Research Paper on:
US Students, Schools, and Social Problems

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
affecting students in the U.S. today, namely: drug and alcohol abuse, differences in socio-economic factors, learning disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD), violence, single-parent families and family problems and  health concerns among others. The risk factors for these problems generally fall within the areas of behavioral and emotional problems, family associated problems, parent and/or adolescent substance abuse, health problems  and problems associated with violence within individual students or groups and gangs. The Children Resource Center of Henderson Country, NC released a strategic plan to be used within their  community and educational systems to address these major social problems which are reflective of trends reported in the rest of the U.S. Generally, they found that over the past five  years there has been an increase in the number of students requiring and being served in learning disabled programs; the number of students classified as ADHD/ADD; the number of students  not completing high school; the number of students suspended because of aggressive behavior; the number of students arrested for violence, drug offences and running away; but a decrease in the  number of individuals being served by the Area Mental Health Services which makes the problems more of a burden on the educational system (Henderson, 2002). Within the area of family  social problems, Henderson reported that "a growing number of children are exposed to stressful family situations" including family, violence, child abuse and neglect, an increase in single-parent households and several  additional socio-economic factors which impact their overall living conditions and their performance in school (Henderson, 2002). Within Henderson County alone almost one-third receive Medicaid and almost 12% were eligible for  food stamps. In addition the number of children in foster care or awaiting foster care has increased within the last five years (Henderson, 2002). Substance abuse, or alcohol and drug