Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of West Florida, 2003. / Title from title page of source document. Includes bibliographical references.

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This dissertation broadly focuses on how to improve equity in education. The first chapter focuses on education at the primary level and analyzes whether progressive vouchers in education can serve as a tool to decrease socioeconomic stratification at the school level and increase educational outcomes for low-income students. I use the Chilean setting, where a universal voucher system has been in place for over three decades, and analyze the impact of a major reform were voucher amounts were increased by 50 percent for students in the lowest 40 percent of the income distribution. Progressive vouchers were implemented in Chile to help low-income students benefit from school choice; increasing the revenues that schools receive for serving low-income students and lowering the relative prices of private voucher schools for eligible parents. I use a national dataset to implement a regression discontinuity design exploiting that eligibility is a discontinuous function of a socioeconomic ranking. Results reject that eligible students chose schools with higher test scores or average SES, and that they are doing better than non-eligible students in math and language test scores. Findings, I argue, are partly a consequence of the multiple barriers that low-income students face when choosing a school, including lack of information, the complexity associated with evaluating a substantial number of options, and issues of social belonging that prevent them from attending better performing schools. The second chapter focuses on education at the tertiary level and analyses whether loans for higher education can help to increase tertiary education for low-income low-performing students. I use data from Chile and exploit the fact that access to loans for universities and technical institutions is a discontinuous function of students’ academic performance. The latter allows me to implement a regression discontinuity design to look at the causal impact of different types of loans on higher education access, persistence and graduation. Results show that loans for universities induce low-performing students away from technical institutions and towards higher quality university alternatives, where they have little chances of succeeding. This increases the total amount of time and money that students spend without substantially increasing, or even decreasing, their graduation rates and expected incomes. Loans for technical institutions are better in that they keep students away from alternatives that are too expensive or academically demanding. Results point to the unintended costs of offering university loans to low-performing students, steaming from a potential mismatch between low-performing students and higher quality university alternatives. The third chapter, joint with Juan Matta, analyzes the role of social interaction in higher education choices. In particular, we analyze spillovers from older to younger siblings in the choice of college and major. We use data from Chile and exploit discontinuous admission rules generated by Chile’s centralized system of admission to postsecondary education. Our findings reveal strong sibling spillovers in the choice of major/institutions. Having an older sibling enrolling in a given major within an institution, as opposed to just applying, increases by 87% the likelihood of enrolling in that same major/institution combination, and it increases by 51% the probability of enrolling in any major within that same institution. An analysis of potential mechanisms suggests that spillovers are present even when siblings are far apart in age and are unlikely to attend college together, and even in cases where they are likely to be well informed about the program. Results provide an explanation as to why low-income students may be underrepresented in some high quality educational alternatives.

This research aims to determine whether the voucher scheme in Hong Kong would really increase professional development of Hong Kong early childhood teachers, and to see how the teachers will react to this change. Few studies have been conducted on how the voucher system affects the teachers. A qualitative approach was employed where a total of twelve teachers and four principals from the four kindergarten schools were asked to participate in the study. The results of the study show that teachers from the different kindergartens were having more convergent views about the pre-primary education voucher scheme among the teachers from these schools. Many of them believe that the voucher scheme is in fact a fair policy and that it could effectively improve teachers‟ quality, though the apprehension of old generation teachers over the influx of the younger and relatively more qualified teachers is a concern that needs to be addressed. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Almost all 3- to 6-year-olds attend preschool programmes in Hong Kong, yet until recently early childhood education (ECE) was excluded from the boundaries of formal government policy and the sector received minimal financial support from the government. The eventual introduction in 2007 of the Pre-primary Education Voucher Scheme (PEVS) — a HK$2 billion government package to subsidise ECE, instead of bringing the early childhood predicament to an end, generated considerable controversy due to its unique nature. Unlike other education voucher programmes, which promote and rely on the “free” market to regulate the quality of education provision, the PEVS limits the vouchers to a restricted sector of the ECE market and ties financial assistance with official quality assessments. Against this background, the purpose of this study was to examine the evolution and the continuous development of this atypical education voucher scheme in the policy context of Hong Kong. The PEVS is conceptualised as both product and process, constantly shaped and reshaped by policymakers as well as parents and ECE providers. To adequately capture the evolving and emergent nature of the policy process and reflect the divergent voices of these stakeholders, a mixed-method approach was employed, and a historical approach is used to analyse and discuss the findings. Focusing on the context of policy text production, in the first two time periods, namely Pre-voucher (Pre-2006) and Announcement and Amendments (2006 – 2009), the rationale for the development and the modifications of the policy text was explored through documentary analyses. In the following time period, After Amendments (2009 – 2010), a survey of 628 parents, kindergarten principals, and teachers, and in-depth interviews with 16 kindergarten principals and teachers were conducted to determine the opportunities for parents and ECE providers to reform and reinterpret the policy text in different contexts of practice. In the final time period, the Official Review and Further Re-modification of the Policy Text (2010 onwards), the results obtained were compared with that of a critical analysis of the official government review of the PEVS and the resulting package of enhancement measures endorsed by the government to understand how parents and ECE providers in the context of practice might in return affect the production of the policy text. Taken together, the results illustrate a full depiction of the policy process. They also show the intertwining relationship among the government, parents, and ECE providers, as well as between the two contexts of policymaking. The illumination of these previously unexplored subjects has important theoretical and practical implications for educational change and policymaking in ECE, and lays the foundation for future research in related areas. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Carolyn D. Herrington, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 16, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains xv, 238 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this dissertation was to add to the literature on the school choice debate and educational voucher programs through an analysis of Florida’s John M. McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities. This dissertation looked at the major aspects of school choice theory, parental satisfaction, and reasoning for choice. A theoretical framework for analyzing school choice programs was put forth in this dissertation through an analysis of the over-arching dynamical elements that have shaped the administrative and political arguments for and against these programs. A comprehensive review of the literature on school choice comprised a substantial part of this study due to the need for citizens to better comprehend the origins and evolution of school choice planning and programming. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection