We examine the core curricula of the master’s degree programs of thirty planning schools in the United States and Canada and discuss patterns in core requirements. We compare current planning core curricula to those described more than fifteen years ago by John Friedmann and explore several questions surrounding core curricula, planning practice, and the demands of academic legitimacy. The article concludes with a brief case study highlighting the implementation of a new core curriculum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
A measurement evaluation study was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the Physical Self-Maintenance Scale and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (Lawton & Brody, 1969) as a discriminative measure to assess the independent living status of elderly hospitalized patients. A sample of thirty patients from two geriatric specialty units was used for the study. Inter-observer reliability was shown to be excellent (ADL r=.96, IADL r=.99) and test-retest reliability was considered to be good (ADL r=.59, IADL r=.93). The results comparing patient self-report of ability and ratings based on direct observation of performance indicated that patients consistently over-rated their ability in both ADL and IADL tasks. This provides support for the use of direct observation of performance to obtain valid data on an individual's ability. There was a significant difference in scores between those patients able to be discharged home compared to those requiring institutionalization; however, a score predictive of discharge location could not be identified with the study data. The study provided support for the use of this measurement tool for assessing the independent living status of elderly hospitalized patients. It provides the therapist with a measure that has had some validation and has the potential for clinical use in describing patients' ability and identifying areas requiring treatment intervention.
Annexation is often touted as a strategy to improve the overall fiscal environment of a municipality. The empirical literature on the role of annexation in municipal finance, however, has yielded inconsistent results. This article examines annexation in nearly 1,000 municipalities for its effects on local government spending. Results show that spending is influenced by annexation, but the effects on spending are complicated by accompanying changes in municipal density levels. If annexation is accompanied by higher densities, the local government will certainly experience lower increases in per-capita spending levels. However, if annexation is accompanied by lower densities, the local government may or may not experience lower increases in per-capita spending levels, depending on changes in land area relative to changes in density.
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