Industry data suggests that the U.S. educational system is being challenged to produce more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) graduates and, in particular, engineering baccalaureate degreed students. However, this is not a simple issue of increasing engineering program applicants because academic preparation begins early in the student's academic career, with significant math and science requirements. Even though half of today's undergraduate students are taking classes at community colleges, and 20 percent of baccalaureate degreed engineers started in the community college system, community college students in pre-engineering studies do not transfer to university engineering programs in numbers necessary to decrease the engineering deficit. This dissertation was based on the assumption that, if pathways between two- and four-year institutions were improved through systematic approaches like articulation, the supply of engineers in the U.S. might be positively affected. This dissertation used a case study approach to analyze an articulation process used by a community college and a university to forge a partnership designed to enhance this engineering pipeline. Using systems theory as a conceptual backdrop, the study looked at significant inputs, throughputs, outputs, and outcomes to the articulation negotiation process and analyzed roadblocks to that process. In the summary chapter, the paper addressed practical ways to bridge this gap and provide support mechanisms needed for STEM students to smoothly move from one higher education sector to the next.

This dissertation is a study of the effect of Texas's charter high schools on diploma graduation and General Educational Development (GED) attainment. Utilizing data from the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas at Dallas, the study follows a cohort of Texas students enrolled as 10th graders in the fall of 1999 and tracks their graduation outcomes through the summer of 2002 when they were expected to have completed high school. The analysis uses case study research and probit regression techniques to estimate the effect of charter school attendance on graduation and GED outcomes as well as the effect of individual charter school characteristics on charter students' graduation outcomes. The study's results indicate that charter school attendance has a strong negative effect on diploma graduation and a strong positive effect on GED attainment. In addition, the study finds that charter schools that offer vocational training, open entry/exit enrollment options, and charters that are operated in multiple sites or "chain" charters have positive effects on charter students' diploma graduation outcomes. Charters that offer accelerated instruction demonstrate a negative effect on diploma graduation. The study finds that charter school graduation outcomes improve as charters gain experience and that racially isolated minority charter schools experience reduced graduation outcomes. The study's results also indicate that Texas's charter high schools may be providing district schools with a means through which to offload students who may be difficult to educate. The analysis finds that districts may be pushing low-performing high school students with attendance and discipline problems into charter schools in order to avoid the effort of educating them and to improve district performance on accountability measures related to standardized test scores and graduation rates. This finding suggests that that competition from charter high schools will not provide much incentive for districts to improve their programs, undermining a central premise of school choice initiatives.

The research problem focused on the use of collaboration by managers, supervisors, consultants, and professional staff in a department of public education and health to address disparities in on-time high school completion rates. The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives of individuals in these public sectors on the use of collaboration as a means to improve on-time high school completion rates for African American and Hispanic students. The theoretical foundation and conceptual framework for the study were John Rawls's theory of justice and Amartya Sen's capability approach. The key research question involved how individuals in the public education and health sectors viewed the use of collaboration to address a complex problem of low rate of on-time high school completion for African American and Hispanic students. The research design was a multiple case study. Seven individuals participated from a department of public education and 4 from a department of public health in the same state. Data were collected and analyzed from participant interviews. Themes were identified from categories and specific codes or words that described the content of the participants' responses. A major conclusion was collaboration between a public education department and public health department can be used as a means to improve on-time high school completion rates for African American and Hispanic students. The implications for social change may be to increase the awareness for a public education department and public health department to routinely work in collaboration to improve on-time high school completion rates of minority and other vulnerable students.

This Northern California single case qualitative study used Critical Race Theory as a framework for examining the perspectives of African American administrators on improving graduation rates of African American male public high school students in San Joaquin County. Barriers to graduation completion in San Joaquin County public high schools continue to leave stakeholders looking for solutions to change the status quo for African American male high schools students. Ten San Joaquin County African American male and female administrators (identified by pseudonyms) from various public elementary, middle, and high schools were interviewed individually. Participants' responses were categorized into themes according to their answers for each question. Contrary to explanations for low graduation rates of African American male students, as predicted in the literature review of this study, the participants' perspectives rarely indicated that discipline, or lack of parental involvement was a prevailing reason for low graduation rates for African American male students. Low teacher expectations, lack of role models and advocates, and the failure of the school systems to implement successful strategies to improve the graduation rates of African American male students appeared to be the most common themes as discussed in the literature review. Participants perspectives suggest public high schools in San Joaquin County struggle to make positive connections with African American male students. All of the participants claimed that teachers, administrators, and school staff struggle to build and maintain healthy relationships with African American male students. Some of the recommendations from the participants of this study suggest that stakeholders can assist African American male students in overcoming barriers and improving their graduation rates by: starting African American male charter schools, operating mentoring programs in schools, and recruiting more African American teachers and administrators.

This is a study of the perceptions, philosophies, purpose, and effectiveness of public education in Bermuda. It includes a purposeful sample of Bermuda leaders in education, government, business, and public life. I prepared a series of questions that I used as an interview guide to obtain the opinions of participants in the study. Most participants did not provide specific information about the official philosophy, major purposes, or specific educational outcomes of the public education system since its restructuring began in 1987. Many indicated their frustration about the lack of such basic data as enrollment, graduation, and dropout rates. Nearly all interviewees (except those staff members from the Ministry of Education) agreed that the effectiveness of public schools has declined dramatically in recent years. Other findings include: Leadership in the Ministry of Education and the Department of Education has been bureaucratic and incompetent; Governmental funding of public schools has been very high, but much money has been wasted; Some public middle and secondary school principals have performed poorly, at least partly because of inadequate leadership and communication from the Ministry of Education and the Department of Education; Major problems exist regarding curriculum misalignment, teachers’ qualifications and performance, services of school counselors, lack of parental involvement in the schools, and classification and instruction of students with cognitive, physical, and emotional disabilities; and Major changes are needed to overcome existing problems, including dismissal of the least effective individuals in the Department of Education and in individual schools.

No description available.

This qualitative research study explored the leadership perceptions of high school administrators who have been successful in raising academic achievement for Black males. Utilizing semi-structured interviews which served as the primary data source, this study aimed to uncover specific school-level factors that were being optimized in public high schools to help increase graduation rates for Black male students. In addition, a review of school documents acted as secondary data sources and offered more detailed views about the case studies. After thorough analysis of the data, the findings revealed five factors that the high school administrators were optimizing better support their Black male learners: 1) hiring Black males, 2) the staff, 3) school activities, 4) collaborations with community partners, and 5) formal and informal methods of offering positive feedback and special recognition. These five factors were found as having the greatest influence on the academic achievement of the males. Overall, the study's findings aligned with earlier research on student achievement. Based on the findings, it was clear that the five factors promoted a certain degree of academic achievement independently. However, the researcher posits that, if implemented simultaneously, the five factors are likely to build a greater network of support for Black male high school students that will help boost achievement that is converted to increased graduation rates. Thus, implications for practice for other high school administrators as well as recommendations for future research emerged from the findings of this study. / Doctor of Education / This qualitative research study explored the leadership perceptions of high school administrators who have been successful in raising academic achievement for Black males. Utilizing semi-structured interviews which served as the primary data source, this study aimed to uncover specific school-level factors that were being optimized in public high schools to help increase graduation rates for Black male students. In addition, a review of school documents acted as secondary data sources and offered more detailed views about the case studies. After thorough analysis of the data, the findings revealed five factors that the high school administrators were optimizing better support their Black male learners: 1) hiring Black males, 2) the staff, 3) school activities, 4) collaborations with community partners, and 5) formal and informal methods of offering positive feedback and special recognition. These five factors were found as having the greatest influence on the academic achievement of the males. Overall, the study's findings aligned with earlier research on student achievement. Based on the findings, it was clear that the five factors promoted a certain degree of academic achievement independently. However, the researcher posits that, if implemented simultaneously, the five factors are likely to build a greater network of support for Black male high school students that will help boost achievement that is converted to increased graduation rates. Thus, implications for practice for other high school administrators as well as recommendations for future research emerged from the findings of this study.

Cette recherche porte sur le financement public de l’enseignement supérieur au Pérou et ses impacts dans une perspective longitudinale couvant la période 1993-2003. Cette période est importante parce qu’elle a été témoin, dans ce pays, de changements majeurs aux plans du financement public et de la configuration du système d’enseignement supérieur. La recherche consiste principalement dans des analyses secondaires de données pertinentes publiées par des organismes nationaux et internationaux. Les analyses sont structurées à partir d’un schéma d’inputs et outputs. On considère comme inputs les ressources financières et les ressources humaines, lesquelles comprennent les professeurs et les étudiants, et comme outputs les taux de diplomation (efficacité interne) et la demande de diplômés par le marché du travail (efficacité externe). La théorie de la dépendance de ressources sert de cadre pour interpréter les rapports entre le financement public et ses incidences sur les réponses institutionnels et ses conséquences. Dans la période retenue, le financement du secteur public a décru de 32% en raison d’un désengagement progressif de l’État. Une conséquence majeure de la diminution du financement public a été la croissance rapide du secteur privé de l’enseignement supérieur. En effet, alors qu’en 1993 il y avait 24 institutions privées d’enseignement supérieur, il y en avait, en 2003, 46 institutions. La baisse du financement public et la croissance du secteur privé d’enseignement supérieur ont eu des incidences sur la sélectivité des étudiants, sur le statut des professeurs, sur l’implication des universités en recherche et sur les taux de diplomation. Le taux de sélectivité dans le secteur public a augmenté entre 1993 et 2003, alors que ce taux a diminué, dans la même période, dans le secteur privé. Ainsi, le secteur public répond à la diminution du financement en restreignant l’accès à l’enseignement supérieur. Le secteur privé, par contre, diminue sa sélectivité compensant ainsi l’augmentation de la sélectivité dans le secteur public et, par le fait même, augmente sa part de marché. Également, tant dans le secteur public que dans le secteur privé, les professeurs sont engagés principalement sur une base temporaire, ce qui se traduit, particulièrement dans le secteur privé, dans un moindre engagement institutionnel. Enfin, les universités publiques et privées du Pérou font peu de recherche, car elles favorisent, pour balancer leurs budgets, la consultation et les contrats au détriment de la recherche fondamentale. Paradoxalement, alors que, dans le secteur privé, les taux de sélectivité des étudiants diminuent, leurs taux de diplomation augmentent plus que dans le secteur public. Enfin, les formations avec plus d’étudiants inscrits, tant dans le secteur public que privé, sont les moins coûteuses en infrastructure et équipements. Dès lors, la pertinence de la production universitaire devient problématique. Cette recherche révèle que les organisations universitaires, face à un environnement où les ressources financières deviennent de plus en plus rares, développent des stratégies de survie qui peuvent avoir des incidences sur la qualité et la pertinence de l’enseignement supérieur. / This research deals with public financing of higher education in Peru and its impacts in a longitudinal perspective. It covers a ten-year period from 1993 to 2003. This period is important since this country witnessed major changes in public financing of higher education and in the configuration of its higher education system. The research is based mainly in secondary analyses of relevant data published by national as well as international agencies. Analyses are conducted within an input-output scheme. Financial and human resources (professors and students) are considered inputs, and graduation rates (internal effectiveness) and market labour demands as outputs (external effectiveness). Dependency theory is used as framework for the interpretation of the relationships between public financing and institutional responses and its consequences. In the period considered, public financing diminished by 32% resulting from a progressive disengagement of the State. A major consequence of this disengagement was the rapid growth of the private sector of higher education. While in 1993 there were 24 private institutions of higher education, ten years later there were 46 institutions. The decline in public financing and the growth of the private sector of higher education had measurable consequences on selectivity rates, professorial status, research involvement, and graduation rates. Selectivity rates in the period considered increased in public institutions but decreased in the private ones. Thus the public sector reacted to the decline in financing by becoming more selective; the private sector responded to the increase in selectivity in the public sector by decreasing its rates which translates into a higher student market share. Also, in both sectors, professors are hired on a part-time basis which impacts on participation to academic life and on research production. Moreover, universities, both public and private, favoured applied contractual research as a means of gaining alternative funding to compensate for scarce financial resources. Paradoxically, whereas in the private sector selectivity rates diminished in the decade considered, graduation rates increased and so more than in the public sector. Finally, training programs with higher enrolments in both public and private sectors are those which require less investment in infrastructure and equipments without consideration of societal relevancy. This research reveals that higher education organisations which face an environment with diminishing financial resources devise survival strategies which might have a negative impact on the quality and relevance of higher education.

This dissertation consists of three chapters on labor economics. The first two chapters focus on education, and the third examines inequality and incarceration. Chapter one explores whether college students strategically delay exiting college in response to poor labor market conditions. It exploits variation in U.S. state unemployment rates to identify the causal impact of unemployment rates on time to graduation. Strategic delay is observed among both men and women. Results indicate that students delay graduation by approximately 0.4 months for each percentage point increase in junior-year unemployment rates, implying the average student delays by approximately half a semester during a typical recession. Effects are greatest for men with freshman majors in education, professional and vocational technologies, the humanities, business, and the sciences, and for women in education, the sciences, or undeclared. Delays are robust to fluctuations in students’ in-school work hours, earnings, and job market conditions. Chapter two assesses the impact of over-the-counter access to emergency contraception on women’s educational attainment using variation in access produced by state legislation since 1998. Approximately 5% of American women of reproductive age experience an unintended pregnancy annually, indicating a significant unmet need for contraception. Results indicate that cohorts with greater access to emergency contraception are more likely to graduate from high school and attain the associate’s degree. Effects for high school graduation are most pronounced among black women, while increases in associate’s degree attainment are driven primarily by white and Hispanic women. Chapter three explores the relationship between incarceration and generational inequality. Using a calibrated OLG model of criminal behavior with race, inheritance and endogenous education, I calculate how much longer prison sentences, and a higher likelihood of capture and conviction contribute to income inequality. Results indicate that changes to criminal policy mirroring those of the “tough on crime” legislation of the 1980s and 1990s, including an 18% increase in criminal apprehension and a 68% increase in prison sentence length, have little impact on inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient. Instead, the model provides evidence that these enhanced enforcement measures deter crime and decrease incarceration rates. / text

Cette recherche porte sur le financement public de l’enseignement supérieur au Pérou et ses impacts dans une perspective longitudinale couvant la période 1993-2003. Cette période est importante parce qu’elle a été témoin, dans ce pays, de changements majeurs aux plans du financement public et de la configuration du système d’enseignement supérieur. La recherche consiste principalement dans des analyses secondaires de données pertinentes publiées par des organismes nationaux et internationaux. Les analyses sont structurées à partir d’un schéma d’inputs et outputs. On considère comme inputs les ressources financières et les ressources humaines, lesquelles comprennent les professeurs et les étudiants, et comme outputs les taux de diplomation (efficacité interne) et la demande de diplômés par le marché du travail (efficacité externe). La théorie de la dépendance de ressources sert de cadre pour interpréter les rapports entre le financement public et ses incidences sur les réponses institutionnels et ses conséquences. Dans la période retenue, le financement du secteur public a décru de 32% en raison d’un désengagement progressif de l’État. Une conséquence majeure de la diminution du financement public a été la croissance rapide du secteur privé de l’enseignement supérieur. En effet, alors qu’en 1993 il y avait 24 institutions privées d’enseignement supérieur, il y en avait, en 2003, 46 institutions. La baisse du financement public et la croissance du secteur privé d’enseignement supérieur ont eu des incidences sur la sélectivité des étudiants, sur le statut des professeurs, sur l’implication des universités en recherche et sur les taux de diplomation. Le taux de sélectivité dans le secteur public a augmenté entre 1993 et 2003, alors que ce taux a diminué, dans la même période, dans le secteur privé. Ainsi, le secteur public répond à la diminution du financement en restreignant l’accès à l’enseignement supérieur. Le secteur privé, par contre, diminue sa sélectivité compensant ainsi l’augmentation de la sélectivité dans le secteur public et, par le fait même, augmente sa part de marché. Également, tant dans le secteur public que dans le secteur privé, les professeurs sont engagés principalement sur une base temporaire, ce qui se traduit, particulièrement dans le secteur privé, dans un moindre engagement institutionnel. Enfin, les universités publiques et privées du Pérou font peu de recherche, car elles favorisent, pour balancer leurs budgets, la consultation et les contrats au détriment de la recherche fondamentale. Paradoxalement, alors que, dans le secteur privé, les taux de sélectivité des étudiants diminuent, leurs taux de diplomation augmentent plus que dans le secteur public. Enfin, les formations avec plus d’étudiants inscrits, tant dans le secteur public que privé, sont les moins coûteuses en infrastructure et équipements. Dès lors, la pertinence de la production universitaire devient problématique. Cette recherche révèle que les organisations universitaires, face à un environnement où les ressources financières deviennent de plus en plus rares, développent des stratégies de survie qui peuvent avoir des incidences sur la qualité et la pertinence de l’enseignement supérieur. / This research deals with public financing of higher education in Peru and its impacts in a longitudinal perspective. It covers a ten-year period from 1993 to 2003. This period is important since this country witnessed major changes in public financing of higher education and in the configuration of its higher education system. The research is based mainly in secondary analyses of relevant data published by national as well as international agencies. Analyses are conducted within an input-output scheme. Financial and human resources (professors and students) are considered inputs, and graduation rates (internal effectiveness) and market labour demands as outputs (external effectiveness). Dependency theory is used as framework for the interpretation of the relationships between public financing and institutional responses and its consequences. In the period considered, public financing diminished by 32% resulting from a progressive disengagement of the State. A major consequence of this disengagement was the rapid growth of the private sector of higher education. While in 1993 there were 24 private institutions of higher education, ten years later there were 46 institutions. The decline in public financing and the growth of the private sector of higher education had measurable consequences on selectivity rates, professorial status, research involvement, and graduation rates. Selectivity rates in the period considered increased in public institutions but decreased in the private ones. Thus the public sector reacted to the decline in financing by becoming more selective; the private sector responded to the increase in selectivity in the public sector by decreasing its rates which translates into a higher student market share. Also, in both sectors, professors are hired on a part-time basis which impacts on participation to academic life and on research production. Moreover, universities, both public and private, favoured applied contractual research as a means of gaining alternative funding to compensate for scarce financial resources. Paradoxically, whereas in the private sector selectivity rates diminished in the decade considered, graduation rates increased and so more than in the public sector. Finally, training programs with higher enrolments in both public and private sectors are those which require less investment in infrastructure and equipments without consideration of societal relevancy. This research reveals that higher education organisations which face an environment with diminishing financial resources devise survival strategies which might have a negative impact on the quality and relevance of higher education.