Facilitating the Career Development of Minorities: Doing it Differently This Time

Although the early vocational educators were committed to social change, they inadvertently reinforced differences between social groups. Counselors today have a unique opportunity to effect social change. Demographic shifts suggest that minorities who are educationally and occupationally prepared will face fewer racial barriers in the future labor market. To prepare minority students to take advantage of anticipated demographic shifts, counselors will need to avoid the same inadvertent mistakes made by their predecessors. To accomplish this, counselors can recommit to career education and counseling, ensure equal access to their services, and alter the context of their interventions.     

Individual differences in the perception of occupational stress and their association with blood pressure status

Casual blood pressure (BP) was recorded in a sample of 217 working adults. A questionnaire was used to obtain subjective reports of job stress. comparisons were made between a group with elevated BP and a normotensive group. The high BP group appeared to perceive more stress. In particular, scores on the role conflict, job versus non-job conflict and type A scales reliably differentiated the groups. In contrast, for the job satisfaction items, no difference between the groups was observed. There appeared to be some association between reported occupational stress and BP level.     

Protection against outliers in empirical bayes estimation

The proven optimality properties of empirical Bayes estimators and their documented successful performance in practice have made them popular. Although many statisticians have used these estimators since the landmark paper of James and Stein (1961), relatively few have proposed techniques for protecting them from the effects of outlying observations or outlying parameters. One notable series of studies in protection against outlying parameters was conducted by Efron and Morris (1971, 1972, 1975). In the fully Bayesian case, a general discussion on robust procedures can be found in Berger (1984, 1985). Here we implement and evaluate a different approach for outlier protection in a random-effects model which is based on appropriate specification of the prior distribution. When unusual parameters are present, we estimate the prior as a step function, as suggested by Laird and Louis (1987). This procedure is evaluated empirically, using a number of simulated data sets to compare the effects of the step-function prior with those of the normal and Laplace priors on the prediction of small-area proportions.     

Improving Educational Opportunities for Students With Disabilities Who Are Homeless

Students who are homeless constitute a unique subset within today's school population; those who also have disabilities face even greater challenges. This article highlights the uniaue needs of students with disabilities who are homeless, legislative mandates for serving these students (the McKinney Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and promising practices for overcoming educational and institutional obstacles to service delivery. Suggestions will focus on developing collaborative relationships at multiple levels, creating responsive systems through staff development and procedural revisions, and providing students with the social and instructional support they need to be successful.     

Random Drug Testing and Religion*

Research recently has begun to examine the link between religion and social control. It has been noted that religion, in particular Protestant conservatism, does play a role in shaping public opinion, and as a result, public policy on crime, crime control, and justice. The present research examines the issue of public support for random drug testing by focusing on the role of religion, specifically religious affiliation, in shaping public opinion. Analysis of survey data from a city in the Southwest identifies two separate dimensions of public support for random drug testing–a utilitarian dimension that is grounded in safety concerns, along with a normative dimension that reflects conservative moral beliefs, including a concern with the “evil” of drugs. Evidence from the data also indicates that conservative Protestants, compared to liberal-moderate Protestants, Catholics, and those with no affiliation, display higher levels of normative-based support for random drug testing. Researchers are encouraged to further explore the role of religion in shaping public support for the development of drug policies and other more general social control policies.     

Political Advocacy in the Context of “Show Me Your Papers”: How Do Human Service Administrators Respond to Policy Upheaval?

This study focuses on the political advocacy of human service administrators following implementation of a highly restrictive state immigration law. It tests hypotheses to assess whether factors associated with the political advocacy of human service administrators generally are also associated with advocacy at a time of policy crisis. Findings suggest that few human service administrators engaged in immigration-related advocacy, and that those who did advocate were those most likely to perceive organizational benefit for doing so. The findings raise questions about the conditions under which human service administrators will advocate for social benefit in an organizational or individual role.     

Investigating the Effects of Pre‐school Provision: Using Mixed Methods in the EPPE Research

The Effective Provision of Pre‐school Education (EPPE) project is a longitudinal study of young children between the ages of 3 and 7 years. Research began in 1997 and both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to explore the effects of pre‐school education on children’s attainment and social/behavioural development at entry to school, and of any continuing effects on such outcomes at the end of Key Stage 1 (age 7). The sample included over 3,000 children and 141 pre‐school centres drawn from six different types of providers. In addition, a home sample of children who had not attended a pre‐school centre was included. In order to identify the processes that might influence centre effectiveness, observational data were collected and centre managers interviewed. In‐depth case studies of 12 more effective centres were used to explore and illuminate the processes, particularly in relation to pedagogy, associated with better child outcomes. A mixed method approach was adopted to simultaneously answer both confirmatory and exploratory questions, to support user engagement and provide triangulation. The paper argues that the mixed method approach supported the development of stronger research inferences.