<p> <b>Purpose.</b> The purpose of the study was to identify the recommendations a Delphi panel of expert practitioners judges to be the most important for improvement of the funding formula for public education in California. This study was also designed to determine the level of importance and degree of feasibility of the recommendations. </p><p> <b>Methodology.</b> This study utilized the Delphi technique to collect data in three iterative rounds. Twenty expert practitioners provided responses to a series of three questionnaires. Additionally, a priority matrix was used to analyze the importance and feasibility of the recommendations. </p><p> <b>Findings.</b> The expert panelists identified 20 recommendations for improvement of the funding formula. The panel reached consensus on the level of importance for 14 recommendations and on the feasibility of 17 recommendations. Two of the priority recommendations for improving the funding formula were related to the base grant funding amount: Experts recommended increasing the base dollar amount allocated to districts and establishing a method to ensure the base grant grows at a rate greater than cost increases incurred by districts. Additionally, two of the priority recommendations were to include students with special needs in the calculations of the funding formula. The experts also identified the need to protect against the addition of new categorical programs. </p><p> <b>Conclusions.</b> The recommendations identified by the expert panel reflect the need to revise the funding formula to adequately cover the basic needs of school districts by providing sufficient funds at the base grant level. Additionally, the recommendations demonstrate a need to revise the eligibility for supplemental and concentration grant funds so districts are able to provide supports for students with disabilities in their accountability plans. </p><p> <b>Recommendations.</b> Specific recommendations were made to improve the funding formula for public education in California: Increase base grant amounts by providing additional funds or adjusting the supplemental and/or concentration grants proportionally. Students with disabilities should be considered at risk and included in the calculations for supplemental and concentration grants. Protect the integrity of the LCFF and LCAP by reducing restrictions on the use of supplemental and concentration grants and restricting new categorical programs.</p><p>

<p> Gross inequality in access to health services is a common problem in developing countries like Panama. This study responds to the current shortage of physicians from economically depressed communities in Panama. By using qualitative research methods, I examined the personal, financial, curricular and environmental factors that shape low-income students&rsquo; commitment to become physicians; the forces that shape these medical students to practice medicine once they graduate; and how policies and institutional practices in medical schools in Panama influence rates at which low-income students become physicians. Specifically, data sources were used to explore how the nation&rsquo;s educational policies, as well as recruitment, admissions, and student support practices in medical schools, influence rates at which low-income students become physicians. Documents were analyzed to determine statistical trends in medical school enrollment and completion for some of the selected medical schools; and the availability and effectiveness of various policy initiatives enacted to increase the production of physicians across the country. </p><p> Interviews were conducted with senior academic officers of medical schools (e.g., vice provost, deans and directors) and others who know much about the country&rsquo;s current human resources challenges in medicine (e.g., a former minister of health, the deputy minister of education, and the health senior adviser to the president of Panama). Interviews with these stakeholders provided insights into the educational, political, and economic forces that shape whoever enrolls in and ultimately completes medical school. Additionally, recent graduates or students in their final year of medical school from four schools of medicine in the Republic of Panama participated in focus groups, to offer information into the personal, familiar and institutional factors that supported and undermined low-income students&rsquo; goals of becoming doctors. Some attention was paid to socioeconomic demographics of communities in which certified physicians ultimately choose to practice. </p><p> The findings of this study provide Panamanian policymakers with valuable information for defining better approaches to train physicians for underserved areas and may help Panama achieve compliance with the millennium objectives that were agreed to by member countries of the World Health Organization in 2000. Finally, implications for future research on the training of low-income students to become physicians in underserved communities are proposed.</p>

<p> Colleges facing pressures to increase student outcomes while reducing costs have shown an increasing interest in competency-based education (CBE) models. Regional accreditors created a joint policy on CBE evaluation. Two years later, through this grounded theory study, I sought to understand from experts the nature of this policy, its impact, and the possible need for it to be revised. Findings indicate that the Council of Regional Accrediting Commission&rsquo;s (C-RAC) Framework was helpful as an educational tool but was also a product of its time and may need to be updated. Analysis of survey responses, a focus group discussion, and semi-structured interviews revealed themes centering around a) the value of the Framework, b) its alignment with accreditors and changing times, and c) the need for its revision. A grounded theory of a narrative lifecycle for the Framework details a progression through six stages that is driven by predictable narrative features. Implications of a narrative policy lifecycle view of the Framework underscore the need for revision of the Framework, and the potential usefulness of applying a narrative paradigm to other higher education accreditation work.</p><p>

Extended Essays (M.A.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (School of Communication) / Simon Fraser University. Senior supervisor : Dr. Catherine Murray. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 375-398). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 375-398). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982. / Cover title.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1984.

This thesis examines some social policies and public health measures in the small county of Bedford, within the national context, 1904-38. No other such study exists which covers these aspects; it will, therefore, fill a gap in the body of knowledge. At this time, national and imperial needs for a healthy British race were paramount in the minds of politicians and social reformers, particularly in the face of competition for industrial and military supremacy from other powers, including Germany and the United States of America. Certain key themes permeated this era: the changing functions of local and central government, the role of the state and voluntary sectors, and a medical profession divided between those employed in preventive medicine, and those in private practice. However, war, the preparation for war and its after effects have been found to be the most significant factors. George Newman (1870-1948), figures large, because he played a major part in public health initiatives, firstly, as part-time County Medical Officer of Health to Bedfordshire County Council (1900-07), and then at central government level, as Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education (1907-35), and of the Ministry of Health (1919-35). Two methodological tools were used in this thesis. Historical research was carried out using, mainly, primary source material, and an empirical study was undertaken using a descriptive case study approach. These methods enabled the collection of quantitative and qualitative data and helped to determine both the final content, and the form in which the research was presented. Chapter 1, the Introduction, provides a background to the key figures and themes discussed and describes the intra-county differences in Bedfordshire. Chapter 2 concerns infant mortality, as it is an indicator of the health ofthe whole community. Chapter 3 describes the health of school children, because the Government was particularly anxious about their condition, as they would be needed for industrial and imperial expansion, and in the event of war. Chapter 4 concerns the welfare of children. It provides examples of how the state and voluntary sectors strove to preserve child life, despite problems such as orphanhood and cruelty, and yet still attempted to meet the needs of the British Empire for labour. Chapter 5 discusses women's health, as it was relatively neglected by central government in this period. It takes the form of a case study and makes use of oral testimony from a cohort of 84 women who lived in Bedfordshire in the inter-war years. Chapter 6, the conclusion, examines the effect of war, the role played by the voluntary and state sectors, and the divided medical profession. It also considers the extent to which Bedfordshire led, or lagged behind national social policies and public health measures, and the progress made towards a healthier nation until 1938, the last full year of peace in Europe before the outbreak of World War II.

Recently, subjective wellbeing, or more popularly, happiness and life satisfaction, have received growing interest from social scientists, policy makers, and the public alike. This thesis applies Wellbeing, Self-determination, and Social Cognitive theories, and investigates the role of subjective wellbeing for obesity. The main methodology is multivariate regression with ordinary least square, Logit, and two-stage least square estimators. The data are from the Canadian Community Health Survey, 2010. Results show that subjective wellbeing has negative, independent impact on body mass index (BMI) and on the probability of being obese after controlling for the conventionally studied determinants of obesity like age, gender, income, and education. The study contributes to the literature on obesity and suggests possible policy interventions on obesity from the perspective of subjective wellbeing.