PROJECT ROCKIT is an interactive anti-bullying and youth leadership program that is run by young people for young people. They strive to achieve positive, lasting change by empowering young people to tackle the issues that are important to them. PROJECT ROCKIT sessions are designed to reflect a 'show me don't tell me' approach to learning. Through an array of dramatic role plays, group activities, student performances, creative writing, and real-life stories, P-ROCK sessions embody key messages and strategies that are relevant for young people.

Save the Date! November 6-8, 2008 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The International Bullying Prevention Association is pleased to present our 5th Annual Conference: Best Practices in Bullying and Violence Prevention. The conference will be co-sponsored by the Indiana School Safety Specialist Academy and the Indiana Department of Education. The conference is designed for school guidance counselors, administrators, teachers, school health educators, school social workers, school psychologists, school safety specialists, Safe and Drug-Free Coordinators, school resource officers (SRO's), school attorneys, and law enforcement working with youth, student service directors,PTA/PTO members, children and family mental health counselors, school nurses, school board members, parents, extended day/after school staff, prevention specialists, etc. This conference also welcomes college students. Coming Soon: Session proposals, conference and hotel registration information will be posted at http://www.stopbullyingworld.org
and http://www.doe.in.us/isssa.

From the National Indian Education Association and the National Education Association, this report looks at achievement barriers facing American Indians, Alaskan natives and native Hawaiians in schools. It finds that policies and resources are needed to preserve indigenous languages and cultures, recruit and retain quality teachers and support safe, effective schools.

More than 5 million kids live with unauthorized [immigrant] parents, according to the Urban Institute. Many of these children are citizens. This issue brief offers more details.

In every state, African American and Native American children are disproportionately represented in the child welfare population. This report from the Michigan Department of Human Services examines the data on racial disproportionality in the state’s foster care system, and outlines steps to correct this situation. Among the recommendations for the state: identify services and funding to help keep children safely with their birth families; pursue a waiver to allow more flexibility in the use of federal funds; ensure culturally proficient practices; and make sure resources are appropriate to address families’ needs. In addition, the report recommends increasing monitoring and accountability.

Schools wherein Hispanic students make up at least 25 percent of undergraduate enrollment account for only about 6 percent of colleges and universities in the United States, but they enroll almost half of Latino college students. This new report by Excelencia in Education offers background, history, and context, and examines what it means that a small (albeit growing) number of schools teaches so many of our nation's Latino students. Short fact sheets are also available.

Hispanic youths are much more likely than white or black youths to attend public high schools that are large, that have a high student-to-teacher ratio, and that have a substantial proportion of students who come from relatively poor families, all characteristics associated with lower student performance, reports the Pew Hispanic Center.

Federal policies exclude many legal immigrants from public benefits like food stamps or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) assistance. Many states have stepped in, using their own funds to fill in the gaps—which means the services and supports available to immigrant families depends largely on where they live. This new brief from the National Center for Children in Poverty looks at what’s happening and where children in low-income immigrant families do and do not have supports available to native-born families.

In 2004, one of every seven workers in the United States was foreign-born; a decade earlier, that number was one in ten. As the baby-boom generation reaches retirement age, immigrants are likely to hold an even greater share of jobs in the future. This report from the Congressional Budget Office looks at the role of immigrants in the labor market—the skills they bring; the types of jobs they hold; their compensation; and their impact on the native-born workforce.

New research from the Urban Institute finds that limited English proficient (LEP) students are highly concentrated in a small share of America’s public schools. In fact, 70 percent of LEP students in kindergarten through fifth grade are enrolled in only 10 percent of the country’s public elementary schools. Among the findings: most LEP students were born in the U.S. And the share of students in kindergarten through 12th grade with a foreign-born parent tripled from 6 percent in 1970 to 19 percent in 2000.