Shortages in the teaching subfields of math, science, special and bilingual education have been one of the most persistent problems in teacher labor markets. This problem is in part due to the single salary schedule by which most public school teachers are paid, and which usually only gives pay increases for years of experience and additional credentials. However, in recent years, to combat shortages a minority of school districts have begun to offer additional financial incentives to teachers in shortage-fields. However, there has been little rigorous empirical evidence on whether these incentives are effective for changing labor market outcomes. Utilizing an Instrumental Variables Difference-in-Differences model with a novel instrument, I estimate whether districts that provide such incentives report better recruitment conditions and experience higher rates of retention of shortage-field teachers than comparable districts that do not offer incentives. I find positive and statistically significant impacts on retention. Findings are discussed in terms of estimated incentive magnitudes, as well as in light of a document review of collectively bargained contracts from districts that provide shortage-field incentives.

This dissertation was designed to provide an example of an application of the ingredients method of cost-effectiveness analysis of Talent Search, a nation-wide federally-funded program that targets low-income students who promise to be the first generation in their families to attend college. The program serves students in grades 6 to 12 to increase the rates of high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment. Because Talent Search is a multi-site and a multi-output program, the analyses allowed for the exploration of two complexities in conducting cost-effectiveness analyses: site-level variation within a program and combining multiple outcomes to evaluate a program's efficiency. My results show that variation in costs, cost-effectiveness ratios, and benefit-cost ratios was wide across sites. This suggests that future work should include site-level analyses to provide a range for a program's costs and cost-effectiveness and to provide policy relevant site-level examples of the resources utilized to implement a program. Because the outcomes of Talent Search have monetary values in the labor market, I combined the program's impacts on high school completion and postsecondary enrollment to estimate the additional income generated by the program. These findings suggest that the benefits of Talent Search outweigh the costs on average. However, the variability I find across sites illustrates that more investigation and development is needed to improve the productivity of the program and to reduce inequities across sites. Four important contributions were made with this work: it provides an in depth example of applying the ingredients method to a complex program, it suggests that future work should include site-level analyses, it indicates that retrospective work is limited and future work should be devoted to incorporating the ingredients method contemporaneously into impact evaluations, and it informs policymakers about the cost-effectiveness of Talent Search and the ways in which cost-effectiveness varies across sites.

Following the introduction of Performance Management in schools in 2000, the rate of increase in attainment from 2001-2005, as measured by the GCSE 5A*-C percentage pass rate, is noticeably higher than in the five years prior to its introduction. The aim of this research is to consider the impact of the national policy for Performance Management (PM) of teachers on standards of attainment in secondary schools. The thesis attempts to locate and explain a potential causal link between PM and the rate of increase in attainment at GCSE. It does this from within a Transcendental Realist philosophical framework incorporating a Critical Realist sociological perspective. An extensive literature survey on both Performance Management and its precursor, Appraisal, revealed a potential for research on the link between PM and standards of attainment in schools. In considering prospective strategies for such a study, a comprehensive range of methodologies and research methods are explored and the Critical Realist perspective using a case study design was considered to be a reasonable approach in that it appeared not to have some of the weaknesses exhibited by some of the other methodologies reviewed. The Case Study was completed through a series of forty four structured interviews in schools with ‘Challenging Circumstances' (an Ofsted indicator of the demographics of a school) and with two policymakers from the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE). The structured interviews based upon an analysis of PM national policy revealed a positive response to the effect of PM on standards of attainment. This was also coherent with a wider literature survey of the effects of the various PM policy dimensions at one level and a conceptual abstraction of the policy at another. However, PM policy was introduced as part of the Standards Framework (DfEE 1998), which provided for the introduction of a plethora of policies aimed at raising standards. These, together with a number of other contextual factors, were considered to add to the complexity of the final causal analysis. It is argued that Critical Realism has the potential to provide a useful and penetrative starting point in the analysis of such complicated contexts.

Decision making is the essence of an administrator's job. While planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting are the basic traditional "functions" of management, each of these clearly involves decisions---decisions as to which plan to implement, what goals to pursue, and how best to achieve the desirable ends. / Empirical findings support the hypothesized relationship between perceived external environments by individual school administrators and the types of decision-making models they adopted in schools. In particular, the level of perceived constraint from the external environments' 'linguistic orientation' and 'resource policy' greatly influences the types of decision-making models chosen by individual administrators in schools. Furthermore, the pattern of adopting decision models in a perceived less-constrained environment (i.e., demography and resource policy) correlates with the pattern in a perceived highly constrained environment (i.e., social values, funding, and linguistic orientation), except for the environment of 'control'. This suggests that the decision-making experience gained from a less-constrained environment can serve as a reference frame for the highly constrained environment. Supplementary interview data support the validity of the self-reported decision-making questionnaire. / Given the fact that little is known about how issues arising from external constraint affect the administrative decision-making process, this study focuses specifically on their intricate relationships to broaden our understanding on the ever-expanding arena of administrative decision making in a turbulently growing working environment. / In the past, schools were instrumental in maintaining the existing social order, and as such, they were kept in status quo. However, the globalized reform movement has vastly reshaped schools' external environment, compelling the whole education system to undergo radical change as well. In this context, school administrators have to be more proactive to the changing environment to ensure the viability of their schools. / This research investigates the relationship between the perceived external environment by individual school administrators and the decision-making models they adopted in schools. This study adopts the construct of Lam (1985) which delineates the perceived external environment into four domains: political, economic, social, and cultural domains. Factor analysis on local data yielded six external variables, namely, demography, funding, linguistic orientation, social values, control, and resource policy, and these were perceived to exert varying degrees of constraint in the operation of schools. Issues arising from these external variables were identified. The conceptual rationale and procedures of resolving the issues constitute the basis of pinpointing the decision-making models that school administrators adopt. / Law Chan Fai. / "November 2005." / Adviser: Nicholas Sun Keung Pang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4053. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 200-217). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

No description available.

Thesis (D.Min.)--Liberty Theological Seminary and Graduate School, 2007.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University, 1953. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-71). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1939. / Vita. Published also as Teachers college, Columbia university, Contributions to education, no. 784. Bibliography: p. [257]-278.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed February 25, 2010). PDF text: ix, 157 p. : col. ill. ; 2 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3379029. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University at Normal, 1966. / Title from title page screen, viewed Aug. 3, 2004. Dissertation Committee: Ben C. Hubbard (chair), Clayton Thomas, Charles B. Porter. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83). Also available in print.