Congresswoman Heather Wilson, First Congressional District of New Mexico

1. Parenting Education: Authorize the development, review, testing and assessment of effective parenting curricula. Improving parenting skills through or in conjunction with federally funded programs that routinely come into contact with parents of young children like WIC, TANF, Food Stamps, Medicaid, public health clinics, teen parenting, child welfare, juvenile delinquency and homeless programs may be an effective way to reduce juvenile violence in the long term. The concept is to develop and test several curricula and approaches with long-term follow-up of the children as well as a control group. The pilot study could be done in several communities with some requiring participation as a condition of certain benefits and others making participation voluntary. 2. Perry Pre-School Large Scale Study: Authorize a large scale study to assess whether the results of the Perry Pre-School project can be replicated in 10 communities involving a minimum of 10,000 low income children per year. The Perry pre-school study indicates that there are significant long term social benefits from involvement of low income families in high quality pre-school programs. The question is whether the results of the Perry project are replicable elsewhere. The next logical step is a large scale study using the Perry model. The large scale study should include a minimum of 30 providers in 10 communities. Particular attention should be paid in year 1 to program development, planning and training of key personnel on the Perry model. There should be an independent assessment component that must include control groups and data gathering comparable but not limited to that used in the Perry Pre-School study, including longitudinal research. 3. Establishment of a national public information and public health campaign targeted at reducing teen pregnancy and teen fatherhood. Children of unmarried teen parents are much more likely to grow up in poverty, much more likely to have difficulty in school, much more likely to become parents as teenagers themselves and much more likely to become juvenile delinquents than their peers who have parents who delayed childbirth until after the age of 21. There is significant evidence that a large percentage of teen mothers did not become pregnant unintentionally. While the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Act puts significant emphasis on the reduction of teen pregnancy, there should also be a national emphasis that includes sharing research and information among the states and development of effective public information strategies that change teen behavior.

4. Develop research based models for school mental health programs. The federal Department of Education developed research-based models for school reform which any school can use in their efforts to improve education. There are no comparable research based models for school mental health programs. We could authorize the development and assessment of multiple models of school-based mental health programs which, when complete, could provide all schools with models and guidance on implementing them.

5. Authorize a comprehensive study of managed care for children's behavioral health services. As the data from New Mexico and other states suggests, there is a high correlation between juvenile delinquency, prior child abuse or neglect and children's mental health treatment. Some states have implemented managed care programs for Medicaid populations, including children. While some states have limited managed care to medical/surgical care, others have included behavioral health care in their managed care systems. This shift to managed care could result in reduced institutionalization of children and a growth of wrap-around services in the community, which can be more effective. On the other hand, it could also result in a reduction of availability and accessibility of mental health care for children. This study could examine different state approaches and how they have impacted the provision and effectiveness of children's mental health care.

6. Authorize an elementary and middle school age anger management and family counseling pilot project. Most elementary teachers can identify children with severe impulsive behavior and anger control problems. A recent RAND corporation report suggests that early intervention anger management and family counseling with families of these children may cost-effectively reduce juvenile violence in the teen years. The intent of this pilot project would be to implement a trial program in one community at all elementary and middle schools that feed into a single high school as well as monitor a similar control high school where the program would not be in place in the feeder schools. The intent of the pilot project would be to assess, over a 12 year period, whether such programs can significantly reduce juvenile violence in and out of school, and whether this is a cost-effective strategy for preventing juvenile violence. This project should include long term independent assessment and data collection efforts.

7. Develop and make generally available climate assessment and security assessment tools which all schools could use. The climate at a school -- whether students feel safe, connected and supported so that they can learn -- is as important, and possibly more important, than the physical security of the school. It may be possible to develop climate assessment tools for the use of schools and communities so that they may identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to improve climate and reduce the risk of both major and minor incidents of violence in schools. It may also be useful to develop and make readily available security assessment tools which schools may use for self-assessment.

8. Establish at-risk Charter School Start-Up Funds There is a high correlation between chronic truancy and drop-outs, and juvenile delinquency. Many communities have alternative programs to reduce drop-outs and truancy within the established school system, but many school systems have been slow to react and reluctant to prioritize reduction of truancy and drop-outs, particularly if the funding formula for schools does not encourage retention. Where authorized, charter schools have disproportionately served at-risk students, minorities and low income students. One of the most significant barriers to the establishment of charter schools is that, while they generally qualify for operating funds, they rarely are eligible for capital funds. This proposal would establish an at-risk charter school start-up fund that would offer low interest loans and/or capital grant funds for charter schools that target students who are chronically truant or at significant risk of dropping out of school.

9. Modify IDEA provisions that constrain school administrators from disciplining or removing special education students who threaten the safety of students or staff. There have been several proposals to make necessary modifications to IDEA in order to allow local administrators to appropriately provide for the safety of students when a special education student brings a weapon to school. Our working group should support such a change.

10. Provide matching funds to states for the development and use of actuarially based risk assessment tools for juvenile offenders. In most juvenile justice systems, the response of officials is based on the severity of the offense and, secondarily, the prior record of offenses. These factors are poor indicators, on their own, of the likelihood of re-offending. Half of the children arrested each year are first offenders. Most of them will never be arrested again without any further supervision or community intervention. Tools for probation and parole officers and judges that help group kids by high, moderate, low and very low risk of re-offending can not only reduce second offenses by high and moderate risk children, they can help to focus scarce resources where they will do the most good. Actuarially based risk assessment tools are developed using methods similar to those insurance companies use. Researchers examine a large number of juvenile cases over a several year period of time and cull information from about family characteristics, age, school performance, mental health issues, drug and alcohol use etc. They do statistical regression analyses to identify combinations of factors that are most predictive of further delinquency. These are then boiled down into a fairly simple tool for probation and parole officers to use when a child is arrested. Because laws vary state by state, a tool validated in one state is generally different in another state.

11. Enact a simple anti-trust exemption that would allow television broadcasters to collaborate to re-establish programing standards for family viewing. During the juvenile crime debate, there was an amendment sponsored by Mr. Hyde which included but was not limited to this anti-trust exemption. The amendment failed, although probably not because of the anti-trust section. The working group should revisit these anti-trust provisions so that broadcasters and producers can re-establish standards for their industry.