This article reports the results of a survey of cell phone policies in university libraries conducted over a three-month period in 2005. The authors sought information about the libraries' problems regarding cell phone use and attendant noise by students and other library users. The authors began with an 18-question survey of one hundred…

Relatively little research has examined the outcomes (either program completion or recidivism) of community service (CS) sentences among adult offenders in the United States, despite the fact that this form of alternative sanction has been employed in the United States for nearly 40 years. What little research exists, primarily from Europe,…

This paper describes how one Texas school district, the Aldine Independent School District (ISD), created its own police department as an effort to control school-related crime. Formed in 1990, the Aldine Police Department (ADP) entitles officers to issue citations to students or make arrests according to their assessment of the situation and with…

Findings from a study that examined the ways in which secondary-school administrators deal with student misconduct are presented in this paper. A secondary focus is the effect of school size and community type on administrators' perceptions and actions. A survey mailed to 100 middle and 100 secondary-school administrators from 302 Indiana school…

Texas Governor Mark White established a 28-member Governor's Task Force on Immigration on March 24, 1983 to: (1) examine the impact on Texas and its citizens of the legislative issues in the proposed federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1983; (2) hold public hearings to gain input from citizens, business, industry, labor, ranching and…

Developments in several states suggest that a state-imposed accountability system is gradually taking shape. State authorities have established both incentive systems to reward high-performing school districts and systems of sanctions to be applied to districts with a record of repeated low performance. To accomplish this, a majority of states are…

This study evaluates a subjective performance-evaluation regime in place in the English public school system since the early 1990s. Under this regime, independent inspectors visit schools, assess schools' performance, and disclose their findings on the Internet. Inspectors combine hard metrics, such as test scores, with softer ones, such as…

Recent research demonstrates that one in five school districts is under pressure to purge objectionable books from its libraries and classrooms. This paper briefly summarizes literature and court decisions dealing with censorship in the schools and describes a study of censorship in Illinois schools. In the study, a 68-item questionnaire asked 200…

This document, the final report resulting from a two-year study of the use of juvenile records in adult court proceedings and the relationship between age and sanction severity, is of interest to researchers and policymakers concerned with sanction policies for youthful offenders. The introductory chapter provides an overview of the controversy…

This research studies the effects of censoring a communication, overriding the censor, and the attractiveness of the censor on the potential audience's attitude and desire to hear the communication. The subjects, 144 undergraduate psychology students, were told that a speech which they were to have heard had been censored by a positively,…

Twenty-four institutions under NCAA sanctions are listed with dates of probation, sport under probation, sanctions, and grounds for action. (MLW)

Reviews the "Seyfried v. Walton" court decision involving the cancellation of a school play by the superintendent. Compares decision with decisions in other First Amendment cases involving school censorship. Points out that a complex constitutional issue has left a dangerous theory that could be adapted to other issues with this…

In this publication, six critical components of successful truancy intervention programs have been identified. Each component is discussed based on the research as well as practical considerations. Several program examples are provided at the end of each discussion. Approaches employed by these examples are designated model programs, promising…

This study investigated how the Department of Education (Education) monitored state compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for children age 3-21 years, the extent and nature of noncompliance, and how Education has ensured that noncompliance is resolved once identified. Researchers analyzed Education monitoring…

No Child Left Behind as well as many state policies maintain that the threat of sanctions are a method that will insure quality teaching and improved student achievement. Proponents of these policies often point to states such as Florida and Texas and their improved achievement scores under such policies. For the most part, these claims are not…