No abstract

Although school crime and violence have declined during the past 5 years, problems still exist. Consequently, educators have taken many steps toward making schools safer. One such step has been the development and implementation of zero-tolerance policies. Unfortunately, such policies have created more problems thanthey have resolved. Inaddition, these policies raise serious questions about race/ethnicity and social class in American public schools, especially in urban schools where zero-tolerance policy sanctions are more likely to be applied to ethnic/racial minority and poor students. The purpose of this article is to examine the implications zero-tolerance policies have in public schools, especially on race/ethnicity and social class relations. The author concludes with a set of recommendations for developing sound zero-tolerance policies.

Anthropometric measurements collected from black and white men in the 1960 (n = 946) and 1963 (n = 456) examinations of the Charleston Heart Study cohort (Charleston County, South Carolina) were examined as predictors of all cause and coronary heart disease mortality. Anthropometric measurements included body mass index, chest girth (at the third intercostal space), abdominal girth (at the umbilicus) and midarm circumference. Vital status of 98 percent of the cohort was determined through 1988. Body mass index was not associated with mortality in the white men; however, it was predictive of all cause and coronary heart disease mortality in the black men. Analyses conducted separately in the lower and upper range of body mass index in black men showed the adjusted relative hazard at the 50th versus the 10th percentile of body mass index was 0.54 for all cause mortality, but was not significant for coronary heart disease mortality; whereas the adjusted relative hazard for the 90th relative to the 50th percentile was 1.7 for coronary heart disease deaths, but not significant for deaths from all causes. The circumference measurements were not predictive of all cause or coronary heart disease mortality in the white men. In the black men, the adjusted relative hazard ratios for all cause mortality for the 85th relative to the 15th percentiles were 0.22 for midarm circumference and 2.0 for abdominal circumference.

Since its inception, America’s system of public education has faced many challenges. One of its more important challenges has been how to teach children from diverse backgrounds and cultures. As a society that prides itself on a democratic ideology, cultural diversity and schooling are not trivial issues. One of the more significant diversity topics has been the presence of English-language learners (ELL) in American public schools. This article introduces the topic of ELL students and the education and education-related issues surrounding ELL students. For researchers and policy makers deeply steeped in the issues surrounding ELL students, the issues and concerns raised in this article are familiar. However, for the vast majority of other researchers and policy makers, these issues are not familiar and may have important impact on their own research agendas.

Most approaches to improving education in the United States fail; some succeed in certain schools only to fail elsewhere. Why? The main thesis of this study is that various programs to school reform fail because they neglect to consider the role of legitimacy as an intervening factor as a school moves from a strict bureaucratic to a community governance regime. This article develops and estimates a causal model describing the relationship between bureaucracy, legitimacy, and community as predictors of teachers' job satisfaction-an important school outcome that is highly related to student achievement. Data for the study are from a national survey of National Education Association teacher members.