Nadra Nittle - District 91��Ƭistration

Water polo now linked to concussions

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Water polo hasn’t been widely connected with concussions, but research by James Hicks, director of the University of California, Irvine’s , has found that more than a third of water polo players say they’ve suffered a concussion. Goalies are most likely to get hit, with half reporting head trauma.

Hicks’ survey of nearly 2,000 college water polo players, the first epidemiological study about concussions in water polo, was published in 2016.

This year, he published an additional study in which water polo players wore sensors in their swim caps to track how often they experienced blows to the head during games and practices. The data showed that in addition to goalies, players in center positions who fight to gain control of the ball are most vulnerable to head trauma.

The research findings also have implications for youth water polo. had faced criticism for lacking a protocol for concussions in youth sports but adopting guidelines for the national team. The organization now features a concussion action plan on its website telling coaches to remove young athletes with injuries from competition until they get medical clearance to return.

Xochilt Baez, a water polo coach and lifeguard at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, a high school in Los Angeles, says the sport includes intense physical contact.

“In water polo, you not only have to know technique, you have to use your body,” Baez says. “You have to be able to push people around in water and almost perform wrestling moves.”

Baez has been trained to ask players who’ve suffered blows to the head a series of questions to measure their awareness, such as if they know the time of day or their name. She has also been taught to look for bumps, bruises, bleeding or tenderness.

Coaches should receive more training on concussion awareness, Baez says.

Read the main story: High schools crackdown on concussions

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High schools crack down on concussions

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 04:00:00 +0000

When Nancy Burke began her career as an athletic trainer for Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools in 1973, the guidelines for head injuries differed drastically from the safety protocols followed today.

“We have known forever that when you get hit on the head, your decision-making is impaired and everything is in confusion,” says Burke, now a consultant for Injury Management for Public Safety.

But four decades ago, the public didn’t know that concussions could have lifelong effects if ignored or treated improperly. A player who took a blow to the head might have been benched for only a matter of minutes before returning to the field.

Today, school administrators allow student-athletes with concussions to take days, weeks or even months to recuperate. In addition, athletic associations have implemented rule changes to lower the likelihood of head trauma, and states have passed legislation to ensure that school officials stick to certain procedures when players experience concussions.

Most significant, the conversation about concussions has moved beyond football. Players of sports such as soccer, volleyball, lacrosse and water polo are also vulnerable to head trauma. And concussions don’t discriminate along gender lines. Both boys and girls are at risk.

However, growing awareness about traumatic brain injuries means that student-athletes are likely safer than ever.

Girls at higher risk of concussions in high school sports?

How common concussions are for high school athletes is unclear, as many still go undiagnosed or unreported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in 2017, 15% of all student-athletes experienced concussions.

One analysis of 12 years of national data on head injuries uncovered a surprising finding: Female soccer players are more likely to suffer from concussions than players of other high school sports. One in 6.2 girls playing high school soccer during the 2016-17 school year got concussions, according to research by Dr. Wellington Hsu, a professor of orthopedic and neurological surgery at Northwestern University in Illinois.

Compare this to boys soccer in which 1 in 17.2 players had concussions, or to boys football in which 1 in 8.8 players suffered concussions.

Hsu says that poor technique clearly contributes to concussions in soccer.

“There’s also no [or minimal] protective gear in the sport,” Hsu adds. “I think all of those matter in most of the concussions that occur.”

Joe Schwartzman, the athletic director at Kennebunk High School in Maine, has seen this play out. He has three soccer-playing daughters who have sustained head injuries over the years.

“My oldest played goalie; she got kicked in the head,” Schwartzman says. “My second daughter got hit from behind in seventh grade and then again [had a concussion] in ninth grade.”
Schwartzman partly attributes concussions to strength and conditioning, particularly in girls, whose necks might not be as strong as boys’ necks. Concussions can also be caused by unskilled players—who might have less control over their bodies—colliding with other athletes.

To protect themselves, Kennebunk students learn agility training and safe heading techniques, and are taught to avoid reckless plays. As students develop as competitors, concussions occur less frequently.

Hsu’s examination of concussion data led to prohibit players younger than 12 from heading the ball to prevent long-term effects on brain health.

Hsu says unpublished data reveals that concussions in volleyball are also fairly common. Players experience head injuries when they’re hit with balls or they collide with other players, the net pole or the court floor.

In girls lacrosse, moves to make helmets mandatory have sparked debate, with some arguing that head protection makes players feel more secure and results in more aggressive play and an increase in injuries. A recent study from the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, however, suggests that headgear in girls lacrosse can reduce injuries and concussions.

Immediate screening

When players experience head injuries today, officials perform in-game assessments such as VOMS (vestibular ocular motor screening), which was developed by Pittsburgh-based health care provider UPMC, to immediately identify concussions. With a reported 90% accuracy rate, the screening examines eyesight, balance and movement.

“I hold up two fingers; I have them focus on something and then balance,” explains athletic trainer Arlene Verre.

Screening marks a shift from Verre’s early days as a trainer. At the start of her career 25 years ago, concussion misconceptions abounded, she says.

“It wasn’t really considered a concussion unless there was amnesia or loss of consciousness,” she says. “But that doesn’t always happen with concussions.”

The standard of care for athletes improved in the early 2000s when research about medical conditions related to head injuries, particularly the degenerative brain disease CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), garnered widespread media attention. Most of the news stories about CTE focused on professional football, but concerns were raised about the effects of head trauma in young athletes.

In 2009, Washington became the first state to pass a law concerning concussion management in youth sports, which required student-athletes with head injuries to be removed from play and to receive medical clearance before returning to compete. Today, all 50 states and the District of Columbia have implemented return to play legislation.

Also in 2009, the (MCMI) at Colby College formed to better educate coaches, parents and school administrators about head injuries. The group developed a head injury tracker tool in 2013 that allows school trainers and officials to report concussion data. The data helps researchers understand the circumstances in which concussions occur.

Initially, MCMI provided the tracker to 30 Maine high schools and each member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference. By 2015, all Maine high schools could access the tool, which expanded to Massachusetts high schools the following year.

“We’ve educated parents, teachers, administrators, school nurses and all the doctors in our community [about concussions],” Verre says. “We still don’t have great tools to diagnose concussions, but we have better tools.”

‘We can do more’

It’s impossible to remove concussion risks from sports altogether, but the debate about traumatic brain injuries has led to fewer student injuries, says Hsu, of Northwestern.

“I think what we have now is a pretty good baseline,” he says. “Rule changes, awareness of concussion symptoms and player awareness on the field have all helped. We’ve come a long way. We’re a lot better off in 2019, but we can do more.”

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The dangers of repetitive brain trauma

Fri, 16 Aug 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Among the risks that young athletes face when they experience traumatic brain injuries are:

Mild traumatic brain injury may cause long-term neurological damage and cognitive impairment, especially if an athlete has more than one. “What we call microtrauma or repetitive injury to the head may not produce concussive symptoms, but may also lead to long-term effects,” says Dr. Wellington Hsu, professor of orthopedic and neurological surgery at Northwestern University in Illinois.
Various degrees of traumatic brain injury have been linked to increased odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Repeated brain injuries might cause dementia to develop at a younger age.
Football players with at least three concussions have reported more memory problems than players who had no such injuries. “We don’t know what happens if you get 10 over a season or five in one game,” says James Hicks, director of the University of California, Irvine’s Center for Exercise Medicine and Sports Sciences. “You may not have headaches afterward, but repetitive brain injury does something.”

Source:

Read the main story: High schools crackdown on concussions

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Why teacher home visits help dropout prevention

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Parent Teacher Home Visits in Sacramento and other similar organizations are once again popularizing home visits, a practice commonplace in the 1960s. Each school year, the group facilitates at least two visits from school faculty members to a student’s home. During these exchanges, families and school staff discuss their goals and expectations for the student’s education.

Sacramento parent Theresa Hernandez characterized her first teacher visit as life-changing. “I got involved in my daughter’s school, where I met a great woman who gave me a helping hand,” she says.

has found that underprivileged students whose parents are active in their schools are more likely to graduate. That proved true for Hernandez, a domestic worker. Her daughter is now a college freshman.

Parent Teacher Home Visits began in 1998 in Sacramento when tensions between families and schools escalated.

“The community was pointing the finger at the school because none of the staff lived in our community, and the school was blaming the parents,” says Yesenia Ramirez, the group’s training director.

Students dropped out in droves, so focus groups were held to find solutions. Teachers suggested home visits to families to build trust, and Parent Teacher Home Visits launched to train school staff to make the (consensual) visits. Today, the organization operates in 26 states and Washington, D.C.

Main story: Dropout prevention gives students reason to stay

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Dropout prevention gives students reason to stay

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Family problems, absences and poor grades can drive students to becoming a dropout. But what actually drives many teenagers to quit school, say experts, is a sense that nobody in the building cares about them—and it’s a belief that is often reinforced after they leave.

“When schools don’t follow up with students who leave, it reaffirms the idea that no one cares,” says Jody Manning of the , which advocates for youth with disabilities.

District leaders who have raised graduation rates have designated staff to reach out to dropouts. Districts closely monitor data, such as repeat absences and falling grades, that signal students may leave school.

They also offer courses with real-world relevance and visit homes to connect with parents. Most important, they take these preventative measures well before senior year. “If every student knew they had caring adults in the school environment, it would make a difference,” Manning says.

Problem-solving for a potential dropout

Dropout prevention specialists at Yuma Union High School District in Arizona monitor attendance, and an information system automatically contacts parents when students don’t show up. Students who do drop out get visits from school officials.

“We just want to make sure they’re enrolled somewhere, and they have the records and transcripts they need to get credit if they transfer to another district,” Associate Superintendent Tim Brienza says. “Even if they drop out, we want them to know, ‘We’re not done with you.’”

The Yuma district (11,225 students) now has a dropout rate of 1.5 percent, down from 2.7 percent in the 2016-17 school year.

One key to lowering the district’s dropout rate is individualized intervention, Brienza says. For instance, a Yuma senior, on track to graduate, began missing class because of her new job.

“The student wasn’t coming to school because her mom was getting married, and she started working a night shift to save up for a wedding gift,” Brienza says. So school officials came up with a solution: They hired her as a front desk receptionist earning the same pay. This allowed her to work without jeopardizing her education.

CTE students in Oregon’s Corvallis School District build egg launchers. Career prep has made students more excited about their studies.

A similar approach has also kept students in class in The School District of Lee County (93,000 students) in Florida. Last year, Graduation Coordinator Shellie Taylor intervened when a 12th-grader withdrew from school weeks before graduation.

The student planned to complete her credits in the district’s adult education program, but months passed and she hadn’t. Enter Taylor, who arranged for the student to complete her degree online.

By February 2019, the student had earned the credits that she needed to graduate. “Although a student may not graduate by their fourth year of high school, allowing them to complete their requirements the fifth year is life-changing,” Taylor says.

The School District of Lee County created Taylor’s position in 2017 to combat the dropout problem. The district also has an early warning system with more than 40 different criteria—such as grades, behavioral problems and attendance—to identify at-risk students.

These efforts led Lee County to a graduation rate of nearly 83 percent, its highest ever and a 5 percent increase over the 2016-17 school year, says Wanda Creel, the district’s chief academic officer.

Graduation rates improved for African-Americans, English language learners and students with disabilities, all groups vulnerable to dropping out, Creel says.

Creel says parent outreach has helped. The district organizes community gatherings in different neighborhoods to meet parents where they are, instead of requiring parents to come to school.

Ninth-grade turning point

Research on high school graduation rates also suggests that early intervention matters.

Elementary school students who participated in the Boston-based program—in which teachers, counselors and social workers monitored the children’s personal and academic needs—weren’t as likely to quit high school as others, according to an American Educational Research Association .

Related story: How to keep freshmen on track for graduation

“It’s comprehensive,” says Stacey Raczek, associate director of evaluation and research for the program that started in Boston Public Schools 20 years ago. “The intervention is designed so that each and every student gets a tailored approach.”

The staff members examine grades, test scores and attendance to spot students who are falling behind. “Somebody in the school, usually the school counselor, finds out what’s behind the scenes,” says Mary Walsh, executive director of City Connects and the Daniel Kearns Professor of Urban Education and Innovative Leadership at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College.

Getting vulnerable children the right intervention at the right time can make all the difference between students giving up on school and students deciding to stick it out, Walsh says. The first year of high school also influences graduation rates. Scholars at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research found that ninth-graders who fail more than one class per semester are highly likely to drop out.

The consortium developed the indicator to help schools monitor performance and absenteeism. When students struggle, teachers offer tutoring or homework help, or call home.

Initially adopted by Chicago Public Schools in 2007, the indicator is now used nationally. The Corvallis School District in Oregon (6,850 students) employed the tool to boost its graduation rate to 89 percent. The rate has inched up from the 2016-17 school year, when its two high schools, Crescent Valley and Corvallis, had rates of 86 percent and 87 percent.

“Our high schools have implemented data teams that review students’ grades throughout the semester,” says Corvallis Superintendent Ryan Noss. The teams take action when a student doesn’t earn three credits by the end of their first semester of ninth grade.

The schools maintain contact with students and parents, and differentiate intervention plans. If a course such as English needs to be repeated, the student can enroll in the district’s language arts summer school taught by a language arts teacher, Noss says.

If students who’ve fallen behind don’t go to summer school, the district encourages them to make up their missing credits the following semester. A student also has the option of taking an online class or working with a tutor, according to Noss.

“We maintain an ongoing conversation about grades with our students, and support them as they take the ownership to reach out to their teachers,” Noss says. “This keeps the student in control of their learning and graduation plan.”

Elaine Allensworth, director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, says passing freshman year is imperative. “Most students will fall further and further behind unless someone figures out what’s going on and reaches out to them,” she says.

CTE classes matter

Giving students access to career and technical education classes makes a difference, too. From 2013 to 2018, the graduation rate of DeKalb County School District (102,000 students) in Georgia rose from 60 to 75 percent.

Vasanne Tinsley, the district’s deputy superintendent, says career planning has motivated students. As early as elementary school, students examine which professions interest them. In high school, students land internships, get career certifications, and earn college credits in Georgia’s dual-enrollment program.

Across Oregon, schools are also boosting their career offerings. The Corvallis School District expanded classes in computer science, automotive instruction, forestry and STEM after voters passed a ballot measure in 2016.

Corvallis students who took multiple CTE classes last year had a graduation rate of 94 percent, compared to 87 percent for those who took none, Noss says.

“Kids attend school for a variety of reasons,” Noss says. “I believe that authentic real-world learning provides purpose and meaning for many students.”

Nadra Nittle is a Los Angeles-based reporter who has written about education for several national publications.

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