Previously known as “vocational education,” career and technical education (CTE) has emerged in the past decade as one of the most promising approaches to preparing students for the future. New York City is at the forefront of the national revolution in career education, with 50 of the city’s schools dedicated exclusively to CTE and others providing opportunities to concentrate in a CTE subject area. This report from the Manhattan Institute presents data suggesting that young people who attend CTE schools have better attendance rates and are more likely to graduate. The report concluded that continued program innovation, greater resource investment, and stronger collaboration with business and industry are necessary to build on the CTE movement’s initial success.

This brief from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) presents information from a multi-site study of the impact of incarceration on father-child relationships. The findings indicate that fewer fathers lived with or financially supported their children after release than before incarceration. Fathers who had more contact with their children during incarceration were more likely to live with their children after release, as were fathers who had happier relationships with their children’s mothers. Also, fathers of younger children reported higher parental warmth and better relationship quality with their children than fathers of older children.

This report from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation provides a nationally representative estimate of all home-based care to children ages birth through five years and not yet in kindergarten as of 2012, using data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education. The report describes the characteristics of the providers and the care they provide.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable tax credit given to workers with low to moderate incomes, and has been expanded over the years to become one of the country’s most effective anti-poverty policies for low-income workers with children. This brief from the MDRC provides an update on the Paycheck Plus demonstration, which is testing the effects of a more generous EITC-like earnings supplement for low-income single adults in New York City. It describes the implementation of the program during the first year and supplement receipt rates during the 2015 tax season. The brief also discusses the forthcoming test of Paycheck Plus in Atlanta, Georgia, which will provide evidence of its effects in a different context from New York City.

This report from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) summarizes key findings from the implementation of the adapted version of the Reducing the Risk comprehensive sex education program in the Barren River and Lincoln Trail District Health Departments in Kentucky. In both districts, health educators delivered the program in relatively low-income, mostly rural high schools. The report describes the supports established to help health educators as they implemented the curriculum; adherence to the implementation plan; and the level of youth engagement with the curriculum.

A recent symposium focused specifically on low-income urban men for several reasons. First, nearly two-thirds of young low-educated men are fathers, and fathers represent an important potential source of family income and financial support for children. Next, since 2000, low-income urban men have retreated from employment as median wages for low-skilled workers have dropped and their incarceration rate has shot up. Finally, research on the 1990s' welfare reforms focused on disadvantaged single women with children, whereas relatively little attention has been paid to disadvantaged men. Despite their importance to families and society, the plight of urban men with a high school education or less has not been widely documented. This brief from the Institute for Research on Poverty highlights this demographic, the trends affecting them, and promising practices to improve their lives and the lives of their children.

In this study, published by the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, caseworkers provided information regarding a mother’s number and quality of social supports and whether an infant was removed from her care. Analyses indicated that infants were less likely to be removed from the mother’s care when caseworkers viewed maternal social supports as positive. This association was strongest when the caseworker identified only positive supports, with no contacts defined as non-positive. Mothers who were assessed to have no intimate relationship or a low level of commitment were nearly twice as likely to have their children in foster care compared to mothers assessed to be in a mid-to-high level of committed relationship. Results suggest that caseworkers’ distinctions between positive and non-positive social networks influence removal decisions. (author abstract)

This publication, designed for public and private direct service child welfare workers and community and faith based organizations, outlines a 12-hour curriculum which provides a model of practice for collaborating with kinship caregivers. The purposes of the training program are to: help achieve the outcomes of child safety, well-being, and permanency that are identified in the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA); and provide meaningful support to kinship families, including use of the resources in the 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. This curriculum was designed by the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) as an integral part of CWLA’s Kinship Care Traditions of Caring and Collaborating Model of Practice.

This study, commissioned by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, shares the findings from a nationally representative survey of young people’s perspectives on mentoring. The report offers young people’s perspectives on mentoring in three areas: mentoring’s connection to outcomes, the value of mentors, and the availability of mentors. Researchers found that youth with mentors were more likely to engage in positive behaviors, such as setting higher education goals, volunteering, or participating in sports and extracurricular activities. Nearly all youth who had mentors believed the mentoring relationship was helpful and many were interested in becoming mentors themselves. However, mentors are not always available for youth. One in three young people do not have a mentor, and high-risk youth are even less likely to have a mentor. The report, guided by the voices of young people, offers recommendations to ensure that young people most in need have access to a quality mentor relationship and receive the adult supports they need to succeed in school, work, and life.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) supports millions of single parents and their children each year. Though the majority of EITC recipients are single mothers, many single fathers receive this benefit as well. In 2014, 4.2 million single fathers were eligible for the EITC. This blog post from the Brookings Institution provides more information about eligible fathers and includes a link to EITC commentaries and resources.