Views illegal behavior in education, from sexual discrimination to professional malpractice, as a problem in optimal resource allocation. Urges effective use of fines or their equivalent, so administrators can weigh the benefits of illegal activity against the costs of apprehension and punishment. (Author/RW)

The creative writing program at Syracuse University (New York) has been controversial since a 1995 incident in which a faculty member was charged with sexual harassment and drunkenness. A female faculty member has also been accused of inappropriate behavior. Faculty are divided over the issues, and some accuse the university of ignoring problems…

Complete performance-based accountability systems (PBASs) have four components: standards and assessments, multiple indicators, rewards, and sanctions. A Colorado survey revealed that teachers felt significantly more accountable in their classrooms than in their buildings for learning climate; curriculum; standards; student behavior, achievement,…

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) encourages New Jersey and other states to use their expanded roles in narrow ways. NCLB identifies state takeovers as one potential sanction for schools that fail to reach their adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets for five consecutive years.

A meta-analysis of 117 studies evaluated the effects of behavior modeling training (BMT) on 6 training outcomes, across characteristics of training design. BMT effects were largest for learning outcomes, smaller for job behavior, and smaller still for results outcomes. Although BMT effects on declarative knowledge decayed over time, training…

The "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act has failed to provide funds and programs envisioned by President George W. Bush. The Act's key tenets promised improved student learning and professional development for teachers, but changes in national priorities have prevented congress from meeting state requests for assistance. Schools are…

Recent changes in welfare policy have produced changes in parental work and welfare receipt. These factors are assessed in relation to investigated reports of child abuse and neglect using survey data on 1998 welfare recipients in nine Illinois counties, in conjunction with longitudinal administrative data on cash welfare benefits, employment, and…

Parents' expectations and demands of schools have traditionally exposed school-level educators to a major difficulty of maintaining a proper balance between parental involvement and intervention with schools. The following study explores how the increase in schools' authority following the introduction of School-Based Management (SBM) in schools…

Police attitudes are important in facilitating a sense of safety and comfort in women seeking justice-system support for protection from partner violence. This study examined police attitudes toward sanctions and treatment for domestic violence offenders compared with other violent and nonviolent offenders. In addition, police attitudes toward…

This qualitative study conducted in urban Miami, Florida, explored the essence of juvenile delinquency and recidivism: its causes, its relations to communities, the roles of families, and the myriad roles of residential treatment programs at rehabilitating young offenders. Data were collected from nine young adult participants who had satisfied…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 established a requirement that all States develop and submit to the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) a performance plan designed to advance the State from its current level of compliance with the statutory and regulatory requirements of the law…

According to the 2000 census, high school dropouts had a 52% employment rate, compared to 71% for high school graduates and 83% for college graduates. According to NCSE, the national dropout rate is 30% of which 80% had been chronically absent from school ("School attendance tracking: Challenges and effective practices"), which puts the…

The factors that contributed to changes in policy and practice regarding corporal punishment in Scotland's public education system are explored in this paper. An overview of the context and issues traces the links between practitioners and researchers that facilitated acceptance of previously unacceptable constraints, focusing on the role of…

Promoting nonviolent school discipline, this handbook describes a wide variety of punitive and preventive approaches practiced in American schools. After introductory passages discussing resistance to change and the declining but persistent use of corporal punishment, part one discusses the following topics under the heading…

Some broad problems involved in the assessment of competence in the health professions are defined. They include defining competence, the continuum of health professions education, the process of credentialing, internal/external evaluations, elements of controls on physicians' performance, monitoring process, and maintenance of competence. (MLW)