Academic Achievement in the High School Years: The Changing Role of School Engagement

School engagement is an important theoretical and practical cornerstone to the promotion of academic accomplishments. This article used a tripartite—behavioral, emotional, and cognitive—model of school engagement to assess the relationship between school engagement and academic success among high school students, and to determine whether a reciprocal relationship exists between these constructs. Data were derived from 710 youth (69 % female) who took part in Waves 6 through 8 (Grades 10 through 12) of the 4-H study of positive youth development. Longitudinal confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the invariance of the tripartite model of school engagement. Results of a structural equation model showed that the components of school engagement and academic achievement were mutually predictive and that these predictions varied from grade to grade. Future possibilities for evaluating the relationship between school engagement and academic achievement, as well as the implications for educational policy and practice, are discussed.     

Important Non-parental Adults and Positive Youth Development Across Mid- to Late-Adolescence: The Moderating Effect of Parenting Profiles

Both parents and important non-parental adults have influential roles in promoting positive youth development (PYD). Little research, however, has examined the simultaneous effects of both parents and important non-parental adults for PYD. We assessed the relationships among youth-reported parenting profiles and important non-parental adult relationships in predicting the Five Cs of PYD (competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring) in four cross-sectional waves of data from the 4-H Study of PYD (Grade 9: N = 975, 61.1 % female; Grade 10: N = 1,855, 63.4 % female; Grade 11: N = 983, 67.9 % female; Grade 12: N = 703, 69.3 % female). The results indicated the existence of latent profiles of youth-reported parenting styles based on maternal warmth, parental school involvement, and parental monitoring that were consistent with previously identified profiles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved) as well as reflecting several novel profiles (highly involved, integrative, school-focused, controlling). Parenting profile membership predicted mean differences in the Five Cs at each wave, and also moderated the relationships between the presence of an important non-parental adult and the Five Cs. In general, authoritative and highly involved parenting predicted higher levels of PYD and a higher likelihood of being connected to an important non-parental adult. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research on adult influences of youth development and for programs that involve adults in attempts to promote PYD.     

The Singapore Personal Data Protection Act and an assessment of future trends in data privacy reform

In the first part of this paper, I will present and explain the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”) in the context of legislative developments in the Asian region and against the well-established international baseline privacy standards. In the course of the above evaluation, reference will be made to the national laws and policy on data privacy prior to the enactment of the PDPA as well as current social and market practices in relation to personal data. In the second part of this paper, I will decipher and assess the future trends in data privacy reform and the future development of the privacy regime in Singapore and beyond. In the course of this analysis, international standards, technological trends and recent legal developments in other jurisdictions will be considered.     

Institution of Public Administration Australia: Some Observations About the Profession of Public Service

What does the future hold for the great institution of public service in this country? I will try to answer that in the traditional way by going through some of the more interesting of the many challenges we face. But first let me observe that what public administration in most Western democracies has been through in the past two decades is nothing short of a revolution.     

Urbanism,cities and local self‐government

Abstract: This article explores the relationship between urbanism, cities and local self‐government to identify some key issues for contemporary public administration. State‐centric political theory marginalizes urban analysis, but the latter enables us to see the world in a different way. Understanding ourselves as urban is to see that conventional political categories seriously misrepresent the conditions of our lives. Various thinkers like Ash Amin and Nigel Thrift and Michael Peter Smith have suggested ways of building on contemporary urban analysis, but it is still a struggle to overcome the spatial imagination that we have inherited from conventional political theory. This poses particular problems for any “new urban agenda,” since questions of local autonomy have yet to be properly posed. Gerald E. Frug's analysis of the issue of civic autonomy is helpful in this regard because it highlights the philosophical assumptions that lie behind our fears about the misuse of local authority. Foucauldian discussions of governmentality reveal the way self‐government works as a strategy to control populations by liberating them. Local self‐government is thus an ambiguous and dangerous ideal ‐ but not for the reasons usually supposed. It is in any case the practice implicit in urbanism as a way of life. The key constitutional issue today is how to recognize that practice and regulate it appropriately. Sommaire: Le présent article examine les relations entre l'urbanisme, les villes et l'autonomie gouvernementale locale pour identifier certaines questions‐clés dans le domaine de l'administration publique contemporaine. La théorie politique axée sur l'État marginalise l'analyse urbaine, mais cette dernière nous permet de voir le monde sous un nouveau jour. Se considérer comme des citadins, c'est voir que les catégories politiques conventionnelles représentent très mal nos conditions de vie. Différents penseurs comme Ash Amin, Nigel Thrift ct Michael Peter Smith ont proposé des manières de développer l'analyse urbaine contemporaine, mais il est tou‐jours difficile d'aller au‐delà de l'imagination spatiale qui nous a été transmise par la théorie politique conventionnelle. Cela soulève des problèmes particuliers pour tout nouvel agenda urbain, étant donné que les questions d'autonomie locale n'ont pas encore été posees adéquatement. L'analyse de la question de l'autonomie civique réalisée par Gerald E. Frug est utile à ce sujet, car elle souligne les hypothèses philosophiques sur lesquelles reposent nos craintes concemant l'utilisation abusive de l'autorité locale. Les discussions à la Foucault sur la gouvernementalité révèlent la manière dont l'autonomie gouvernementale fonctionne en tant que stratégie visant à contrôler les populations tout en les libérant. L'autonomie gouvernementale locale est ainsi un idéal ambigu et dangereux, mais non pour les raisons que l'on suppose généralement. C'est en tout cas la pratique implicite dans l'urbanisme comme mode de vie. La question constitutionnelle clé qui se pose aujourd'hui est de savoir comment reconnaître cette pratique et la réglementer adéquatement.     

In praise of joan robinson: Economics as social control

He specializes in the history of economic thought, methodology, law and economics, and related areas. His principal current research centers on the use of the concept of the “invisible hand” and on the fundamentals of the economic role of government.     

Criminal offense, psychiatric diagnosis, and psycholegal opinion: an analysis of 894 pretrial referrals

This article presents the results of a study of 894 criminal defendants referred by Virginia courts for evaluation of competency to stand trial or criminal responsibility. All evaluations were conducted on an outpatient basis by mental health professionals who had received specialized training in forensic evaluation. Findings as to the referral questions posed, the criminal offenses charged, and the clinical diagnoses and psycholegal opinions offered by the evaluators are described. Statistical analyses demonstrate significant relationships between both diagnosis and criminal charge and the psycholegal opinion rendered.