Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cost/Benefit Analysis Of The Douglas County Drug Court, R. K. Piper, Cassia Spohn

Archived Publications

The primary purpose of this cost-benefit evaluation of the Douglas County Drug Court (DCDC) is to provide administrators and policy-makers with critical information for future policy and funding decisions. This study expands and refines previous DCDC cost-benefit analyses through an investigation of drug court program investment, outcome and societal-impact costs and savings.

This study employs a Transaction Cost model that examines complex, multi-agency events and costs for participants in drug court and non-drug court comparison groups. A “cost-to-taxpayer” approach is used that includes any criminal justice related costs (or avoided costs) generated by drug court or non-drug court comparison group …

The Douglas County Drug Court: Characteristics Of Participants, Case Outcomes And Recidivism, Cassia Spohn

Archived Publications

The purpose of this report is to describe the characteristics of all offenders (N = 255) who were bound over to Douglas County District Court in 2001 and who were subsequently diverted to the Douglas County Drug Court. We present descriptive data on the characteristics of the drug court participants, focusing on their background characteristics and prior criminal record and on their case characteristics. We also present descriptive data on recidivism for drug court participants and for traditionally adjudicated offenders and compare the recidivism rates of these two groups of offenders, controlling for other predictors of the likelihood of recidivism.

The Douglas County Drug Court: Characteristics Of Participants, Case Outcomes And Recidivism, Cassia Spohn, R. K. Piper

Archived Publications

The purpose of this report is to describe the characteristics of all offenders (N = 255) who were bound over to Douglas County District Court in 2001 and who were subsequently diverted to the Douglas County Drug Court. We present descriptive data on the characteristics of the drug court participants, focusing on their background characteristics and prior criminal record and on their case characteristics. We also present descriptive data on recidivism for drug court participants and for traditionally adjudicated offenders and compare the recidivism rates of these two groups of offenders, controlling for other predictors of the likelihood of recidivism.

Felony Offenses In Douglas County District Court, 2001, Cassia Spohn, R. K. Piper

Archived Publications

The purpose of this report is describe the offender and case characteristics and the outcomes of all felony cases (N = 2,663) bound over for trial in Douglas County (Nebraska) District Court in 2001.1 We present descriptive data on these cases, focusing on defendants’ background characteristics and prior criminal record, the nature and seriousness of the charges for which the defendant was bound over to District Court, the disposition of the case, and case processing time. We also examine case dispositions and sentences for 15 different types of felony offenses and present descriptive data and case outcome data for defendants …

Next Steps: A School District's Guide To The Essential Elements Of Service-Learning, Maryland Student Service Alliance, Maryland State Department Of Education

School K-12

We are pleased to share a new tool for service-learning. Next Steps: A School District's Guide to the Essential Elements of Service-Learning is an excellent guide for state level or school district administrators as they create or improve their service-learning program, regardless of their previous experience in service-learning. Students make a tremendous difference in their schools and communities when they are given the opportunity to use their enthusiasm, energy and ideas to problem solve and contribute to the common good.

Maryland was the first state to require that all students participate in service-learning to graduate from public high school. Educators …

A Social Model For Health Promotion For An Aging Population: Initial Evidence On The Experience Corps Model, Linda P. Fried, Michelle C. Carlson, Marc Freedman, Kevin D. Frick, Thomas A. Glass, Joel Hill, Sylvia Mcgill, George W. Rebok, Teresa Seeman, James Tielsch, Barbara A. Wasik, Scott Zeger

Intergenerational

This report evaluates whether a program for older volunteers, designed for both generativity and health promotion, leads to short-term improvements in multiple behavioral risk factors and positive effects on intermediary risk factors for disability and other morbidities. The Experience Corps® places older volunteers in public elementary schools in roles designed to meet schools' needs and increase the social, physical, and cognitive activity of the volunteers. This article reports on a pilot randomized trial in Baltimore, Maryland. The 128 volunteers were 60-86 years old; 95% were African American. At follow-up of 4-8 months, physical activity, strength, people one could turn to …

Strategic Information Systems Planning In U.S. County Governments: Will The Real Sisp Model Please Stand Up?, Lyn M. Holley, Donna Dufner, B. J. Reed

Gerontology Faculty Publications

This paper is the second in a series of studies examining strategic information systems planning (SISP) in U.S. governments based on information technology performance data and ratings generated for the Government Performance Project (2000 re states and 2001 re counties). The first study examined SISP at the state level (PPMR, June 2002). This study investigates SISP in county government using data from the 40 largest U.S. counties in terms of revenue within regions. Findings suggest that structural features of county government inhibit translation to counties of successful business models for strategic use of information systems, and they support the conclusion …

Where Do We Go From Here? Boot Camps In The Future, Doris Layton Mackenzie, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Boot camps have developed over the past two decades into a program that incorporates a military regimen to create a structured environment. While some critics of this method of corrections suggest that the confrontational nature of the program is antithetical to treatment, authors Doris Layton MacKenzie and Gaylene Styve Armstrong present research knowledge and personal discussions with community leaders that offer insight into both the strengths and weaknesses of this controversial form of corrections.

Correctional Boot Camps: Military Basic Training or a Model for Corrections? provides the most up-to-date assessment of the major perspectives and issues related to the current …

Chicagoland Youth And Adult Training Center: Building Strong Relationships Betweel1 Faithbased Organizations, Govemn1ent And Corporations To Transform Low-Income Communities, Jose Wilson, Brian Banks

Special Topics, General

President George W. Bush's faith-based initiative has sparked increased interest in the role faith-based organizations can play in the development of low-income communities. Government is increasingly relying on religious groups to provide economic and moral development in communities, advocates argue, because faith-based organizations are well-organized, well disciplined groups that know communities. I I The following report describes Chicagoland Youth and Adult Training Center (CYATC), a three-year-old workforce development initiative created by faith-based organizations located in low-income communities, with Ford Motor Company and its' Chicago-area dealerships, and local government, and educational institutions. CYATC was started to help employers address their needs …

Leadership And Creativity: Understanding Leadership From A Creative Problem-Solving Perspective, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Jody J. Illies

Psychology Faculty Publications

Employees in many jobs encounter novel, ill-defined problems, and finding creative solutions to these problems may be the critical factor that allows their organization to maintain a competitive advantage. Solving problems creatively requires extensive and effortful cognitive processing. This requirement is magnified further by the complex, ambiguous situations in which most organizational problems occur. Employees must define and construct a problem, search and retrieve problem-relevant information, and generate and evaluate a diverse set of alternative solutions. Creativity necessitates that all these activities are completed effectively. It is unlikely, therefore, that creative outcomes will be realized without a large degree of …

The Value Of Work: A Case For Promoting Christian Service Opportunities To College Students, Glenn Bryan

Special Topics, General

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the historical evolution of attitudes toward work, the Protestant work ethic, a Biblical perspective on work, and to provide a rational for why Christian colleges should offer multiple service opportunities for students to help them integrate faith into their everyday lives.

Service Learning Through The High School Pyramid Model: A Case Study, Fawzia Al-Rashid, Kenyon Walker

School K-12

The intellectual and philosophical roots of service learning have been attributed to the conceptualizations of democratic society put forth by Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s and John Dewey in the early twentieth century (Kenny eta!, 2002). Dewey believed that students would learn more effectively and eventually become better citizens if they engaged in activities that linked service to the community and the curriculum. This idea of linking service to curriculum has been further embraced by advocates of service learning today.

Educator's Guide, Rahima C. Wade

Special Topics, General

In the fall of 2003, the National Council for the Social I Studies (NCSS) was awarded a teacher training grant I from the federal Corporation for National and Community Service to fund "CiviConnections: Constructing the past, creating the future." The NCSS proposal was one of just 8 chosen for funding in the new 2003 grant competition on "Linking History, Civics, and Service." From 2003 to 2007, CiviConnections will involve more than 297 teachers and 7,425 3rd - 12th grade students nationwide in linking local history inquiry with community service-learning activities. Teams of three teachers apply for $7,500 grants to cover …

Changing Landscapes: Enduring Values, Angela Bodino

Service Learning, General

The campus of Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) seems pastoral with 160 acres of woods, a pond, and gentle grassy slopes. Two miles to the west are two golf courses and farmland. Two miles east are homes built in the 17th and 18th Centuries close to the North Branch of the Raritan River, close to a colonial cemetery and the soaring spire of the Reformed Church. This setting reminds us of an early American ethic of hope and change, the promise of vast spaces, new destinies and new communities.

Research Matters, Shelley H. Billig

Service Learning, General

Many people are attracted to service-learning because they see what it does for students, schools, and communities. Students are more engaged in their studies, schools are revitalized, with a new sense of mission and focus, and community members, energized by working with students on service-learning projects, are more supportive of young people and their schools.

This rosy picture is the reality in some settings with well-implemented service-learning, but too often this is not the case. In fact, much service-learning practice is uneven in quality, and research shows that low-quality service-learning has little impact.

Three-Year Longitudinal Service-Learning Research Study: Preliminary Findings, Frank D. Aquila, L. Richard Bradley, Jennifer Dodd, Charlotte Jones-Ward

Service Learning, General

Using an experimental design, this study examines the contributions of service-learning to decreased at-risk behaviors, student cognitive, social, and personal development, and academic achievement over a three-year period. During the pilot phase and Years One and Two, teachers and students from eleven different Ohio schools have been surveyed. Preliminary findings are presented.

Highlights Of Campus Compact's Annual Membership Survey, Campus Compact

Service Learning, General

The trend toward increasing civic engagement among colleges and universities is stronger than ever. In Campus Compact's 2003 survey, member institutions reported not only record participation in community service but also an increase in structural and financial support for initiatives to improve communities and to make civic learning part of academic life.

Growing To Greatness: The State Of Service-Learning Project 2004 Executive Summary, National Youth Leadership

Project Summaries

This report is the first of a series of annual Growing to Greatness (G2G) reports by the National Youth Leadership Council. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words and life, G2G documents the capacity of all youths to be great - to serve, learn, and change the world. Growing evidence, shared by several disciplines and collected across a diverse range of settings, documents young people actively learning and making real differences in communities.

Critical Cotnponents That Support Learning & Service: Evaluation Of Funded Programs, Learn & Serve Ohio

Evaluation/Reflection

Please take a few minutes to complete this external evaluation of your service-learning program funded by the Ohio Department of Education Learn and Service Office.

We realize that this is a different type of report; nevertheless it is mandatory. This evaluation is being e-mailed to you as well as being sent by regular mail.

The extensive Essential Elements component is part of a national effort. While you may not initially see a connection to your program, we hope that this will eventually become evident.

Service Learning Pre-Service Survey For Students, Argie Manolis

Evaluation/Reflection

Please complete this confidential survey honestly. The survey will help service learning program staff assess the success of service learning at UMM for the purposes of UMM's Learn and Serve America grant. Your professor will not know how you, specifically, responded, nor will the survey affect you or your professor in any way.

An Analysis Of The Reflection Component In The Epics Model Of Service Learning, Lynne A. Slivovsky, Frank R. Derego Jr., Carla B. Zoltowski, Leah H. Jamieson, William C. Oakes

Evaluation/Reflection

Service learning is a pedagogy providing a structured environment for students to link service with course learning objectives. Key to the service learning experience is critical reflection. This gives students the opportunity to examine their coursework in the context of the service they provide to their community and, in a broader sense, the impact they can have on the world. Research has shown that students participating in service learning have a higher comprehension of the course material and also develop an awareness of their local community and the issues it faces. In engineering, there are many examples of service-learning programs …

Maryland's Best Practices: An Improvement Guide For School-Based Service-Learning, Maryland Student Service Alliance

Curriculum

We are pleased to present a new tool for service-learning. Students can make a tremendous difference in their schools and communities if they are given the opportunity to use their enthusiasm, energy and ideas.

Maryland is a leader in the field of service-learning. We believe it is important for our students not only to understand the concept of citizenship but also to be good citizens by providing needed service to their communities. Teachers around the state have found service-learning to be a highly effective teaching method, adding relevancy to classroom learning.

As the first state to require that all students …

Community Action Problem Solving Teacher Guide, Earth Force

Curriculum

Welcome to the Community History/Environmental Citizenship (CHEC) teacher guide, which is designed to engage students in historical inquiry as part of environmental service-Iearning projects. CHEC materials are a key part of a larger Earth Force Program called Community Action Problem Solving (CAPS). CHEC materials are designed to help students understand:
• how past events affect present environmental issues
• how local environmental challenges have been addressed in the past
• how historical context can help them to effectively address today's environmental problems

Healthy Neighborhood Healthy Heart Initiative: Bridging Community Health Theory To Civic Commitment, Christine Beck, Joan Wiencek Knurek

Partnerships/Community

Healthy Neighborhood Healthy Heart Initiative (Healthy Heart) is a collaborative service learning experience to address identified health concerns of neighborhood residents. Healthy Heart is a collaborative program of Cuyahoga Community College (CCC) Nursing Education Department, Saint Vincent Charity Hospital (SVCH) Community Outreach Department, and five low-income urban apartment complexes. The program utilizes service learning framework and coalition building. As a result, academic institutions, agencies, target populations, and the community as a whole are positively impacted and collaborate in the experience. The goals of the initiative are to:

1. Empower individuals, families, and groups to make informed health care decisions based …

Establishing Partnerships, Dare Mighty Things

Partnerships/Community

While there are many nationally recognized benefits and advantages to partnership development, the answer to why one seeks to establish partnerships is relatively simple. There is added value in working with other organizations including the sharing of staff and financial resources. Partnership development is nor a new concept. Communities, organizations and individuals have been working together in partnerships to improve the quality of life at the grassroots level for a number of years. There are a number of multi-agency "stakeholder" partnerships both locally and nationally that manage and deliver a wide range of community development programs, as well as service …

Participatory Research And Service-Learning: A Natural Match For The Community And Campus, Robert Blundo

Higher Education

Integrating academic content and service in the community brought my students a sense of connectedness between classroom learning and their personal lives and the lives of others within the larger community. This is the intent of service-learning, and like many other efforts at service-learning, this experience once again engaged students in terms of academic learning as well as affirming their connectedness to the larger community (Stanton, Giles, & Cruz, 1999). How we as faculty can create a setting for this to occur is always challenging and exciting in terms of the unique and creative ways faculty are making these connections …

Community Colleges Broadening Horizons Through Service Learning, 2003-2006, Gail Robinson

Higher Education

The goals of Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning, supported by the Corporation for National and Community Service and administered by the American Association of Community Colleges, are to build on established foundations to integrate service learning into the institutional climate of community colleges and to increase the number, quality, and sustainability of service learning programs in colleges nationwide. The Horizons project features model programs, national data collection and dissemination, and an information clearinghouse. In addition, Horizons provides professional development opportunities and technical assistance through regional workshops on service learning and civic responsibility, chief academic officer summits, mentoring, presentations, …

Csl Facts 2003/2004: Facts On Community Service Learning In The California State University, California State University

Higher Education

This report includes: The California State University; Commitment to Service; California's Call to Service; Facts and Figures; Service Profiles Across the CSU; and Contact Information

Community Partner Guide To Service-Learning & Volunteerism, California State University - Northridge

Higher Education

I am pleased to welcome you to our Community Partner Guide to Service-Learning and Volunteerism at California State University, Northridge. As I stated in my Annual Convocation message this year, we at Cal State Northridge are very proud of our mission, which is to serve the higher educational needs of this region.

Our academic and student service programs help to grow our region’s intellectual capital by providing classes and activities that prepare an educated workforce. We emphasize programs that place our students in the community to learn and then to serve which positions us as a major force in meeting …

Service-Learning In Engineering: A Resource Guidebook, William Oakes

Higher Education

Several issues have motivated reform in engineering education over the past decade. Industry’s call for more well-rounded graduates who are better equipped for today’s fast-moving, global economy has motivated the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) to redefine its accreditation criteria in a way that places professional skills such as teamwork, communication, and awareness of social issues into core engineering curricula. The continued underrepresentation of women and minorities in engineering has fueled innovative curricular models that integrate active learning with relevant engineering applications. At the same time, the overall decline in interest in engineering among high school students has …