Children with High Needs

Recently, the Child and Family Policy Center issued a report documenting the challenges faced by many of Iowa’s children and their families.  The report, "A Baseline on Iowa's Young Children: Capturing the Demand for Early-Childhood Services" notes that Iowa has one of the nation’s highest rates of children with one or both parents working, and an increasing number of single parent families.  These are just 2 of the many factors that contribute to stress within the family and affecting young children.

Although a majority of Iowa children begin school in good health and with appropriate cognitive, language, and social/emotional development – termed “school readiness” – to be prepared to engage in learning.  There is, however, a significant share of Iowa children who are dramatically behind their peers and require special assistance to “catch up.”

Nationally, 56% of children begin school behind peers in at least one measure (cognitive, social/emotional, or physical), and 21% are behind in 2 or more areas – requiring significant school time and investment in remediation.  These facts led researchers to question whether it is possible to identify these children early and provide support and assistance that will reduce this trend.  A tremendous amount of data points to identifying and responding to high-need children through the family.

Here are what the report terms “Top-line Findings” in defining children with high needs:

•     There is no one measure that captures “need” among children; rather a cluster of characteristics that contribute to good or bad outcomes.  On average, the prevalence of poor early-childhood outcomes is highest among children of less-educated, unmarried or adolescent parents, parents who are depressed, parents with limited incomes who have difficulty meeting basic needs, and among children with special needs themselves.

•     A significant share of Iowa families face economic stress; many are headed by young and less-educated parents.  More than 40 percent of Iowa’s young children live in households below 200 percent of poverty, a realistic measure of what it takes to support a family.  Nearly one in five (19 percent of the total) live in households below 100 percent of poverty ($22,314 for a family of four in 2010).  In 2010, 17 percent of Iowa first-time births, and 8 percent of total births, were to adolescent mothers, almost all of whom were unmarried with less than a high school diploma.

•    Another significant share of Iowa children have special health needs.  In fact, 21 percent of Iowa children four months to five years of age are at moderate or high risk of developmental, behavioral or social delays. Based on national research, we know over 50 percent of young children begin kindergarten behind in at least one area of special need

and over 20 percent have multiple needs that require even greater levels of support.

As we know, the United Way of Central Iowa’s Women’s Leadership Connection has supported early childhood education as a key priority for the past 10 years, assisting with accreditation of early learning centers and preschools, facility improvements, book drives, teacher training, and volunteer readers.  Several Chrysalis Board members have participated in this tremendous project.

The work of Chrysalis takes place in prevention efforts through Chrysalis After-School, which we created and have funded since 1998.  Our goal is to assure that girls gain the knowledge and skills to become resilient and successful women – overcoming and/or avoiding these “top-line findings" that cause the next generation (their families) to face these tremendous challenges.  Since we began, nearly 6,000 adolescent girls have been part of this powerful program.  It’s the best investment in the future we can possibly make.

Understanding Gender Equity

More often than not, when we work toward gender equity, we often focus strongly on teaching girls and women how to grow resilient and confident - able to work toward their own parity.  I'm proud that at Chrysalis, we realized that our work is critical to boys and men, and that we now have 2 terrific men (thanks, Joe and Drew!) moving our agenda forward.
For boys and young men, there are sound messages to share about why gender equality is so important:
1.  When men and boys believe in fairness, they can see that their sisters, mothers, girlfriends, and other female friends and relatives are often not treated the same way they are, and perhaps do not have the same opportunities and choices in their lives.
2.  An understanding of equity will help boys be comfortable in their own identity, comfortable expressing emotions, and able to build positive relationships based on mutual trust and respect.
3.  Equality of genders is about a more productive way of viewing power in relationships that benefit both sexes.
Gender equality truly begins in the family, and the father's role is tremendously important, not only to his daughter, but to a son.  Fathers who take part in domestic work, values and supports his children equally, hugs sons and daughters, and treats his wife as an equal will have a significant effect on how his son treats his own family.  Research has shown that:
- Men who are positively involved in the lives of their children or stepchildren are less likely to be depressed or violent.
- Boys whose fathers are more involved are less likely to engage in risky behaviors and are more likely to delay sexual experimentation until they are older.
- Boys with positive role models are less likely to hold harmful stereotypes and more likely to notice and question unfairness and inequity.
- An international study found that 14-year-old adolescents boys who are well connected to their parents, feel understood and cared for, and get along with their parents have more social connectedness and are less likely to be depressed.
So how to be certain that boys grow up with a sense of gender equity?  UNICEF recommends a 6-point plan:
1.  Start young - preschool education should promote equality between girls and boys and involve parents.
2.  School curricula should challenge stereotypes and acknowledge differences.
3.  Boys and girls should both participate in age-appropriate sex education.
4.  Schools must be made safe for both girls and boys.
5.  Campaigns against discrimination should involve men and boys as well as girls and women.
6.  Policies and laws should allow for and promote active participation of both parents in the lives of their children.
Although Chrysalis funding is committed to the needs of girls and women, our efforts are strong to educate and involve men in the critical work of eliminating stereotypes and promoting fairness and equity between all.  

Academics and Girls Achievement

The academic year is now in full swing, and we begin again to hear about the challenges of producing well-educated students.  Often there is reference to the location of the school site – low-income areas are typically called “schools at risk” based on educational achievement of the student population.

But a new report by the National Bureau of Economic Research has found that the school location may not as often be the challenge, and that high-achieving students come from all types of schools in both affluent and at-risk communities.  Using data from the American Mathematics Competition (an annual contest involving more than 100,000 high school students), researchers counted numbers of high scoring student from over 2,000 public, co-ed, non-magnet, and private high schools and noted significant variations even among schools with similar demographics.

What they found was remarkable – a small number of public schools (4%) had rates of high-scoring students 3 times the average for all schools, and sometimes as high as 10%.  The difference was even greater for girls, with many affluent schools reported to be “extremely unlikely” to produce top-achieving females in math while a small group of public schools were “off the charts” with their high female scores.

Why the variation?  What the study shows, say researchers, is that the school’s expectations and environment make the difference, even for students with every advantage.  If the school focuses only on basic competence, the achievement levels are much lower than the schools that encourage high achievement.

“So much of the education debate is around bringing up the struggling students,” notes Glenn Ellison, an economics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-author of the study.  “But high-achieving students are important when we talk about success in scientific and technical fields…these are future medical researchers and leading business people – these students matter to our economy.”  Nurturing students who are, or have the potential to become high achievers – wherever they attend school – is vital, he concludes.

In addition, the communities created around learning in the school make a tremendous difference.  Match and science clubs taking place outside the classroom provide an important opportunity for students to excel – especially for girls.  While boys scoring highly in math competitions came from a broader ranges of schools, the majority of high-achieving girls in the mathematics competition came from only about 20 schools.  Support and encouragement in these 20 schools played a significant role in the female students’ success, research notes, as girls continue to push against stereotypes.

The researchers conclude:

The fact that the highest achieving girls in the U.S. are concentrated in a very small set of schools indicates “that almost all girls with the ability to reach high math achievement levels are not doing so.  Our results suggest that the high-achieving math students we see today in U.S. high schools may be just a small fraction of the number of students who have the potential to reach such levels.”

Over the past few years, Chrysalis After-School programs have incorporated research-based models for expanded education in areas including science, math, health, and nutrition.  What we’re finding is that for many girls, learning in this environment – with hands-on experience and in the presence of other girls – has steered them toward interest areas including medicine, environment, and technology.  They have the potential and the aptitude for higher educational achievement in these area and are much more likely to improve school performance and, potentially, explore these careers.

This year, Chrysalis After-School programs operate in 30 school sites (grades 5 through 8) and involve over 600 girls and 70 women.  That’s a lot of impact.

How do Women Prepare Successfully for Corporate Leadership?

An article by Erica Dhawan in this week’s FORBES Magazine pointed out an interesting issue about the way business schools prepare students for corporate leadership – in particular, the way women students are prepared.  The article suggests that this issue may provide insight on how women advance (or don’t) in the corporate world.

The issue?  According to Dhawan, business schools generally prepare students – female and male – to become employees, and not citizens with complex lives in which careers play a major role.  This presents a difficult challenge especially to women, who often feel that the trade-off between a family life and career success must be “overcome” rather than navigated.

“The last frontier for women’s advancement at work is understanding how men and women re-define roles at home,” says Anne Weisberg, head of Diversity at Blackrock, a global financial management firm and author…She emphasizes that MBAs should be discussing life and home issues as part of the planning of work at the business school level.

Beyond these future concerns, business school environments themselves may present additional obstacles to women, related to age, school population, and role models.   MIT Dean David Schmittlein reports that “On average, women are younger than men in the top 10 MBA programs…which may lead to a negative perception of their experience in the business school environment.”  He cites research indicating that women aren’t asked to participate as often as men in the classroom setting – and when they are, other students are less inclined to build on their comments.  There is also a lack of female professors at business schools, so the opportunity for a role model is limited.

Women more often volunteer for lower-level roles in the classroom as well – note-takers, creating meeting agendas, or making meeting arrangements.  A study by Professor Anne Huff entitled “Wives of the Organizations” underscores this behavior:

The traditional male/female dynamic is deeply rooted in the childhood experiences many of us share, but it is reinforced by the growing needs of organizations for relational skills.  Almost all the female professionals I know are overly committed to time consuming but often unnoticed and unrewarded aspects of organizational life.  Just as we are shedding traditional ‘wifely’ roles in the home, we are rapidly assuming them in the work place, especially in the professional ranks. 

The results seem obvious, as reported by Harvard Kennedy School (Professors Barbara Kellerman and Deborah Rhode, authors of Women and Leadership: State of Play and Strategies for Change):

One in three women with MBAs are not working full time, compared with one in twenty men.  A large portion of these women want to return to work, yet generally do not without significant career costs and difficulties.

Dhawan concludes that women’s advancement at work depends on an understanding that women and men need to re-define their roles at home – which begins in the MBA classroom – in addition to discussing life, home, and family issues as part of a life-career planning curriculum.

For Chrysalis, this redefinition begins much earlier – in the elementary and middle school environment – through Chrysalis After-School programs.  Understanding gender differences – and not as “inequities” – prepares girls to navigate the world with strength, resilience, and positive prospects for their future.   

Chrysalis Programs Highlighted in Iowa Afterschool Alliance Publications

Chrysalis is honored to be highlighted in two of the Iowa Afterschool Alliance Policy Publications this Winter!

• Chrysalis After-School Science Girls was featured as a Science-Technology-Engineering-and Math Innovation
• The Whyld Girls (a Chrysalis After-School program) was featured as an innovative Summer Literacy Leader

Ensuring World Class Readers

Check out the latest from the Des Moines Register about the Reading Summit Chrysalis was involved with last week: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20111216/NEWS/312160040

Last week we were invited to attend "Ensuring World Class Readers," a policy and research forum held in Des Moines that provided evidence that whether a child reads at proficiency by the end of third grade can be a "make or break" indicator of future educational and life success.  At the beginning of 4th grade, says the research, children stop learning to read and begin reading to learn.

In fact, the National Research Council notes that "academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing someone's reading skill at the end of third grade.  A person who is not at least a modestly skilled reader by that time is unlikely to graduate from high school."

The forum included keynote addresses from such speakers as Ralph Smith, Vice President of the Annie E. Casey Foundation; Heather Weiss of the Harvard Family Research Project; Nell Duke or Michigan State University; and several Iowa education and policy leaders.

Mr. Smith provided some interesting statistics including the fact that 80% of low income children in this country cannot read proficiently by grade 3.  In addition, he noted that roughly 75% of Americans ages 17-24 cannot join the US military, most often because they are poorly educated.  And for the first time in history, the pool of qualified high school graduates is neither large enough not skilled enough to supply the country's workforce, leadership, national security, and higher education needs.

Three key areas must be addressed first, Smith noted, in order to improve a child's potential in school:

1.    IMPROVE READINESS - too many children come to school "unprepared" to learn -- they are hungry, tired, or stressed by family disfuction and cannot catch up.

2.    ATTENDANCE - many children, particularly those from low-income families, are considered "chronically absent," missing 10% or more of the school year.  For many, it begins in kindergarten - 10% of all kindergarten and first-graders nationwide are chronically absent, and for some districts, as many as 25%.

3.    SUMMER LEARNING - research shows that low-income children fall behind during the summer as much as by 2 months of reading achievement, producing an achievement gap that grows over the years.  One study indicated that by the end of 5th grade, low-income students read at a level three grades behind that of middle income students.

By now you're aware of the Governor's blueprint for educational excellence in Iowa - One Unshakable Vision: World Class Schools for Iowa, released in October.  Among the recommendations in the blueprint is ensuring basic literacy by the end of third grade (to read the entire blueprint: http://publications.iowa.gov/11528/1/EducationBlueprint.pdf).

  

In addition to numerous changes including teacher training, strengthening academic focus, and tightening up assessments, Iowa's plan calls for greater involvement of parents and community in the success of students including "increasing parent and community engagement in every school in Iowa."   A huge piece of this role is shared by after-school programs such as Chrysalis After-School.

Our programs not only support innovation, creativity, and problem-solving, but they also connect after-school learning with the goals of Iowa Core Standards' 21st Century skills:

(1) employability skills
(2) financial literacy
(3) health literacy
(4) technology literacy
(5) civic literacy

We've expanded our program leader training, engaged a number of community partners, provided field trips and experiential learning, and worked with programs to include service learning and community engagement for the hundreds of girls involved in our programs.  You can be proud that Chrysalis After-School is a model for effective after-school programming that supports academic success and improves girls' potential - to graduate, to continue learning, and to become productive and independent citizens in the future.

We're working to ensure girls do not become a statistic.  Thank you for your leadership in our work.