Data integrity boards: Institutional innovation and congressional oversight

This article is a preliminary analysis of the first few years of the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (CMPPA). The act requires Federal agencies to establish Data Integrity Boards (DIBs) with responsibility to approve written agreements for computer matches in which their agencies are involved. Information for this analysis was collected from the annual reports on computer matching submitted by agencies to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 1990 and 1991 and from 108 matching agreements. The secretaries of several DIBs were also interviewed. The effectiveness of DIBs and matching agreements are analyzed using McCubbins and Schwartz's distinction between “police-patrol” and “fire- alarm” oversight. The article concludes that more active and direct oversight, which would occur through an independent data protection or privacy board, is necessary.     

Gender and textbooks: Women writers of elementary readers, 1880–1950

Between 1880 and 1950, the role of women as authors of elementary readers flowered and faded. From 1880 to 1915, female authorship dominated. Over the next fifteen years female authorship withstood the challenge of the scientific movement in education. Women’s role as solo authors declined, however, during the Depression, World War II and the postwar years. These changes are explained by the deteriorating environment for female professionalism, changes in the concept of reading expertise, the expanded role of publishers in textbook development, and the differences between men and women in opportunities for graduate study. E. Jennifer is Monaghan a professor in the Department of Educational Services, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. She is the founder of the History of Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association and author ofA Common Heritage: Noah Webster’s Blue-Back Speller.