One Approach to Formulating and Evaluating Student Work Groups in Legal Environment of Business Courses

The principal focus of this study is an investigation of whether students' grade point average (GPA) is a viable criterion for forming student work groups in the undergraduate Legal Environment of Business course. More specifically, the research focuses on the impact of: (1) GPA-homogeneous (HO) and GPA-heterogeneous (HE) groups upon student satisfaction with group processes and (2) the impact on individual student performance in both group and nongroup assignments. Data obtained from fourteen HE and fourteen HO student groups, in four separate Legal Environment of Business classes consisting of a mix of Management, Marketing, Computer Information Systems, International Business, Financial Services, and Accounting majors, generated a number of significant results. The most surprising observations dealt with the behavior of low achievers whose individual grades showed substantial improvement after working in HO groups. Researchers who are assessing pedagogical methods which serve to engage a student's active learning and motivation should find these results to be of interest. In addition, the beneficial impact on task and relationship behaviors observed in this study should provide solace or a sense of reward to the larger set of academicians, across disciplines, who attempt to impart realistic organizational skills to their classes.     

Post release arrest experiences of federal prisoners: A six-year follow-up

The likelihood of further criminal conduct is important in allocation decisions for parole supervision resources. In this article, the relationship between arrest-free time after release (alone and in combination with other variables) and the probability of subsequent arrest is examined for a relatively large random sample of released federal prisoners (N=1,806). A six-year follow-up period is made possible by the use of “rap sheet” records provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.Knowledge of this relationship may be used to provide empirical guidance for decisions about the intensity and/or duration of supervision; and a method for the practical application of this knowledge in case decision-making is illustrated.     

CHILD CUSTODY EVALUATIONS

Judicial and legal changes in divorce rules and precedents over the last two decades have led to increasing involvement by mental health professionals in child custody disputes. This involvement usually entails an evaluation of the child and parents, along with a recommendation to the court regarding custody. To date, there is little empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of methods typically used by professionals in making recommendations to the court. This article presents a review of assessment methods currently used in resolving child custody disputes. It also reviews the limited number of outcome studies on child custody evaluation and methods used in litigation and mediation.     

Perverse politics

‘Perverse Politics: Lesbian Issues’, Feminist Review No 34 Spring 1990; Monika Kehoe Lesbians Over 60 Speak for Themselves (Haworth Press) New York 1988; Esther D. Rothblum & Ellen Cole (eds) Lesbianism Affirming Nontraditional Roles (Haworth Press) New York 1989.     

The political hand: Policy implementation and youth employment programs

Outstanding studies in the past decade have illuminated the sources of ineffective implementation and thus have suggested what not to do. To learn more about what to do, we analyzed a broad range of cases of effective implementation of youth employment programs in eight cities. The goal was to build an impressionistic model of the conditions contributing to flective implementation. We found that executives in the successful programs often acted as “fixers,” repairing the implementation process and protecting and correcting their programs, especially through coalition building and constant intervention in administrative detail. Some executives created patterns of interest convergence among the relevant actors, using incentives to turn mild interests into active support. They thus provided the public sector's missing “political hand,” analogous to the market's “invisible hand.”