Just a nudge

Police officers might be starting to believe that the very purpose of the criminal justice system is under question. But if the simple answer to ‘Can we arrest our way out of anything?’ really is ‘No’, isn’t the more complex response that a policing response to social problems such as arrest remains part of the answer (perhaps even on occasions, a vital one)?’ Is there a danger that when we publicly ‘talk down’ the role played in addressing social problems through law enforcement activity, that we might unintentionally undermine its continuing importance?

Evidence-based policing: from effectiveness to cost-effectiveness

Recent years have seen the development of quantitative studies into policing effectiveness, in particular, the ‘evidence based policing’ movement which has encouraged the use of randomized control trials in the UK and the USA. Despite their significance, such studies remain narrowly based in terms of their take-up by academic institutions and police forces. This article charts the rise of evidence-based policing and considers whether it could be taken a step further, by developing consideration of police effectiveness into that of cost-effectiveness. The use of ‘Quality Adjusted Life Years’ (QALY) methodology in the UK in the arena of drugs approval for use by the National Health Service, is considered as a model which might be transferable to policing. It is concluded that there are substantial similarities. Providing that the improvements sought are realistic, there is real potential for the cost-effectiveness of policing methods to be assessed

Building Middle-Level Mathematics Teachers\u27 Capacities as Teachers and Leaders: The Math in the Middle Institute Partnership

This article describes professional development for middle-level mathematics teachers offered through the Math in the Middle Institute Partnership, a National Science Foundation-funded project to build teachers’ capacities to improve mathematics learning for all students. An overview of the project, including descriptions of its goals and curriculum are provided. Detailed descriptions of two mathematics courses and one pedagogy course are offered. The mathematics courses included here are the introductory course to the Math in the Middle Institute, as well as one of the final math courses of the Institute in which participants apply mathematical knowledge and processes to real-world problems. The pedagogy course features curriculum that enables teachers to acquire an understanding of the nature and purpose of action research, and launches teachers into planning and implementing systematic inquiry in their own mathematics classrooms around topics of their choosing. The varied abilities of teachers, as well as growth in teachers’ mathematical and pedagogical capacities, are represented by several samples of student work provided within the article. In addition, mathematical and pedagogical products of student work are also provided through the project’s URL links. Improving teacher quality is identified as a national need in mathematics education and one many universities and schools across the country are working in partnership to try to address. This article describes a professional development project aimed at improving mathematics teaching and learning in the middle grades. An overview of the project, along with a close look at several of its course offerings, are presented highlighting mathematical and pedagogical goals, challenges, and accomplishments

Operational risk, omissions and liability in policing

Recent decades have seen the sensitisation of UK society towards harm and policing ‘failures’ become increasingly significant. This paper is intended to stimulate thought and debate by analysing some consequences of these developments. It reviews literature in relation to risk-taking in UK operational policing, identifying increased criminal and disciplinary liability, particularly in respect of alleged omissions. Hindsight is found to be a potentially powerful influence. The article concludes that it is unlikely that public culture will be changed readily. However, police and other bodies should be able to reach a common approach towards operational risk, omissions and hindsight

Parental Involvement: Perceptions and Participation at Critical Moments Throughout the Middle School Transition

The purpose of this study was to compare the perception scores and the frequency of parental involvement for parents of students who have most recently completed elementary school (entering 6th grade) with parents of students who have most recently completed middle school (entering 9th grade) in a northeast Tennessee public school district. Data were collected by surveys containing a short demographic section, a perceptions section, and a participation section. The population consisted of the parents of 544 sixth grade students from the district’s 2 middle schools and the parents of 578 ninth grade students from 1 district high school. From that population 115 sixth grade parents and 105 ninth grade parents responded. This study took place at the onset of the school year to address parents as their children were either entering 6th grade in middle school or 9th grade in high school. Findings from the study indicate that there were significant differences between the parents of newly entering 6th graders and the parents of newly entering 9th graders in terms of home-based perception scores and frequency of participation. Specifically, parents of newly entering 6th graders had higher home-based perception scores and frequency of participation than parents of newly entering 9th graders. However, findings indicate that there was not a significant difference between the parent groups in terms of school-based perception scores and frequency of participation. When examined collectively (home-based and school-based combined), no significant differences were noted between the parent groups in terms of perception scores and frequency of participation. For each of these cases, independent samples t tests were used to determine if there were significant differences. Findings from the study also indicate that positive relationships are present between parents’ perception scores and their frequency of participation. This was true for both home-based and school-based involvement at both grade levels. Pearson r tests revealed these relationships. This study was important to help understand the perception scores and frequency of participation for parents of students in the middle school transition. Recommendations are made with the hopes of helping schools better tailor their parental involvement strategies to families they serve

Understanding Teacher Leadership in Middle School Mathematics: A Collaborative Research Effort

We report findings from a collaborative research effort designed to examine how teachers act as leaders in their schools. We find that teachers educated by the Math in the Middle Institute act as key sources of advice for colleagues within their schools while drawing support from a network consisting of other teachers in the program and university-level advisors. In addition to reporting on our findings, we reflect on our research process, noting some of the practical challenges involved, as well as some of the benefits of collaboration

Optimized Effective Potentials in Finite Basis Sets

The finite basis optimized effective potential (OEP) method within density functional theory is examined as an ill-posed problem. It is shown that the generation of nonphysical potentials is a controllable manifestation of the use of unbalanced, and thus unsuitable, basis sets. A modified functional incorporating a regularizing smoothness measure of the OEP is introduced. This provides a condition on balanced basis sets for the potential, as well as a method to determine the most appropriate OEP potential and energy from calculations performed with any finite basis set.Comment: 23 pages, 28 figure