Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2004. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-01, Section: A, page: 0271. Adviser: Gerhard Glomm. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Oct. 12, 2006).

<p> Currently in Kentucky there is a shortage of applicants for filling vacant teaching positions, specifically Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teaching positions. There are more vacancies than there are teachers to fill the positions. This study&rsquo;s primary purpose was to determine the current working conditions, perceptions of working conditions, and changes that could improve satisfaction for FACS teachers. This research included a survey and three focus groups with FACS teachers in Kentucky. Through these methods, data was collected to identify the areas that could use improvement and how these improvements could be made. The results were that most teachers were very satisfied or usually satisfied. For an increase in satisfaction, teachers indicated smaller class sizes, more money, updated classrooms, updated equipment and more administrative support.</p><p>

This dissertation will examine the determinants of international variations in child welfare. In particular, I intend to focus on the relationship between child welfare and the distribution of power in societies. In pursuing this objective, I will proceed in four steps. First, I will identify elements to construct a holistic child welfare index (WINOCENT). Second, drawing on the chapter on literature review, I will assemble and present data on various determinants of child welfare identified in that chapter. I will sort these determinants into two broad categories: structural variables, which are not readily amenable to alternation by policy makers, at least in the short run; and the policy variables, which can be more readily manipulated. Third, I will calculate the National Performance Gaps (NPG)s for the child welfare index (WINOCENT) and the variables comprising it, by regressing them against per capita income using the ordinary least squares method. In the fourth and last stage, regression analysis will be used to examine the relationships between the dependent variable, i.e. the WINOCENT and its constituent elements, and the independent variables, i.e. the structural and policy variables.

<p> A primary goal of universities is to maximize student enrollment by improving course curriculum and enhancing specific programs. This is especially a challenge for smaller universities who want to offer specialized and highly diverse electives. This study aims to increase the quality and relevance of electives offered by understanding specifically what attributes students prefer more or less when choosing among alternatives. The results are used to explore how to use limited marketing and student-outreach financial resources to target students that are most likely to enter and complete courses and programs, based in part on their socioeconomic or demographic characteristics. The application is aimed at the economics unit at Michigan Technological University, which offers two programs: an undergraduate economics major and a master&rsquo;s program in applied natural resource economics. Using an efficiently-designed discrete-choice experiment, this study elicits over 700 students&rsquo; stated preferences over a variety of attributes of economics courses related to the natural environment. Students were surveyed, and each student was presented with six different pairwise choice options that were developed based on 36 different alternative courses consisting of 8 attributes, such as class topics, professor rank, time of day, and research requirement. There were three significant covariates (political preference, economic interest, and domestic/foreign status). A latent-class discrete-choice random-utility model is estimated to probabilistically group students into different preference classes. Four preference classes emerge from the results that are highly heterogeneous in terms of the marginal utilities and the probabilities of being in a given class. For example, the largest class (40%) is made up of mostly conservative students, and the smallest class (12%) is made almost entirely of liberal students. While this study and the applicability of the specific results is unique to Michigan Technological University, the use of stated preference surveys and latent-class models is highly flexible and can be applied to any program at any university</p>

This Ph.D. thesis consists of three essays on Labour Economics and the Economics of Education, having the goal of contributing to the scientific discussion and shed new light on a number of empirical questions. The remaining of the chapter presents a general motivation for the study, together with the main findings and policy implications, which are fully developed throughout the thesis. Motivation There is an ongoing debate in Economics of Education on the merits and drawbacks of school choice as opposed to a community-based model, where schools only serve the local neighbourhood. Advocates of school choice base their arguments on the economic theory of market efficiency. First, a more market oriented education system should improve the match between pupils and schools. In this sense, allowing families to select schools on the basis of their preferences and teaching needs should result in an improvement in the average academic achievement. Moreover, increased choice should help breaking the link between residential and school segregation induced by a community-based model, with wealthier families living in more affluent neighbourhoods also attending the best schools. The benefits of choice should be even more pronounced for low income children who are typically segregated in poor neighbourhoods served by low quality schools (Gibbons et al., 2008). Second, school choice is believed to have beneficial effects also on school performance. Indeed, community-based schools operate in an almost monopolistic market, implying little incentives to innovate and improve teaching performance. In a world 1 Introduction where parents have strong preferences for quality, a choice based model would increase competition among schools with the ultimate result of boosting performance (Hastings et al., 2005; Burgess et al., 2009; Gibbons and Silva, 2011). On the other hand, scholars in favour of a community-school model claim that teachers are more likely to perform well in a more stable environment with relatively low turnover. Moreover, greater choice would replace the link between neighbourhood and school segregation with sorting across schools on the basis of family background characteristics. In this sense, they advocate that it would be more desirable to stick to a community-based model and improve the performance of lower quality schools via redistribution of resources. The first two chapters of this thesis aim at shading additional light on the advantages and disadvantages of school choice models. Specifically, I explore the effects of a programme introduced in the UK, which aimed at increasing choice among low income families, on both students' choices and school behaviour. The third chapter addresses a different empirical question. Typically, when workers are rewarded on the basis of team effort the possibility arises that individuals free ride. However, past literature emphasised the importance of externalities when groups of agents are concerned. Specifically, group effects such as social pressure or shame may be strong enough to completely offset free riding (Kandel and Lazear, 1992; Mas and Moretti, 2009). Using Italian social security data on private sector employees, the last chapter contributes to the existing literature by exploring externalities in workers' shirking, which I recover from information on sick leave episodes.

The focus of my research is to explore the experiences of female academic staff in a number of higher education institutions in Pakistan. The research looked at female academic staff perceptions in light of their socio-cultural experiences and how societal as well as cultural norms impacted their institutional experiences. It also investigated female academic career progression and work-life conflict which impacts their lives. The research also explored how multiple identities are adopted by these academics in their attempt to adjust to institutional life. A feminist discourse was adopted to understand female academic staff position in Pakistani society. From a methodological perspective, data was generated by conducting face-to-face interviews of 16 female academic staff from the four provinces in Pakistan. Sample was identified by snowballing technique and data was analysed thematically from the transcribed interviews. My findings show that female academics experience significant work-life conflict and career stagnation. Respondents indicated that their treatment was often based on their gender which was historically located and supported by male cultural and societal dominance. There was societal role differentiation with men being the bread-winners whereby women had a domestic role. Domestic responsibilities included women having to look after the home and the extended family. Within the institutions female academics are employed, their treatment was based on institutional ‘maleness’ whereby women were often denied opportunities to develop their careers in par with their male colleagues. Respondents indicated that institutional understanding of equality issues was often limited to policy rhetoric with little sign of policies being implemented. Overall, the findings show that for female academics there are a myriad of issues at institutional and societal level that need to be addressed to improve their overall experiences.

Human resource development, specifically workforce training and talent development in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its outcomes are the main goals of this study. This research investigation has focused on selected aspects of public policy strategies for workforce and human capital development in the UAE. More specifically, this investigation is aiming to investigate the effectiveness of various UAE Scholarship Programmes on workforce development. The research addresses how human capital development strategies for UAE Nationals, with specific and primary reference to university scholarship programmes, have had positive impacts on the development of those Nationals who successfully completed their programme within the last decade. Additionally this study asks what correlations there might be between the scholarships’ specific skills enhancement and the nature of the work in which alumni are presently engaged; and in what ways UAE Nationals believe their careers have developed as a result of the successful completion of their university scholarship programme; also to what extent UAE Nationals believe they have been able to impact positively on the institutions and organisations they work for. And indeed how do those participants who took part in this study feel about improvement of such programme for scholarship winners in the future? A mixed method design approach which integrated both quantitative and qualitative data was used. The quantitative data were collected through a survey, and qualitative data were collected from both the survey and through more in-depth individual interviews and focus group discussions with both alumni and public sector managers. The sample of the present study comprises a total of 206 alumni of both genders with (a 78% response rate) who participated in this study; and additional sample of 33 alumni also included, as well as three public sector mangers who had in=depth interviews. Using Kirkpatrick’s four level criteria of evaluation of alumni learning experience abroad. That is reactions and satisfaction, learning of the intended knowledge and skills, creation of behaviour change among participants and resulting in tangible impact on organisation as well employing other indicators which compared responses before 2006 and after 2006, the present research work indicated majority of participant’s alumni were very positive about their study experience aboard; participants claimed they have gained a wide range of skills and experience. Their future influence could include areas of high priority for development and leadership, including education, health and governance. Further results also showed that over 90% of alumni respondents have successfully completed their programmes of study; hence returned home and currently are working in the UAE. Majority of the participants also claimed that their programme contributed to international collaboration and partnerships. Overall evaluation and main outcomes of this study did not offer tangible evidence that scholarships are having a significant impact on institutional performance. There was also no noticeable difference between those institutions which had received relatively larger numbers of scholarships (Management, Biology, Engineering and Computer Sciences), and those who had received few. However, further in-depth assessment of individual institutions might be necessary in future to elicit such evidence and/or relationship links. Some results suggested that the scholarships offered by different ministries and departments will enable the transfer of skills and knowledge not only to individual award holders, but also to employers and relevant institutions. Finally, the main findings of the study lead to a number of recommendations to better support not only the integration of scholars in their workplaces but also the achievement of effective workforce plan to achieve the objective of Emiratisation Scheme and strategic vision on this important field of study which has been acknowledged at all UAE governmental levels.

Essais sur l'économie de l'éducation. / As stated by the World Bank “education is a powerful driver of development and of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace and stability”. Moreover, yearly years of education are crucial for developing attitudes, values and skills which are permanent for entire life. However, education analyses are generally reduced to the academic learning while other aspects related to fair social system insuring equal access to education is neglected by policy makers in developing countries. Access to learning, success at secondary school and opportunity of higher education is socially and spatially conditioned. Despite the increase of the school enrolment, there remain a large number of students who fail to meet minimum standards of literacy and there are left behind. These students are generally coming from economically deprived backgrounds and their exclusion from school has several consequences for social cohesion, economic growth and for regional development. Equal access to education should be guaranteed by giving importance to the socioeconomic environment such as parents’ educational attainment which presents an important predictor of children education. As stated by the OECD (2013), “If your parents didn’t go to university, it is unlikely you will”. Indeed, parents are first educators of children and their educational attainments reflect the level of quality care provided for them. Government investment in primary education is crucial for learning continuity even though the quality of secondary education is of big interest especially for girls because they represent future mothers. This may represent an important reason to promote educational attainment for actual and future generations. Another type of educational determinants is the school quality. Participatory pedagogy, updated skills of teachers, procurement of adequate instructional material, etc., are important factors that can improve primary educational efficiency and reduce school dropout.

This dissertation analyzes the effect of smaller classes on student performance using student-level test score data from the state of Texas, focusing on three specific issues: heterogeneity in the returns to smaller classes across a score distribution of students, the relationship between class size and students' moving decisions, and the connection between smaller classes and schools' class division procedures. I first examine evidence of heterogeneity in the returns to class size reductions across a score distribution of students. I divide students into decile groups based on their previous year test scores, and I estimate the returns to smaller classes for each of the deciles. The empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that there are significant differences in students' responses to class size, based on their previous test scores. I then model the class size effect simultaneously with students' decisions to switch schools, which is important because movers compose a substantial fraction of the dataset, and because class size effects vary between movers and nonmovers. Recognizing that students move for different reasons, only some of which are school-related, I present a two-type moving model in which students are categorized as endogenous movers or exogenous movers. I estimate the model estimated using maximum likelihood. The results reveal key biases in traditional estimates of the moving effect and suggest significant differences in the class size effect across mover types. I also explore the class size effect in conjunction with schools' decisions to sort students into different classes. Using student-level data in which students are linked to specific classes, I disentangle the class size effect from the sorting effect. Including a variable indicating the sorting index of a school decreases the magnitude and significance of the class size effect. I also examine different types of sorting. The findings suggest that sorting students into more homogeneous groups is beneficial for both high and low scoring students.

<p>Workers are remaining in the labor force at older ages and despite their desire to work, those without jobs face unprecedented durations of unemployment. Many of the unemployed lack current skills for jobs in demand and need to either upgrade their skills or be trained for a new occupation to become reemployed. An aging workforce combined with concerns about the long-term viability of social welfare programs has increased the importance of identifying strategies to encourage working at older ages. In recent years there has been increased focus on credential attainment through participation in publicly sponsored employment and training programs. While many older workers benefit from participation in publicly sponsored employment programs, they are less likely than their younger counterparts to receive training services. </p><p> This mixed methods research used a combination of multivariate regression, binary logistic regression, and key informant interviews to examine outcomes of older workers who participated in a training program through the Workforce Investment Act&rsquo;s (WIA) Dislocated Worker Program between April 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 and/or enrolled in credential programs at community colleges. This involved interviews and site visits at 14 community colleges to gain an understanding of the role community colleges play in linking older students to credential or certificate programs and analysis of secondary data to evaluate the benefits of obtaining a credential. Unemployed workers aged 55 to74 were the focus of the quantitative portion of this research. </p><p> Attaining a credential through participation in WIA&rsquo;s Dislocated Worker Program resulted in improved employment and wage changes as compared to those who were not credentialed. Effective strategies for community college involvement in workforce training were identified and include outreach programs for older students, providing advice for specific programs of study, support during the program to ensure completion, job placement services, and continuing education for skill upgrading. Implementation of programs and policies that encourage work at older ages has the potential to improve economic security and reduce the risk of poverty in retirement. Community colleges and public workforce programs play an important role in meeting the education and training needs of an aging and increasingly diverse population. </p>