The religious factor in private education

We quantify the religious factor in private education in the United States by calibrating a political economy model of school choice—among public, private-nonsectarian and subsidized religious schools—in which parents differ in their incomes and in their preferences for religious education. This shows strong latent demand for religious schooling, conditioned on current subsidized tuition levels in parochial schools, which is suppressed by the need to “pay twice” for private education. Applying the results of the calibration to gauge the effect of means-tested school voucher programs on religious and nonsectarian private enrollment, we find that when the amount of the voucher is relatively small, including subsidized religious schools in such programs is necessary for providing low-income families effective access to private education.     

Budget decision making in large public school systems

This paper reviews and discusses results of a study of the budget process in fourteen large city school districts. Topics covered include incremental decision making, the use of “ratios” and “norms” in school budgeting, public participation in budgeting, relevant structural arrangements of local government, and the influence of boards of education on the allocation of resources. Finally, implications for the improvement of school management practices in large school districts are discussed.     

Mathematical analysis applied to school attendance areas

The objective of this paper is to develop a generalized mathematical model of pupil assignment within school districts. This model can then be used to examine various policies of student integration. Proposed bussing schemes, school location policies, educational parks, attendance boundaries, etc., can be tested for cost, travel time or other measures of efficiency. Extension to other areas of educational planning is feasible.

Mathematical programming techniques are used to assign resources (say school children) to facilities (say schools) subject to restrictions on facilities (say capacity limits) and resources (say a maximum travel time or a desirable range of school “mixtures”) so that a measure of performance, the “objective function” (say total cost or total time of travel) is optimized. The model is intended to allow examination of a wide range of objective functions and system constraints.     

A linear model for the allocation of instructional resources

An allocation model is proposed for instructional systems which have instructional programs that can be structured in terms of behavioral objectives, instructional activities and required achievement levels. It is assumed that the relevant characteristics of the students and teachers are known and that the instructional resources needed for an activity can be estimated. Carroll's “model for school learning” is used to justify a linear model. Carroll's model hypothesizes that a learner will achieve an objective to the extent that he spends the time he needs. As a first approximation, the degree of learning is the ratio of the time actually spent on learning to the time required. The model can be used for econometric studies of instructional systems and to compare resource allocation strategies.     

Hard evidence on soft skills

This paper summarizes recent evidence on what achievement tests measure; how achievement tests relate to other measures of “cognitive ability” like IQ and grades; the important skills that achievement tests miss or mismeasure, and how much these skills matter in life.Achievement tests miss, or perhaps more accurately, do not adequately capture, soft skills—personality traits, goals, motivations, and preferences that are valued in the labor market, in school, and in many other domains. The larger message of this paper is that soft skills predict success in life, that they causally produce that success, and that programs that enhance soft skills have an important place in an effective portfolio of public policies.     

Racial Fractionalization and School Performance

The literature on racial “peer effects” suggests that diversity improves at least some students' school performance. However, a literature in economic development posits that diversity may negatively affect school performance by undermining the efficient provision of education. This article empirically tests this claim, which we call the “public goods channel,” by examining the relationship between racial diversity and student performance in Ohio's school districts. We find that moving from a completely homogenous school district to one in which two racial groups have equal population shares is associated with a 7–17.5 percentage point decline in the passage rate on the state math exam, holding per pupil spending across districts constant. These results suggest that racial diversity is negatively associated with school performance but that the public goods channel is not responsible for this relationship.     

Microworlds and Simuworlds: Practice fields for the learning organization

Management is one of the few professions, the authors note, in which members have no formal “rehearsal space” for honing their skills. In response to this need, organizations such as The Center for Creative Leadership, MIT's Learning Center, and The Stern School of Business at New York University have created a brave new world of management simulations—“practice fields” for the learning organization. Some of these new games (“simuworlds”) use computer programs to replicate an entire industry and give participants an opportunity to play out one company's strategy in that setting. Other simulations (“microworlds”) engage participants in complex behavioral role playing, based on scenarios that typically develop within a company. Still other simulations combine both approaches. The authors take their point of departure from Peter Senge's definition of the “learning barriers” that develop in any organization: solving fragmented “problems” rather than dealing with systemic issues; overemphasis on competition at the expense of cooperation; and a failure to innovate until forced to do so. The new simulations, the authors argue, are particularly useful in helping managers learn how to overcome these barriers.     

The generation of doctorates and their feedback into higher education

The dynamic effects of alternative manpower policies and programs can be “pretested” in a computer based simulation. It is generally recognized that the production of Doctorates depends to a large degree on the Doctorate-holding faculty. Because the doctorate holders are in great demand by the other sectors of the economy, a circular or a “feedback” situation exists. The problem is further complicated by the availability of developed student talent and by various socioeconomic conditions existing at different periods of time within two or three decades prior to the time a study is made.

This paper attempts to develop a conceptual and a mathematical model to study the production of Doctorates, Masters' and Baccalaureate degrees and their feedback into higher education. The model consisting of over 200 non-linear difference equations is programmed for computer simulation and validation against historical data. Currently simulation is used to describe what has happened in the past. Once this phase is accomplished, the model can be used to prescribe what will happen in the future with a fair level of confidence.     

A private universal voucher program’s effects on traditional public schools

K-12 education reformers have often cited increases in spending with little noticeable gain in test scores, coupled with the fact that American students lag behind their foreign peers on standardized tests, as a major policy problem. School choice, specifically voucher programs, have emerged as a possible solution to the K-12 education woes. This article focuses on what is commonly referred to as the “systemic effects” of a private voucher program in the Edgewood Independent School District (EISD) in San Antonio, Texas. Using carefully chosen control districts and a robust econometric analysis, we conclude that the CEO Horizon Scholarship Program had small, positive effects on the traditional public schools of EISD. The rate of change growth, however, does slow as the voucher program nears the end of its term indicating that traditional public school participants need to believe that these programs are long term.     

Spatial strategies of the “haredi” population in Jerusalem

The purpose of this article is to discuss the strategic behavior—spatial and social—of the “Haredi” (ultra-orthodox) Jewish population. This behavior is associated, in essence, with self-segregation and social isolation accompanied by spatial expansion.

This study deals with these processes in one of the largest concentrations of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community—the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The Jewish ultra-orthodox community is characterized by its special interpretation of Jewish law (halacha) and by its high degree of cohesiveness. It tends to segregate itself from the Israeli population for two main motives. The positive one is the desire to create and maintain “cultural dominance” in a specific area in which the community lives and functions. This includes considerations of scale economies and concentration economies in the provision of the special goods and services which it consumes. The second motive, a negative one, is the desire to avoid some kinds of contacts and interactions with the various groups which do not observe Jewish law according to the orthodox conception. This is done in order to prevent the transfer of secular cultural values of western society into their domain.

The high communal cohesiveness, coupled with high population growth and a strong desire for self-territorial segregation, results in increased pressure on the urban residential space. The fear of social relationship—which may serve as agents for transferring social or cultural values—results in a high degree of intolerance toward the non-religious Israeli population. The contact lines between the two populations have become, therefore, confrontation areas which are characterized by territorial conflicts.

Study of the directions of the territorial expansion suggests what the spatial strategy of the ultraorthodox community is: to gain control of a whole, well-defined urban space in order to maintain cultural dominance in it, while assuring potential directions for expansion in the future. The relationships with the outside, non-religious population is built on a modus operandi principle: i.e. minimal and culturally neutral interactions.

This strategy is carried out through penetration and expansion tactics in a well-known process. These processes present important challenges for planning areas in which ultra-orthodox communities reside.     

Integrated evaluation: A synthesis of approaches to the evaluation of broad-aim social programs

Integrated evaluation is intended to serve decision makers who are responsible for broad-aim social programs by providing information based on evaluation which can aid both ongoing decisions and long-term strategic decisions. It integrates elements of diverse evaluation traditions in a complementary manner: monitoring—in order to inform what has been done by the program; implementation analysis—in order to understand how decisions are being made and carried out; economic evaluation—including both cost-effectiveness and assessment of distributional effects; and goal achievement evaluation—in order to present the program outcomes from the point of view of the various parties who produced the program and/or were affected by it. The article presents these four components of integrated evaluation and discusses its advantages as well as its difficulties and pitfalls.     

Urban density and pupil attainment

We explore the association between urban density and pupil attainment using three cohorts of pupils in schooling in England. Although—as widely recognised—attainment in dense urban places is low on average, this is not because urban environments disadvantage pupils, but because the most disadvantaged pupils with low average attainments attend the most urbanised schools. To control for this, we exploit changes in urban density faced by pupils during compulsory transition from Primary to Secondary school, and measure educational progress at the end of the Secondary phase, relative to attainment at the end of Primary schooling. Our results suggest that there are small but significant benefits from education in schools in more densely urbanised settings. We detect this density advantage even amongst pupils moving relatively short distances between Primary and Secondary schools within urban areas, so we cannot attribute it to broad urbanisation effects experienced by pupils making rural–urban school moves. A more likely explanation lies in greater school choice and competition between closely co-located educational providers.     

Educational resource multipliers for use in local public finance: An input-output approach

This paper develops an input-output framework for use in local public finance. A state-wide educational system is described in terms of its school districts and educational programs for which local, state and federal funds are allocated. A distinction is made between earmarked funds and discretionary funds. Educational resource multipliers are developed to show how changes in earmarked funds directly and indirectly affect the total level of educational expenditures in all districts and the total level of educational expenditures on all programs. The theoretical results are illustrated using data for the State of Pennsylvania. Finally, we show how the input-output approach relates to the standard partial equilibrium approach in the education finance literature.     

Breaking the link between poverty and low student achievement: An evaluation of Title I

This study provides an evaluation of the impact of Title I funding of compensatory education programs on school finance and student performance in New York City public schools during the 1993, 1997 and 2001 school years. Estimates based on a regression-discontinuity approach indicate that the program was unsuccessful in improving student outcomes in high-poverty schools in New York City during this period, and may in fact have had adverse effects during the earlier years in our sample. Less evidence of a negative effect is found for the 2001 school year. These findings are related to the way in which the federal funds were spent.     

体育院校后进生转化工作的几点思考

后进生的转化是学校教育面临的一项重要任务,体育院校尤显突出。本文从体育院校学生的特点出发,结合自己的教育工作实际,对体育院校后进生的转化工作总结了几点自己的体会。     

Private school vouchers and student achievement: A fixed effects quantile regression evaluation

Fundamental to the recent debate over school choice is the issue of whether voucher programs actually improve students' academic achievement. Using newly developed quantile regression approaches, this paper investigates the distribution of achievement gains in the first school voucher program implemented in the US. We find that while high-performing students selected for the Milwaukee Parental Choice program had a positive, convexly increasing gain in mathematics, low-performing students had a nearly linear loss. However, the program seems to prevent low-performing students from having an even bigger loss experienced by students in the public schools.     

Professional education in urban planning: A framework for growth

Expanded interest in socio-economic problems have created new opportunities for the urban planning profession. Because of their emphasis on physical and land-use aspects of the city, traditional educational programs in urban planning have been unable to deal adequately with these new opportunities. Changes in program orientation and emphasis to meet these new challenges have started to take place in some urban planning departments. It remains to be seen how effective some of these changes will be over the long run.

This paper considers some current aspects of urban planning education. The role of professional education in our society is examined along with the role of science in planning. Based on this analysis, a framework is proposed for the future growth of professional education in urban planning. Because of its strong orientation towards a “science of planning”, this proposal appears to be somewhat different than other changes currently being considered in some urban planning programs.     

Enterprise Education: The Role of Head Teachers

In the UK there have been recent policy developments in enterprise education, following the Davies Report (2002). In Scotland there has been the launch of a comprehensive enterprise education programme, the Determined to Succeed Strategy (Scottish Executive, 2003) for all schools in Scotland. This Strategy represented the Executive’s response to a working party review of education and enterprise. The review, Determined to Succeed, 2002 represented a comprehensive overview of requirements in order to provide enterprise education in all schools in Scotland. The aim stated is to “take an innovative and experimental approach in developing key themes in the initiative around the professional development of teachers, the engagement of disengaged school students and the promotion of a focused and resource-intensive approach to Enterprise in Education” (Scottish Executive, 2004). This paper reviews developments in enterprise education and the role of Head Teachers and Deputy Head Teachers (school principals and vice-principals). It reports the findings from research conducted with a Leadership Academy, delivered by the Columba 1400 organisation, with Head and Deputy Head Teachers for the Scottish Executive and assesses their critical role in enterprise education.