School boards were more likely to have Latino members incounties covered by the language assistance provisions of thenow defunct Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.

More than two years ago the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, meaning that certain districts and states would no longer need to gain preclearance from the U.S. District Court before making changes to electoral rules. In new research, Melissa Marschall and Amanda Rutherford look at the effects of the language assistance provisions of Section 4(f)(4) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) on Latino representation on local school boards. They find that in counties covered by the VRA, school boards were more likely to have Latino members, and that this effect was enhanced when elections were monitored by federal observers

The voting rights act has been instrumental in ensuring gains in black representation in cities over the last three decades

This June, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a decision that could have important impacts on the rights and representation of minorities. Using new research, Paru Shah, Melissa Marschall and Anirudh Ruhil find that the number of cities covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act with at least one African-American city council member increased by 82 percent between 1981 and 2001. They also argue that coverage by the Voting Rights Act seems to amplify the effects of minority voting strength, council size, and electoral structures in cities

Increased parental care cost for nest-guarding fish in a lake with hyperabundant nest predators

Although parental care increases offspring survival, providing care is costly, reducing parental growth and survival and, thereby, compromising future reproductive success. To determine if an exotic benthic predator might be affecting parental care by nest-guarding smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), we compared nest-guarding behavior and energy expenditures in two systems, one with a hyperabundant recently introduced predator, the round goby (Neogobious melanostomus). In Lake Erie, USA, smallmouth bass vigorously defended their nests from benthic round gobies. In Lake Opeongo, Canada, smallmouth bass were exposed to fewer and predominantly open-water predators and were less active in their nest defense. From scuba and video observations, we documented that nest-guarding smallmouth bass chased predators (99% of which were round gobies) nine times more frequently in Lake Erie than in Lake Opeongo. This heightened activity resulted in a significant decline in weight and energetic content of guarding males in Lake Erie but no change in Lake Opeongo males. Bioenergetic simulations revealed that parental care increased smallmouth bass standard metabolic rate by 210% in Lake Erie but only by 28% in Lake Opeongo. As energy reserves declined and offspring became increasingly independent, males in both lakes consumed more prey and spent more time foraging away from their nests; however, nest-guarding smallmouth bass consumed few prey and, in Lake Erie, rarely consumed round gobies. Therefore, increased parental care costs owing to the presence of round gobies could affect future growth, reproduction, and survival if smallmouth bass approach critically low energy reserves.Funding for this project was provided by Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Project F-69-P, administered jointly by United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid awarded to G.B.S., and the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University

Parent Involvement and Educational Outcomes for Latino Students

This study focuses on the determinants and effects of parent involvement in schools, in the context of urban school districts, and particularly with regard to the schools that serve Latino students. Three research questions are investigated in this article: (1) What are schools doing to support parents, foster involvement and engagement in their children's schools, and generally create strong parent-school relations? (2) How effective are schools at fostering parent involvement? (3) Do schools with more effective parent involvement practices and greater parent participation perform at higher levels than those with less effective practices and lower levels of parent involvement? Data on Latino representation on Local School Councils (LSCs), school-level demographic and performance indicators, and information on effective school organization, parent involvement, and school practices regarding outreach and engagement with parents and communities are used to investigate these questions. The empirical analysis demonstrates that in addition to previously established aspects of effective school organization, governing arrangements and Latino political incorporation play a critical role in building stronger, more supportive school-parent relations and in encouraging higher levels of parent involvement in formal school activities. Moreover, these practices and relations were found to have important implications for Latino student performance. Copyright 2006 by The Policy Studies Organization.