This study is an examination of persistent offending and its implications for the understanding and investigation of desistance and career length. Persistence, especially as it is operationalized using official measures, is characterized as fundamentally a measure of resistance to formal social control: continued crime in the face of increasingly…

This article presents a joint statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB), which currently has the support of working groups representing civil rights, religious, children's, disability, civic and labor organizations. The joint statement recommends 14 significant, constructive corrections that are among those necessary to make the Act fair and…

Many school accountability programs, including the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act are built on the premise that the threat of sanctions attached to failure will produce higher student achievement. However, the stigma associated with failing schools and the expected costs of possible future sanctions may lead experienced teachers to leave these…

Purpose: The No Child Left Behind Act laudably brings social justice and equity issues to the forefront; however, the act's threat- and sanction-driven methods are not only increasing stress levels but potentially causing a rigid response, especially in the growing population of schools labeled "program improvement" (PI). Specifically,…

This study is a mixed-methods case study of Antelope Valley High School (AVHS). AVHS was one of the first six schools in California to receive academic sanctions since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It was also the first high school to receive a State Trustee who was embedded at the school every day for two school years. AVHS…

UK schools commonly employ a behavioral discipline method comprising rules, rewards awarded when children follow the rules and sanctions when children break them. To date, this approach has had only limited success in halting classroom disruption (Render, Padilla and Krank, 1989; Riley & Rustique-Forrester, 2002; Gutherson & Pickard,…

The issue of intellectual freedom as it came up at various meetings during the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting (Chicago, January 18-24, 1970). (JB)

A 3-year study of 505 misdemeanor offenders in Houston (Texas) was conducted to assess the feasibility of adopting a policy of sanctions alternative to prison sentences for this class of criminal. The most salient finding was the emergence of probation as a superior sanction. (TJH)

Texts such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) contribute to the contexts in which one works because of the restrictions and sanctions they impose upon teachers and children. As others in this issue discuss in more detail, NCLB has a punitive edge that can replace teachers, decrease local school control, and change curriculum (L. Meyer, 2003). In this…

This fall the Academic Progress Rate, a formula that the National Collegiate Athletic Association developed to measure the academic performance of its member teams, will go into full effect. Known as the APR, the formula consists of two variables: academic performance (which requires satisfactory grades and timely progress to a degree) and student…

The research problem for this qualitative study was "Effective response to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) by school leadership is critical to public school success or failure in Indiana. Because high schools have been the first and most-often to 'fail' under NCLB, knowing principals' concerns and the leadership and implementation of strategies…

Each September in Wisconsin students return to school, football games draw enthusiastic crowds, and homecoming week is celebrated. Trees lose their leaves only to be re-adorned in white in that generation bridging tradition known as toilet papering. Community residents have differing opinions on "tp"ing, in large part determined by whether they…

Background: Unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland has only recently (2003) implemented legislation regarding the requirement for anti-bullying policies in the province's school system. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to ascertain the nature of the management of bully/victim problems across Northern Ireland schools prior to the…

Ways in which schools can handle student discipline problems are described in this Digest, which asserts that effective strategies aim to encourage responsible behavior and provide all students with a satisfying school experience. The document outlines the school characteristics associated with discipline problems, examines ways to decrease…

Literature concerning teachers' right to strike was reviewed. Three major themes were addressed: (1) the present state of arguments against teacher strikes; (2) their refutation by various individuals within the profession; and (3) arguments that were basic in demonstrating that the preponderance of evidence has shifted to the inevitable…