Competency-based Curriculum Mapping as a Tool for Continuous Improvement for Master of Public Administration (MPA) Programs

Curriculum mapping (CM) is an assessment tool used to articulate and revise an academic curriculum. Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) accredited graduate programs in public policy, public affairs, and public administration are required to demonstrate a competency-based curriculum development and assessment methods. This article provides the rationale and approach used to generate a competency-based Master of Public Administration (MPA) curriculum and describes a systematic approach to incorporating program learning objectives, stakeholder engagement, competency development or revisions by faculty, into competency-based CM. The competency-based curriculum is relatively new for MPA programs. While there are many potential benefits and challenges, this article focuses on the utility of flexible mission-oriented curriculum design and its ability to link competencies to assessment strategies for MPA programs.     

Assessing Cognitive Bias in Forensic Decisions: A Review and Outlook

In recent years, a number of studies have demonstrated that forensic examiners can be biased by task-irrelevant contextual information. However, concerns relating to methodological flaws and ecological validity attenuate how much the current body of knowledge can be applied to real-life operational settings. The current review takes a narrative approach to synthesizing the literature across forensic science. Further, the review considers three main issues: (i) primary research on contextual bias within forensic science; (ii) methodological criticisms of this research; (iii) an alternative perspective that task-irrelevant contextual information does not always lead to error. One suggestion for future research is outlined, which is that studies on contextual bias in forensic decisions should be conducted in collaboration between forensic scientists and cognitive psychologists. Only then can rigorous and ecological valid experiments be created that will be able to assess how task-irrelevant contextual information influences forensic analysis and judgments in operationally valid settings.     

A Roadmap for CANS Validation

In nearly every jurisdiction, juvenile or family courts will be using the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) tool to assess whether children can safely be treated in family-like settings to meet federal Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) requirements. Yet, a number of peer-reviewed publications have raised serious concerns regarding the lack of CANS validation research. Rather than reject CANS, this article provides a roadmap for validating the tool with data that jurisdictions have already collected. Courts should require these three simple analyses before relying on the assessment.     

Auditing as a tool of government accountability? Exploring divergent causal mechanisms through three Honduran cases

Audits of government entities offer a potential tool to hold public officials to account and to improve the functioning of public administration; however, empirical studies of audit impacts show mixed results. This is largely due to the diversity of audit regimes with different goals and accountability mechanisms, which yield different causal chains. In this study, I compare three distinct audit regimes with distinct casual mechanisms in Honduras. I find that backward-looking audits, which aim to hold officials accountable for past behavior or performance, require effective horizontal accountability mechanisms to investigate and prosecute cases. Forward-looking audits, which aim to hold officials accountable for future behavior or performance, require independent accountability mechanisms, a systematic follow-up methodology, public dissemination, and pressure from the media and civil society. Complementary initiatives that build on audit recommended reforms are found to strengthen these weaknesses in the causal mechanism linking audits to outcomes.     

个案工作理论的两个基本问题

以往个案工作理论的基本问题是以人适应外部环境的理论假设为基础，把评估求助者困难的过程视为认识其在适应外部环境过程中所遇到的阻碍。要解决这一问题，就必须研究人的感受方式，并在此基础上构建个案工作理论的新的视角——内部理解法，即从求助者的内部感受出发，借助理解方法分析他人评价在人际互动过程中对求助者感受的具体影响方式和过程。     

如何向集团赔偿——以集团诉讼中的赔偿估算和分配为中心

普通法系集团诉讼制度中，面向集团的赔偿机制由赔偿金的估算和分配两个程序组成。赔偿金的估算包括个别性估算方法和整体性估算方法。在现代集团诉讼背景下，个别性估算方法不能解决所有集团诉讼的赔偿问题，须由整体性估算方法来弥补缺陷。在整体上确定赔偿总额后，还要按照直接分配、间接分配等方式将赔偿金分配给集团成员。普通法集团诉讼中的“以个别损害赔偿方法为原则，以整体性估算为例外；以直接分配为主，以间接分配为辅”的理念，对于我们克服代表入诉讼制度的体制阻碍具有借鉴价值。     

肠壁挫伤后18天迟发性穿孔的法医学鉴定

观察肠挫伤死后18天的后的肠壁变化,尤其是在显微镜下的病理变化,可望作为法医学鉴定提供参考。     

英国犯罪人干预工作简论

英国的实践表明,促使犯罪人积极改变自己、成为守法公民、减少重新犯罪的目的,可以通过设计周密、针对性强、管理到位的犯罪人干预工作得以实现。在中国进行社区矫正试点探索过程中,英国的成功经验值得借鉴。     

PICKING CHERRIES WITH BLINDERS ON: A COMMENT ON ERICKSON ET AL. (2007) REGARDING THE USE OF TESTS IN FAMILY COURT*

Erickson, Lilienfeld, and Vitacco's (2007/this issue ) review of the suitability and limitations of psychological tests invites legal and mental health professionals to rely on it as an objective guide for selecting, using, and admitting psychological tests in family court matters. Unfortunately, their discussion is marred by a pronounced bias in favor of multiscale, objective personality inventories and against performance‐based or projective instruments. This bias is evident not only in their unbalanced emphasis on the strengths of the former and weaknesses of the latter, but also in their use of selective citations and loaded language in launching what amounts to a polemical argument in support of tests that they favor. Their discussion of the Rorschach inkblot test is particularly misleading. This article refutes their unwarranted criticisms of the theoretical underpinnings of the Rorschach test, its research base, its norms, its interscorer reliability, the validity of its scores, and its admissibility in the courtroom. The value of multimethod assessments that include the use of direct clinical observation of performance under standardized conditions in custody evaluations is highlighted.