Public Policy Commons^™

The Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Summary Of Second Year Reports, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

The city of Milwaukee is often called a laboratory for experimentation with parental school choice. Milwaukee is home to the first urban school voucher program, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), which has grown over the past 18 years to enroll 19,069 students in 124 different private schools 2007-08. A total of 58 public charter schools operate within the city’s boundaries, enrolling 17,549 students last year. Even students in the Milwaukee Public School (MPS) system have a variety of magnet, community, open enrollment, and even inter-district school choice options available to them, so long as transportation funding holds out. When …

Evaluation Of Ec-Funded Mine Action In Africa: Volume 2-Country Reports, Gichd

Global CWD Repository

The Evaluation of EC support for mine action in Africa is the first of six regional mine action evaluations that the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) will conduct or commission for the European Commission (EC). These regional evaluations follow from a Global Assessment of EC support for mine action completed in 2005. Given the broad scope of a regional evaluation, no attempt was made to assess the performance of individual projects; rather, the focus was on EC mine action strategy and programming issues at the country and regional levels. In addition to a document review, the evaluation team …

Child Care And Development Fund: A Policy Analysis, Colleen K. Vesely, Elaine A. Anderson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Legislated as part of welfare reform, the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the main source of child care government funding earmarked for low-income families. As a block grant, with broad federal guidelines, states have significant freedom in implementing this legislation to meet the needs of their citizens. This diverse implementation has challenged legislators and scholars trying to assess the success of CCDF across the United States. In considering the evaluation research of CCDF, as well as the original goals of this legislation, several major themes related to the diverse state implementation emerged, including access, equity, and stability. This …

The Failures Of American Poverty Measures, Stephen Pimpare

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

How we think about need or deprivation-how we judge its severity, its causes and effects, and the progress we have made (or not made) over time in reducing it-has much to do with how we define and then measure it. And, we measure it poorly. The insufficiencies of official data on American poverty are reasonably well known, yet they continue, nonetheless, to be the principal means by which we gauge need in the United States. After a review of such official measures, this article discusses alternative means of evaluating need in the United States, highlighting the benefits of examining poverty …

Advancing The Fiscal Health Of Low-Income Families: A Public And Community Health Approach, Doreen Treacy

Center for Social Policy Publications

For decades, health researchers have documented the links between individual and household income/wealth and clinical health outcomes. The research and literature consistently point to both income inequality (i.e. individual household income/wealth as compared to other households in the same state) and individual household income as predictors of diminished health and morbidity. And yet the current framework for providing financial education, disseminating asset building information, and overall responding to the financial health of individuals and households takes no cues from public health and community health best practices. Further, the documented links between financial stress and compromised physical health are compelling enough …

Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years, Patrick J. Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Brian Kisida, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, Marsha Silverberg

School Choice Demonstration Project

he District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003, passed by Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. As part of this legislation, Congress mandated a rigorous evaluation of the impacts of the Program, now called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). This report presents findings from the evaluation of the impacts 3 years after families who applied were given the option to move from a public school to a participating private school of their choice.

The Mpcp Longitudinal Educational Growth Study Second Year Report, John F. Witte, Patrick J. Wolf, Joshua M. Cowen, David J. Fleming, Juanita Lucas-Mclean

School Choice Demonstration Project

This is the second year report in a five-year evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). This program, which began in 1990, provides government-funded vouchers for low-income children to attend private schools in the City of Milwaukee. The maximum voucher amount in 2007-08 was $6,607, and approximately 20,000 children use a voucher to attend either secular or religious private schools. The MPCP is the oldest and largest urban educational voucher program in the United States. This evaluation was authorized by Wisconsin Act 125 enacted in 2005.

Milwaukee Longitudinal School Choice Evaluation: Annual School Testing Summary Report 2007-08, Nathan L. Gray, Patrick J. Wolf, Laura I. Jensen

School Choice Demonstration Project

With the passage of the 2005 Wisconsin Act 125, private schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) are now required to administer a nationally normed standardized test annually in reading, mathematics, and science to their MPCP (a.k.a. “Choice”) students enrolled in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. The law further directs Choice schools to submit copies of the scores from those tests to the School Choice Demonstration Project for processing and reporting to the Legislative Audit Bureau. During the 2007-08 school year, MPCP schools administered either nationally normed tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or …

Assessment Of Post Demining Impact Assessment For The Mine Action Coordination Center Of Afghanistan, Sippi Azerbaijani-Moghaddam

Global CWD Repository

In May 2007, after training Landmine Impact Assessment Teams (LIATs) for the job, Mine Action Center Afghanistan (MACA) started to conduct PDIA. LIATs perform their duties conscientiously and are generally more comfortable with the figures and calculations involved in economic analysis related to demining rather than the slightly more nebulous aspects related to the ‘people'‐end of activities and social impact assessment. Foremost among the latter would be the relatively unexplored aspects of how mines affect the intimate relations between people and the landscape in predominantly rural or agrarian communities. According to the LIATs basic comparison between forms exploring the pre‐ …

Ddasaccident716, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

[The Victim] was working in one of the closest lanes to MDU, therefore, he also stopped the operations and wanted to keep safety distance with operating machine, he crossed the boundary of minefield and entered to a suspected area, he stepped on a mine there, and the accident happened. The consequences of this accident were traumatic amputation of left leg plus some superficial injuries on right leg and right hand fingers of deminer.

Ddasaccident608, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

According to the preliminary investigation the incident is caused due to a pressure applied to the mine from the heavy RAKE (the excavation tool) used by the deminer and the deminer didn’t expect to find a mine in that spot with that depth and may like accident could be avoided by using the metal detector to locate the non visible mine before using the standard RAKE drill.

Ddasaccident602, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

While the deminer trying to recover an AP M14 mine using the heavy RAKE he applied a pressure in the pressure plate of a non visible M14 which in turn activated that mine in a depth of about 5-7 cm

Torch (February 2009), Brandon Baldwin, Civil Rights Team Project

Torch: The Civil Rights Team Project Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Labor Standards Regarding Flexible Work Arrangements In The U.S. And Abroad, Workplace Flexibility 2010, Georgetown University Law Center

Charts and Summaries of State, U.S., and Foreign Laws and Regulations

A chart of labor standards regarding flexible work arrangements in the U.S. and abroad (United Kingdom, New Zealand, New South Wales, Netherlands, and Germany). Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) alter the time and/or place that work is conducted on a regular basis -- in a manner that is as manageable and predictable as possible for both employees and employers.

Ddasaccident781, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 20 January 2009 while de-miner [the Victim] was working in his clearance lane excavating a detected signal, his bayonet stroked the top of a PMN mine and caused it to explode. According to the investigation report the de-miner has not maintained and considered the default clearance depth during the excavation and used his bayonet carelessly, therefore, caused the accident. Unfortunately the victim was not fully dressed with PPE and his visor was up during the accident. Thus he has got several injuries on his face, legs and different parts of his body.

Ddasaccident727, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

On 19 January 2009 at 10:15 10 hours while [the Victim] was busy in excavating a detected signal, the explosion occurred due to PMN mine and caused the accident. Unfortunately as he was not fully dressed with PPE, therefore, he has got severe injuries on his face and lost his both eyes and some minor injuries on his hand and leg. According to the investigation report, it seems that he was working with pick instead of standard excavation tool and started excavation directly from the centre of the signal.

Ddasaccident739, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

A cluster bomb left over from the Israel-Hizbullah war in 2006 wounded a member of the demining team [Demining group] in south Lebanon on Friday. The National News Agency said [the Victim], 26, was wounded when the bomb exploded near the southern Lebanese town of Arabsaleem

Ddasaccident647, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

According to the preliminary investigation the incident is caused due to a pressure applied to the mine from the heavy RAKE (the excavation tool) used by the deminer and the deminer didn’t expect to find a mine in that spot with that depth and may like accident could be avoided by using the metal detector to locate the non visible mine before using the standard RAKE drill.

U.S. Army/ U.S. Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Center (Coin), Cisr

Global CWD Repository

As we prosecute the current campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and the Philippines, the military must also prepare for an uncertain security situation beyond the present theaters of conflict. It is a future that will be heavily influenced by global competition for declining natural resources, rapidly rising populations in underprivileged and underdeveloped areas, unstable economic markets, and the continuing resurgence of violent religious and secular ideologies challenging democracy as a credible political theory. Additionally, U.S. Force must account for the impact of rapid information transfer, porous national borders, globalization, increased indigent migrating populations with elevated expectations, and …

Ddasaccident617, Hd-Aid

Global CWD Repository

According to the preliminary investigation the incident is caused due to a pressure applied to the mine from the heavy RAKE (the excavation tool) used by the deminer and the deminer didn’t expect to find a mine in that spot with that depth and may like accident could be avoided by using the metal detector to locate the non visible mine before using the standard RAKE drill.

Attitudes To Rankings: Comparing German, Australian And Japanese Experiences, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

Drawing on an international survey of HE leaders during 2006, and interviews with HE leaders and stakeholders in Germany, Australia and Japan during 2008, it describes and compares the reaction and response to rankings by HEIs in Germany, Australia and Japan, with particular attention to institutional strategy and planning, benchmarking and quality assurance, student admissions and faculty recruitment and morale. The chapter argues cross-national comparisons/global rankings are an inevitable feature of globalisation, the international battle for talent, and strategies for national competitiveness.

Fusion Project Evaluation (2006-2009), Teri Perkins, Nancy Shank

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The Fusion Project, funded through a grant from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), was a three year project in Lincoln, Nebraska targeting four refugee ethnic communities: African; Asian; Eastern European; and Middle Eastern. The project’s goals were for:

• the refugee communities to work together to share and learn about developing vibrant ethnic communities;

• each refugee family to achieve self-sufficiency and social and civic integration into their new country and community; and

• Lincoln’s mainstream community to be better equipped to work with refugees.

The University of Nebraska Public Policy Center served …

Family Reflections On The District Of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program: Final Summary Report, Thomas Stewart, Patrick J. Wolf, Stephen Q. Cornman, Kenann Mckenzie-Thompson, Jonathan Butcher

School Choice Demonstration Project

During the spring of 2004, the first federally funded voucher program – the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) - was established. The School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) recognized that publicly-funded school vouchers represent a relatively new and unstudied approach to school choice and education reform. To address this need, the SCDP requested and received funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to capture the “Parent and Student Voices on the OSP.” A total of 110 families, representing 180 students, that applied during the first two years of the Program volunteered to participate in this study. As the last …

National Strategic Plan For The Uxo Sector In The Lao People's Democratic Republic 2010-2020 "The Safe Path Forward Ii", Lao People's Democratic Republic

Global CWD Repository

This strategy aims to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the other development objectives captured in the NSEDP in accordance with the principles of the Vientiane Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. It also aims to guide the implementation of several important international conventions and declarations, including:

1. The Convention on Cluster Munitions

2. The Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

3. The UNESCAP Declaration on the Decade of the Disabled

Evaluation Of A Deliberative Process To Obtain Citizen Input For The Draft Strategic National Vaccine Plan

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The Deliberative Process to Obtain Public Input for the Draft Strategic National Vaccine Plan occurred in March and April 2009. Public meetings were held in three locations – St. Louis Missouri, Columbus Ohio, and Syracuse New York. Each meeting followed a similar format: 1) A morning presentation of essential information about the U.S. vaccine system, followed by a question and answer session with the participants, 2) introduction of participants to values underlying the U.S. vaccine system with an opportunity to discuss and define the most and least important values, 3) presentation of background information on 12 areas of activity in …

The Managing Of The Presidency: Applying Theory-Driven Empirical Models To The Study Of White House Bureaucratic Performance, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

We argue that scholars of the presidency should begin to apply their rich descriptive understanding of White House organization and personnel to questions of causality. To help guide this effort, we offer a theory-driven empirical model that explains organizational performance. Importing theory from the public management literature, we show how scholars can use the Meier-O'Toole (MO) model to explain performance outcomes and dynamics for key political and policy functions within the institutional presidency. We introduce the MO model and discuss its potential impact on the field of presidency studies.

Obama’S Empty Cupboard: Contending With Administrative Vacancies And The Threat To Neutral Competence, Justin Vaughn, José Villalobos

Selected Works Temporary Series

In this essay, we focus on the public administration challenge concerning the rising number of politically motivated administrative vacancies resulting from George W. Bush's tenure in office with which President Barack Obama must now contend. We argue that the hyper-politicization of personnel decision-making during the presidency of George W. Bush left many parts of the federal bureaucracy understaffed, yet more densely populated by staffers chosen more for ideological and political congruence than administrative competence. For President Obama to achieve key aspects of his policy agenda, he must first attend to fixing these staffing problems and then to reforming the personnel …

Presidential Staffing And Public Opinion: How Public Opinion Influences Politicization, José Villalobos, Justin Vaughn

Selected Works Temporary Series

Scholars traditionally frame presidential efforts to politicize the federal bureaucracy as the result of divergence between the president's preferences and an agency's output. The authors argue that presidential concern with agency output is dynamic and is in part conditioned by the president's relationship with the public. To assess the relationship between politicization and public opinion, the authors use a data set that combines information on presidential efforts to politicize the Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 2004 with that of public attitudes concerning the president's handling of the economy. Their results indicate that public opinion does indeed bear a …

Scoping Study Of The Effects Of Aging On Landmines, Cisr

Global CWD Repository

During the past year, the Mine Action Information Center at James Madison University has partnered with a British EOD consultancy company, C King Associates Ltd, to conduct a preliminary study into the effects of aging on landmines. This project entailed examination and disassembly of several types of anti-personnel mines, a literature review of relevant material and analysis of the initial findings.

Of Government, Innovation And The Social Sector: An Interview With Ngiam Tong Dow, Tong Dow Ngiam

Social Space

With homelessness and unemployment looming large in the 1960s, the pioneer public service team turned the situation around within a span of 10 years. Veteran civil servant Ngiam Tong Dow shares his insights from the days of coming nose-to-nose with social breakdown – a time when creative resourcefulness was the only option. Retired and with the benefit of hindsight, he shares with Social Space his thoughts on innovation, government and the way forward for the social sector.