Information, Not Technology, Is Essential to Accountability: Electronic Records and Public-Sector Financial Management

Information technology is often seen by decision makers as a progressive measure for promoting public-sector financial accountability. One of the key assumptions is that electronic access to information increases transparency and thus, automatically, accountability. This linkage is overly simplified. There is potential conflict between the objectives of providing efficient access on the one hand and supporting accountability on the other.In Sub-Saharan Africa, financial functions were among the first to be automated. More recently, information technology is being used to control and decentralize financial systems. The improvement in financial accountability has yet to materialize. Evidence of this includes instances where corruption and thefts of state assets have gone unchecked. Many efforts to strengthen financial controls fail because the fundamental structures needed to underpin them are often overlooked; this includes record keeping.     

Person-Environment Fit and its Effects on University Students: A Response Surface Methodology Study

The amount of time, effort, and money expended in pursuit of a college degree makes it important that students choose a university that is a good fit for them. Unfortunately students often determine whether a university is a fit for them through trial and error. This research investigated student-university fit and its relationship with satisfaction and well-being. We assessed student-university fit by developing 18 fit factors and measuring needs for, and supplies of, those factors. We tested our hypotheses using polynomial regression analysis and response surface methodology. Data from 228 students suggest that student-university fit is predictive of students?? satisfaction with their university and psychological well-being.     

“I Managed It Pretty Good”: Birth Narratives of Adolescent Mothers

The aim of this study was to understand adolescent mothers’ childbirth experiences. Semistructured interviews were conducted with participants recruited from a community-based program for adolescent mothers. Fourteen mothers described their birth experiences. Using a narrative analytic approach, responses were reconstructed into birth stories. Stories, condensed into poetic form, were compared and contrasted. Four unique categories emerged: connected births, surreal births, disconnected births, and disempowered births. Categories differed by agency, support, and emotional tone. Positive support was found in stories that portrayed high agency and positive affect, whereas problematic support was apparent in stories that conveyed passivity, frustration, and disappointment. This study has implications for tailoring childbirth education for adolescent mothers and can inform health-care professionals working with this population.     

Neighborhood matters: racial socialization of African American children

Differences in racial socialization practices and their effects were examined in a sample of 241 African American 1st graders (average age 6.59 years) living in an urban area. Child outcomes included cognitive development, receptive language skills, and child problem behavior. The cultural environment of the home was associated with higher cognitive scores for boys living in high negative social climate and low social capital neighborhoods and for girls living in high social capital neighborhoods. The positive association of promotion of mistrust and child behavior problems was magnified in neighborhoods that had low levels of social capital. A high negative social climate in the neighborhood attenuated the positive association between preparation for bias/promotion of mistrust and externalizing problems.     

Drunk and Alone in a K‐Mart Parking Lot: The Pedagogy of Simulations and Contemporary Attitudes Toward Drinking and Driving

This article introduces readers to the philosophy and design of team-based learning (TBL), a method developed by Dr. Larry Michaelsen that was influenced by literature in organizational psychology and pedagogy documenting what actually motivates adults to learn and how they master higher order learning skills. We describe how TBL was implemented in several criminal justice courses and illustrate how this method has drastically reduced student apathy, increased attendance, improved performance, and eliminated frustration for both instructors and students. Additionally, we reflect on how this method has reshaped our roles as educators.