Access and affordability are the main themes of Goal 1 of The Virginia Plan for Higher Education. Progress toward these goals can be measured by a variety of means, but access and affordability serve as foundational guiding principles as the Commonwealth of Virginia crafts its annual and biennial higher-education budgets. Student-loan debt is but…

Purpose of the Study: Two consumer-derived measures of nursing home quality that have been underutilized by researchers are consumer complaints to the state certification agency between inspections and complaints to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program. This article describes these complaints, considers facility-level predictors of complaints, and…

Using an event history framework we analyze the adoption rate of national human rights institutions. Neo-realist perspective predicts adoption rates to be positively influenced by favorable national profiles that lower the costs and make it more reasonable to establish these institutions. From a world polity perspective adoption rates will be…

As the author demonstrates, whenever preservice or beginning teachers observe a veteran teacher in action, the veteran serves as a mentor, in the sense that the experienced teacher is modeling the practices that can influence the newcomer. In this article, the author reminds educators about the importance of formative assessments, not just of the…

Handling appeals against grades is time consuming and requires allocation of resources away from the pursuit of activities such as instruction, research, and supervision of postgraduate students. This study examines grievance policies, frequencies, and outcomes of appeals at the University of California (UCB) and the University of Oslo (UIO). We…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the role of race in cross-race advising relationships between White faculty advisors and their Black doctoral student proteges. From a broader perspective, I examined the racial context of doctoral education experiences and relationships between doctoral students and faculty. Only 1% of…

This article explores the issues facing practitioners working in the field of student complaints and appeals (including academic appeals). It is a reflective study which examines some general and historical issues, using anonymised case studies where appropriate and highlighting the diversity of practice across the sector. The author observes that…

Complaints made to external agencies about Australian universities are rising in both number and complexity. Recent debate has therefore focused upon how to improve grievance handling in the Australian higher education sector. One suggested "solution" is the creation of a national Australian university ombudsman. The UK has recently…

The ideas of establishing an ombudsman--meaning a commissioner appointed by a legislature to hear and investigate complaints by citizens against government officials--in the United States is examined in this article. Discussion focuses on the origin of the idea and the feasibility of implementing it at the local, state, and federal levels. (SM)

After a general discussion of ethical standards for school psychologists, a list of issues which provoke ethical questions are discussed. (RC)

The ombudsman idea has arrived in the educational hierarchy, the person who serves as an open line of communication between the teacher and the administration. (AN)

Determines whether the public knows of the newspaper ombudsman's role, and probes the effects of calling a newspaper on public perceptions of the newspaper's interest in accuracy and correcting errors. Finds that people who call the ombudsman are satisfied with the response to their complaint. (RS)

Higher-education institutions in the US are increasingly hiring ombudsmen to resolve faculty members' complaints before they escalate into more serious problems. Faculty ombudsmen handle a range of complaints, from mundane disputes over office space to career-changing battles over termination.

Suggests the position of ombudsman is one that newspapers might create with internal success and acceptance from the other staff members. (RB)