“It’s unfair to hold students and schools accountable for success without giving them the resources they need to succeed,” asserts the cover story about low test scores nationwide and in California. Other feature articles outline the public benefits of the arts and the nation-building experiences of the United Nations. Shorter stories discuss access cards in the workplace, land-use patterns associated with suburban sprawl, ideological orientations across the Muslim world, countermeasures against missile attacks, the status of the “war on drugs,” and the quality of care delivered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

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