Education Commons^™

Analyzing The Relative Efficiency Of Nevada Secondary Schools, Jesse Welsh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A definitive answer to how to allocate school-level expenditures to yield the greatest "bang for the buck" has continually eluded education finance researchers. With increased regulation, oversight, and sanctions resulting from the No Child Left Behind Act, paired with financial strains on states' education budgets, measuring schools' production and efficiency has become urgent.

The methodology for this study was comprised of two phases. Phase I analyzed the per-pupil expenditures of middle and high schools over a three-year period and developed descriptive statistics that revealed the expenditure patterns by category. Phase II used a micro-level economic approach, data envelopment analysis, to …

Intelligent Design And Its Place In The Classroom, Victor Trinh, Mekdelawit Mezgebu

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Creationism, is the dominant belief held by the public. Evolution, on the other hand, is the competing theory of the mechanisms of creation. The recent dispute among the scientific and political field that has furthermore complicated the question of intelligent design being integrated into the curriculum of public schools is addressed here. We attempt to give both sides of the argument, along with analyzing the components of each theory. Intelligent design advocates are for the idea of accommodating what they have coined “intelligent design” into the classrooms of American schools. The opponents of intelligent design (evolution supporters); however, claim that …

Should Intelligent Design Be Taught Alongside Evolution In Public Schools?, Chelsea Opdendyk, Christina James

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

Evolution being the creation of life through a scientific method and ID being the creation of life through a religious point of view. The overall proposing question to be discussed throughout this project is whether or not ID should be taught in schools alongside Evolution within science classes. The first phase of this project involves research of the positive teachings of ID within the school system and how it can be beneficial to students. The second part of this project involves the negative aspects of educating students the proposed theory of ID. The final phase revolves around the favored conclusion …

Faculty Institute On Research Based-Learning In High Impact Courses, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

UNLV Libraries-Greater Western Library Alliance Conference

In Spring 2009, the Library Advisory Board agreed to fund a proposal for the Libraries to collaborate with campus partners to provide support to faculty who were faced with several initiatives that impact the way faculty deliver their course content, develop their assignments and assess their success. These initiatives include the movement to large enrollment classes, especially for large impact, core courses; the redesign of the general education requirements around universal learning outcomes; and, enhancing the first-year experience for incoming students. There is no single entity on campus in a position to provide the faculty support and development needed.

The …

Universal Undergraduate Learning Outcomes (Uulo) Recommendations, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

UNLV Libraries-Greater Western Library Alliance Conference

Outcomes (What we want students to achieve) and Objectives (How we will know students achieve the goals)

The undergraduate learning outcomes articulate clear expectations for what all UNLV students should know and be able to do upon graduation. The undergraduate learning outcomes form the foundation for general education but also extend into the majors. This comprehensive approach aims to meld undergraduate learning into a more intentional, coherent experience that consists of the purposeful sequencing of learning from the first year, to the middle years, to the senior year and includes learning both within and outside the major, including co-curricular expenences.

The Quality Imperative: Match Ambitious Goals For College Attainment With An Ambitious Vision For Learning, Board Of Directors Of The Association Of American Colleges And Universities

UNLV Libraries-Greater Western Library Alliance Conference

Facing an avalanche of evidence that the United States no longer leads the world in postsecondary attainment, educational leaders at all levels have begun a far-reaching effort to increase significantly the number of students entering and completing higher education. This is a top priority for the Obama administration, for policy leaders and philanthropy, and for colleges and universities.

The Association of American Colleges and Universities welcomes and strongly supports the emerging national commitment to expand appreciably both access to college and successful completion. We are especially concerned that higher education provide equitable access and expanded opportunity for groups and communities …

The Degree Qualifications Profile, Lumina Foundation

UNLV Libraries-Greater Western Library Alliance Conference

The need for a Degree Profile

Higher learning has taken on new importance in today’s knowledge society. To succeed in the contemporary workplace, today’s students must prepare for jobs that are rapidly changing, use technologies that are still emerging and work with colleagues from (and often in) all parts of the globe. The challenges that graduates face as citizens during their lives are similarly complex and also are affected by developments around the world.

Recognizing the economic and societal importance of higher levels of learning, national leaders, policymakers, analysts and major philanthropies have called for a dramatic increase in the …

Unlv-Gwla Program, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

UNLV Libraries-Greater Western Library Alliance Conference

No abstract provided.

The Intermountain West Today: A Regional Survey, Ruy Teixeira, Karlyn Bowman

Brookings Mountain West Publications

What does it mean to live in the Intermountain West today? What issues are most and least important to the region’s residents? Do Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah have a collective identity or are state-level differences too great? Is there an identifiable Intermountain West personality? Today we will present the results of a unique survey that attempts to answer these questions.

Unlv / Brookings West: Intermountain West Region Regional Survey, University Of Nevada Las Vegas, Brookings Institute

Brookings Mountain West Publications

The 2010 Intermountain West Public Opinion Survey documents responses from 2,000 residents of the Intermountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah). Gerstein | Agne Strategic Communications conducted the survey from August 23 – September 1, 2010. A minimum of 250 respondents for each state are included in the results for this survey. Respondents included 1,700 landline interviews and 300 cell phone interviews. Gerstein | Agne Strategic Communications provides strategic planning, communications, project management, and research services to a wide range of non-profit organizations, Fortune 500 companies, and candidates for elected office.

The survey includes an extensive series …

Envisioning Nevada’S Future: Goals & Strategies For Advancing Our Quality Of Life, Nevada Vision Stakeholder Group, Moody’S Analytics

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Nevada’s severe downturn has brought to light many of the long-term challenges facing the state. Not only is its economy subject to painful swings, but Nevada’s primary drivers— consumer services (primarily gaming, hospitality and housing) and resource extraction—will provide less support than they have in past business cycles. Less economic vitality will make it harder to offer Nevadans the quality of life they expect.

The importance of the economy to quality of life is equally clear—quality of life is a hollow promise without a healthy and supportive economy. Similarly, a proper fiscal structure—both in terms of spending and revenues—is critical …

An Analysis Of The Equity Of Utah’S Public School Funding System, Garrick Peterson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There has not been an equity study of the public school funding allocation system, in the state of Utah, since 1990. The purpose of the study was to conduct an analysis of the equity of the Utah state funding allocation system for K-12 education including a trend analysis for the decade 2000-2009. The conceptual framework for the analysis applies four broad concepts of equity framed by Kern Alexander; (1) communitative equity, (2) distributive equity, (3) restitutive equity, and (4) positivism. The analysis of the Utah State funding system used Berne and Stiefel's methodology and included commonly used statistical measures of …

An Analysis Of First Amendment Jurisprudence On The Supreme Court Case Of Locke V. Davey, Alexander John Herzog

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Scholarship programs authored by state legislatures may conflict with a state's constitution. In the case of Locke v. Davey 540 U.S. 807 (2003), Joshua Davey challenged the State of Washington's withdrawal of his Promise Scholarship claiming violation of his First Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.

This study is a historical case study analyzing the Supreme Court jurisprudence regarding legal issues concerning the issuance of state funded scholarships for the purpose of religious studies. A complete legal study was conducted that included a review of all relevant court cases, court filings, legal journals and legal briefs.

A micro legal …

The Educational Role Of Research Libraries In Higher Education: A White Paper For The Directors Of The Greater Western Library Alliance, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Publications

This white paper provides background about the convergence of disparate undergraduate education movements in higher education that affect GWLA individual institutions, particularly those initiatives related to the reinvention of undergraduate education in research universities. It provides suggestions for how individual GWLA member libraries can take advantage of an unprecedented interested in education reform to assume leadership roles on our campuses, and in doing so, provide greater security for libraries during fiscal uncertainty as they position themselves, their collections, and their services as an integral part of the instructional agenda as well as the research agenda. Finally, it suggests some ways …

Passage And Initial Implementation Of The Supplemental Educational Services Element Of The No Child Left Behind Act: An Historical Inquiry Study, Brad D. Christensen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With reports alleging a sharp decline in student achievement in the last several years, there has been a call for higher standards in the United States education system. In response, with bipartisan support, politicians overwhelmingly passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. NCLB, the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), mandated increasing the educational performance of all children by focusing on accountability for student achievement, flexibility, higher academic standards, research-based reforms, parental choice, annual testing to measure student progress, analysis of the annual testing data, and sanctions for schools where students did …

The Role Of Assessment In Furthering Student Engagement, Inclusion, And Achievement, Mary Allen, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Presentations

Assessment is a vital component of any program or initiative in terms of monitoring and strengthening its impact. Assessment involves establishing outcomes (programmatic, learning, etc.), verifying that efforts are aligned with those outcomes, assessing impact, and “closing the loop” by using what is learned to make improvements. This presentation focused on characteristics of quality assessment, such as the need for it to be valid, reliable, actionable, and efficient. AAC&U’s cluster of intellectual and practical skills for a liberal education include inquiry and analysis; critical and creative thinking; written and oral communication; quantitative literacy; and teamwork and problem solving. Information literacy …

The Impact Of U.S. National And State Level Policy On The Nature And Scope Of K-12 Virtual Schooling, Anna Lukemeyer, Kent J. Crippen, Leanna Archambeault

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

During the past five years, virtual schools in the United States have gained popularity and acceptance as viable alternatives to the traditional school system through provisions for charter schools under Title V, Part B, Subpart 1 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This paper describes the existing federal policies that are driving the online virtual school movement, and how one state, Nevada, has set forth and interpreted specific policies regarding online distance education. In addition, this paper identifies the beliefs acting as the driving forces …

Learning For Success In The 21st Century, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Presentations

Content Knowledge — what do we want them to know?

Skills and Abilities — what are the essential skills and abilities we want them to apply to their learning?

Behaviors and Attitudes — what behaviors, attitudes, values do we want them to live?

21st Century Literacies: Transforming Education For Next Generation Learners, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Presentations

- 21st Century Literacies

- Millennials as Learners

- Engaging the Digital Native

- A Vegas Perspective

Education Finance Reform In New York: Calculating The Cost Of A Sound Basic Education "In New York City", William D. Duncombe, Anna Lukemeyer, John Yinger

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

In June, 2003, the New York State Court of Appeals altered the education-finance landscape with its ruling in Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. New York. This ruling called for “[r]eforms to the current system of financing school funding” designed to ensure “that every school in New York City would have the resources necessary for providing the opportunity for a sound basic education.” This ruling addressed a wide range of issues, but also declared that “the funding level necessary to provide City students with the opportunity for a sound basic education is an ascertainable starting point.” This policy brief addresses the …

A Case For Choice In Education, Edward Tyndall

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This is an advocacy that paper outlines a history of the battle for school choice, key court decisions concerning school choice, arguments for and against school choice, alternative measures such as charter schools, and attempts to answer the question of “Should Nevada consider vouchers as a means to improve education?”

Financing An Adequate Education: A Case Study Of New York, William D. Duncombe, Anna Lukemeyer, John Yinger

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Publications

The development of any adequacy based school finance system involves three components, which correspond to the three substantive sections of this paper:

First, a state must select measures of adequacy, either in terms of resources or student performance. Such measures are necessary to identify school districts below the standard. Although these measures can be controversial and difficult to develop, this choice is unavoidable.

Second, a state must estimate the cost of reaching a given performance standard in each district. The cost function approach presented in this study relies on statistical methods to extract from actual data the impact of student …

Charter Schools And Accountability: An Evalution Of Nevada's Charter School Accountability Legislation, Sonya Douglass Horsford

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

America’s public education system has become one of the most hotly debated issues in the country. Poor student performance and failing schools have forced many to identify ways to reform the current system through measures such as school-based management, performancebased incentive programs and opportunities for parental choice. As a result, charter schools have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional public schools. In addition, there have been many questions surrounding the “autonomy for accountability” tradeoff characteristic of the charter school concept. In an effort to contribute to the discussion of charter school accountability and efforts to hold charter schools accountable …

A Comparison Study Of The San Francisco Community Board Whole Schools Conflict Resolution Project, Kimberli Huston

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The key purpose of this study was to compare and contrast the San Francisco Whole Schools Conflict Resolution Project to the School Mediation Program utilized in Clark County, Nevada. The evaluation further assessed the impact the San Francisco Project had on incidents of school-related violence in order to project these figures to the Clark County Program.

The methods used in this evaluation included a review of the implementation processes and training components for each conflict resolution program. The researcher also conducted a pre- and post- training analysis of San Francisco Unified School District incidents of school-related violence. Additionally, the Clark …

A Comparative Policy Analysis On The Effectiveness Of Implementing Student Uniforms In Public School Districts Within The United State From 1993 Through 1998, Desiree Hiestand

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze student uniform policies in public school districts within the United States and to ascertain whether or not they are effective. Available information from America's 70 largest school districts is collected and compared to determine if the policies are feasible. Findings indicate there is a broad spectrum of ways in which the districts address student attire and imply that most of the districts are not adapting uniform policies, but are leaving the decision up to individual schools and to the parents. Districts that are adapting policies boast favorable results. Although statistical …

The Economics Of Free Parking: Transportation Policy At The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas, Richard A. Nielsen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This paper culminates a natural progression of studies done over the past two years examining parking and transportation policy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The purpose of these studies has been to evaluate the adequacy of these policies and to estimate the potential impact a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program could produce on parking and traffic conditions and air quality improvement. Included in the report are results from a commuter survey conducted in April 1993, a simple rollback model developed to produce an estimation of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) at the University and any subsequent reduction of VMT …