Interview with Nancy Landon Kassebaum, third-term Senator from Kansas. Discusses the Head Start program, particularly funding and how it fits into welfare reform. Shares some of her home state's efforts with regard to the national education goals; family issues such as job training, literacy, safe child care, and preventive health care; and…

Seven politicians who have spent some time in the college classroom as professors or lecturers comment on the influence of their teaching experience on their approaches to law-making. The legislators are: Senator Phil Gramm, Senator Paul Simon, Senator Barbara Mikulski, Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett, Representative Bob Filner, Representative…

Survey data found that legislative research agencies (n=47) do not rely on college and university personnel and, when they do, most of their reliance is grounded in informal, direct contacts with individuals. College faculty must demonstrate ability to deliver information in a timely fashion, promote the effectiveness of applied research, and…

The United States House of Representatives' committees that make policy of importance to higher education are described, subcommittee leaders are profiled, and members are listed by political party. Telephone numbers are also provided. (MSE)

A latent class unfolding model is developed for single stimulus preference ratings. One advantage is the possibility of testing the spatial unfolding model against the unconstrained latent class model for rating data. The model is applied to data about party preferences of members of the Dutch parliament. (SLD)

Shares a letter the author (a professor emeritus of Language Arts education) wrote to her state assembly member in California in response to legislation, based on a very limited definition of reading, that imposed the use of phonics on school districts. Notes that the letter can serve as a model for other educators to respond to their legislator.…

Observes that the first Congress, 1789 to 1791, was the most important in American history. Discusses the role of individual congressional members, including Oliver Ellsworth, Richard Henry Lee, William Maclay, Fisher Ames, Daniel Carroll, Thomas Fitzsimmons, James Jackson, and James Madison. Suggests that these congressman can stimulate student…

Analyzes the events of July 23, 1993, when Carol Moseley-Braun was involved in two rhetorical events in the United States Senate dealing with racial issues and the rhetorical culture of the Senate. Concludes that the reactions are as telling as the actions, revealing a United States Senate fundamentally unprepared for such a subject and such a…

Examines 2 important congressional debates about race relations, and the relationship of journalism to these debates, in the late 19th century. Suggests that political elites commonly used news, opinion, and perceptions in press content and by journalists to support, defend, and buttress certain policy positions in these debates. (SR)

Objective: To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among incarcerated male adolescents and to investigate the influence of psychopathology on allocation to either plain detention or detention with compulsory treatment. Method: A cross-sectional study of a representative sample (N = 204) of incarcerated boys aged 12 to 18, using the…

This article contains the transcript of a speech that Robert ONeil delivered on June 12 in Washington, D.C., at the Ninetieth Annual Meeting of the American Association of University Professors. ONeil is professor of law and former president of the University of Virginia, where he directs the Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free…

The dataset presented here illustrates to students the utility of logistic regression. Its analysis results in a fit that explains much of how senators vote on a particular bill, and allows for quantification of the effects of ideology and money on the vote. A number of interesting quantitative interpretations follow from a good fit. A successful…

Many of the nation's governors gathered in Washington, DC for their winter conference called for changes to the No Child Left Behind Act or its regulations, even as the Bush administration continued to defend its level of cooperation with states under the law. Fifty state and territorial governors attended the National Governors Association (NGA) …

This pamphlet is about effective communication and helping citizens make use of every available way to "send them a message." Highlighted are tips on making personal visits to members of Congress and their staff, placing telephone calls and writing effective letters. There is a directory of telephone numbers and addresses to contact the…

Educators and legislators tend to have differing impressions of the definition of educational quality. Components of quality can be classified into three categories: (1) input, e.g., student characteristics, such as grade point average and test scores, and faculty characteristics, such as advanced degrees and publications; (2) environment/process,…