Public Policy Commons^™

Debating Disability Disclosure In Legal Education, Jasmine E. Harris

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Collateral Damage: How Expanding Public Charge Policy Influences Adult Esl Enrollment, Allison M. Eckert

Master's Theses

This study used statistical analysis of enrollment records for ESL programs at community colleges throughout California from 2015-2019 to determine whether adult immigrants’ participation in public ESL programs was reduced under President Donald Trump. Immigrant families’ lesser use of public education services and means-tested federal benefits has been widely documented in the wake of Trump’s expansion of the public charge rule, which counted immigrants’ use of a wider array of public benefits against their case for residency in the United States than had any previous iteration of the rule. Failing the public charge test can block an immigrant’s entry into …

International Students In The Campus Carry Debate: A Descriptive Phenomenological Inquiry, Andre Richardo Grant

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study purposefully sampled 15 graduate international students at a Southern University (SU). Semi-structured interviews were used to determine their perceptions and attitudes regarding the implementation of campus carry policies at the institution. The study aimed to answer the following research questions: How has the implementation of the campus carry policy at SU impacted international students’ perceptions of their experiences at the institution? How has the implementation of campus carry policies at SU influenced international students’ perceptions of the social ecology of the institution? and How did SU formally include international students in the on-campus campus carry policy …

Advancing Behavioral Health Literacy, James Scollione

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Accessing, comprehending, and using information to make informed decisions and improve one’s overall health or well-being are the foci of health literacy. The concept of behavioral health was introduced in the early 1980s and, since then, it has influenced new ideas (e.g., behavioral health literacy and integrated behavioral health care) and gained research and public attention. My aim is to provide an overview of definitions (i.e., health literacy, mental health literacy, and behavioral health literacy) and their connection to each other. I propose an expanded and honed definition of behavioral health literacy to enhance the behavioral health literacy and well-being …

Pandemic Schooling: Lessons In Equity, Advocacy, And Racial Justice, Donna Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It was my fourth year of teaching at a Brooklyn elementary school when the COVID-19 pandemic forced school buildings, and the entire city, to enter a world of lockdown and quarantine. New York City was an early epicenter of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and the virus quickly revealed severe racial and socioeconomic disparities across the city. A disproportionate number of cases, serious illnesses, and death has been experienced by low-income Black and Latinx communities. At the same time, 2020 also ushered in a national racial reckoning following the May murder of George Floyd.

In this thesis, I will provide a …

Student And Teacher Diversity In The Mountain West, Marie A. Falcone, Guadalupe De La Rosa, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

K-12 Education

This fact sheet highlights public K-12 teacher and student diversity in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. We explore data from Michael Hansen and Diana Quintero’s “Mountain West states face growing teacher diversity gaps” a 2018 Brookings Institution report. Specifically, we explore the teacher and student population in Mountain West states by race, revealing a disproportionate gap between students of color and teachers of color.

College-Educated Young Adults In The Mountain West, Eshaan Vakil, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet examines data originally published in “The Young and Restless and the Nation’s Cities,” a report prepared by Joe Cortright for the City Observatory. The original report explores the percentage of college-educated young adults (or individuals aged 25 to 34 with a bachelor’s degree), as well as the percentage these individuals made up of the total population in each metro area between 2000 and 2012. This fact sheet explores data for the following Mountain West places, as reported by the original source:

• Denver CSA (Combined Statistical Area)
• Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ Metro Area
• Las Vegas-Paradise, NV Metro Area
• Salt …

Improving K-12 Education For Hispanic Students In Las Vegas And Beyond, Richard Reeves, Ember Smith

Policy Briefs and Reports

Public K-12 education serves as a launching pad for economic mobility and opportunity, preparing students for college or a good-paying job. Despite K-12 education’s influence on later-in-life outcomes, schools often underserve students of color. Hispanic students in particular constitute a significant and growing portion of the U.S. student population yet are often overlooked in education literature because they are not the lowest performing demographic. In this brief, we examine how well public K-12 education serves Hispanic students in Clark County, where nearly half of students are Hispanic. We then consider factors that may influence student performance, including both in-school factors …

K-12 Discipline Disparities In The Six Largest U.S. School Districts, Marie A. Falcone, Saha Salahi, Olivia K. Cheche, Peter Grema, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

K-12 Education

This fact sheet highlights K-12 school discipline disparities by race in the six largest school districts in the United States. The districts include New York City Public Schools, NY; Los Angeles Unified, CA; Chicago Public Schools, IL; (Miami) Dade County, FL; Clark County School District (CCSD), NV; and Broward County, FL. Data are compiled from the Civil Rights Data Collection for the 2015-2016 academic year. Specifically, we examine the data for the discipline strategies of in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, and expulsions.

The Torch (June 2021), Crtp

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

The Maine Office of the Attorney General administers the Civil Rights Team Project (CRTP). The CRTP’s mission is to increase the safety of elementary, middle school, and high school students by reducing bias-motivated behaviors and harassment in our schools. CRTP accomplishes this by supporting student civil rights teams in Maine schools. The CRTP and student teams are active in engaging school communities in thinking and talking about issues related to:

• Race and skin color
• National origin and ancestry
• Religion
• Disabilities
• Gender (including gender identify and expression)
• Sexual orientation

The Attorney General’s Office created the CRTP in 1996 as a pilot …

Job Satisfaction And Stressors: The Direct Support Professional's Experience, Saralynn Emery

Master's Theses

The current service system for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is provided in the form of community-based support. This support is carried out by Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who provide one-on-one services to individuals in their homes, workplaces, and communities. The current system is undergoing a turnover crisis and there is an enormous need for a quality and reliable workforce of DSPs to continue to carry out services. Previous research has explored factors that contribute to DSP burnout and ultimately turnover. By researching the DSP role from the DSP experience directly, this study examines other factors that contribute to …

Brain Drain And Higher Education Capacity: A Case Study Of Nevada And The Western Undergraduate Exchange, Marie A. Falcone

Student Research

Policy initiatives such as the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE), a regional tuition saving agreement among colleges and universities operating in the western states, have the ability to increase mobility and promote human capital attainment. This brief will be focusing exclusively on how Nevada’s higher education system and related programs, specifically the WUE, can be improved to further attract and attain a higher-skilled workforce. This paper will cover a literature review of brain drain and its effects, investigate Nevada’s relationship with human capital and the WUE, as well as offer policy recommendations to improve attainment.

2021 Salary Scores: University Of Nevada, Las Vegas And University Of Nevada, Reno, Olivia K. Cheche, Emmanuel A. Berrelleza, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This fact sheet provides a comparative analysis on salary earnings for graduates of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Data are gathered from the GradReports website, which offers salary scores ranging from 0 to 100 for UNLV and UNR degree programs.

Evaluating Urban Parks Accessibility And Equity: A Case Study Of Hartford, Ct And New Haven, Ct, Natalie Roach, Mara Tu

Honors Scholar Theses

Public parks provide cities with environmental benefits, positive health effects, recreational opportunities, community building, educational spaces, and public amenities. However, certain populations have been systematically denied their fair share of these benefits because of unjust practices in the creation and maintenance of urban parks. With a lens of environmental justice, the goal of this research was to assess park quality and accessibility of two Connecticut cities, Hartford and New Haven, by gathering publicly available information as well as using GIS tools.

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has an existing ParkScore rating system that evaluates the quality of a city’s …

Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed A Digital Humanities Project, Elise Tanner, Geoffrey Joseph

Digital Initiatives Symposium

Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. An unplanned interdisciplinary collaboration with the UA Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI) has proven to be an invaluable partnership. One team member from each department will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss how the collaborative process has changed and shaped …

2022 Graduate Program Rankings, Unlv & Unr, Madison Frazee-Bench, Marie A. Falcone, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

This Fact Sheet presents the 2022 U.S. News and World Report Graduate program rankings for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). The rankings for 2022 are important when taking into consideration that both UNLV and UNR reached Carnegie R1 status in 2018. This status marks their place in the top 130 research universities in the country.

Teaching To The Test Or Limiting Students?, Victoria Rivera

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The purpose of this paper is to shine light on the way the school systems have been teaching and how it is affecting students in a negative way. It focuses mainly on teaching to the test and how it stops students from learning creatively and also does not let teachers teach the way they might want to. It also shows how this is a wicked problem and is more than a small school system issue. This impacts students, teachers, and the society we live in. The results of this research was that there were a lot of other authors that …

The Issue Of Unemployment Among People With Disabilities, Angelina C. Pagano

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The rate of unemployment for people with disabilities continues to rise greatly above that of people without disabilities. The issue seems to be exacerbated by employer biases and concerns which are not supported in the face of evidence. A lack of employer education on disability related subjects causes this misconception among both employers and the public as a whole. To resolve the underlying problem of miseducation, an increase in the self-identification of people with disabilities is necessary to provide researchers with data to assist in the formation of a revised curriculum.

Tuition Prices Are Through The Roof, Zara Zerman

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Tuition prices have increased at a rate that is making it difficult and impossible for students to not accumulate debt. Education is a necessity for society because it gives students opportunities to pursue any career they have interest or desire in. There are many discussions and conversations about the higher education system being too expensive but there have not been any changes or solutions to make college more affordable for students. Loans, federal aid, and other scholarships that help students with the cost of college will never be enough to help with the overwhelmingness of tuition prices and student debt. …

Lower Tuition, Eliminate Debts, And Enjoy Your Education, Damon Dejesus

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

College students live in a world where financial struggles and hardships take away from a lot of their freedoms after graduation. The ongoing student debt issues have crippled many of their freedoms and put limitations on the various luxuries they should be able to enjoy after completing the long journey of getting a degree. Through a few simple yet effective methods I think that there are ways to combat this wicked problem, things such as lowering the price of tuition, distributing more financial aid to students, and reducing the rate of interest attached to loans that some students may be …

Effective Cognitive Learning Solutions For Special Education Students Of Nyc Public Schools In Underserved Communities Prepared For: Dr. Sheying Chen Pace University, Nicole N. Garvin

Master in Public Administration Theses

The goal of this report was to study scientific-based programs that promote the Theory of Cognition as the foundation to learning and teaching special education students and students classified as learning disabled in the public schools of under-served communities; to inform families who live and send their children to public schools in under-served communities of these alternative approaches to learning, inform them of their rights during IEP reviews and requesting an impartial hearing; and stop the School to Prison Pipeline. The research shows how students classified as special education in the most restrictive environment and students classified as Learning Disabled …

Erasing Student Debt: Slowly But Surely, Roberta Harris

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

Furthering your education intends to be the golden ticket when forming the basis of a successful life. Investing in college can have both positive and negative effects regarding where it leads a student in life. Positive aspects include increased job opportunities, higher salaries and wages, as well as a better quality of living. However, rising college costs bring debatable questions as to how students can become better equipped to face this path in life. In order to resolve the student debt crisis, there is need for educators to develop a better system in communicating financial literacy and life skills their …

Modernizing Tuition Assistance: Programs To Build A 21st Century Workforce, Mgm Public Policy Institute

Pathways for Postsecondary Education

This is the first paper in a series from the MGM Resorts Public Policy Institute at UNLV, exploring tuition assistance programs. This report provides a broad overview of tuition assistance programs, and key challenges and insights about best practices.

Understanding The Perspectives Of First-Generation 4-H Members, Kristy Lee Ouellette Phd

Muskie School Dissertations

Informal education programs like 4-H have the potential to expose young people to opportunities and experiences which may lead to increased social and educational capital. Previous research has consistently found that young people thrive within the 4-H Youth Development program.

The study identified commonalities throughout the multiple modes of participation and identified the ways in which participants are indeed on a thriving trajectory. It involved 12 first-generation 4-H members in Maine between the ages of 14-19. Through the use of in-depth interviews and the creation of ecomaps, this qualitative case study uncovered participants’ perspectives of the Maine 4-H program. This …

Institutional Context Drives Mobility: A Comprehensive Analysis Of How Academic And Economic Factors Relate To International Student Enrollment At United States Higher Education Institutions, Natalie Irby Cruz

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

International student enrollment (ISE) has become a hallmark of world-class higher education institutions (HEIs), particularly as global student mobility has grown exponentially worldwide in the last several decades. Although the United States (U.S.) has welcomed the largest numbers of international students since the 1950s, ISE shrunk by 10% in the previous three years from an all-time high of 903,127 students in 2016/2017 (IIE, 2019). A synthesis of research studies about international student mobility and enrollment highlights the significant role that academic and economic rationales play for international students who choose the United States. This quantitative, ex post facto study focused …

Covid-19: Higher Education Funding In The Mountain West, Olivia K. Cheche, Peter Grema, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

In February 2021, Victoria Jackson and Matt Saenz of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published a report titled, “States Can Choose Better Path for Funding Higher Education Funding in COVID-19 Recession.” The report presents data on changes in state spending for higher education, and tuition costs for all 50 states between 2008 and 2019. This fact sheet explores data on higher education budget cuts and changing tuition costs for four-year institutions and community colleges in the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah).

The Torch (March 2021), Crtp

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

The Maine Office of the Attorney General administers the Civil Rights Team Project (CRTP). The CRTP’s mission is to increase the safety of elementary, middle school, and high school students by reducing bias-motivated behaviors and harassment in our schools. CRTP accomplishes this by supporting student civil rights teams in Maine schools. The CRTP and student teams are active in engaging school communities in thinking and talking about issues related to:

• Race and skin color
• National origin and ancestry
• Religion
• Disabilities
• Gender (including gender identify and expression)
• Sexual orientation

The Attorney General’s Office created the CRTP in 1996 as a pilot …

Self-Determination In American Discourse: The Supreme Court’S Historical Indoctrination Of Free Speech And Expression, Jarred Williams

Honors Theses

Within the American criminal legal system, it is a well-established practice to presume the innocence of those charged with criminal offenses unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Such a judicial framework-like approach, called a legal maxim, is utilized in order to ensure that the law is applied and interpreted in ways that legislative bodies originally intended.

The central aim of this piece in relation to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution is to investigate whether the Supreme Court of the United States has utilized a specific legal maxim within cases that dispute government speech or expression regulation. …

Student Debt In The Mountain West, Class Of 2019, Kristian Thymianos, Eshaan Vakil, Olivia K. Cheche, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Higher Education

In 2020, Americans collectively owed $1.6 trillion in student debt, making it the second-largest consumer debt category nationwide. 1 However, this debt is not distributed evenly across the country. This fact sheet reports data on the amount and prevalence of student debt in Mountain West states (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah), as originally reported by the Institute for College Access and Success (ICAS) study, Student Debt and the Class of 2019.2 This fact sheet also reports figures relating to the amount and prevalence of student debt for graduates from Nevada’s two public research universities: the University of Nevada, …

Nevada Ballot Question 1: Reforming Higher Education Governance, 2020, Olivia K. Cheche, Vanessa Booth, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr., Fatma Nasoz

Elections & Governance

This fact sheet explores voting data of 1,407,761 Nevadans who participated in the 2020 election through in-person early, mail-in, absentee, or election day voting. The Secretary of State publishes the outcomes of each race, and results are broken down by county. Voting data are displayed as raw vote totals and percent shares of the total vote. Also included are data on the number of voters who declined to vote on each of Nevada’s five ballot questions. These data are calculated by subtracting the “yes” and “no” votes for each ballot measure from the total number of ballots cast both statewide …