In transition: Teens aging out of foster care system battle stigma, need support, By Holly Hudson, December 22, 2013, Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier: “Every child who comes through Iowa’s foster care system has a story of their own, and each story is as varied as the children themselves. Laura is a mother of six from Evansdale and asked that her full name not be used. She is decades removed from her experience with the foster system, yet she talks about it like it was yesterday. Laura’s odyssey began when she was removed from her mother’s custody at age 12. Her father had passed away years earlier. Stays in a youth shelter, group homes and even a psychiatric ward followed…”
Month: December 2013
ACA and Medicaid – Minnesota, Wisconsin
Neighboring states diverge on health care, By Nora G. Hertel and James Nord, December 23, 2013, Chippewa Herald: “People in Wisconsin and Minnesota living just barely above the poverty line are about to see their health care fortunes change — in opposite directions. Lisa Nerenhausen is one of those people. Nerenhausen and her husband, who live in Appleton, will likely lose their Medicaid coverage when the state changes its eligibility standards in response to the Affordable Care Act. ‘It’s stressful for us, who are just above the poverty level, to try to figure this out,’ Nerenhausen said of the transition…”
Achievement Gaps
- Academic achievement gap persists for Hispanic students, By Martha Mendoza, December 22, 2013, Los Angeles Daily News: “As Hispanics surpass white Californians in population next year, the state becomes a potential model for the rest of the country, which is going through a slower but similar demographic shift. But when it comes to how California is educating students of color, many say the state serves as a model of what not to do. In California, 52 percent of the state’s 6 million school children are Hispanic, just 26 percent are white…”
- D.C. high school graduation rate ticks up, but wide achievement gaps remain, By Emma Brown, December 20, 2013, Washington Post: “The District’s high school graduation rate ticked up to 64 percent in 2013, a three-point gain over the previous year, according to data that city officials quietly released last week. But the city average — long among the lowest in the country — masks wide gaps between different groups of students and different schools, with charter schools and the school system’s selective high schools posting higher rates than traditional neighborhood schools…”