Students With Disabilities and California's Special Education Program

Provides an overview of the state's special education programs, including eligibility, enrollment, student performance, time spent outside regular classrooms, spending, and financing, compared to national trends. Considers policy implications

Resolving Special Education Disputes in California

Examines the use of mediation and due process hearings in resolving disputes between parents and school districts over identifying disabilities and designing individualized programs. Analyzes trends in and predictors of higher rates of hearing requests

Special Education Financing in California: A Decade After Reform

Examines special education funding sources and processes at federal, state, and local levels in 2006-07 and the impact of a 1997 reform bill. Recommends equalizing funding rates across districts, with adjustments for poverty and labor market conditions

Changing the Kindergarten Cutoff Date: Effects on California Students and Schools

Summarizes a review of research on how raising the kindergarten entry age affects elementary- and middle-school test scores; achievement gaps between subgroups; grade retention, high school graduation, and college enrollment rates; and wages as adults

Early Grade Retention and Student Success: Evidence From Los Angeles

Analyzes risk factors of retention through third grade in the L.A. Unified School District, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, family income, and English learner status; retention's effectiveness in improving grade-level skills; and educators' views

Disabled or Young? Relative Age and Special Education Diagnoses in Schools

This study extends recent findings of a relationship between the relative age of students among their peers and their probability of disability classification. Using three nationally representative surveys spanning 1988-2004 and grades K-10, we find that an additional month of relative age decreases the likelihood of receiving special education services by 2-5 percent. Relative age effects are strong for learning disabilities but not for other disabilities. We measure them for boys starting in kindergarten but not for girls until 3rd grade. We also measure them for white and Hispanic students but not for black students or differentially by socioeconomic quartiles. Results are consistent with the interpretation that disability assessments do not screen for the possibility that relatively young students are over-referred for evaluation. Lastly, we present suggestive evidence that math achievement gains due to disability classification may differentially benefit relatively young students.Education, Relative Age, Special Education

Improving School Accountability in California

Proposes a value-added model for assessing schools that measures contributions to student learning based on whether average test scores are higher or lower than expected, given prior achievement and other characteristics. Outlines implementation issues

A Community Ice Sheet Model for Sea Level Prediction

Summary of a workshop that was held at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, 18-20 August 2008, whose primary goal was to create a detailed plan for developing, testing, and implementing a Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) to aid in predicting sea level rise

Ergonomic risk factors for low back pain in North Carolina crab pot and gill net commercial fishermen

Background The objective of this research was to determine the association between LBP that limited or interrupted fishing work and ergonomic low back stress measured by (1) self-reported task and (2) two ergonomic assessment methods of low back stress. Methods Eligible participants were from a cohort of North Carolina commercial fishermen followed for LBP in regular clinic visits from 1999 to 2001 (n = 177). Work history, including crab pot and gill net fishing task frequency, was evaluated in a telephone questionnaire (n = 105). Ergonomic exposures were measured in previous study of 25 fishermen using two methods. The occurrence rate of LBP that limited or interrupted fishing work since last visit (severe LBP) was evaluated in a generalized Poisson regression model. Results Predictors of severe LBP included fishing with crew members and a previous history of severe LBP. Among crab pot and gill net fishermen (n = 89), running pullers or net reels, sorting catch, and unloading catch were associated with an increased rate of LBP. Percent of time in forces \u3e20 lb while in non-neutral trunk posture, spine compression \u3e3,400 N, and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health lifting indices \u3e3.0 were associated with LBP. Conclusions Tasks characterized by higher (unloading boat and sorting catch) and lower (running puller or net reel) ergonomic low back stress were associated with the occurrence of severe LBP. History of LBP, addition of crew members, and self-selection out of tasks were likely important contributors to the patterns of low back stress and outcomes we observed. Based on the results of this study, a participatory ergonomic intervention study is currently being conducted to develop tools and equipment to decrease low back stress in commercial crab pot fishing

Race, Wealth, and Solid Waste Facilities in North Carolina

BackgroundConcern has been expressed in North Carolina that solid waste facilities may be disproportionately located in poor communities and in communities of color, that this represents an environmental injustice, and that solid waste facilities negatively impact the health of host communities.ObjectiveOur goal in this study was to conduct a statewide analysis of the location of solid waste facilities in relation to community race and wealth.MethodsWe used census block groups to obtain racial and economic characteristics, and information on solid waste facilities was abstracted from solid waste facility permit records. We used logistic regression to compute prevalence odds ratios for 2003, and Cox regression to compute hazard ratios of facilities issued permits between 1990 and 2003.ResultsThe adjusted prevalence odds of a solid waste facility was 2.8 times greater in block groups with ≥50% people of color compared with block groups with < 10% people of color, and 1.5 times greater in block groups with median house values < $60,000 compared with block groups with median house values ≥$100,000. Among block groups that did not have a previously permitted solid waste facility, the adjusted hazard of a new permitted facility was 2.7 times higher in block groups with ≥50% people of color compared with block groups with < 10% people of color.ConclusionSolid waste facilities present numerous public health concerns. In North Carolina solid waste facilities are disproportionately located in communities of color and low wealth. In the absence of action to promote environmental justice, the continued need for new facilities could exacerbate this environmental injustice