Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

Addressing Urban Income Inequality Through Education: A Case Study In Atlanta, Garrett Bronn

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

For decades, the income inequality gap between the rich and poor has continued to expand dramatically, with criticism of existing education systems often at the heart of the issue. Large urban cities are commonly at the forefront of the issue, given the plethora of teacher strikes in recent years. Events such as the 11-day Chicago teacher’s strike in October of 2019 that idled academics and college prep for 350,000 students, have highlighted many current education issues (Hauck, 2019). With underfunded and poorly equipped middle and high schools, students in poor and minority neighborhoods in cities are less prepared academically, ill …

Explaining Variation In Levels Of Corruption Between Us States, Michael Allain

Public Administration & Policy

This study seeks to build upon the limited body of research that focuses on the causes and effects of governmental corruption. With an emphasis on supplementing previous findings and expanding their scope, this study seeks to identify factors that explain variations in the level of corruption between different jurisdictions. This study uses federal conviction data from the 50 US states to measure corruption, controlling for population and government employees, the latter of which has not been done previously. To identify and quantify independent variables, this study employed various governmental, scholarly and nonprofit sources. New variables were employed while also enlisting …

Working To Prevent Gun Violence In The United States: The Role Of Policy & Advocacy, Allison Popovits

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

There are several laws in place regarding the legal purchase and possession of firearms in the United States (Giffords Law Center, 2020). There are also laws regarding the prohibited purchase and possession of firearms (Giffords Law Center, 2020). Yet, prohibited persons purchase and possess firearms regularly (Giffords Law Center, 2020). This happens because there are loopholes in the law (Brady United, 2020). For example, federal law requires background checks for gun purchases from licensed firearm dealers, but not at gun shows where sellers may not be licensed. This means that a felon (prohibited purchaser and possessor) buying a gun from …

Creating Accessory Dwelling Units (Adus) During The California Housing Shortage: Benchmarking Adu Programs Within Selected Bay Area City And County Jurisdictions Against The City Of The Santa Cruz And The County Of Santa Cruz, Ivo Niko Basor

Master's Projects

The State of California is currently in a housing crisis, which many researchers believe stems from a foundational issue with the supply and demand for housing (Tanner, Garcia, Buhayar, 2019). More specifically, California has seen a steady population increase for several decades; however, the growing demand for housing has not kept up with supply. The influx of new people coming to California, and birth rates exceeding death rates, have been defining factors in the growing demand for housing (Public Policy Institute of California, 2018). As high paying jobs are created and bring in top wage earners, and the cost of …

Equity-Based Resource And Service Allocation For The City Of San José’S Department Of Parks, Recreation And Neighborhood Services, Patrick Córdova

Master's Projects

The purpose of this research is to examine the literature and public agency practice to understand how public agencies are using equity to allocate funding for services to provide an adequate level of service to stakeholders based on need. The research question is, based on existing research and other governmental agency models, how can the City of San José’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services (PRNS) develop guidelines to allocate its resources within an equity-based framework?

Getting To Zero: An Evaluation Of Santa Clara County’S Hiv Prevention Program In Comparison To Selected Counties, Nupur Rathore

Master's Projects

Research Question: This research project compared SCC with nine other counties in California to determine, how SCC’s outcome of its GTZ program varies in comparison to other selected counties? The project also focused on determining how SCC’s spending for its GTZ differed from the other selected counties?

Credit For Prior Learning Among Student Veterans Across Selected Campuses Of University Of California And California State University: A Managerial Audit, Janani Chandrasekar

Master's Projects

What variations are observed in the implementation of Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) for student veterans across different public universities in California? What gaps, if any, exist in SJSU’s CPL program when compared to other campuses, and what recommendations can be made to build a more efficient process?

Ensuring Resilience: Efforts To Retrofit Soft-Story Housing In California, Griffin Weizer

Master's Projects

The intention of this study was to determine what soft story housing retrofit ordinances have been offered by local governments in the State of California since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and to analyze the components and provisions therein to determine possible trends and best practices.

Operational Procedures For Releasing Police Records: A Process Evaluation Of California Law Enforcement Agencies’ Implementation Of Senate Bill 1421, Bianca Madrid

Master's Projects

This research intends to explain how law enforcement agencies in California have implemented operational procedures to comply with the CPRA pursuant to SB 1421 requirements. Because SB 1421 vastly expanded the CPRA, demand for law enforcement record requests has significantly increased in volume. Also, due to key components of SB 1421 which lack clarity in defining specific terminology, each law enforcement agency had to develop its own interpretation of how to implement requirements set forth by the statute. Law enforcement agencies have implemented new requirements to reflect the changes in SB 1421 by establishing working protocols for compliance, developing standard …

Educating Children And Youth Experiencing Homelessness By Funding Local Implementation: Compliance For Positive Student Outcomes Under The Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, Darius Jamal Brown

Master's Projects

This project focused on two LEAs that received EHCY funding in California, and aimed to answer the following research question: How does receiving EHCY funding affect the services directed at fulfilling the goal of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of ensuring free public education for children and youth experiencing homelessness in two California counties?

Veteran Service Organizations’ Declining Membership And How To Fix It, Ben Sok

Master's Projects

The purpose of this project is to provide VSO’s struggling to recruit and retain members with a resource to assist them in identifying potential members, their barriers for membership, what programs and services they desire, and solicit recommendations for improvement. By focusing on TAL and analyzing their issues, a standard survey pool can be developed so that similar organizations can create personalized surveys that are concise, efficient, and effective as well as reducing respondent burden as much as possible. Such a survey is more likely to be completed by veterans and their families offering more data for analysis useful in …

Cost Effectiveness And Hospitalization Rates Of Those With Mental Health Issues Using On-Site Versus Off-Site Job Coaching, Jerry Dattilo

Master's Projects

The State of California’s Department of Rehabilitation has established a goal of reducing the rate of unemployment for people suffering from mental illness (Department of Rehabilitation, 2020). Sheltered workshops and short duration employment efforts have proven to be less effective than the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) or other supported employment models. Provided that they have the right support and strategies, those suffering from mental illness can maintain competitive employment and reduce their incidences of hospitalization, dependency, boredom, and lack of fulfillment. The alienation one suffers from lack of social connection and employment cannot be understated. Participants in supported employment …

California’S Proposition 47: The Safe Neighborhoods And Schools Act, Edith Garcia Fong

Master's Projects

Proposition 47 made drastic changes to California’s criminal justice system. Critics and proponents of the measure have made sweeping claims about its impact on crime trends and the criminal justice system, in general. However, many of these claims are based on assumptions and are not based on actual data and research. Given the fact that California’s prison population is still subject to court oversight, it is essential that the effectiveness of Proposition 47 as a solution to this issue be evaluated. If the state hopes to maintain compliance with the court-mandated prison population caps, it must ensure to exhaust all …

Purchasing For A Better Future: Sustainable Procurement In The County Of Santa Clara, Mariah Teal Lindberg

Master's Projects

In brief, this study aims to address sustainable procurement in SCC and its Procurement Department (PRC). A multi-varied analysis and discussion of market industries and the vendor community, present SCC policies and programs, and the overarching feasibility and environmental impact of sustainable procurement is provided to assist SCC in meeting its vision of sustainability. Procurement is a dynamic process, and for that reason, requires transformation and "strategic decision-making about how to best pursue and achieve long-term sustainability aims and goals" through SCC's purchasing vehicles (SCC OOS, 2018c, para. 4). Today, SCC, like many other governments, is grappling with the problems …

Youth Employment And Work Readiness: An Outcome Evaluation Of The County Of Santa Clara Intern & Earn Program, Kimlien Le

Master's Projects

The purpose of this research was to conduct an outcome evaluation of the County of Santa Clara Intern & Earn summer internship program, evaluating the impact of the program on the youth participants’ perception of their work readiness, as measured by their understanding of employer expectations, ability to communicate professionally, knowledge of career options, and their educational aspirations for future career advancement.

By placing low-income youth in subsidized summer employment programs that provide early work experiences with public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private businesses; disadvantaged youth are given the opportunity to access skills development and employer networks, increase family earnings, …

Sustainable Cannabis Policy In California: Addressing The Legal Cannabis Industry’S Carbon Footprint, Genevieve Yip

Master's Projects

As cannabis cultivation can be highly energy-intensive, the legalization of cannabis growing has created concerns for energy forecasting, electric system reliability, rate design, and energy efficiency policies, as well as possible ramifications for the state’s electricity grid (California Energy Commission, 2018b). Indoor cannabis cultivation in California accounts for 3% of the state’s total energy consumption (Mills, 2012), and as the industry continues to grow, its energy consumption will result in significant greenhouse gas emissions, unless otherwise mitigated (Warren, 2015). The addition of a new industry that is highly energy-intensive, such as the legalized cannabis industry, is a problem for California. …

Quality Child Care In Missouri: The Intersections Of Policy And Teachers' Perceptions Of Quality Child Care, Catherine Slade

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

A child’s health and well-being is supported by the environment in which they learn and develop. For an average of 36,000 children in Missouri, their environment includes an out-of-home child care program. Child care regulations are designed to protect the health and safety of children in child care. Using a constant comparative method, this study examined the extent to which the child care licensing regulations in Missouri align with the 13 Indicators of Quality Child Care published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This study also examined how effective teachers working in child care programs felt …

Teacher Turnover And Teacher Retirement, Dillon Fuchsman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have an important impact on students in the short- and long-term, but only teachers’ experience consistently predicts high teacher quality. This dissertation, divided into three chapters, investigates two topics that are related to teachers’ experience levels: turnover and retirement.

The first chapter studies the relationship between voluntary beginning teacher turnover and teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. It uses the data from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study and the effort that teachers put on a survey taken during their first year in the profession as a proxy for teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. The results of this chapter indicate that teachers putting …

The Adoption Of Zero-Emissions Vehicles By Low-Income Consumers In California: An Outcome Evaluation Of The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, Julie Nguyen

Master's Projects

Is the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) program achieving its planned outcomes of accelerating the adoption of Zero-Emissions Vehicles (ZEVs) by low-income consumers in California? This research will evaluate what effect additional CVRP rebates provided to low-income consumers have on their adoptions of ZEVs. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the CVRP rebates are making it feasible and compelling enough for low-income consumers to adopt ZEVs at a rate that will lead to California meeting its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Pupil Transportation Alternatives: An Analysis Of Alternative Pupil Transportation Models, Jarrett Garife

Master's Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine whether alternative pupil-transportation models are more cost efficient and safer for students than traditional school bus transportation in California. The study also focused on the fiscal and safety challenges that school districts face when transporting students. For the purpose of this analysis, “safer” will be defined in relation to the estimated injury or fatality costs resulting from a vehicle/school bus accident during pupil transportation.

The study analyzed the transportation departments of five California school districts (San Francisco Unified School District, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District, Salinas City Elementary School District, Chualar Union …

Analyses Of Prosecutorial Power And Discretion In Mississippi: Evaluating Proposals To Address Misconduct And Abuse, Lucy Pruitt

Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to create a policy proposal in order to address incidences of prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of discretion in the Mississippi criminal justice system. To do so, the author has summarized and analyzed seven criminal cases in which defendants have become victims of prosecutorial misconduct in order to shed light on the lack of prosecutorial accountability in the state’s criminal justice system. In an attempt to solve the problem, the author has developed a novel grading rubric in order to objectively and systematically analyze and evaluate previously proposed policy recommendations by legal experts and justice organizations. The successes …

A City On The Front Lines Of An Epidemic: The Opioid Crisis In Las Vegas, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Advanced Undergraduate Winner

While addiction to opioids kills more Americans every year, the purpose of this report is to assess the extent of the problem in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, and to propound ways in which local policy can help. A geospatial analysis of opioid demand nationally, regionally, and locally explains how the epidemic is diffusing, where divides exist in terms of access to treatment, and the differential effects of opioids driving this crisis. By tracking opioid-related prescriptions, hospital admissions, and deaths, the results show that opioid demand in the Las Vegas metro has decreased but remains well above …

Nevada’S Secret Killer: Opioid Deaths, Vanessa Marie Booth

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Emerging Scholars Winner

Presented in this study is an analysis of the Nevada opioid crisis and how a viable solution can impact its severity. It does so in a public policy environment while synthesizing outside sources to support the presented claims. The scope of this study is to present a problem, cause, solution scenario on how to solve this policy problem. This study also takes into consideration Nevada’s current economic state amid the coronavirus (COVID-19). In addition, this analysis also addresses the history behind the opioid epidemic across the United States and how it is impacting Nevada in present times. …

Guarantees And Capital Infusions In Response To Financial Crises C: U.S. 2009 Stress Test, Chase P. Ross, June Rhee, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

When President Obama took office in 2009, the Treasury focused on restarting bank lending and repairing the ability of the banking system as a whole to perform the role of credit intermediation. In order to do so, the Treasury needed to raise public confidence that banks had sufficient buffers to withstand even a very adverse economic scenario, especially given heightened uncertainty surrounding the outlook of the U.S. economy and potential losses in the banking system. The Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP)—the so-called “stress tests”—sought to rigorously measure the resilience of the largest bank holding companies. Those found to have insufficient …

Guarantees And Capital Infusions In Response To Financial Crises B: U.S. Guarantees During The Global Financial Crisis, June Rhee, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

During 2008-09, the federal government extended multiple guarantee programs in an effort to restore the financial market and contain the panic and crisis in the market. For example, the Treasury provided a temporary guarantee program for the money market funds, the FDIC decided to stand behind certain debts and non-interest-bearing transaction accounts, and the Treasury, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve agreed to share losses in certain assets belonging to Citigroup. This case reviews these guarantee programs implemented during the global financial crisis by the government and explores the different rationale that shaped certain design features of each program.

Guarantees And Capital Infusions In Response To Financial Crises A: Haircuts And Resolutions, June Rhee, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

After the mortgage market meltdown in mid-2007 and during the financial crisis in 2008, major financial institutions around the world were on the verge of collapsing one after another. Faced with these troubles, the government had to respond quickly to contain the crisis as efficiently as possible. It was, however, limited in resources, time, and experience. To make matters worse, the complexity and opaqueness of the financial market and these institutions greatly affected the government’s ability to design an efficient and consistent method to contain the crisis. Shortly after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, American International …

Australian National Audit Office: Evaluating Australian Army Program Performance, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) evaluates the management and financial performance of Australian government programs for the Australian Parliament, Australian government agencies, Australian taxpayers, and individuals interested in the performance of these programs globally. This article examines how ANAO has examined the performance of Australian Army programs and strengths and weaknesses found in these programs while recommending changes to improve program performance. It also examines how government agencies and corporations which have been the subject of ANAO analyses have reacted to ANAO findings. This assessment also examines how Plan B (the possibility that Australia might have to rely less …

Analysis Of The Geographical Distribution Of Primary Care Physicians In Nebraska, Chanhyun Park

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Many articles point out that there is a disparity between rural and urban areas in healthcare service. The disparity is derived from the locational choices of physicians which are influenced by diverse factors such as backgrounds where they grew up or type of facility at which they worked. This study examines physician movements which vary depending on the types of physician and facility in Nebraska. The research dataset are annual practicing records of all primary care physicians and business information of the facilities in Nebraska from 1998 to 2019. The study result shows that there is little difference in physicians’ …

Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System Of Taxation, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article describes the connection between wealth inequality and the increasing structural racism in the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. A long-term sociological view (the why) reveals the historical racialization of wealth and a shift in the tax system overall beginning around 1980 to protect and exacerbate wealth inequality, which has been fueled by racial animus and anxiety. A critical tax view (the how) highlights a shift over the same time period at both federal and state levels from taxes on wealth, to taxes on income, and then to taxes on consumption—from greater to less progressivity. Both of these …

Advocacy Coalition Framework Lens On Pressing Healthcare Issues, Garrett S. Goodwin

Student Publications

In deciding how to interpret and understand public policy, many experts use theories and frameworks to justify their reasoning. One of the most common avenue of viewing policy involves the advocacy coalition framework based on its broad applicability. This popular framework consists of banding like-minded individuals together into a coalition to advance the narrative by creating acceptable policies for their group. These coalitions normally include a wide range of professional backgrounds from interest groups, elected officials, researchers in academia. These groups utilize special events to influence subfields consisting of actors who decide the solutions for policy problems. Subfields normally are …