Public Policy Commons^™

Reinventing The New Orleans Public Education System, David Osborne

New England Journal of Public Policy

If we were creating a public education system from scratch, would we organize it as most of our public systems are now organized? Would our classrooms look just as they did before the advent of personal computers and the internet? Would we give teachers lifetime jobs after their second or third years? Would we let schools survive if, year after year, half their students dropped out? Would we send children to school for only eight and a half months a year and six hours a day? Would we assign them to schools by neighborhood, reinforcing racial and economic segregation?

Few …

Social Traps And Social Trust In A Devastated Urban Community, Michael A. Cowan

New England Journal of Public Policy

The last national survey of adult literacy prior to Hurricane Katrina found 40 percent of New Orleans adults reading at or below the sixth-grade level and another 30 percent at or below the eighth-grade level. During the three years before the hurricane, New Orleanians watched as public meetings of its elected school board became models of incivility, where the politically connected struggled for control of contracts and patronage and self-appointed activists ridiculed school officials, board members, and fellow citizens who were attempting to raise the performance of the city’s public schools out of the ranks of the nation’s worst. During …

Assessing The Short-Term Stability Of Financial Well-Being In Low- And Moderate-Income Households, Stephen P. Roll, Olga Kondratjeva, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Stephanie Skees

Social Policy Institute Research

Much of the literature on household finances tends to focus on discrete or relatively objective measures like savings, debt, economic mobility, and there has been a lack of research on holistic measures of financial well-being. This gap is due in part to the absence of a common understanding of how to define and measure financial well-being; a gap that was recently addressed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s development of a financial well-being scale. However, the research on this scale is still scarce and little is known about how financial well-being evolves over time. To that end, this paper uses …

Against The Wind: A Study On Aviation As A Female Career Choice, Bonnie Gagliardo

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study is to identify and describe the educational and social experiences that sparked the interest of female pilots as young women to pursue a career in aviation.

Methodology: This qualitative phenomenological study utilized semi- structured interviews to explore the lived experiences of female pilots, to understand if there were common social and educational factors which influenced them to become interested in aviation. Using convenience sampling, eleven pilots who hold a Federal Aviation Administration Commercial or Airline Transport Pilot’s License were selected to participate in this study.

Findings: The findings from this …

The Importance Of Cognitive Domains And The Returns To Schooling In South Africa: Evidence From Two Labor Surveys, Plamen Nikolov, Nusrat Jimi

Economics Faculty Scholarship

Numerous studies have considered the important role of cognition in estimating the returns to schooling. How cognitive abilities affect schooling may have important policy implications, especially in developing countries during periods of increasing educational attainment. Using two longitudinal labor surveys that collect direct proxy measures of cognitive skills, we study the importance of specific cognitive domains for the returns to schooling in two samples. We instrument for schooling levels and we find that each additional year of schooling leads to an increase in earnings by approximately 18-20 percent. The estimated effect sizes—based on the two-stage least squares estimates—are above the …

La Administración Pública Desde La Perspectiva De La Prevención De Atrocidades En Las Respuestas A La Covid-19: Aprovechar La Pandemia Para Lograr Mayor Equidad Social, Nadia Rubaii, Kerry E. Whigham, Susan Appe

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

The pandemic is already forcing many individuals, businesses, and governments to rethink much of what they do and how they do it. As such, it presents an opportunity for public administrators to reimagine the criteria they use when designing and implementing programs and policies, and to more actively engage in prevention of identity-based violence. In this contribution, we suggest a new analytical lens to guide public administrators’ decision making, one informed by the theory and practice of mass atrocity prevention. This perspective recognizes that the decisions and actions of public administrators in response to the pandemic will influence whether individual …

The Global Child: A Roadmap For Becoming Culturally Responsive Educators, Ana I. Berdecia Med, Caitlin Kosec Mpp, Kamili O. Leath Ms, The John S. Watson Institute For Public Policy For Thomas Edison State College

Center for the Positive Development of Urban Children

The program strategies and the assessment tools encourage early childhood teachers to adopt 26 strategies across three competency areas: 1) classroom design; 2) teachers’ rhythm and temperament; and 3) instructional strategies during the 10-month program year. Mentors are assigned to each teaching team and through supportive site visits and assessment visits help the teams change their thinking and practices to be more culturally and linguistically responsive.

Move Or Improve? Place, Policy, And Educator Labor Markets, Cory Curl

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

What is the role of place and policy in shaping educator labor markets during the decade following the Great Recession of 2008? This research leverages data on Kentucky students, educators, schools, and school districts from 2009 to 2018, with a focus on the rural, isolated Appalachian region. Many counties in the region have long struggled with poverty, low rates of labor force participation, lower educational attainment, and dependence on public transfers (Ziliak, 2019). Despite these challenges, the people of Appalachia demonstrate a strong attachment to the region. With this research, I enhance understanding of contexts and conditions, such as unique …

Panel Discussion: The Right To Education: With Liberty, Justice, And Education For All?

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

How Do The Lives Of Participants In A Housing Mobility Program Change After They Move? A Case Study Of The Mobility Connection Program, Jenna Hampton Bsw, Stephen J. Roll Phd, Michal Grinstein-Weiss Phd

Social Policy Institute Research

SPI Research Brief No. 20-01. This brief outlines the results of an assessment of Mobility Connection, a housing mobility program in St. Louis, Missouri. Mobility Connection is administered through Ascend STL and this assessment was conducted in partnership with the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. Our research focused on answering the following questions: How do Mobility Connection participants report their lives changing since moving to a High Opportunity Area? How do participants feel about the quality of the Mobility Connection program? To answer these questions, researchers administered a novel survey to 20 Mobility Connection participants who …

Open University Of Nepal Initiative Lessons Learned From Designing An Institution Of Higher Learning, Pramod Dhakal, Drona P. Rasali, Ambika P. Adhikari, Raju Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

A group of Nepali diaspora members, represented by the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), started a campaign in 2009 to establish the Open University of Nepal (OUN) in partnership with the government of Nepal. Their motivation was to develop a quality university for the masses by mobilizing local, diaspora, and international collaborators for producing and disseminating knowledge in the public domain. The university was subsequently established in 2017 but it drifted away from many of the original objectives. Most critically, it embraced distance education as its central function while setting aside the aspiration of producing and sharing knowledge under the public …

Factors That Influence African American Male Retention In Public Four-Year Institutions, Shantya V. Plater

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to the lack of policies at the federal and state level, 4-year public colleges and universities across the United States are left to develop retention policies at the institutional level to support their diverse populations. Retention rates for minority students lag behind their peers, especially African American male students. This study identified the factors that influence retention amongst African American male students at 4-year public colleges and universities. The theoretical framework used in this study was the Tinto model of academic and social integration. The data identified that financial resources, family support, and academic and social engagement influence the …

State & Local Per Pupil Funding For Higher Education In The Mountain West States, Eshaan Vakil, Caitlin Saladino, William E. Brown

Higher Education

This Fact Sheet summarizes and expands upon the findings of the College Board’s 2016-17 State and Local Funding for Higher Education per Student and per $1,000 in Personal Income and 10-Year Percentage Change in Inflation-Adjusted Funding per Student, by State report on per pupil and per $1,000 in personal income governmental funding for higher education in the United States in 2016-17. For the purposes of this Fact Sheet, the focus of the report has been narrowed to states located within the Mountain West region of the United States (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico).

Formación Universitaria En Administración Pública Y Capacidades Burocráticas En Argentina (1990-2017), Sergio Agoff, Gabriela Mansilla

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo reflexionar acerca del vínculo entre las capacidades burocráticas probablemente involucradas en la gestión de Estados que se reconocen en dos corrientes: neoliberal y neodesarrollista y el desarrollo de la oferta de formación en Administración y Gestión Pública en Argentina durante los últimos veintisiete años, a partir de interrogarnos: ¿cuáles serían esas capacidades en cada caso? y ¿qué ofertas formativas alimentarían esas capacidades? El trabajo postula que este campo de formación se define por las promesas en torno a sus perfiles de egreso y los alcances para ellos diseñados, al mismo tiempo que se constituye como …

Editorial, Nadia Rubaii, Santiago Leyva

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

Table Of Content, . .

Gobernar: The Journal of Latin American Public Policy and Governance

No abstract provided.

How School Aid In New York State Penalizes Black And Hispanic Students, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

Do Voucher Students Attain Higher Levels Of Education? Extended Evidence From The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, Patrick J. Wolf, John F. Witte, Brian Kisida

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the first modern private school choice program in the United States, has grown from 341 students attending 7 private schools in 1990 to 27,857 students attending 126 private schools in 2019. The MPCP has been subject to extensive study focused largely on student performance on standardized tests. This study presents new data on the college enrollment, persistence, and graduation of MPCP and MPS students who were tracked over 12 years beginning in 2006. MPCP participants are compared with a matched sample of MPS students who lived in the same neighborhood and had similar demographic …

The Effects Of Grading Practices On Motivations For Learning At The Middle School Level, Justin D. Stebbins Ms

Muskie School Dissertations

The objective of this quantitative survey study was to measure the effect grading traditionally (using averaging) versus non-traditionally (best, most recent evidence) on four types of student motivation. These types of motivation were mastery orientation (learning for learning sake), performance orientation (going for the grade or external recognition), performance avoidance (not wanting to appear incompetent), and mastery avoidance (not wanting to lose what you have). This set of orientations is derived from the goal orientation theory.

In this study, 1,652 students and 93 educators between four schools took an anonymous 20-minute online survey. Due to lack of teacher participation, two …

How New York State Stole $20 Billion From School Children In New York City, Part 2, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

How New York State Stole $20 Billion From School Children In New York City, John Yinger

Center for Policy Research

It’s Elementary is a series of essays on topics in education and education policy. The main focus is on education finance in New York State, but general research findings in education and education policy issues in several other states are also discussed. John Yinger, Professor of Economics and Public Administration at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University is the author of most of these essays, although a few are written by or co-authored with other scholars.

Best Training Practices For Probation Officers And Staff Toward Building A More Sophisticated, Fair, And Effective System Of Juvenile Justice In San Diego County, Carissa Carrasquillo

Ethnic Studies Senior Capstone Papers

This report illustrates how probation leadership, officers, and staff in San Diego County can adopt best training practices to address and alleviate incidents in juvenile detention facilities and build a sophisticated, fair, and effective system of juvenile justice. The goal of implementing best training practices for probation officers and staff is to build a knowledgeable workforce to better serve youth and families and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system. This report analyzes how innovations in management and the introduction of new programs has proven effective through research- and evidence-based practices and direct community involvement. In particular, …

Public Administrator Choice Idaho School District Finance Policy Observed, Cameron Marcus Arial

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Physical facilities are essential for Idaho public school districts to fulfill their constitutional mandate “to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.¹ Because these physical facilities cost millions of dollars to construct, a common and prudent means of financing them is to borrow through the municipal bond market. Accessing the bond market to obtain these needed funds is an infrequent and complex process for most Idaho school districts and the administrators who are charged with carrying out these financings. For this purpose, school administrators look to the guidance of financial professionals to …

A Process Evaluation Of The Campbell Union High School District Bond Measure Aa, Gabriel Altamirano

Master's Projects

The Board of Trustees at the Campbell Union High School District (CUHSD) completed a district wide facility assessment and created updated facilities master plans (CUHSD, 2015). Consultants were contracted to coordinate focus groups consisting of district students and staff to develop a list of facility needs across the district (CUHSD, 2015). The facilities at all five high schools were in need of major capital projects, from replacement of aging mechanical systems to new classroom spaces for student growth (CUHSD, 2015).

The school district decided to request a general obligation bond measure for the community to approve for the facility improvements …

Seeking Success: A Case Study Of African American Male Retention At A Two-Year College, Richard Latroy Moss

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a problem in higher education in the United States. African American students, specifically males, are not being retained and graduating. This problem is even more evident for students that attend two year colleges. African American male students lag behind white males, Hispanic males and African American females, in retention and graduation rates. This problem has caught the attention of many leaders. Policy makers and college leaders are among those who seek to understand the why and find solutions to the challenge of African American male student retention at two year colleges, as two year colleges are becoming the …

How Has The Louisiana Scholarship Program Affected Students? A Comprehensive Summary Of Effects After Four Years, Patrick J. Wolf, Jonathan N. Mills, Yujie Sude, Heidi H. Erickson, Matthew L. Lee

School Choice Demonstration Project

School choice has long been a subject of robust debate. Private school vouchers—programs providing public funds for students to attend K-12 private schools—tend to be the most contentious form of school choice. Over the past three years, our research team has released a series of reports examining how the LSP has affected key student and community conditions.

Challenging The Politics Of The Teacher Accountability Movement: Toward A More Hopeful Educational Future

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

A Good Investment: The Updated Productivity Of Public Charter Schools In Eight U.S. Cities, Corey A. Deangelis, Patrick J. Wolf, Larry D. Maloney, Jay F. May

School Choice Demonstration Project

In 2015-16, the United States spent over $660 billion on its public education system in hopes of providing children with greater opportunities to excel academically and to improve their life trajectories. While public education dollars have risen at a relatively fast pace historically, future challenges, including underfunded pension liabilities, suggest policymakers should economize wherever possible. Meanwhile, the number of public charter schools has increased exponentially. From 1991 to 2018, charter school legislation passed in 44 states and the nation’s capital, and student enrollment in charters increased to around 3.2 million.

How Do Changing Financial Circumstances Relate To Financial Well-Being? Evidence From A National Survey, Sam Bufe, Sicong Sun, Stephen P. Roll, Olga Kondratjeva, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

This brief is the third and final brief in a series exploring the financial well-being of low- and moderate-income (LMI) households in the United States. The first brief in this series explored how financial well-being differed between LMI households and the general population.¹ The second in the series examined how financial well-being changed over time in a sample of LMI respondents.² This brief uses longitudinal survey data paired with administrative tax data to assess how different household experiences—including the use of alternative financial services, the experience of material and medical hardship, and improvements in physical and financial health—correspond …

Assessing The Short-Term Stability Of Financial Well-Being In Low- To Moderate-Income Households, Sicong Sun, Stephen P. Roll, Olga Kondratjeva, Sam Bufe, Michal Grinstein-Weiss

Social Policy Institute Research

A growing body of research demonstrates that U.S. households experience a high degree of volatility in their finances. This volatility can take the form of large swings in month-to-month income, spells of unemployment, and incurring unexpected expenses.1 Beyond being difficult to predict, these income and expense shocks are costly as well, with one survey finding that the most expensive shock experienced by the median U.S. household cost roughly half of one month’s income.2This financial volatility disproportionately affects low- to moderate-income (LMI) households;3 a population that often lacks the resources to manage this volatility. For example, research from the Survey of …