modified
November 16, 2005
