On August 22, 1996, Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), fundamentally changing the U.S. welfare program. The hallmark of this Welfare Reform was the requirement that adult recipients, predominantly single mothers, work to receive benefits. Within 10 years, employment among female welfare recipients increased 135%. Previous research evaluating the impact of this rise in maternal employment on child well-being found positive effects on younger children when both employment and income increased, but adverse effects on adolescents. Welfare Reforms impact on infants (< 1 year) has not been well-studied. To assess the relationship between PRWORAs work provisions and infant health, crosssectional regression analyses were performed for 1998-2002, using the state as the unit of analysis. Independent variables included three work provisions, as applied to mothers of infants: (a) Exemption (months exempted from work after infants birth), (b) Hours (work hours required per week), and (c) Sanctions (penalties for work noncompliance). Earnings disregards (income supplement policies) were also considered. Measures of infant mortality were chosen as dependent variables, and controls were introduced for macroeconomic conditions, race, baseline mortality, and teen births. With no infant mortality dataset identifying welfare status, the population was approximated using unmarried women with less than a high school education. States with more stringent sanctions policies had statistically significant higher postneonatal mortality (PMR, days 28-364) in the study population in 1999. When earnings disregards were added, the stringency of sanction policy increased in significance with 1999 PMR and was significant for higher overall infant mortality (IMR, days 1-364). States with more stringent earnings disregards had significantly higher IMR in the study population in 1998, 1999, and 2001--during the neonatal period (NMR, days 1-27) in 1999 and 2001--and states with more stringent exemption policies had significantly higher neonatal mortality (NMR) in the study population in 2001. The analysis confirms a role of Black race in the regression model, but does not verify whether the relationships between PRWORAs work policies and infant mortality are independent or mediated through other variables.

Public schools have been found to be inefficient in producing education outcomes. Few studies, however, have investigated the sources of inefficiency in education. Lack of accountability is a possible contributing factor. As a national accountability policy, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act has become the focus of many studies since its passage into law. Nonetheless, no study has examined its influence on school inefficiency. This study fills the gap in the literature by investigating whether NCLB has enhanced school efficiency. I use two-stage analysis to address the issue. At the first stage, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a non-parametric approach, is used to estimate efficiency of individual schools. At the second stage, the estimated efficiency from the first stage models are used as dependent variables and the influence of NCLB on efficiency is examined by using a difference-in-differences estimator. The difference-in-differences estimator is constructed based on schools¡¯ distinct responses toward NCLB¡¯s sanctions. Schools with little threats of facing sanctions do not have incentives to change their behavior and are considered as a control group. Those at risk of not making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) have strong incentives to change their behavior and are considered as the treatment group. The effects of NCLB on efficiency are captured by the difference between two groups of schools with regard to their pre-NCLB to post-NCLB changes. Using three states¡¯ data, Minnesota, Indiana, and South Carolina, I find that NCLB has positively influenced school efficiency. Schools that are threatened by NCLB sanctions have improved their efficiency more rapidly than those that are not. The findings have important policy implications, in particular under the current tight economic situation.

The challenge of increasing school enrollment levels in sub-Saharan Africa has become a growing challenge as governments continue to build new schools while failing to see increases in school attendance rates. Recent literature has indicated that household factors and characteristics rather than school supply may be a growing determinant in enrollment decisions. Using data from a comprehensive household survey in Mozambique, we have attempted to define distinct household variables that increase the odds of school enrollment. Our results support previous findings that educational aspiration, parental education and household income remain critical inputs to school enrollment decisions. We also found specific household functions such as language, transportation, and electricity are also meaningful contributors to improving the odds of school enrollment. Households remain, however, a complex set of interconnected forces and household responses to school enrollment initiatives remains wide and unpredictable in many ways.

Despite speculation that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001s (NCLB) finely tuned attention to improving academic opportunities for traditionally low-performing students and student subgroups compromises educational opportunities of high-performing students, there is limited empirical evidence that NCLB actually inhibits the progress of high-performing students. Consequently, ideological predispositions have dominated public interest in distributional effects under NCLB. A Student X Subject general linear model with school and Year X Grade fixed effects is estimated to isolate whether a school, based on prior years performance, has targeted resources to (a) students in a failing subgroup, (b) students in a failing subject, and/or (c) students failing math on a failing subgroup in Idaho. There is strong evidence that NCLBs threat of sanctions increased incentives for schools and school districts to elevate learning opportunities for traditionally low-performing students and student subgroups, but that the increased performance by traditionally low-performing students and student subgroups did not occur at the expense of traditionally high-performing students. It appears that Idahos response to NCLB is one of improved efficiency and not achievement tradeoffs, in that traditional public schools in the state did more with the same level and distribution of resources as in years past.

This study examines both school and classroom level peer group effects on middle school student academic and behavioral outcomes in a mid-size urban district in the South. Identification of peer effects faces three major methodological challenges: simultaneity bias, selection bias and correlated omitted variable bias. This study circumvents the simultaneity bias by using pre-determined peer characteristics and lagged values of peer behaviors. In order to eliminate the endogeneity bias from self-selectivity and correlated omitted variables, I exploit the magnet school admission lotteries to form instruments for the endogenous peer variable. A magnet school admission lottery randomly assigns students to the magnet school (treatment group) or neighborhood schools (control group); meanwhile, conditional on the attendance zone, the lottery also randomly assigns students to the peers who they will encounter in either the magnet school or the neighborhood school. Therefore, magnet school lotteries bring exogenous variation in peer characteristics and will be exploited to overcome the critical issue of selection bias in identifying peer effects. Three research questions have been investigated in this study: the average peer group effect, the effects of peer heterogeneity, and the heterogeneous peer effects. This study finds substantial classroom peer effects on both student academic achievement and disciplinary infractions. For example, students score higher and behave better when the class has more high performers, well behaved peers, or peers from high income families. Percent black students is found reducing individual academic achievement and increasing student disciplinary infractions from both level analyses. This study does not find any evidence that the dispersion of peer characteristics impacts individual academic achievement or behavioral records. Significant heterogeneous peer effects are found on some subgroups of students. For instance, female students are less impacted by peers, and black and low income students tend to have more behavioral problems if surrounded by high proportion of same group peers.

This study examines the relationships between three dimensions of principal instructional leadership in the context of four school districts implementing standards-based instructional reforms in middle school mathematics. It investigates the degree to which the depth of principals vision for standards-based mathematics instruction and the extent of their involvement in instruction influence the expectations that mathematics teachers perceive for their standards-based practice. Analysis first examines the validity of a subject-specific version of a survey-based scale for principal involvement, using a multi-level Item Response Theory (IRT) model. Validity is generally supported, though the scale would benefit from items designed to measure higher levels of the involvement construct. Results show that, overall, subject-specific leadership for standards-based math instruction appears to follow similar patterns to that of instructional leadership across an entire school, while also posing some additional challenges for principals. A rubric for principal expectations for standards-based mathematics instruction is then developed. Thirdly, several elements of principal vision of mathematics instruction are measured. Then, a hierarchical generalized linear model (HGLM) is used to test hypotheses about the extent to which principals instructional involvement and vision predict teachers perceptions of expectations for standards-based instructional practices. The explanatory model indicates that the principals vision for standards-based mathematics instruction has a significant predictive effect on teachers perceptions of standards-based instructional expectations, and the model accounts for 50% of between-school variance. However, the means through which the principals vision influences teachers perception of expectations is unclear. No association is evident between the tasks of the principal involvement scale and the degree to which teachers report instructional expectations aligned with the goals of standards-based instruction. Among the limitations to the study: The involvement measure appears sensitive to principal involvement in instruction for the purpose of achieving multiple goals. Additionally, the expectations perceived by teachers tend to be form-oriented and the ability to extrapolate to function-oriented expectations may be limited. Finally, vision and expectations variables are both cognitive measures; associations with actual classroom practice may differ.

This study provides information about the socialization experiences of African American college students within historically Black and predominantly White institutional contexts. Drawing on Weidmans (1989) conceptual framework for college student socialization, this study illuminates college student perceptions of individual and institutional factors that influence the socialization experiences of African American college students including: student background characteristics, parental socialization, non-college reference groups, in-college experiences, and socialization outcomes as central factors in the process of undergraduate student socialization. The data for this study was collected through in-person, semi-structured interviews conducted with African American college juniors at a historically Black, private, selective, research university, and at a predominantly White, private, selective, research university as well as participant observation, and the collection of artifacts. Across both institutions, students early commitment to college participation, expectations and preparation for college, parents, and formal college experiences including interaction with faculty in-class influenced students socialization. Participants also had limited interaction with non-college references at both institutions. Parents were perceived as an influence in students pre-college college as well as in college experiences. Institutional factors that emerged as push and pull factors across both institutions included faculty-student interaction in class, and more specifically faculty expectations and class structure, concern for students learning, rapport with students, and engagement of students in-class. Several themes emerged that differed across institutional contexts relative to students socialization experiences. At the predominantly White institution, institutional choice, and peer norms including perceptions of the prevailing image of students, and patterns of peer interaction emerged as themes in the data. At the historically Black institution, institutional choice, institutional values, perception of a lack of administrative support as well as peer norms including perceptions of the prevailing image of students. In sum, this study provides insights that can be utilized to enhance the socialization experiences of African American college students across both historically Black and predominantly White postsecondary institutional contexts.

Over the past 80 years, many scholars and higher education professionals have attempted to better understand college student persistence and the institutional characteristics which are most strongly associated with an institutions ability to retain students. One institutional characteristic that has received little empirical attention over these many years is organizational racial composition. This study examines the relationship between college/university undergraduate student body racial diversity and institutional freshmen retention and six-year graduation rates. The findings suggest that increased student body racial diversity is positively related to overall institutional freshmen retention rates but not significantly related to institutional six-year graduation rates. These relationships, however, were conditional on various institutional characteristics.

This dissertation examines the role of trustees in fundraising at private liberal colleges in the United States. It consists of two studies. The first study uses quantitative data from a 2004-2005 Council of Independent Colleges survey as well as the IPEDS and Voluntary Support of Education surveys. Multiple regression is used to determine what board variables influence total individual, corporate, and foundation giving. Most alumni demographic factors are not significant, although having higher percentages of alumni on the board negatively influences individual and corporate giving, and the percentage of the board in the field of medicine positively impacts foundation giving. However, the models for foundation and board giving explain very little of the variation. The second study is a set of three qualitative case studies of CIC-member institutions. All are PWIs in the Southeast with weak ties to Protestant denominations. In this analysis, the roles of board members are compared with what the literature, both theoretical and normative, suggests they ought to be. Board members at Pine, Maple, and Oak do not view themselves or act as principals in a principal-agent relationship with their president. Their involvement in fundraising is primarily limited to giving, with other tasks such as fundraising calls only undertaken at the administrations request. Most do not make fundraising policy, solicit donations, or refer prospects; most have undergone no training in fundraising and do not have very sophisticated understandings of fundraising, either in general or at their college in particular. Board members, in short, are expected to be donors, but the board as a whole does not have collective fundraising duties.

The purpose of this study is to understand how the process of educational assimilation differs between refugee and non-refugee immigrant students. More specifically, the study examines how well the segmented assimilation theory, which is the most-widely used theoretical framework in studying immigrant adaptation, can explain the difference in educational expectations between refugee and non-refugee immigrant students. The themes and patterns that emerged from the experiences shared by students offer a starting point for a larger study in the future. Student interviews revealed that life-historical contexts were especially key to understanding educational assimilation for refugee students, because their past traumatic events such as war, loss of a family member, poverty, and life at refugee camps in their country of origin had a profound impact on their and their families¡¯ original decisions to come to the United States. In sum, this research serves as a pilot study for the purpose of testing the appropriateness and adequacy of the conceptual framework and interview protocol, which were mainly developed from the theory of segmented assimilation. The interview protocol was refined by deleting questions, adding new questions, and rephrasing questions.