Drug courts routinely rely on the threat of legal sanction to motivate drug-using criminal offenders to enter and complete community-based treatment programs. In light of the high failure rates among drug court participants, what is the effect of the threat of legal sanction on program retention and completion? A quasiexperimental research design…

Whilst regulation is utilized by governments in Australia and internationally as a means of promoting quality standards in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, a growing body of literature is critical of the detrimental effect of this regulation. Drawing on our investigation into early childhood teachers' perceptions of the impact…

This report examines the background, purpose, cost, and regulatory impact of Senate Bill 1614, the proposed Better Nutrition and Health for Children Act of 1994. The purpose of the act is to reauthorize and make improvements in various federal nutrition programs, such as the National School Lunch Act and the Child Nutrition Act. The report…

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) includes important, but limited, protections for millions of working Americans and their families around the ability to obtain and keep health coverage. Among its specific protections, HIPAA: (1) Limits the use of preexisting condition exclusions; (2) Prohibits group health…

This volume is a collection of public discourses on European education governance, and social integration and exclusion, focusing in particular on changes in education governance in Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, England, and Scotland. Ten chapters include: (1) "Introduction: Research Problematics and…

This essay is based on the author's presentation at the Wachman Fund's 2003 history institute, "Teaching Japan." An overview of Japan's educational system and common misconceptions about Japanese schools are presented. American resistance to comparative education ins general is also discussed. By setting aside traditional biases against…

This report focuses on a decision-making model developed at the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) and designed to help decisionmakers and policy analysts weigh various policy options for a public issue such as childcare quality. The matrix allows users to compare strategies in terms of desirability and feasibility factors…

An increasingly popular approach to addressing child care needs of Americas families is to give state tax credits to employers that provide child care assistance to their employees, thereby permitting the employer to offset part of its child care expenditures against its state tax liability. Currently, 28 states have such tax credits, and a…

At Congressional request, the General Accounting Office examined states choices for providing child care assistance to families and states' proposed changes to child care assistance programs for fiscal year 2004. Information was obtained through a survey of child care administrators of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Findings revealed…

This guide is intended to help people in the nursing profession, especially deans at schools of nursing, to effectively influence public policy at the federal level. Introductory material identifies key Senate and House committees and stresses the importance of establishing and maintaining a relationship with one's representatives in the Congress.…

This first article in a series on telecommunications in rural America provides an overview of several key telecommunication issues facing rural regions. High speed data services known as broadband have the potential to make rural areas less isolated and improve the rural quality of life, but physical barriers, sparse population density, and few…

This article describes Federal income maintenance programs for people with mental retardation in the United States. Combined Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Disability Insurance (DI) totaled an estimated $20.6 billion for people with mental retardation in 2000. Discussion focuses on the relative importance of these programs for this…

Presents an overview of the development of current practices in information literacy education in tertiary institutions in South Africa. Highlights include the policy framework affecting information literacy; a literature review; the impact of institutional policies; educational strategies that meet the objectives of information literacy;…

Experience with student teams working on policy analysis projects indicates the need for faculty supervision of teams in the process of addressing complex issues. The problem-solving approach adopted in one policy analysis course is described, including assignments and tasks, issues and sponsors, team dynamics, conflict management, and the…

Discusses the complexity of barriers keeping nontraditional students out of higher education, then examines the United Kingdom government's proposals (contained in "Excellence Challenge") to widen participation. Identifies underlying "simplistic" assumptions about targeting and selection of students and benefits of…