Digital Commons Network^™

Parts Of The Whole: Observing The State Of The System, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column draws on the approach of statistician J. Edwards Deming to analyze sources and consequences of variation in an education system. Educational systems are not immune from the effects of poor statistical control, which makes it difficult for teachers to teach effectively and for managers such as principals to improve on school performance. It is also argued that the need for statistical control in these areas is in tension, if not outright conflict, with our goals for educating students.

Numeracy: Open-Access Publishing To Reduce The Cost Of Scholarly Journals, Todd A. Chavez

Numeracy

Each fiscal year, as academic librarians throughout the United States prepare materials budgets, a national “groan” ensues. Regardless of their format (i.e. print or digital), serial subscription costs are escalating, in the process impacting the role of the library in advancing scholarly communication . This paper examines some of the economic issues concerning open-access (OA) journal publishing. The importance of quantitative literacy is suggested for librarians and academics seeking a better understanding of alternatives to traditional journal subscription models and to anyone considering ventures into OA publishing. Quantitative literacy is essential for managing alternatives to the rising cost of scholarly …

Hope Over Experience?, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Writing about US human rights policy from the outside is always a disconcerting experience. All bets are off, and all assumptions are turned on their head. Assumptions from the South looking North are that, rhetoric aside, US interests rarely if ever feature human rights protection and promotion in first place. What’s more, they have very frequently featured the opposite: dirty tricks, torture and rendition were sadly familiar to students of Latin American history long before Guantanamo. The Clinton years went some way towards reining in the more blatant contradictions of the 1980s, but they also set in train the easy …

Change We Can Believe In?, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

We were warned to temper our high hopes for a bold new Obama era of human rights. After all, President Obama would have “a lot on his plate”: a serious economic crisis, high unemployment, over forty million people without health insurance, “two wars,” global volatility. But it’s very hard not to be dismayed by some of the continuities from the Bush to the Obama administration, as well as by some Janus-faced policy decisions with damning human rights implications. When it comes to US-Latin America relations, such decisions include: professing support for progressive immigration reform while expanding regressive anti-immigration measures; claiming …

From Inspiring Hope To Taking Action: Obama And Human Rights, Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

While President George H. Bush spoke of a new world order, and his “misunderestimated” son mangled the English language at countless press conferences, with Barack Obama the USA now has a talented orator as a president. There is a new word order. But does the new and skillful rhetoric match the reality when it comes to human rights?

December Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly (September, 2009).

and

Does Obama believe in human rights? By Bret Stephens. The Wall Street Journal. October 19, 2009.

The Statesman's Dilemma: Peace Or Justice? Or Neither?, Henry Krisch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as I sat down to comment on President Obama and human rights, I glanced today's (November 19, 2009) The New York Times and found several opinion essays-careful in fact, thoughtful in tone, reasonable in argument-critical of Obama's approach during his recent visit to China toward Chinese human rights violations (mainly concerning Tibet but including also imprisoned lawyers, internet censorship, and persecution of Falun Gong.) The essayists considered various tactics for exerting American pressure on China regarding human rights. Common to all of them was a tone of rueful admiration for the political and diplomatic skill with which China fended …

Parts Of The Whole: Approaching Education As A System, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

An educational system is a highly coupled complex system of inputs, outputs, sensors and actuators. Using an engineering perspective, this column begins the process of naming and categorizing parts of the system. It then focuses on teachers as one part of a large system, and analyzes the forces that influence how teachers work, and that draw or repel individuals to a teaching career. The growing shortage of qualified teachers can be explained by properties of the system as a whole that determine the context in which teachers do their job.

Pemenuhan Hak Konsumen Di Institusi Pelayanan Kesehatan Di Kota Bandung Dan Kota Cimahi, Juariah Juariah

Kesmas

Kebijakan pelayanan medis secara legal formal telah memberikan perlindungan hak konsumen kesehatan. Namun, sampai kini belum terungkap upaya institusi pelayanan kesehatan untuk memenuhi dan melindungi hak konsumen kesehatan. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengeksplorasi berbagai kebijakan pemenuhan hak-hak konsumen kesehatan oleh institusi pelayanan kesehatan pemerintah dan swasta. Penelitian yang menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan metode studi ini dilaksanakan pada Agustus 2008 - Januari 2009 di institusi pemerintah RSUD Cibabat-Cimahi, RSKIA Astanaanyar dan Puskesmas Garuda serta institusi swasta RS Muhammadiyah dan RB Barokah. Data dikumpulkan dengan telaah dokumen dan wawancara mendalam terhadap lima orang informan serta dianalisis dengan analisis isi. Hasil penelitian meliputi: tiga …

Building Their Readiness For Economic "Freedom": The New Poor Law And Emancipation, Anne O'Connell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Contemporary studies that track the new racialization of poverty in Canada require an historical account. The history we invoke in North America is often borrowed from the British poor laws, a literature that is severed from its counterpart: the histories of racial slavery, racial thinking, White bourgeois power and the making of White settler societies. The effects of severing the history of poor relief from racial classifications and racism(s) are far reaching. Systems of oppression come to be seen as separate structures in which the New Poor Law appears as a domestic policy in Britain unrelated to racial thinking and …

Kebijakan Peningkatan Pemberian Asi Eksklusif, Helda Helda

Kesmas

Angka Kematian Bayi di Indonesia adalah 35/1000 kelahiran hidup berada di posisi keenam di negara Asean. Salah satu upaya yang efisien untuk menurunkan angka kematian tersebut adalah pemberian ASI eksklusif yang memperlihatkan tren yang menurun, pada tahun 1997, (40,2%), 2002 (39,5%) dan 2007 (32%). Artikel ini bertujuan mengkaji kebijakan pemerintah memenuhi hak anak terhadap ASI. Metode yang digunakan melakukan telaah berbagai studi tentang kebijakan dan perundangan ASI di dunia dan di Indonesia,pada periode 2000-2007. Angka ASI eksklusif di dunia sangat bervariasi dan tidak berbanding lurus dengan kemajuan suatu negara. Jepang dan Inggris adalah contoh negara maju dengan angka ASI eksklusif …

Legal And Policy Choices In The Aftermath Of The Subprime And Mortgage Financing Crisis, Gerald Korngold

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Linking International Markets And Global Justice, Jeffrey L. Dunoff

Michigan Law Review

The U.S. government is the planet's largest purchaser of goods and services; worldwide, states spend trillions of dollars on procurement each year. Yet legal scholarship has devoted relatively limited attention to the conceptual and normative issues that arise when states enter the market. Should states as purchasers be permitted to "discriminate" to advance social objectives - say, racial justice - in ways that would be unlawful when they act as regulators? Is each country free to strike its own balance between the pursuit of economic and social objectives through procurement, or do international trade norms limit state discretion in the …

The Failures Of American Poverty Measures, Stephen Pimpare

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

How we think about need or deprivation-how we judge its severity, its causes and effects, and the progress we have made (or not made) over time in reducing it-has much to do with how we define and then measure it. And, we measure it poorly. The insufficiencies of official data on American poverty are reasonably well known, yet they continue, nonetheless, to be the principal means by which we gauge need in the United States. After a review of such official measures, this article discusses alternative means of evaluating need in the United States, highlighting the benefits of examining poverty …

Parts Of The Whole: Is Everything Equally Important?, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Two strategies are proposed for sorting out priorities and goals in education. At the college level the column argues that goals, and therefore requirements, should be set based on the desired knowledge base of the entire population rather than the individual. At the scale of a single K-12 classroom the column argues that priority be given to content requiring most instructor intervention, describing how the structure of class time and school activities would change as a result. Implementation of these strategies would lead to more efficient use of teacher’s time and effort, better allocation of systemic resources, and clarity of …

Establishing The Quantitative Thinking Program At Macalester, David Bressoud

Numeracy

In November 2005, the faculty of Macalester College voted to institute a graduation requirement in Quantitative Thinking (QT) that is truly interdisciplinary. It currently draws on courses from thirteen departments including Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, Theater, Mathematics, Environmental Science, and Geology. This article describes the process that led to the creation of this program. It explains how we were able to get broad buy-in at the beginning and the long process of trial and error—informed by formative assessment—that was needed to refine the initial vision and shape it into a viable program that would be accepted by most of …

Confronting Challenges, Overcoming Obstacles: A Conversation About Quantitative Literacy, Bernard L. Madison, Lynn A. Steen

Numeracy

An edited transcript of the opening session of a workshop on quantitative literacy held Oct. 10-12, 2008 at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. The workshop, which brought together interdisciplinary teams from two dozen colleges and universities, was sponsored by the Quantitative Inquiry, Reasoning, and Knowledge (QuIRK) Initiative at Carleton and the Washington-based Project Kaleidoscope. Two mathematicians in the forefront of quantitative literacy initiatives over the period 1997-2008, Lynn Arthur Steen and Bernard L. Madison, converse about attitudes, obstacles, changes and accomplishments. The conversation, structured as an interview, begins with the relationship between mathematics and quantitative literacy and moves through issues central …

All The More Reason For Qr Across The Curriculum, Bernard L. Madison

Numeracy

No abstract provided.

Eric K. Leonard On The Future Of Human Rights: Us Policy For A New Era Edited By William F. Schulz. Philadelphia, Pa: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. 314pp., Eric K. Leonard

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Future of Human Rights: US Policy for a New Era edited by William F. Schulz. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008. 314pp.

The Future Relationship Between A New Adminstration And The International Court Of Justice, Thomas M. Franck

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

If the democrats recapture the White House and win half a dozen more seats in the Senate, it will be time to rethink and redevelop the U.S. relationship with international law.

Improving Work Supports: Using The Family Resource Simulator To Identify Problems And Test Solutions, John Bouman, Kinsey Alden Dinan, Nancy K. Cauthen

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Neither the federal government, nor the states, has a coordinated or comprehensive work supports system. The current work supports system is comprised of a patch work of programs, such as EITC, child care programs, food stamps, Medicaid, SCHIP, and TANF. As a result of this disjointed history, these work support programs do not always help working parents meet their families' needs. Using the Family Resource Simulator, a web-based policy tool, the authors make specific suggestions for how to improve the Illinois work support system. First, the Article present the landscape of work support systems and how they affect working families …

New Hope: A Thoughtful And Effective Approach To "Make Work Pay, Greg J. Duncan, Hans Bos, Lisa L. Gennetian, Heather Hill

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This paper makes the case for a national program offering the kind of work supports that were part of the New Hope program, a policy experiment that operated for three years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Our policy, like New Hope, would provide a set of work supports for full-time workers-both parents and nonparents, men and women-that would lift them out of poverty as well as provide essential benefits in the form of health insurance and child-care subsidies for people who needed them. Across all of the people offered the chance to participate in the New Hope program, including single men, work …

Changing The Subject: From Welfare To Poverty To A Living Income, Peter B. Edelman

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Forty Years Of Welfare Policy Experimentation: No Acres, No Mule, No Politics, No Rights, Julie A. Nice

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This introductory essay questions putting nearly all effort into social policywhich has failed to reduce povertyand calls instead for reinvigorating other tactics and re-imagining the unfinished dream of economic justice. Indeed, what Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned was an actual war on poverty, not merely the abbreviated, under-funded, and ultimately unsuccessful effort of the 1960s, nor the imposter war on welfare that has dominated our social policy effort since. But our social policy has not only failed to reduce poverty, it failed to focus long-needed attention on poverty and inequality. Nor has social policy facilitated the political mobilization of poor …

Notes On A Geography Of Knowledge, Michael J. Madison

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Works Is Work: Welfare Reform And Poverty Reduction, Ron Haskins

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This is an essay about how the 1996 welfare reform law and other policies contributed to the sharpest decline in child poverty since the early 1970s. The story is told in the context of the nation's long struggle to reduce poverty and the factors that have made it so difficult to make progress against poverty. These factors involve both forces over which individuals have little or no control and factors over which they have almost complete control. Such factors include the problems with child poverty, male non-work, education rates, and the influx of low-skilled immigrants. To a large extent, the …

Is Work The Only Thing That Pays? The Guaranteed Income And Other Alternative Anti-Poverty Policies In Historical Perspective, Felicia Kornbluh

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This paper examines the historical alternatives to welfare reform, namely the guaranteed income. This is, in a sense, the simplest possible approach to poverty, in that it proposes that each adult citizen receive a basic adequate income from a combination of market and state resources; if someone is not earning a wage, then she or he receives substantial support from the government and, in the case of a low wage, receives a smaller supplemental grant. The paper explores the meaning and history of the idea of a minimum income for all U.S. Citizens and argues that it was an object …

Applying Online: Using Technology To Enroll Low-Wage Workers In Public Benefits, Liz Schott

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Eitc & Tanf Participation Among Young Adult Low-Income Families, Richard K. Caputo

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Relying on data from the National Longitudinal Surveys, this article examined EITC & TANF participation among low-income families (N=1,098). Program use (EITC only, TANF only, or both EITC and TANF) was found to vary by age, number of children in the household, ethnicity/race, work effort, marital status, prior program participation, and sex of participants. Those with two or more children, the least education, ethnic/racial minorities, women, and married persons were more likely than their respective counterparts to take advantage of either or both vis-a-vis neither program. Findings suggested that EITC and TANF are well-targeted but underutilized programs.

Some Suggestions For The Uafa: A Bill For Same-Sex Binational Couples, Timothy R. Carraher

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.