<p>School resource officer programs, characterized as a major crime control model and violence prevention program have earned the designation as an effective prevention strategy to mitigate against student misconduct and violations of the law. This study explored school resource officers? perceptions of how arrests decisions influenced order within middle and high schools. The purpose of the study was to determine if a relationship existed between factors, circumstances, and the arrest decisions in middle and high schools. It was assumed the officers? decision to arrest or not arrest were dependent upon factors and circumstances that were interconnected to the functionality of maintaining social order within the school setting. The structural-functionalism theory offered a comprehensive approach to explore the relationship between the social structure of schools, functions of school resource officers and the impact of their arrests decisions in creating balance and stability in the school environment. For this study, the dependent variable was the arrest decisions of school resource officers and the independent variables were factors, circumstances and years of experience. The study hypothesized a correlation between the dependent variable (arrests decisions) and the independent variables, which were collapsed into three facets - factors, circumstances and years of experience. Although, it was presumed years of experience would influence arrests decisions, logistic regression analysis revealed it did not influence the arrest decision as much as the facet factors. The study further revealed females were more likely to arrest than males and more students were arrested at the high school level than at the middle school level. Academic achievement and criminal records were considered at the middle school level with little consideration in high school.

<p> Adequate access to primary care is an integral part of any health care system. One indicator for access outcomes is potentially preventable hospitalizations (PPH), i.e., a hospitalization that occurs when a patient is hospitalized for an ambulatory care sensitive condition (ACSC). PPHs are of interest because the additional costs of caring for a patient in a hospital with an ACSC, as opposed to in a primary care setting, are substantial, for patients, payers, and hospitals. Identifying the factors associated with PPH will aid in policymaking, improve access to care, and reduce the burden on the health care system. To address the gaps in the literature, I analyze how community-level access to care resources and state policies are associated with PPH using nationally representative data, while controlling for individual patient characteristics and community-level demographics. Multiple publicly available and restricted use data sources are linked to create a comprehensive data set that is used to investigate the relationship between PPH rates and community access to care factors. The dissertation addresses the following three objectives: (1) To determine the association between state Medicaid policies and the odds of a potentially preventable hospitalization; (2) To assess how primary care capacity and the odds of a potentially preventable hospitalization varies across the urbanization spectrum; and (3) To assess how primary care capacity and the odds of PPH varies for chronic and acute ACSCs. The findings are summarized below: - An analysis of state Medicaid policies does not find any significant associations between the odds of PPH and Medicaid generosity index and managed care penetration. - Primary care physician supply and the presence of a federally qualified health center are associated with a lower odds of PPH across the urbanization spectrum. - Physician supply, primary care and specialist, is associated with a lower odds of PPH for chronic ACSCs, while nurse practitioner and physician assistant supply is associated with a lower odds of PPH for acute ACSCs. The presence of a federally qualified health center is associated with lower odds of PPH for both chronic and acute ACSCs.</p>

<p> Decentralization policy is advanced in many regions as a collaborative approach to regional stability, economic and political development, and poverty reduction. However, there is not a valid decentralization policy in the Mano River Region (MRR) countries of West Africa despite the presence of multinational institutions and United Nations Peacekeeping forces. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological case study was to use the sequential theory of decentralization to investigate why peace and stability in the MRR are still fragile. The primary research question concerned how the policy of decentralization implementation in MRR can significantly contribute to regional stability, enhance economic development, reduce poverty, and minimize corruption in the MRR. Data were collected from 64 participants, through the use of semi-structured, in-depth interview techniques. A consent authorization of participants allowed the collection of the data. The analysis of data involved, identifying categories of responses and answers to classify them in phases based on responses answers to questions. According to study findings, decentralization policy was perceived to be a positive concept that promotes good governance, regional stability, economic development, poverty reduction, and minimization of corruption; however, there was little knowledge and implementation on decentralization in the MRR or among participants&rsquo; native countries. An educational program on the successes of decentralization policy implementation is recommended. Outcomes from this research may serve as a point for social change by providing a model understanding of peace and stability in the MRR and similar areas.</p><p>

<p> Data that follow students over time are not only important but necessary at all levels of education to make accurate policy and funding decisions. Districts have personnel responsible for collecting data from their schools and then reporting the data to the state. Using critical realism as the frame, a multiple case study was conducted to develop an understanding of how perspective and context influence actions of the district data personnel responsible for collecting and reporting data, provide those personnel with a voice, and contribute to the improvement of the federal reporting processes. </p><p> A review of the literature offers several points of reference for understanding this work. Researchers found that barriers to district data use do not tend to be technical issues, but human, state support of districts improves data use, and individuals bring their own context and understanding into any process in which they participate. </p><p> Four case studies of school districts in Virginia with exemplary data reporting were used in this research. Data were collected through interviews with district data personnel. All cases had data audit processes that were followed and documented, and all had distinct philosophies surrounding data in their districts, however, there was not a one size fits all organizational context or process. Challenges to state reporting included conflicting priorities of the school data personnel and lack of district data personnel. Recommendations include states support of communities of practice among school districts and federal funding support for school and district data collection and reporting. </p><p>

<p> Understanding federal managers&rsquo; use of evidence (performance measurement data and evaluation results) to inform decision-making is an important step to develop concrete strategies to remove barriers to use and increase use. The goals of this research are to: 1) explain the extent to which senior level managers and executives in federal agencies use performance measurement data and evaluation findings and results to inform decision-making; 2) understand the factors that influence use of evidence to inform decision-making; and 3) explore strategies to enhance the use of evidence. </p><p> The study employs a case study approach focusing on four federal agencies whose managers&rsquo; exhibit varying degrees of success in utilizing evidence (e.g., performance measurement data and program evaluation results). The four case study agencies that are the subject of the study are: United States Agency for International Development (AID), Department of Treasury (Treasury), the Small Business Administration (SBA), and Department of Transportation (DOT). The study relied on publicly available secondary data sources that were supplemented by document reviews and interviews with a small number of key informants. </p><p> The findings indicate that performance measurement use occurs within the four case study agencies, however, it&rsquo;s use declined from 2007 to 2017 for SBA, DOT and Treasury. Although a decline in use for some categories was evident in AID, other types of use increased. The results indicate that nearly 40% or more of respondents for the case study agencies use performance measurement data to inform decisions related to program strategy, problem identification and improvements and personnel performance related issues. </p><p> The data also suggest an important distinction and nuance associated with different levels of management who use performance information, as well as specific types of use. For example, the agency&rsquo;s top leaders and first line supervisors are more likely to use performance measurement data. However, an organization&rsquo;s middle management tends to be less likely to use data to inform decisions regarding changes to the program. </p><p> The most common factors that influence performance information use across the four case study agencies include: manager perceptions about who pays attention to performance information, the lack of incentives and the perceived authority (or lack of) to make changes to improve the program. In addition, access to timely and readily available data, information technology and or systems capable of providing the needed data, access to training, and staff knowledge and expertise to develop performance measures and conduct evaluations were found to influence the use of performance measurement. </p><p> In general, there is an overall decline in the percentage of managers who report an evaluation of their program was conducted from 2013 to 2017 in all four case study agencies. Despite this decline, over 50% of AID managers were aware of an evaluation that was conducted within the past five years. The lower responses reported by DOT (28%), SBA (32%) and Treasury (34%) is consistent with the absence of robust program evaluation efforts. In 2017, managers at AID, SBA and Treasury report using program evaluation results to implement changes to improve program management or performance, while AID, DOT and Treasury managers report using program evaluation to assess program effectiveness, value or worth.</p><p>

<p> Since 1920, the legal position of undocumented immigrants has devolved from &ldquo;worker&rdquo; to &ldquo;alien&rdquo; to &ldquo;criminal alien&rdquo; to &ldquo;national security threat.&rdquo; As the perceived threat level has increased, so has the use of a prison-like immigrant detention system to manage unwanted populations until they can be removed. This paper examines the ways in which immigration law, current policy, public opinion, detention processes, court procedures, and physical isolation converge to not only expedite that removal, but also to hinder and even deter those under removal orders from adequately presenting a case for relief in immigration court. Because the real, lived consequences of those laws and policies are experienced far from the view of those who make the laws, this thesis seeks to provide a window into the fraught process of preparing an appeal for relief from deportation within the limitations of detention.</p><p>

<p> Due to the usage of the outdated Federal Poverty Level (FPL) guidelines, many older adults are battling with economic insecurity and are not deemed eligible to apply for means-based assistance. The Elder Index has been identified as a tool to help determine poverty level taking into consideration the cost of living of the older adult&rsquo;s particular geographic area. </p><p> Governmental agencies such as AAAs in California are responsible for assisting older adults including low income adults in linking them to supportive community services. AAAs should be using the Index as a reference when making decisions about allocating resources. However, the problem is that the Elder Index is not being used by many AAAs, even though they are mandated to do so. The purpose of this project was to develop a manual to help AAAs in California to better understand the Elder Index. This manual will help target the challenges that AAAs have had in implementing the Elder Index tool.</p><p>

<p> The dissertation analyzes multilevel models to predict mortgage origination and the allocation of subprime credit pre-and-post Great Recession. With representative samples from two full years of mortgage applications filed in the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas, the dissertation uncovers evidence of persistent disparities by race and neighborhood minority concentration despite controls for socioeconomic, demographic, assimilation and housing variables. Mortgage outcomes varied by applicant race, neighborhood racial composition and neighborhood racial change. Findings suggest evidence of Fair Housing Act violations and disparate impacts towards minority homebuyers and minority neighborhoods. Results lend support for spatial assimilation theories in explaining much of the gap white-Asian gap and non-Hispanic white-Hispanic gap. Notable gaps remain between blacks and whites that are better explained by the place stratification model. In both 2004 and 2010 black, Asian and Hispanic prospective homebuyers were less likely to originate their mortgage relative to whites. In the earlier 2004 mortgage sample, black and Hispanic borrowers were much more likely to take out subprime loans relative to whites and Asians less likely. In 2010, the results held that black homebuyers were more likely than whites to take on subprime mortgages and Asian homebuyers less likely. The applicant coefficient for Hispanic was not a significant predictor of subprime in 2010. Asian homebuyers were indeed at a disadvantage relative to white homebuyers, both before and after the Great Recession and the disparity did not change significantly over time. Women were more likely than men to be denied mortgages and also to obtain subprime mortgages. Black neighborhoods were disadvantaged in 2004 and 2010, and increasing numbers of black neighbors reduced the likelihood of mortgage origination in 2004, but not in 2010. In 2004 and 2010, the presence of Asian and Hispanic neighbors increased the likelihood of mortgage origination but neighborhood racial ethnic change was less well received&mdash;with negative impacts for increasing numbers of Asian neighbors in both years and reduced mortgage odds for increasingly Hispanic neighborhoods in 2010. Neighborhoods with concentrated single mother households experienced disinvestment including denied mortgages and higher likelihood of subprime status when lenders infuse mortgage capital, though the effect size was very small. The research overcomes limitations of previous studies by employing advanced methods which account for neighborhood effects and by incorporating dynamic measures such as house-price-to-income ratios and regional credit score averages. The primary novel contribution of the dissertation is that this is the first study to examine the effect of neighborhood racial ethnic change on mortgage outcomes and the allocation of subprime mortgage credit. Explicit Fair Housing Act violations spur recommendations for reducing unequal disbursement of mortgage credit by race and gender, most importantly, by urging American schools to provide compulsory primary school coursework in financial literacy.</p><p>

<p> Federal policies have targeted electric lighting since the 1880s with varying success. This dissertation examines the history of those policies to understand policy makers&rsquo; intent and how their decisions affected the course of events. This qualitative study poses three research questions: How have changes in lamp efficacy affected policy development? How and why have federal policies targeted electric lighting? How have private sector actors adapted public policy to further their own goals? The analysis uses an interdisciplinary approach taking advantage of overlapping methodologies drawn from policy and political sciences, economics, and the history of technology. The concepts of path dependency, context, and actor networks are especially important. </p><p> Adoption of electric lighting spurred the construction of complex and capital intensive infrastructures now considered indispensable, and lighting always consumed a significant fraction of US electric power. Engineers and scientists created many lamps over the decades, in part to meet a growing demand for energy efficient products. Invention and diffusion of those lamps occurred amid changing standards and definitions of efficiency, shifting relations between network actors, and the development of path dependencies that constrained efforts to affect change. Federal actors typically used lighting policy to conserve resources, promote national security, or to symbolically emphasize the onset of a national crisis. </p><p> The study shows that after an initial introductory phase, lighting-specific policies developed during two distinct periods. The earlier period consisted of intermittent, crisis-driven federal interventions of mixed success. The later period featured a sustained engagement between public and private sectors wherein incremental adjustments achieved policy goals. A time of transition occurred between the two main periods during which technical, economic, and political contexts changed, while several core social values remained constant. In both early and later periods, private sector actors used policy opportunities to further commercial goals, a practice that public sector actors in the later period used to promote policy acceptance. Recently enacted energy standards removing ordinary incandescent lamps in favor of high efficiency lamps mark the end of the later period. Apparent success means that policy makers should reconsider how they use lighting to achieve future goals.</p><p>

<p> This dissertation analyzes the complex interrelationship between mass preferences and public policies. Using a range of public policies enacted in the U.S. at both the federal level and in the states we explore two related questions. First, through a comparison of policy outcomes and corresponding preferences we assess the degree to which public policies in U.S. states reflect constituent preferences. Second, using experiments embedded in public opinion surveys we demonstrate how the range of viable policies that are discussed in everyday political discourse feed back to mass preferences. </p><p> In Chapter 1, we introduce a new framework to compare the ideological orientation of public policies to mass preferences both within and across U.S. states. The approaches that have so far been employed in empirical research on this important question fall short for two reasons. First, they fail to quantify the degree to which policies are more or less liberal than preferences. Second, they do not assess the heterogeneity of preferences within jurisdictions, and thus do not consider how the quality of representation depends on the level to which policy decisions are delegated. Here we overcome both of these problems by generating estimates of Americans&rsquo; preferences on the minimum wage, which are measured on a scale that is comparable to observed policies and describe low levels of geographic aggregation. </p><p> Using these estimates, we demonstrate that most people are poorly represented by state minimum wage laws for two reasons. First, in each state, the minimum wage is much lower than the average rate preferred by state residents, leading to a pronounced bias against the preferences of the poor. Second, because preferences vary within states to a great deal, they are difficult to match by a single policy even in the absence of an overall policy bias. While minimum wage laws in the U.S. are typically set by elected officials and cover entire states, our results show that policies brought about by direct democratic institutions and at more local levels reflect preferences substantially better. These findings suggest that standard data and measures yield incomplete evidence about the relationship between public opinion and policy in the U.S. </p><p> Chapter 2, expands this framework to assess representation in issue domains where individual policy outcomes cannot be mapped onto an ideological scale. Following recent advances in the study of dyadic representation, we utilize the technique of joint scaling to simultaneously estimate the ideological content of policy outcomes and issue-specific attitudes underlying individual policy preferences on the same scale. We apply this method to study how well abortion and gun control laws enacted in U.S. states represent corresponding mass preferences. </p><p> We find that in the context of both issue domains policy outcomes are far removed from average preferences in the states for two reasons. First, both abortion and gun control laws exhibit a pronounced nationwide conservative bias leading to overly restrictive abortion laws in nearly all states and overly lax gun laws in every state. Second, while the conservatism of policy outcomes in the case of both issues is strongly associated with corresponding mass preferences across states, this relationship is best described as <i> hyper-responsive</i>. Relatively small preference differences across states are magnified into enormous variation in state laws. We demonstrate that a relatively broad range of <i>nationwide</i> policies would outperform the current status quo in terms of ideological divergence. </p><p> Chapter 3 presents a new theoretical framework to study the formation of policy preferences that accounts for the notion that choices between policies depend on the ideological range of alternatives that are salient in the ideological discourse. In particular, following the psychological literature on range effects, we argue that the introduction of policy alternatives that are far from the political mainstream can re-structure voter perceptions of where alternatives lie in the ideological space. </p><p> We provide strong support for the observable implications of this theory based on six survey experiments using a variety of policy contexts and samples. In particular, we find that the introduction of extreme alternatives into the public discourse makes mainstream policies on the same side of the spectrum look more centrist in the public eye, thus increasing support for these moderate alternatives. We discuss the implications of these findings for both theories of opinion formation and substantive debates on political extremism.</p><p>