Children & Disasters Resources: Hurricane Katrina & Effect on Children

Public Education Through the Public Eye: A Survey of New Orleans Voters an...

2010-01-15T19:37:46.730Z

Public Education Through the Public Eye: A Survey of New Orleans Voters and Parents (Scott S. Cowen Institute for Public Initiatives at Tulane University, December 2009)

http://education.tulane.edu/

This study reports the results of a survey of public opinion showing a generally favorable response to the changes in public education in New Orleans that have occurred since Hurricane Katrina. The control of New Orleans schools has been split between the locally run Orleans Parish School Board and the state-run Recovery School District, with both of them heavily engaged in charter school experiments. More than 30 non-profit organizations run charter schools. In 2010 much of this organization will be in flux, as the state is scheduled to evaluate whether or not to return schools to local control and many school charters are up for renewal. In addition, a scheduled mayoral election may significantly change the relationship between public schools and the city.

Five Years After Katrina: Access To Education http://www.aals.org/events_...

2010-01-15T18:56:01.079Z

Five Years After Katrina: Access To Education

http://www.aals.org/events_am2010_education.php

What has New Orleans – and indeed, the rest of the United States – learned about education in the wake of Hurricane Katrina?

In August of 2005, one of recorded history’s most powerful hurricanes hit New Orleans, and the days that followed included flooding that damaged or destroyed much of the city’s infrastructure and systems. Forced to rebuild – indeed, reimagine – the New Orleans school system, the state instituted dramatic reforms, including school choice, greater accountability, and the creation of charter schools for the majority of students.

Five years later, what have we learned? Is the New Orleans school system working, and working better? Is the role of the state appropriate, versus local control? Are these reforms best for all students, or just those in primary or secondary schools? Have these reforms fully accommodated students with special needs and disabilities? And have these reforms created a model for the rest of the country?

Katie A. Mclaughlin, John A. Fairbank, Michael J. Gruber, Russell T. Jones, ...

2010-01-15T18:54:45.052Z

Katie A. Mclaughlin, John A. Fairbank, Michael J. Gruber, Russell T. Jones, Matthew D. Lakoma, Betty Pfefferbaum, Nancy A. Sampson, Ronald C. Kessler, “Serious Emotional Disturbance Among Youths Exposed to Hurricane Katrina 2 Years Post disaster,” 48 J. of Amer. Acad. Of Adolescent and Child Psychiatry 1069-1078 (November 2009)

http://www.jaacap.com/article/PIIS0890856709602549/fulltext

This study concludes that the prevalence of serious emotional disorder among youths exposed to Hurricane Katrina remains high 18-27 months after the storm. The greatest risks involves children who experienced hurricane stressors and who also has a family history of psychopathology and who had lower family incomes.

Bruce Sacerdote: When The Saints Come Marching In: Effects of Hurricanes Katr...

2009-03-18T19:17:39.425Z

Bruce Sacerdote: When The Saints Come Marching In: Effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Student Evacuees

I examine academic performance and college going for public school students affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Students who are forced to switch schools due to the hurricanes experience sharp declines in test scores in the first year following the hurricane. However, by the second and third years after the disaster, Katrina evacuees displaced from Orleans Parish appear to benefit from the displacement, experiencing a .15 standard deviation improvement in scores. The test score gains are concentrated among students whose initial schools were in the lowest quintile of the test score distribution and among students who leave the New Orleans MSA. Katrina evacuees from suburban areas and Rita evacuees (from the Lake Charles area) eventually recover most of the ground lost during 05-06 but do not experience long term gains relative to their pre-Katrina test scores. High school age Orleans evacuees have higher college enrollment rates than their predecessors from the same high schools. Meanwhile, Katrina evacuees from the suburbs experience a 3.5 percentage point drop in their rate of enrollment in four year colleges. Those evacuees do not to make up for the decline in the subsequent two years. Later cohorts of suburban New Orleans evacuees are unaffected. The results suggest that for students in the lowest performing schools, the long term gains to achievement from switching schools can more than offset even substantial costs of disruption.

http://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/14385.html

Children's Health Fund Report New Yor...

2008-11-24T21:42:07.265Z

Children's Health Fund Report

New York-based Children's Health Fund released a report on Monday that confirms deteriorating physical and mental health of children, now living in funded trailer parks, displaced during hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

In a first-of-its-kind detailed study of overall wellbeing of children after the catastrophe struck the Gulf Coast, children’s health conditions were cited as 'serious'. The organization surveyed 261 children who previously occupied federally funded Baton Rouge trailer park and examined their medical records.

http://www.themedguru.com/articles/severe_ailments_embrace_hurricane_displaced_children-86117900.html

NEW! “Meeting Mental Health Needs ...

2008-11-24T21:40:31.311Z

NEW! “Meeting Mental Health Needs Following a Natural Disaster: Lessons From Hurricane Katrina” by Paula A. Madrid and Roy Grant (The Children’s Health Fund 2008)

“Hurricane Katrina had a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of Louisiana and Mississippi families. Housing was destroyed, jobs were lost, and family members were separated, sometimes in different states and without communication. Postdisaster stress reactions were common, with vulnerable individuals most affected. Mental health services were not adequate to meet immediate needs, and postdisaster mental health issues often emerge over time. This article describes the mental health needs of dislocated and evacuee children and families and the steps that were taken to develop mental health programs that would be sustainable over time to meet this new level of need.”

www.childrenshealthfund.org/publications/academicpubs.php

NEW! “Mental Health Services in Louisi...

2008-11-24T21:38:22.899Z

NEW! “Mental Health Services in Louisiana School-Based Health Centers Post Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” by Paula A Madrid, Richard Garfield, Parham Jaberi, Maureen Daly, Georgina Richard, Joy Grant (The Children’s Health Fund 2008)

“Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana school-based health centers (SBHCs) were called onto respond to a sharp increase in mental health needs, especially for displaced students coping with grief, loss, trauma, and uncertainty. To assess the impact of the hurricanes on the students and the needs of SBHC mental health providers (MHPs), we surveyed MHPs in each of the SBHCs under the auspices of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health. SBHC practitioners from around the state reported that mental health service utilization rose during the 2005–2006 school year, but utilization of services increased most significantly in schools receiving the majority of displaced students.

Anxiety and adjustment problems were noted as increasing the most following the hurricanes. A multitude of other conditions was also reported. By the time of this survey in April 2006, the reported prevalence of most symptoms had declined, but all remained above their pre-hurricane levels. Selfreported needs of SBHC MHPs are also discussed in light of the major natural disasters.”

NEW! Dr. James S. Gordon and others (C...

2008-08-15T14:17:54.514Z

NEW! Dr. James S. Gordon and others (Center for Mind-Body Medicine), “Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Post-War Kosovar Adolescents Using Mind-Body Skills Groups: A Randomized Controlled Trial, J. OF CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY (2008).

http://www.cmbm.org/mind_body_medicine_RESEARCH/cmbm_research.php (http://www.cmbm.org/downloads/KOSOVO_PTSD_HS_STUDENTS.pdf)

In this first randomized controlled trial of intervention with war traumatized children, 82 Kosovo high school students who met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder were treated with the techniques developed by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (CMBM). The techniques, including biofeedback, meditation, guided imagery and self-expression produced lasting changes in levels of stress, flashbacks, nightmares and symptoms of withdrawal and numbing in the studied children. The percentage of children experiencing symptoms declined after treatment from 100% to 18% over a three-month period. This model of treatment is being used in Israel and Gaza, as well as with Katrina survivors and has been used to reduce stress in medical students

NEW! “New Orleans Three Years After ...

2008-08-11T15:40:05.603Z

NEW! “New Orleans Three Years After the Storm: The Second Kaiser Post-Katrina Study, 2008” (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation 2008)

http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/7789.cfm

The second in a planned series of at least three surveys, this was conducted in the Spring of 2008. The results of this new survey are “sobering.” Among other findings, residents of Orleans Parish who were surveyed report frustration with progress made in the health care and public school arenas. Despite some areas of hope, overall there is a feeling that New Orleans has been forgotten by national leaders. Of all the after effects of Katrina, moreover, it is the psychological ones that stand out. One in four of residents with children in their home report that their children’s mental health is worse than before the storm. Information on children is intermixed throughout the report.

NEW! “Progress for Some, Hope and Hardships for Many: Storm Survivors Today ...

2008-05-16T15:39:04.726Z

NEW! “Progress for Some, Hope and Hardships for Many: Storm Survivors Today and What’s Necessary to Ensure Their Recovery,” by Dana Alfred (Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, Recovery Brief, May 2008).

http://www.recoverycorps.org/reports.php

Not focused on children in particular, this report surveys residents from parishes highly affected by the storm, finding that only one-third of them consider themselves mostly recovered from its effects. While the long term effects of the storm on children are unknown, parents mostly believe that their children are doing well, particularly in Calcasieu Parish. In Jefferson, Plaquemines and St. Bernard’s parishes, however, a higher percentage of parents report behavioral and emotional issues that they feel unable to resolve for their children. Availability of child care remains a problem inhibiting return to the work force. The report includes tables on schools and child care.