How technical demographic analysis can inform and confuse judicial considerations of voting rights principles is illustrated in a review of a 1990 case brought against Los Angeles County (California). A postscripted article considers whether the court involved should rely on after-census estimates for redistricting. (SLD)

A planning model to improve performance in generating positive terminations of Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) participants is described. Sponsors can improve performance by selecting participants with particular characteristics and altering types of services. This approach is useful for any social services which result in…

The long-term effectiveness of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) was assessed by contrasting drug use and other D.A.R.E.-related attitudinal latent variables among 356 12th graders who received the program in 6th grade with 264 students who did not receive the program. Results suggest a possible sleeper effect for the program. (SLD)

Relevance of the intersection of sociology, statistics, and public policy to the study of quality control in three family assistance programs--food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), and Medicaid--is reviewed using a study by the National Academy of Sciences of methods for improving quality control systems. (SLD)

The relationship between a 4-group (control and low- through high-intensity intervention) health promotion intervention program and subsequent medical costs was analyzed for 1,188 employees in a California utility company. Results suggest strong associations between health promotion interventions and subsequent reduction in medical care costs,…

The results of a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) project at 10 Job Corps centers nationwide with 5,379 trainees indicate that effects of CAI after about 60 hours of classroom instruction are small and achievement gains are not significantly different from those of students taught conventionally. CAI may help motivate students. (SLD)

Effectiveness in presenting information of a modified box plot and a multivariate STAR graph was compared with that of tables for a sample audience for evaluation results (133 school superintendents, 123 journalists, 100 school board members, 100 principals, 100 teachers). Individual item analysis offers guidance for designing multivariate…

The long-term effectiveness of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) Program was assessed by contrasting 497 ninth graders who received the program in sixth grade with 352 who did not. Employing latent variables to represent the concepts, no significant differences were found between D.A.R.E. participants and comparisons. (SLD)

High intercommunity variation in adolescent smoking precluded detection of effects of mass media campaigns on initiation of cigarette smoking in a study with a final sample of 1,637 adolescent subjects. Implications for studies using the individual as unit of analysis and the community as unit of randomization are discussed. (SLD)

Several issues associated with equating and interpreting reading test scores from two different measures of achievement are discussed. The discussion is based on an investigation assessing the impact of classroom functional/ability grouping on academic performance of 5,439 special educational students in elementary, middle, and high schools. (TJH)