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Naral And The Art Of Playing Defense : How Interest Groups Act When They Seek To Protect The Status Quo Of Public Policy, Katherine Elaine Slye-Hernandez Jan 2020

Naral And The Art Of Playing Defense : How Interest Groups Act When They Seek To Protect The Status Quo Of Public Policy, Katherine Elaine Slye-Hernandez

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Why do interest groups take certain actions in policy debates and not others? How do groups seeking to protect the status quo of policy act? These questions, and others, cannot be answered well by the current interest group literature, and this dissertation seeks to delve into this line of research with a case study of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). While certain aspects of the interest group literature, and a large part of the venue shopping literature specifically, can help scholars understand some actions of groups like NARAL, there are a whole host of actions NARAL took that …


Leveraging Big Data : Predicting Traffic Risk And Providing Early Warning Due To Adverse Weather Conditions, Sreekumar E. Nampoothiri Jan 2020

Leveraging Big Data : Predicting Traffic Risk And Providing Early Warning Due To Adverse Weather Conditions, Sreekumar E. Nampoothiri

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The proliferation of big data has allowed researchers to delve deeper into data and gain better understandings within almost every field. In the fields of transportation planning and traffic management, past research has shown direct relationships among weather conditions and traffic speed, volume, and congestion. However, these studies have mostly relied on static data that were spatially and temporally sparse or collected on a specific roadway for a specific time period for research purposes. With the need to address the impacts of climate change, including an increasing number of extreme weather events as well as an increasing intensity of such …


An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Of Geographic Mobility And Homeless Service Use In Northeastern New York State, Amanda Aykanian Jan 2020

An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Of Geographic Mobility And Homeless Service Use In Northeastern New York State, Amanda Aykanian

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study used a mixed methods design to explore the geographic mobility of homeless service users in northeastern New York State and the relationship between mobility and homeless service use, engagement, and delivery. For the quantitative component, a sample of Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data—that includes adults accessing homeless services in 2017 across 21 counties in northeastern New York State—was used to describe service users’ mobility and the demographic, background, and service use characteristics associated with mobility. For the qualitative component, semi-structured interviews with homeless service providers in those same counties were used to understand providers’ views of mobility, …


Using Systems Archetypes And Generic Structures To Support Water Resource Management Studies : The Case Of Cropping Pattern Change In New Mexico State, Babak Bahaddin Jan 2020

Using Systems Archetypes And Generic Structures To Support Water Resource Management Studies : The Case Of Cropping Pattern Change In New Mexico State, Babak Bahaddin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A wide range of managerial problems are similar in nature, and yet they continuously appear in different forms and in different geographical locations. Compared to other sciences, it seems that in the field of management, managers have a hard time facing these similar problems. Part of this issues is caused by the extreme complexity of the systems and another part is caused by the lack of a universal language with which managers can communicate their lessons. This dissertation offers a set of tools that have been previously manufactured in systems science, and more specifically in System Dynamics.


Contracting Out For Performance Of Democratic-Constitutional Values And Procedural Tasks In Federal Agencies : Evidence From The Equal Employment Opportunity Discrimination Complaint Process, Iseul Choi Jan 2020

Contracting Out For Performance Of Democratic-Constitutional Values And Procedural Tasks In Federal Agencies : Evidence From The Equal Employment Opportunity Discrimination Complaint Process, Iseul Choi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Contracting out has been considered one of the main performance management strategies for reducing costs and bringing more expertise into government agencies. Previous studies have examined the effects of contracting use on agency performance, but have focused more on measurable, traditional performance in the public sector. There is a lack of research analyzing the influence of contracting use on non-traditional performance outcomes, which are usually non-mission based and difficult to measure, such as fairness, nondiscrimination, due process, and individual rights. Scholars have pointed out that performance measurement processes pay less attention to these non-mission-based values and tasks.


Education's Death Row : The Standardization Network And A Persistently Lowest Achieving School In The Era Of Common Core, Valarie J. Karas Jan 2020

Education's Death Row : The Standardization Network And A Persistently Lowest Achieving School In The Era Of Common Core, Valarie J. Karas

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In 2010, New York State both adopted the Common Core Learning Standards and identified the State’s first 67 “persistently lowest achieving” schools, the most severe failure designation available under the State’s accountability system as based upon standardized test performance and/or graduation rates (Common Core Standards Initiative, 2015; NYSED, 2010a). The Common Core Learning Standards were advertised as a pathway to a high-quality education for all American students (Common Core Standards Initiative, 2015; Supovitz & McGuinn, 2019). However, a public uproar occurred in the late summer of 2013 following the release of standardized “Common Core” test scores which showed an increase …


The Dynamics Of Financial Condition In The U.S. State, Local, And Territory Governments : Financial Reporting, Public Service Delivery, And Tax Policy, Youngsung Kim Jan 2020

The Dynamics Of Financial Condition In The U.S. State, Local, And Territory Governments : Financial Reporting, Public Service Delivery, And Tax Policy, Youngsung Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A large body of literature in public administration has demonstrated the importance of financial condition in managing government organizations. Scholars have found that financial condition affects many aspects of public management while governments actively respond to their financial conditions. Using data from varied levels of U.S. governments – states, localities, and territories – this dissertation examines the dynamic roles of financial condition in three important areas of public management: financial reporting, public service delivery, and tax policy. The first essay examines how financial condition affects the ways in which state governments communicate with stakeholders through official financial documents. It applies …


Winners And Losers In The Remaking Of American Healthcare Payment Systems Following The Aca : A Theory Of Private-Actor Policymaking And Implications For Democratic Decision Making, Heather G. Bennett Jan 2019

Winners And Losers In The Remaking Of American Healthcare Payment Systems Following The Aca : A Theory Of Private-Actor Policymaking And Implications For Democratic Decision Making, Heather G. Bennett

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, thereby ushering in the most sweeping, expansive changes to the American healthcare system since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. Supporters, including healthcare advocates, celebrated the passage of the ACA as a defining moment in healthcare history. As broad policy reform influenced practice on the ground in the months and years after passage, physicians working in private practices and hospitals changed some things about the way that they treat patients. Yet, following interviews with doctors and medical office practice managers to talk …


Right Size Me : Policy Responses To The Obesity Eidemic And Behavioral Change, Wenhui Feng Jan 2019

Right Size Me : Policy Responses To The Obesity Eidemic And Behavioral Change, Wenhui Feng

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Obesity is a critical health and social concern. Almost 40% of American adults are obese, creating more than $300 billion dollars in annual medical costs. While obesity is a public concern that has been on the policy agenda for some time, obesity policies have proven difficult to formulate, adopt and implement in practice. In this dissertation, I explore three obesity-related policies – adoption of obesity prevention policies by local health department, calorie labeling on restaurant menus and food assistance benefits – and find the importance of ideological and political considerations for obesity policies at different stages in the policy process …


The Impact Of Principal Leadership On Teacher Perception Of The Annual Professional Performance Review (Appr), Barry Alexander Finsel Jan 2019

The Impact Of Principal Leadership On Teacher Perception Of The Annual Professional Performance Review (Appr), Barry Alexander Finsel

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Teacher quality is the most important school-based factor affecting student learning and achievement. In 2009, the Race to the Top (RttT) federal education initiative provided an opportunity for states to compete for federal grant resources to reform their public education systems, which included revamping teacher evaluation systems to improve teacher (and principal) effectiveness. Consequently, New York State was awarded almost $700 million in 2010 during the second phase of RttT for its Regents Education Reform Plan, which established a new teacher and principal evaluation plan known as the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR). Under its first version (§3012-c), APPR used …


Endogenous Policy Design In Healthcare : A Case Study Of Emergency Department Crowding, Katrina Alexandra Hull Jan 2019

Endogenous Policy Design In Healthcare : A Case Study Of Emergency Department Crowding, Katrina Alexandra Hull

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The United States’ health care system has faced growing per capita use, and subsequent crowding, of the emergency department since the 1990’s, evidenced by longer wait times and the institution of ambulance diversions. Emergency departments are but one element of a complex system, with difficulties which persist despite policy efforts.


Assessing The Sustainability Of Collaborations Between Local Health Departments And Nonprofit Hospitals For Population Health, Christopher Mierow Maylahn Jan 2019

Assessing The Sustainability Of Collaborations Between Local Health Departments And Nonprofit Hospitals For Population Health, Christopher Mierow Maylahn

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In 2008, New York’s health commissioner asked LHDs and nonprofit hospitals to collaborate with community partners to conduct community health needs assessments, identify two or three health priorities to focus on, and implement evidence-based strategies to address them. The actions taken as part of the New York State Prevention Agenda mirrored the IRS rules and PHAB recommendations that followed. The dearth of published studies on public health-hospital collaborations and the momentum to understand how communities in New York have responded to the IRS rules and PHAB standards are the impetus for this research.


Differential Benefits Of Prekindergarten For Low-Income Black Children : A Quasi-Experimental Study, Janice Marie Parker Jan 2019

Differential Benefits Of Prekindergarten For Low-Income Black Children : A Quasi-Experimental Study, Janice Marie Parker

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract


Understanding The Adoption And Implementation Of Body Worn Camera Policies In State And Local Governments And Their Effects On Police Behavior, Sunyoung Pyo Jan 2019

Understanding The Adoption And Implementation Of Body Worn Camera Policies In State And Local Governments And Their Effects On Police Behavior, Sunyoung Pyo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The body worn camera (BWC) policy in the United States was introduced as a response to public demand for governmental action to decrease police use of deadly force after several highly-visible police shooting incidents involving Black residents occurred. Given the recent introduction of BWC technology, past studies on BWCs have primarily focused on examining whether BWC implementation influences the desired outcomes including a decrease in police use of force and citizen complaints. However, a deeper analysis of why BWCs were adopted and implemented and how their implementation influences everyday police work activity can provide a more comprehensive understanding on the …


Human Error In Police Involved Shootings, Paul L. Taylor Jan 2019

Human Error In Police Involved Shootings, Paul L. Taylor

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Police use of deadly force has become one of the most contentious and controversial aspects of the U.S. criminal justice system. Yet, the vast majority of police shootings never rise to the level of public consciousness (Zimring, 2017). Instead, the public discourse and controversy tends to center on a handful of cases that appear excessive and/or are difficult to understand (Pickering & Klinger, 2016). As a result, these cases have a disproportionate impact on the public’s perception of police legitimacy and competence, particularly when it comes to their use of deadly force (Gua, 2014). The outcomes of many of these …


Education, Skills, And Wage Outcomes Among Mid-Career Adults : A Cross-National Study, Kai Zhou Jan 2019

Education, Skills, And Wage Outcomes Among Mid-Career Adults : A Cross-National Study, Kai Zhou

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Interest in the role of non-cognitive skills on successful life outcomes (such as academic performance) has increased in recent years. Policy makers in many countries have prioritized the learning of non-cognitive skills in the school curriculum and training frameworks. Although studies in labor economics have provided important insights about the impact of non-cognitive skills on earnings (e.g., Lindqvist and Vestman 2011; Heckman, Stixrud, and Urzua 2006), solid evidence about how labor markets produce or facilitate the acquisition of non-cognitive skills in different country settings is lacking. The linkage between education, skills and wages has been at the core discussion of …


Race, Ethnicity, And The Great Recession : A National Evaluation Of Mortgages And Subprime Lending, 2004-2010, Meghan M. O'Neil Jan 2018

Race, Ethnicity, And The Great Recession : A National Evaluation Of Mortgages And Subprime Lending, 2004-2010, Meghan M. O'Neil

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The dissertation analyzes multilevel models to predict mortgage origination and the allocation of subprime credit pre-and-post Great Recession. With representative samples from two full years of mortgage applications filed in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas, the dissertation uncovers evidence of persistent disparities by race and neighborhood minority concentration despite controls for socioeconomic, demographic, assimilation and housing variables. Mortgage outcomes varied by applicant race, neighborhood racial composition and neighborhood racial change. Findings suggest evidence of Fair Housing Act violations and disparate impacts towards minority homebuyers and minority neighborhoods. Results lend support for spatial assimilation theories in explaining much of the …


Public Program Evaluation In Health Economics : An Empirical Study, Linna Xu Jan 2018

Public Program Evaluation In Health Economics : An Empirical Study, Linna Xu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation consists of three essays on public program evaluation in health economics. This dissertation explores the estimation of treatment effects of public programs on risky behaviors, health insurance status, labor market outcomes or other health-related outcomes among adolescents or young adults and addresses causality inferences based on empirical modeling, analysis and applications. The first chapter in this dissertation identifies the causal treatment effects of keg registration laws on underage alcohol consumption and related outcomes: alcohol-related traffic fatalities, by exploiting the substantial variations in the timing of the introduction of these laws across different states at different times. Using the …


From Jim Crow To Diversity : Racial Formation As Institutional Logic In The U.S. National Park Service, 1935-2011, Rick Caceres-Rodriguez Jan 2018

From Jim Crow To Diversity : Racial Formation As Institutional Logic In The U.S. National Park Service, 1935-2011, Rick Caceres-Rodriguez

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study uses the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) as case to study how racial formation in organizations is shaped by the changing institutional logics of race. It draws from the institutional logics perspective to advance theorizing on race in organizations as a multi-level process structured by societal race dynamics. It does so by studying three critical moments in the history of the NPS in which the organization was exposed, and had to respond to, varying logics of race.


Exploring Three Strategies For The Prevention Of Hospital-Acquired Clostridium Difficile Infection In Nys Acute Care Hospitals-- : Structure-Process-Outcome Model Of Quality Improvement, Danielle Jane Durant Jan 2018

Exploring Three Strategies For The Prevention Of Hospital-Acquired Clostridium Difficile Infection In Nys Acute Care Hospitals-- : Structure-Process-Outcome Model Of Quality Improvement, Danielle Jane Durant

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Those receiving medical care are at risk for developing serious hospital-acquired conditions (HACs), which include infections (HAIs) and other harm while receiving medical care. Pay for performance programs initiated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and private payers, linking reimbursements to quality of care, have created financial incentives for hospitals to address these HACs. The most common HAI in the United States, causing almost half a million infections, with 29,000 deaths within 30 days of diagnosis, results from Clostridium difficile. Infection with this bacterium leads to deadly diarrhea, and disproportionately impacts patients 65 and older, representing 80% …


For Better Or Worse? : Exploring How Decentralization Shapes Local Expenditures And Health Service Utilizations In Indonesia, Adenantera Dwicaksono Jan 2018

For Better Or Worse? : Exploring How Decentralization Shapes Local Expenditures And Health Service Utilizations In Indonesia, Adenantera Dwicaksono

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Decentralization has become one of the most important public-sector reform programs globally since the 1990s with mixed results. In this four-paper dissertation, I explored how decentralization reforms affect public goods and services delivery, by analyzing how post-decentralization institutional changes shape local expenditure decisions and health service utilizations in Indonesia. The main goal of this dissertation was to improve understanding on a better approach to studying public goods and services delivery under a decentralized governance. I used primarily quantitative methods in this dissertation. I started with a systematic review of quantitative studies on the impacts of decentralization reforms and health system …


Crafting Citizens And Immigrants : Israeli Immigration Politics In Comparative Perspective, Yeufen Hsieh Jan 2018

Crafting Citizens And Immigrants : Israeli Immigration Politics In Comparative Perspective, Yeufen Hsieh

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation examines the role of shifting national identity narratives in immigration politics in deeply divided societies by focusing on the case of Israel. It raises a general question: why does a state established upon an ethnocentric national identity subsequently augment its self-definition to include certain non-co-ethnic migrants without applying the extension to all non-co-ethnic groups? I argue that although a country may initially be founded upon a seemingly-unequivocal ethnocentric national identity, this identity is not immutable. Rather, over time, a national dialogue may take place, causing the reexamination of the identity. During the transition, agents redefine “who we are” …


The Organizational Antecedents Of Public Service Motivation In The Korean National Assembly Staff Workforce, Eunhyoung Kim Jan 2018

The Organizational Antecedents Of Public Service Motivation In The Korean National Assembly Staff Workforce, Eunhyoung Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Over the past few decades, research on public service motivation (PSM) has flourished internationally in the field of public administration. The concept of PSM, i.e., motivating public sector employees to pursue the public interest and thus contribute to the society, fits well within the core interest of public administration. In addition, PSM has been found to be associated with important organizational constructs that are related to public sector employees’ attitudes, behaviors, and performance. There have, however, been surprisingly few studies that have examined PSM in public domains other than the executive branch of government. Moreover, while there is a large …


Patronage As A System Of Insiders And Outsiders : Lessons From The Commonwealth Of Puerto Rico, Elizabeth H. Perez-Chiques Jan 2018

Patronage As A System Of Insiders And Outsiders : Lessons From The Commonwealth Of Puerto Rico, Elizabeth H. Perez-Chiques

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Although in place for more than 100 years, Puerto Rico’s merit-based civil-service system still does not function to uphold merit as officially intended. Patronage—the disbursement of public resources or benefits in exchange for political support—is a normal and routine part of governing in Puerto Rico. How does a patronage system work within a formal merit-based system? And, what are the mechanisms that keep patronage in place? Through a mixed-method strategy—including in-depth interviews with public employees, limited participant observation, and analysis of political discrimination and public corruption cases—this research aimed to understand: how patronage works, how patronage relates to the formal …


The Promotion Of Teacher Agency In New York State's Teacher Evaluation Policies : A Critical Discourse Analysis, Lawrence Tyler Waite Jan 2018

The Promotion Of Teacher Agency In New York State's Teacher Evaluation Policies : A Critical Discourse Analysis, Lawrence Tyler Waite

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This qualitative research study provides a critical analysis of New York State’s teacher evaluation policies to document and understand how teacher agency is promoted in these policies over time. Between 2009 and 2014, the United States Department of Education under its national Race to the Top education reform initiative incentivized significant changes to teacher evaluation policies and systems as a key strategy to enhance the quality of the teaching profession. During this same period, a growing body of research recognized teacher agency as an important capacity in improving student and teacher learning, suggesting that teachers achieve agency, both by their …


The Collateral Effects Of Representation : Three Essays Evaluating Representative Bureaucracy In Practice, Ashley Miller Alteri Jan 2017

The Collateral Effects Of Representation : Three Essays Evaluating Representative Bureaucracy In Practice, Ashley Miller Alteri

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation evaluates representative bureaucracy, a public management theory that has been embraced by public management scholars and implicitly embraced by practitioners through the use of diversity hiring initiatives. The theory of representative bureaucracy posits that a bureaucracy will function better if the administrative arm of government, in addition to its political one, is representative of the public. This representativeness is achieved if the bureaucrat shares a common identity with the group or groups they are meant to represent. The three papers within this dissertation provide an analysis of how this theory translates into practice. Specifically, these papers examine the …


Graduate Student Financial Support : An Empirical Profile, Thomas Enderlein Jan 2017

Graduate Student Financial Support : An Empirical Profile, Thomas Enderlein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study investigated how U.S. graduate students financed their Master’s and doctoral programs in 2011-2012. In particular, it focused on students who were eligible to receive Federal financial aid and loans during that year, using a sample of graduate students included in the restricted-use version of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. This study rests its analyses and situates extant literature largely against Human Capital Theory, with return on investment as an underlying rationale for the allocation and use of different forms of Non-family, Non-repayable support for graduate studies. The goal of the study was to sort out the extent …


Impact Of Substance Use And Overweight Status On The Relationship Between Domestic Violence And Bullying, Marcie Fraser Jan 2017

Impact Of Substance Use And Overweight Status On The Relationship Between Domestic Violence And Bullying, Marcie Fraser

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Domestic violence has been shown to increase the risk of bullying behavior among youth. Substance use and excess weight have also been linked to bullying behaviors. The purpose of this study was to determine what anti-bullying interventions have been implemented throughout the United States, and to identify the role of three risk factors (domestic violence, excessive weight or substance use) on bullying behaviors. For this study domestic violence will be defined as experiencing domestic violence or witnessing inter-parental domestic violence. A literature review (Study 1) was conducted to identify studies and summarize interventions aimed at reducing bullying behaviors among middle-school …


Teacher Evaluation Designs In An External Accountability Environment, Cynthia Ellen Gallagher Jan 2017

Teacher Evaluation Designs In An External Accountability Environment, Cynthia Ellen Gallagher

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract


Motivation To Adopt : Understanding Nonprofit Inter-Organizational Collaboration In Delivery Of Social Services, Sung-Eun Kim Jan 2017

Motivation To Adopt : Understanding Nonprofit Inter-Organizational Collaboration In Delivery Of Social Services, Sung-Eun Kim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Inter-organizational collaboration has been emphasized by governments, nonprofit funders, and community-based nonprofits for service integration and capacity building. As collaboration has become one of the big buzzwords in nonprofit management and public policy, a large number of studies have focused on cross-sectoral collaborations such as government-nonprofit relationships (Boris & Steuerle, 2006; Bryson, 2011; Gazley, 2008; Gazley & Brudney, 2007; Salamon, 1987, 1995; Young, 2006). However, little attention has been paid to collaboration between community-based nonprofits (Provan, Milward, & Isett, 2002; Takahashi & Smutny, 2001), and the existing literature stays short of specifying the unique features of collaboration between them (Guo …