More Than a Place to Sleep: Understanding the Health and Well-Being of Homeless High School Students

In New York City, one out of every eight public school students has been homeless at some point in the past five years. One in four (26%) of these students is in high school. In More Than a Place to Sleep: Understanding the Health and Well-Being of Homeless High School Students, we begin to explore differences in risk behaviors and health outcomes between homeless high school students and their housed classmates. Homeless high school students are struggling to not only find a place to sleep, but to meet their mental, emotional, and physical health needs as they pursue educational goals necessary to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.Homeless students face disproportionate burdens across the board—they are more likely to fall behind academically due to school transfers, absenteeism, and other instability factors; they are more likely to be suspended; they are less likely to receive timely identification for special education services; and the list goes on. What this report reveals is that these students face yet another set of obstacles to educational achievement— their health and risk behaviors—that, if unaddressed, will make it harder for them to finish school, follow professional goals, and remain stably housed in their own adult lives.As New York City works to improve outcomes for homeless students, those efforts must incorporate an understanding of risk behaviors and health outcomes, which have been shown to predict well-being and productivity later in life. This report uses data from the Centers for Disease Control's 2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which for the first time includes survey questions allowing us to distinguish homeless from housed students.One promising approach is ensuring the access of homeless teens to school-based health centers. While homeless students have limited access to these centers, they are more likely than their housed peers to use health services when they are available. Moreover, many shelters could be re-envisioned as Community Residential Resource Centers (CRRCs) where educational resources and support services could be made available to not only homeless students, but all students in the community. Meeting the needs of homeless high school students is paramount, as risk behaviors and health outcomes impact their futures. These students have unequivocally worse health outcomes than housed teens. They also make up a disproportionately large segment of students facing the most extreme health risks. At only 12% of the YRBS sample, homeless high school students represent a third or more of all students facing a range of health risks. Without targeted policy and program interventions, the future of these homeless teens is not promising. Just read the accompanying quotes throughout this publication—in their own voices, students share some of their struggles, hopes, and disappointments as they navigate high school while homeless

Banking Reform in Russia: Problems and Prospects

This paper examines the state of the Russian banking sector in 2004 and assesses the most important reform initiatives of the last two years, including deposit insurance legislation, a major reform of the framework for prudential supervision, steps to increase transparency in the sector, and measures to facilitate the development of specific banking activities. The overall conclusion that emerges from this analysis is that the Russian authorities’ approach to banking reform is to be commended. The design of the reform strategy reflects an awareness of the need for a ‘good fit’ between its major elements, and the main lines of the reform address some of the principal problems of the sector. The major lacuna in the Russian bank reform strategy concerns the future of state-owned banks. Despite a long-standing official commitment to reducing the role of the state – and of the Bank of Russia in particular – in the ownership of credit institutions, there is still a need for a much more clearly defined policy in this area. The real test of Russian banking reform efforts, however, will be in implementation. The reforms challenge numerous vested interests and their successful realisation will require considerable political will as well as the development of regulatory capacities of a very high order

People underestimate the errors made by algorithms for credit scoring and recidivism prediction but accept even fewer errors

This study provides the first representative analysis of error estimations and willingness to accept errors in a Western country (Germany) with regards to algorithmic decision-making systems (ADM). We examine people’s expectations about the accuracy of algorithms that predict credit default, recidivism of an offender, suitability of a job applicant, and health behavior. Also, we ask whether expectations about algorithm errors vary between these domains and how they differ from expectations about errors made by human experts. In a nationwide representative study (N = 3086) we find that most respondents underestimated the actual errors made by algorithms and are willing to accept even fewer errors than estimated. Error estimates and error acceptance did not differ consistently for predictions made by algorithms or human experts, but people’s living conditions (e.g. unemployment, household income) affected domain-specific acceptance (job suitability, credit defaulting) of misses and false alarms. We conclude that people have unwarranted expectations about the performance of ADM systems and evaluate errors in terms of potential personal consequences. Given the general public’s low willingness to accept errors, we further conclude that acceptance of ADM appears to be conditional to strict accuracy requirements

The Effects of Teaching a Growth Mindset Unit on a Teaching Practice and Fifth Grade Students\u27 Perceptions of their Abilities in Math

The purpose of this study was to examine whether teaching growth mindset, that intelligence is malleable and can be increased through persistence and effort, had an impact on students\u27 perception of their abilities in mathematics. The participants were 23 fifth grade students in the Midwest. In this qualitative study, data was collected through surveys, self-assessments, reflection journals and direct participant observation. Four major themes emerged: I ) relationships and trust; 2) increased willingness to take risks; 3) asking questions; and 4) puzzles and problem solving. Improved relationships and increased trust were foundational to other changes, allowing the students confidence to self-advocate, seek autonomy and take risks by extending themselves and growing through learning, challenging and pushing themselves and others. Teachers can learn a lot about students through survey data but it should be only one of several tools they use to know their students. Teaching that intelligence is malleable may also be useful but greater value comes from forming strong relationships with students and building trust with all. Pseudonyms used throughout to protect the privacy of participants