Connect for Kids / Child Advocacy 360 / Youth Policy Action Center - CFK Articles, Diversity

Engineered by Women, for Girls

Mon, 08 May 2006 13:56:47 -0500

The dearth of women—especially minority women from low-income families—in the fields of engineering, science and technology is long-standing, and hard to solve. A tightly-focused summer program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology is trying to make a difference, girl by girl.

The Trevor Project: Help for Suicidal Gay Teens

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:08:11 -0500

State and national surveys indicate that gay and lesbian teens are at a significantly higher risk of attempting suicide than their heterosexual peers. But there is help available, geared especially towards the needs of this group: The Trevor Project. Letitia L. Star reports.

Escuela Tlatelolco�s Three C�s: Community, Culture and Caring

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:24:33 -0600

Founded by a 1960's-era Chicano activist, Escuela Tlatelolco continues to put social justice and respect for children's cultural roots at the center of its approach to teaching and learning. Robert Ebisch profiles a school that seems light-years away from the national obsession with raising test scores--yet successfully sends most of its low-income, predominantly minority students on to college.

Mix It Up

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:15:16 -0500

Nations may squabble about the precise locations of their borders, but in a secondary-school cafeteria everyone knows where the lines are drawn: the jocks here, the it-girls there, and the Goths as far from the rest as possible. Race, language, gender, clothes, music--kids slice and dice themselves along all kinds of lines. That's where Mix It Up comes in. Tamekia Reece reports.

Massive Persistence

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:26:53 -0500

It's the ultimate back-to-school story: about 80 middle-aged Virginians are heading back to the classroom--more than four decades after their educations were derailed by the state's "massive resistance" campaign, which led some Virginia communities to shut down their public schools rather than integrate them. Connect for Kids Editor Susan Phillips spoke to recipients of Virginia's new Brown v. Board of Education scholarships.

Unlocking Kids' Stories

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:42:49 -0500

Thanks to the Writers in the Schools program of Houston, Texas, writer Patrick Freeman, a native of Ghana, worked with refugee children from several African nations in a special series of Saturday workshops geared towards personal histories. Freeman found himself in awe of his young collaborators. This story originally appeared in the WITS newsletter.

Indian Education Under the Microscope

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:18:42 -0500

With new attention and resources going into addressing the achievement gaps between different ethnic and racial groups, a new effort to measure the academic performance of American Indian and Alaska Native students is particularly timely. Rob Capriccioso reports.

More Than a Month's Worth of History

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 12:56:13 -0500

It would take a lot more than the 28 days of February to explore the new Web-based teaching tool on African-American migration from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Rob Capriccioso reports on the recently unveiled �In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience.�

National Museum of the American Indian: Filled with Educational Opportunities

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:06:20 -0500

The newest, and presumably last, museum to win space on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. opens this week with much expected fanfare. Once the celebration is over, museum leaders hope to get down to the serious business of overcoming stereotypes and teaching kids about the American Indian past, present and future.

Leading the Way

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:47:04 -0500

By developing programs for youth grounded in American Indian tribal cultures, the National Indian Youth Leadership project is helping cultivate a new generation of strong leaders. Rob Capriccioso takes a look at the New Mexico-based organization.

Don't Touch That Dial...

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:49:03 -0500

How can you give illiterate or limited-English parents the information they need on children's health and development? Julieta Santana reports on how local radio fills a critical informational need in immigrant communities. This article originally appeared in the May-June 2004 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Brown v. Board: Lessons for Tomorrow

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:07:34 -0500

The 50th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court school desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education has produced an outpouring of reminiscence and evaluation. Today, amid national attention to the issues of school reform, school choice, and student achievement, Connect for Kids editor Susan Phillips asks what's next for our public schools.

Understanding "Lost Boys"

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:17:53 -0500

For many U.S. children, the experiences of the ?lost boys? of Sudan, child refugees from a decades-long civil war, might seem impossibly remote. But Pauline Gordon and Natasha Santos, 15-year-old staff writers at Represent magazine in New York City, could relate—thanks to their own experiences in foster care. Here's their review of the documentary, The Lost Boys of Sudan.

Teens Speak Out on Gay Marriage

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:39:19 -0600

Teens who have been raised by openly gay parents have a unique perspective on the contentious issue of single-sex marriage. Rob Capriccioso spoke with three such teens about their views.

Passionate About Vouchers

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 22:27:05 -0600

The hard-fought effort to bring federally funded school vouchers to Washington, D.C. is often viewed as the front line in a national battle over school choice. But for Virginia Walden Ford, it�s local and it�s personal. Connect for Kids� editor Susan Phillips spoke with Walden Ford recently.