Girl Connection, April 2010

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Anxiety and Economic Uncertainty

La contractació de serveis externs: un recurs imprescindible per a les biblioteques escolars

El Servei de Biblioteques Escolars L'Amic de Paper ofereix als centres educatius recursos orientats a donar suport a l'organització, manteniment i dinamització de les biblioteques escolars per tal de millorar la situació en què es troben, amb l'objectiu final d'aconseguir que aquestes siguin el centre de formació i informació que la comunitat educativa necessita.

Quinze anys de biblioteques escolars a Catalunya (1992-2007) crònica d'una altra oportunitat perduda

L'article fa un balanç de les accions que s'han dut a terme en l'àmbit de les biblioteques escolars a Catalunya, des de l'any 1992 ¿data en què es tancava un panorama anterior publicat en aquesta revista¿ fins a l'actualitat. Se'n descriu la situació actual segons un estudi fet a tot l'Estat espanyol i es valoren les iniciatives dutes a terme per les administracions educatives catalanes, entre les quals la posada en marxa, des del curs 2004, del programa «PuntEdu». Així mateix, es revisen les activitats reivindicatives de la professió docent i bibliotecària en defensa de les biblioteques escolars. Finalment, es fa un repàs de la formació adreçada al personal i de les publicacions aparegudes. Es conclou que, malgrat les oportunitats que s'han presentat i els recursos que s'hi han destinat, les biblioteques escolars segueixen essent l'assignatura pendent del sistema bibliotecari del país.

Les biblioteques escolars en el sistema de lectura pública de Catalunya

Les biblioteques escolars no reuneixen les condicions necessaries per a desenvolupar les tasques que el nou sistema educatiu li atorga. Les condicions i mides del local, la manca d'equipament, la poca actualització del fons i l'abséncia de personal amb la formació necessária son alguns deis aspectes que 1'experiéncia i l'estudi d'aquestes biblioteques han posat en evidencia des de fa anys. La manca de regulació de les biblioteques de les escoles i centres de secundaria ha deixat aquests centres, en molts casos, en mans del voluntarismo de mestres, pares i bibliotecaris.

Les biblioteques escolars a Catalunya. 2008-2009

L'article presenta l'evolució de les biblioteques escolars en el bienni 2008-2009 i s'hi esmenten les principals iniciatives que, des de diversos àmbits, s'han dut a terme per a promoure-les. També s'hi fa un repàs de les diverses publicacions que tracten les biblioteques escolars. En un altre apartat es descriu la intensa activitat que associacions i grups de treball desenvolupen entorn les biblioteques escolars i com aquestes s'han fet presents a Internet. Finalment, s'identifiquen les recerques que s'han dut a terme en l'àmbit de les biblioteques escolars, i es detallen les iniciatives de formació oficial i no oficial. També es posa de manifest la quantitat i varietat d'accions de transferència, com ara els congressos i jornades que s'han celebrat per la geografia catalana en el període estudiat.

Girl Connection, June 2010

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Anxiety and Economic Uncertainty

Girl Connection, August 2010

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Anxiety and Economic Uncertainty

Placement of Students Ages 3-21 with Disabilities Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): A Policy Discussion, May 2010

The provision of free appropriate public education (FAPE), an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and the least restrictive environment (LRE) have been important cornerstones of educating students with disabilities since the enactment of the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA), Public Law 94-142, in 1975, and its subsequent reauthorizations, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990, 1997, and 2004. It is impossible to consider any one of these cornerstones without the others, when determining an appropriate educational placement for a student with a disability. The Iowa Department of Education has identified several practice issues regarding the interplay between FAPE, LRE, and the IEP in placement decisions for students with disabilities. To that end, this document will provide guidance for administrators of local education agencies (LEAs) and area education agencies (AEAs), as well as IEP teams (or other placement teams) within Iowa LEAs and AEAs when making placement decisions for eligible children with disabilities. This guidance will specifically discuss ten LRE and FAPE placement/program policy questions that have been identified by the Iowa Department of Education as needing attention. The policy discussions are consistent with the legal provisions of the 2004 reauthorization of IDEA (IDEA 2004) and its 2006 final federal implementing regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). This document is also consistent with the Iowa Administrative Rules of Special Education (2007) [hereinafter “Iowa Rules”]. In addition, the term local education agency (LEA) is used interchangeably for school district throughout this document. Prior to the discussion of specific policy questions, a federal and state legal framework for providing FAPE for students with disabilities within the LRE is briefly outlined. Pertinent FAPE and LRE court decisions that impact Iowa LEAs and AEAs are also included within Section II.

Secular trends in legal and illegal substance use among 16 to 20 year old adolescents in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: Data targeting trends in legal and illegal substance use by adolescents are scarce. Using the data from two similar large national surveys run in 1993 and 2002, this paper assesses secular trends in rates of substance use among 16-20-year-old Swiss adolescents. METHODS: Self-reported regular use of tobacco, alcohol misuse, regular cannabis use (01 occasion over last 30 days) and lifetime use of psychoactive medication, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine and heroine were assessed through identical questions using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. 9268 (1993) and 7428 (2002) high school students and apprentices were included in the analyses. RESULTS: There is a higher proportion of regular smokers among apprentices than among students (p <0.001). Between 1993 and 2002 the increase in regular tobacco consumption was significant among both female and male apprentices (p <0.001) but not among students. Between 1993 and 2002 alcohol misuse significantly increased in all four groups (p <0.001). It is more prevalent among males than among females (p <0.001) and higher among apprentices than among students (p <0.001). Regular use of cannabis has increased in the four groups (p <0.0001). It is higher among males than among females (p <0.001), while it is largely the same among students and apprentices. While the increase in ecstasy use is highly significant in all four groups (p <0.001), the increase in LSD and cocaine use is significant among apprentices only (p <0.001). Use of LSD, ecstasy and cocaine is more prevalent among males than among females (<0.001) and higher among apprentices than among students (p <0.001). CONCLUSION: The secular increase in psychoactive substance use among older Swiss adolescents calls for the implementation of effective strategies both from individual and public health viewpoints.

Girl Connection, October 2010

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Anxiety and Economic Uncertainty

Girl Connection, December 2010

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Anxiety and Economic Uncertainty

Girl Connection, February 2011

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Anxiety and Economic Uncertainty

Identifying the socioeconomic determinants of crime in Spanish provinces

In this paper we study, having as theoretical reference the economic model of crime (Becker, 1968; Ehrlich, 1973), which are the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of crime in Spain paying attention on the role of provincial peculiarities. We estimate a crime equation using a panel dataset of Spanish provinces (NUTS3) for the period 1993 to 1999 employing the GMMsystem estimator. Empirical results suggest that lagged crime rate and clear-up rate are correlated to all typologies of crime rate considered. Property crimes are better explained by socioeconomic variables (GDP per capita, GDP growth rate and percentage of population with high school and university degree), while demographic factors reveal important and significant influences, in particular for crimes against the person. These results are obtained using an instrumental variable approach that takes advantage of the dynamic properties of our dataset to control for both measurement errors in crime data and joint endogeneity of the explanatory variables

Girl Connection, April 2011

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think

Girl Connection, June 2011

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women; Early On-Set of Puberty: More Important Than You Think