Two Cheers for Paperwork: The Value and Burden of Federal Reporting

In principle, reporting by state and local governments to thefederal government is essential to the design and implementationof national policy. In practice, reporting often engenders resentmentof federal intrusion and is often dismissed as a waste of stateand local resources. Is reporting useless? Does it strengthenthe federal government at the expense of state and local governments?We asked federal, state, local, and site officials about thevalue and burden of five specific reporting systems in elementaryand secondary education. Common assumptions about reportingdid not correspond to respondent reactions. Both value and burdencascade through the intergovernmental system, reaching policymakersin all governments. Although critics seldom discriminate betweentypes of reporting, we found that reporting designed to improvecompliance with federal standards evoked different judgmentsof value and burden than reporting designed for assistance.These results suggest some new approaches to federal policygoverning the collection of information and to the design ofindividual reporting systems.     

The sporting life: Athletic activities during early adolescence

The decline in sports participation that begins in early adolescence has been well documented, and there has been considerable controversy regarding the reasons for this attrition. The present study addressed the attrition process by focusing on the subjective experience of sports as a function of grade, gender, and sport context. Following the procedures of the Experience Sampling Method, 401 5th–9th-grade boys and girls carried electronic pagers, similar to those worn by doctors, for one week, and filled out self-report forms on their activities and subjective states in response to signals received at random times. Older respondents spent less time in sports than their younger peers. This age difference was due primarily to a decline in informal sports participation, with less pronounced attrition from organized sports. Our findings suggest that the reasons for attrition from sport may be context specific. While informal sports were experienced more positively than gym class or organized sports, perceptions of skill were lowest during informal sports and declined with age. It seems youngsters stop participating in organized sports because these activities are less enjoyable to them, while attrition from informal sports is more performance based. Boys spent more time in sports than girls, and this difference was based primarily upon significant gender differences in informal sports participation. In spite of their differential rates of participation, boys and girls reported similar levels of affect, arousal, and skill during sports.This research was supported by NIMH grant number MH38324, Stress in Daily Life During Early Adolescence, awarded to Reed Larson, and was carried out while the first author was a Dissertation Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Loyola University of Chicago.Received Ph.D. in psychology from Loyola University of Chicago. Current research interests include athletic, involvement during early adolescence, body image, and adolescent mental health.Current research interests are stress and coping during early adolescence, and the adaptive use of leisure time.Received Ph.D. from the Committee on Human Development at the University of Chicago. Current research interests include pubertal development, the precursors of eating disorders, and the effects of maternal employment of young adolescents.     

Norman Wells impact funding: boon or bust?

Abstract: The Norman Wells project involved a tenfold expansion of the Norman Wells oilfield and construction of a 324-mm (12-inch) pipeline extending 870 kilometres up the Mackenzie Valley to northern Alberta. Completed in May 1985 after years of controversy, Norman Wells expansion was the first of several large hydrocarbon production and transportation projects likely to be completed in the Mackenzie Valley by the end of the century. Because of a highly innovative approach to project management, Norman Wells has been heralded as a model for future northern development projects. Construction was delayed seventeen months from the time of project approval in part to permit effective planning and the use of “special measures” during the construction phase. A major component of these special measures was the unique Norman Wells impact funding program set up to help manage negative effects and enable native involvement in the project. This paper assesses the planning and administration of two socioeconomic components of the impact funding program, using seven criteria drawn from the literature on socioeconomic monitoring and management. The subject programs failed to satisfy all but one criterion. Indeed, the administrative mechanisms used proved to be an serious impediment to effective socioeconomic impact management. This failure was rooted both in the politics of the impact funding package itself and in the historical modus operandi of the federal government, particularly the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, in the north. Sommaire: Le project Norman Wells comprenait l'expansion en 10 volets du champ pétrolifère du même nom et la construction d'un oléoduc de 324 mm de diamètre, s'étendant sur 870 kilomètres le long de la vallée Mackenzie jusqu'au nord de 1'Alberta. Ce projet, qui a été terminé en mai 1985 après des années de polémique, était le premier de plusieurs grands projets dans le secteur de la production et de l'acheminement des hydrocarbures à avoir toutes les chances d'être fini dans la valée du Mackenzie avant la fin du siècle. En raison de la façon tout à fait nouvelle dont a été abordée sa gestion, on a dit du projet Norman Wells qu'il servirait à l'avenir de modèle aux projets de développement dans le Nord. La construction n'a débuté que 17 mois après que le projet a été approuvé en partie . pour permettre une planification efficace de façon que des mesures spéciales. soient appliquées pendant la construction. (mainc 1981:4). Un des éléments importants des mesures spéciales était le programme de financement à fort impact Norman Wells, tout à fait unique, mis sur pied dans le but de gérer les effets négatifs et de permettre aux autochtones de participer au projet. Dans cet article, on évalue la planification et l'administration de deux éléments socio-économiques du programme de financement à fort impact en s'appuyant sur sept normes tirées des documents scientifiques portant sur la surveillance et la gestion dans le domaine socio-économique. Les programmes ont échoué dans tous les domaines, sauf un. En effet, les mécanismes administratifs auxquels on a eu recours ont été un sérieux handicap pour gérer le projet de façon efficace d'un point de vue socio-économique. Cet échec plonge ses racines à la fois dans la politique qui sous-tendait le programme de financement à fort impact et dans le modus operandi de toujours du gouvernement fédéral dans le Nord, en particulier celui du mainc.     

Relationship of life events and social support with psychological dysfunction among adolescents

Relationships among major life events, perceived social support, and psychological disorder were assessed in a sample of older adolescents. Negative life events and satisfaction with social support were significantly and independently related to a range of psychological symptoms. Further, the relationship between negative events and disorder was moderated by gender, the types of events experienced, and anticipated change in the psychosocial environment. The importance of the use of standardized and psychometrically sound measures of life events, social support, and psychological disorder is highlighted.Received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1980. An assistant professor, he is currently investigating stress and coping among children and adolescents.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Vermont in 1985. An assistant professor, she is currently studying social support.Received Ed. M. from Harvard Universtiy. He is a doctoral student in clinical psychology interested in the role of social support in coping with stress during adolescence.Received her BA from the University of Vermont. She is a doctoral student in clinical psychology.     

Garcia: Of Federalism and Constitutional Values

In Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (1985),a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court's justices did violenceto the principles of the U.S. Constitution by leaving the statesto take their Tenth Amendment complaints to the Congress. Inabdicating their proper constitutional role, the majority ofjustices ignored history, political realities, and constitutionalprinciple. The Constitution's institutional arrangements, ofwhich federalism is a key component, are an intrinsic part ofthe constitutional scheme by which government power is limitedand individual rights are protected.     

Class, territory and party: political change in Britain, 1945–1974

Abstract. Two theoretical traditions in the study of European voter alignments emphasize alternatively class and territorial structuring of mass politics. Until the 1970's the developmental paradigm resting on the class-based, stable polity model of the 1945–1970 period ruled the research agenda. The weakening of party alignments in the 1970's and the introduction of the competing territorial paradigm challenged the dominant model. This research tests both models in Britain against the supposed stability of the 1945–1970 period. The results demonstrate that while the developmental model fits Britain as a whole quite well, the introduction of regional polity analysis exposes considerable instability of voter and party alignments, uneven class development and the mobilization of cultural cleavages, dynamics which undergird the politics of cultural defence and find expression in the nationalist parties in the 1970's. In questioning the assumed stability of the 1945–1970 period the findings challenge the foundations of the current debates on realignment in Britain.     

Government administration in a small microstate: Developing the Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands use some of the increasingly familiar methods of resolving administratively the problems of smallness. The country's development and administrative performance depend on human resources which need to be planned in order to reduce dependence on outsiders, especially among the middle ranks of technical and professional staff. Education and training for the public service in the Cayman Islands is inadequate. Control of the administration is weak, especially among the independent boards and commissions, and there is a need for appeal procedures when the principles of natural justice have been breached. Political manipultion in personnel matters adversely affects performance, and there is a need for an effective civil service association to deal with other abuses. The problems of public administration are solved by scaling down the role of government in favour of private enterprise and against the provision of social welfare.