Auswahl der wissenschaftlichen Literatur zum Thema „Education, Evaluation|Education, Administration|Sociology, Criminology and Penology“

A Review of: Enger, K. B. (2009). Using citation analysis to develop core book collections in academic libraries. Library & Information Science Research, 31(2), 107-112. Objective – To test whether acquiring books written by authors of highly cited journal articles is an effective method for building a collection in the social sciences. Design – Comparison Study. Setting – Academic library at a public university in the US. Subjects – A total of 1,359 book titles, selected by traditional means (n=1,267) or based on citation analysis (n=92). Methods – The researchers identified highly-ranked authors, defined as the most frequently cited authors publishing in journals with an impact factor greater than one, with no more than six journals in any category, using 1999 ISI data. They included authors in the categories Business, Anthropology, Criminology & Penology, Education & Education Research, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology/Anthropology, and General Social Sciences. The Books in Print bibliographic tool was searched to identify monographs published by these authors, and any titles not already owned were purchased. All books in the study were available to patrons by Fall 2005. The researchers collected circulation data in Spring 2007, and used it to compare titles acquired by this method with titles selected by traditional means. Main Results – Overall, books selected by traditional methods circulated more than those selected by citation analysis, with differences significant at the .001 level. However, at the subject category level, there was no significant difference at the .05 level. Most books selected by the test method circulated one to two times. Conclusion – Citation analysis can be an effective method for building a relevant book collection, and may be especially effective for identifying works relevant to a discipline beyond local context.

The focus of this study was to determine the characteristics of successful re-entry programs for youth as they transition back into the educational mainstream. The study was also used to determine the implementation needed for effective inter-agency coordination of social service systems for students to successfully transition into the educational setting. The NCLB accountability measures were reviewed to discover how the measures influenced educators and created a reluctance to accept delinquent youth when they re-enter public school. The three overarching questions addressed in this study were: What inter-agency involvement is necessary in implementing a successful re-entry program? What are the characteristics of successful school re-entry programs for juvenile delinquents as they transition back into the public school setting? Due to the pressures of NCLB accountability measures, what are the reasons educators are reluctant to accept delinquent youth back into the educational mainstream? This study yielded findings showing few schools had few schools had a transition plan in place. Transition data results revealed the process for schools and juvenile officers differ from that of Division of Youth Services (DYS), with DYS having more proactive transition planning protocols. Inter-agency involvement is necessary for successful re-entry plans and involves transition planning, positive parental involvement, increased inter-agency coordination, and positive relationships. This research study also revealed that successful re-entry programs involve consistent communication, progress monitoring, provide protective factors, parent involvement, meet individual needs of students, and provide positive connections. Schools and various agencies must strive to improve inter-agency coordination and collaboration practices.

The ever-changing implementations of assessing our students have driven instruction to focus on measuring academic growth for school improvement. Now that most of our nation has adopted the common core state standards to educate and prepare our students for college and career, the challenges will be even greater for those who are currently struggling such as many of the incarcerated youth.

According to the Juvenile Court Schools (JCS) fact sheet (Los Angeles County Office of Education; LACOE, 2012), many of the incarcerated youth generally "have serious gaps in their education and poor academic skills" (JCS Facts, bullet No. 4). Taking academic assessments can be challenging without external factors, but add in the fact that the student may be facing a life sentence in prison, placement in a group home or foster care facility away from family, or dealing with mental health issues drives the challenge of academic growth sometimes out of reach while incarcerated. Furthermore, the short period of stay in the incarcerated juvenile facility adds an even greater challenge to success or growth in their academic progress.

This study examined the challenges of measuring academic growth of incarcerated youth in a juvenile hall school facility. Through the use of mixed methods, a review of available student assessment data - increased frequent formative assessments, utilizing components of the RISE Educational Services and Total Educational Systems Support (TESS) Focused Adaptable- Structure Teaching (F.A.S.T.) Framework within the teacher's delivery of direct instruction - along with an online survey of the teachers' ability to collaborate in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), and a focus group with those who spearheaded the implementation of the instructional method, teacher-leads and administrators, resulted in finding that a unique instructional method is needed for those students attending school in an incarcerated juvenile facility to measure academic growth.

The qualitative and quantitative data measured what needed to be continued, what needed to be stopped and what should be implemented regarding the instructional delivery, along with pre/post assessments of students who attended the incarcerated juvenile school facility and the dimensions of PLCs.

Media attention surrounding violence in schools has increased in recent years. As a result, police presence has become common in many schools, especially in urban centers. While the presence of these officers is meant to have positive effects on students' behaviour and attitudes toward the rules of school and society, it is unclear if this is the case. This study examines the perceptions that teachers and staff have of School Resource Officers in their school environment, and what, if any, differences exist between school personnel's perceptions of SROs and other critical perceptions of police in school. Utilizing a mixed methods approach to data collection, this study examines the police-school relationship in two schools in a large urban area. This study could contribute to the field of education by adding to the scant body of literature currently existing on the topic of police in Canadian schools.

The problem addressed through this program evaluation was that no formal study had been conducted regarding the implementation and effectiveness of the BlueTeam Program (BTP) within the law enforcement agency (LEA) serving as the study site. The BTP is a program that utilizes a computer application to track officer behaviors and alert administrators to potential trends in officer misconduct and complaints against officers. The program evaluation was guided by the process and product segments of Stufflebeam's (2003) content, input, process, and product model.

To conduct the evaluation, the researcher used a mixed methods approach for analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data. The perceptions of LEA stakeholders regarding the BTP, such as the sufficiency of staffing, budget, training, and ongoing support for effective implementation, were first collected. Quantitative data, consisting of archived, deidentified indicators of officer misconduct and complaints against officers acquired through the BTP, were then analyzed.

Findings of the study were that the BTP was effective in reducing incidents of officer misconduct and complaints against officers and for use in identifying which alerts were valid indicators of misconduct and complaints against officers. The one concern of stakeholders involving the BTP was limited nighttime vision; the recommendation for program improvement is that this shortcoming be addressed to determine possible solutions. Recommendations for future research involve the need for initial determinations, as well as formative evaluations, pertaining to the following three areas: (a) ascertaining the way in which the early intervention system will be used, (b) identifying the indicators of misconduct that will be tracked, and (c) determining the threshold at which the system will issue an alert.

Based on an examination of 47 campus-police reports of sexual assaults at three Southwestern universities, this study identifies and documents the social conditions that frequently lead to and surround campus rape; by comparing these conditions with those found in several national studies, this researcher finds a number of consistencies in suspects' and victims' characteristics, location of the crime, date and time of occurrence, and substance abuse. In addition, this study documents elements of male domination and sex-role stereotyping, the influence of rape mythology, and a negotiation process in which victims engage before they conclude that they are victims and report the crime. The study also examines the way in which universities apply or do not apply their own codes of conduct to campus rape cases and the way in which the criminal-justice system manages such cases. Using the documentation in the 47 campus-police reports, this study finds patterns in the steps rape victims take, campus police procedures for presenting campus rapes to prosecutors, prosecutors' decision-making processes, and reasons given by prosecuting attorneys when they fail to prosecute student suspects. The pattern of failing to treat campus rape as a serious crime is consistent on university campuses and in the criminal justice system. The criminal-justice system seldom prosecutes, indicts, or sentences students suspected of rape, whereas those accused of other crimes are more frequently brought to justice. Likewise, university administrators impose only minimal, if any, sanctions against students identified as rapists. Finally, the study provides important information with which to understand the environment in which rape occurs and the gender biases on which both university administrations and the criminal-justice system base their assumptions, policies, programs, discipline, and justice. This information is presented so that those in academic and judicial authority can develop improved programs and strategies to prevent campus rape.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of juveniles who have had contact with the legal system over the past 10 years. However, there is a dearth of research investigating the forensic services provided to juvenile offenders by psychologists. The goal of the present study was to assess the types of forensic services psychologists provide to pre-adjudicated juvenile index offenders. One hundred and thirty-seven registrants of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology (NR) replied to one of three versions of a questionnaire. Data were obtained regarding demographic and professional characteristics of respondents, whether they conduct forensic evaluations, and whether they provide forensic interventions. Results indicated that the majority of psychologists who provide forensic services to juvenile offenders are Caucasian males, approximately 51 years of age, who work in private practice or do private consultations, and who have been in practice for approximately 19 years. Furthermore, the majority of these psychologists are members of the American Psychological Association, received their Ph.D. degree from a graduate program in clinical psychology, and received no formal or supervised predoctoral or postdoctoral training in forensic psychology. The frequent legal/forensic questions psychologists are asked to address when conducting forensic evaluations are placement recommendations, followed by competency to stand trial, treatment recommendations, and whether a juvenile should be transferred to adult criminal court. Regardless of the type of legal/forensic question asked, psychologists frequently use the following assessment methods: juvenile and/or parent interview, a Wechsler Scale of Intelligence, the MMPI, and the Rorschach. They also review archival data on the juvenile, such as educational and psychological records and police reports. Reducing the risk for recidivism is the primary reason why psychologists are asked to provide forensic interventions, and the most common intervention provided is cognitive-behavioral therapy. The most commonly used outcome measure assessing treatment progress is a behavior checklist or rating scale. The results of the present study were compared to the existing literature on psychological services provided to juvenile offenders. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for subsequent research are also discussed.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Counseling and Educational Psychology of the School of Education, 2007.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2889. Adviser: Thomas L. Sexton. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 9, 2008).

This dissertation consists of three essays on schools, crime, and punishment. The first essay — stemming from collaborative work with Christopher Jencks, Anthony Braga, and David Deming — uses longitudinal school and arrest records to examine the long-term effects of winning the lottery to attend one's first-choice high school on students' arrest outcomes in the Boston Public Schools. The second essay uses quasi-experimental regression and matching techniques to examine the effect of out-of-school suspension on serious delinquency using the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). The third essay examines the increasing use of exclusionary school discipline and incarceration since the 1970s from a life course perspective. It advances the notion of a "disciplinary career," which captures disciplinary experiences across three domains: home, school, and the juvenile and criminal justice systems. In this essay, I use the NLSY97 to estimate the prevalence of various disciplinary experiences across the early life course and draw on qualitative data from the Boston Reentry Study to explore how individuals who experience high levels of harsh discipline perceive the interplay between offending and punishment over time. I close the dissertation by discussing these essays' implications for theory and policy.
Social Policy

School violence is an issue currently generating much policy and research attention. It has become a serious concern, not only because of its damaging effects but also because, it is linked to later anti-social and criminal behaviour. Typically, responses to school violence fall into three categories. This thesis explores the feasibility of restorative practices in Canadian schools that have zero tolerance policies towards violence. Hirschi's social bonding theory (1969) is used to support arguments for the need to shift from current punishment orientated responses to more restorative responses. In this inductive case study analysis of an Ontario secondary school it is observed that a peaceful/restorative culture can thrive, in conjunction with both restorative processes and zero tolerance policy.

Firearm violence is occurring on America's higher education campuses killing not only students but faculty and employees as well (International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, 2008). Even in light of this bloodshed, there is little accurate information available about the role that firearms play in preventing or exacerbating campus violence (Miller, Hemenway, & Weschsler, 2002). Wyoming community college campus security directors are specifically given the authority to allow, or not, concealed firearms on their campuses by state law (Wyoming Senate, 2011). The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to explore the perceptions, attitudes, and understandings of campus security directors concerning concealed carry firearms on their campuses.

Using qualitative research methods, the study was conducted utilizing semi - structured interviews with the seven campus security directors for each of the Wyoming community college districts. Smith's (2012) interpretative phenomenological analysis qualitative method of inquiry guided the data analysis. In accordance with an interpretative phenomenological approach, data analysis was undertaken to examine for patterns, trends, and themes that emerged from the campus security directors' responses. The analysis used personal and in - depth detail derived from individual interviews to describe the perceptions, attitudes, and understandings of participants. Analysis of the data presented four super ordinate themes supported by fifteen subthemes.

This research yielded information concerning the possession of concealed carry firearms at Wyoming community college districts. Findings indicated that the unrestricted carry of concealed firearms would likely harm the overall safety of Wyoming community colleges. However, if proper vetting and training of persons carrying concealed firearms were to occur, campuses may be safer. Wyoming community college districts were considered safe places pursuant to participant responses, and no concealed firearms had been used in any Wyoming community college district to commit a violent crime. Campus security directors stated that possession of firearms by a victim would not have prevented any violent campus crime.

Campus security directors indicated that concealed carry firearms may be irrelevant to the safety of Wyoming community college districts. Rather it was the proactive stance and involvement of campus security officers that was important to campus firearm safety. The interview data yielded information and considerations for campus security directors, college administrators and all persons interested in firearm safety at Wyoming community colleges. This information may be used to assist in the crafting of sensible firearm policies at community colleges.