This study examines whether community-level social disorganization and community engagement initiatives are associated with public high school performance. Analyzing data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) School Attendance Boundary Survey (SABS), a latent variable measuring community-level social disorganization is examined…

Across the United States a significant number of individuals find themselves incarcerated each year. For the state of Florida, this number represents one of the highest in the country (Carson, 2021). Prior research has indicated that incarcerated populations across the country tend to have a lower literacy level and less education experience than…

Community coalition action theory (CCAT) depicts the processes and factors that affect coalition formation, maintenance, institutionalization, actions, and outcomes. CCAT proposes that community context affects coalitions at every phase of development and operation. We analyzed data from 12 "Connect to Protect" coalitions using inductive…

This study explores the long-term impact on participation in the Linda Ray Intervention Program (LRIP) for children (n = 54) who were developmentally delayed and prenatally exposed to cocaine. By identifying a group of programme graduates from a high crime/high poverty neighbourhood in Miami-Dade County using ArcGIS 10.2 software, a…

Puerto Rican author Luis Rafael Sanchez's "La guagua aerea" explores the duality, hybridity, and fluidity of US-Puerto Rican identity through the frequent travel of migrants between New York City (the traditional destination city for Puerto Rican migrants) and the island. In recent years, however, the "flying bus" has adopted a…

Objective: Examine whether neighborhood characteristics of racial composition, income, and rurality were related to distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-accepting stores in Leon County, Florida. Design: Cross-sectional; neighborhood and food store data collected in 2008. Setting and Participants: Forty-eight census…

Variations in drug use have been found across individual-level factors and community characteristics, and by type of drug used. Relatively little research, however, has examined this variation among juvenile offenders. Based on a sample of 924 newly arrested juvenile offenders, two multilevel logistic regression models predicting marijuana test…

This study uses geocoded address data and information about parents' economic behavior and children's development from four random-assignment welfare and anti-poverty experiments conducted during the 1990s. We find that the impacts of these welfare and anti-poverty programs on boys' and girls' developmental outcomes during the transition to early…

This study evaluates how welcoming thirty American cities--the twenty-five largest and five smaller "hotspots"--are to "nontraditional" problem-solvers and solutions. It assumes that the balky bureaucracies meant to improve K-12 education and hold leaders accountable are so calcified by policies, programs, contracts, and…

Modern systems theory is applied in constructing a recursive, multivariate casual model for an analysis of intercounty variations in public library output and use. (Author)

ELEMENTS OF EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY ARE IDENTIFIED WHICH ARE INFLUENCED BY SIZE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS. PRODUCTIVITY INCLUDES OUTCOMES SUCH AS ACADEMIC PROGRESS AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND EXCLUDES ECONOMIC OUTCOMES SUCH AS GAINS IN INCOME. RESEARCH IN THIS FIRST PHASE WAS DONE WITH THE HIGH SCHOOLS OF IOWA. DATA STORED WITH THE IOWA EDUCATIONAL…

Motivated by the increasing population growth of Polk County, Florida, this study presents the first comprehensive population analysis which could be a basis for future study on the feasibility of another college center in the city of Lakeland. Data was obtained from county and state offices, U.S. Bureau of the Census, county school board, and…

An effective teaching technique for a university extension course for rural special education teachers is the respond/read/replicate/report system. The four-step system was developed to stimulate tired, beleaguered teachers with differing experiences, knowledgeability, and teaching/learning styles who drove up to 60 miles on country roads to…

Social disorganization is the primary theory by which criminologists account for crime rates. Current versions of social disorganization theory assume that strong networks of social relationship prevent crime and delinquency. A community's capacity to develop and maintain strong systems of social relationship is influenced by residential…

Describes the community of Sarasota County in Florida (Tampa) as one in which the arts are highly valued. Explains that the Sarasota County School Board eliminated the arts program devastating Sarasota County and the surrounding areas. Introduces three articles that discuss the elimination and renewal of Sarasota County's arts program. (CMK)