Concern about the impact of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs on society are not new. STEM employment in the United States has grown twice as fast as other fields during the last decade. School districts have been encouraged to consider STEM-focused schools to meet this demand and have responded by offering STEM magnet program options. This mixed-methods study used Lewin’s Theory of Change and Fullan’s ideas on Coherence as the theoretical frameworks to examine how students who participate in a high school STEM magnet program perform academically. Academic performance was measured using grade point average (GPA) and graduation rate. We compared the number of mathematics and science courses students in a STEM magnet program completed to the number of courses completed by students not participating in a STEM magnet program. Additionally, we surveyed teachers and administrators to learn their perceptions of student success factors in STEM magnet programs. There was a positive difference in graduation rates with a low effect size. The differences in the number of math and science courses completed were not practically significant. Moreover, magnet students earned a statistically significant higher GPA than non-magnet students. Furthermore, teachers reported a high degree of teacher efficacy, while administrators rated themselves higher on general leadership ability than on STEM leadership. We recommend clearly defining STEM education, additional professional development for teachers and administrators, streamlining accountability for STEM programs, and continuing to invest in STEM education as a pathway to producing college and career ready students.

Concern about the impact of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs on society are not new. STEM employment in the United States has grown twice as fast as other fields during the last decade. School districts have been encouraged to consider STEM-focused schools to meet this demand and have responded by offering STEM magnet program options. This mixed-methods study used Lewin’s Theory of Change and Fullan’s ideas on Coherence as the theoretical frameworks to examine how students who participate in a high school STEM magnet program perform academically. Academic performance was measured using grade point average (GPA) and graduation rate. We compared the number of mathematics and science courses students in a STEM magnet program completed to the number of courses completed by students not participating in a STEM magnet program. Additionally, we surveyed teachers and administrators to learn their perceptions of student success factors in STEM magnet programs. There was a positive difference in graduation rates with a low effect size. The differences in the number of math and science courses completed were not practically significant. Moreover, magnet students earned a statistically significant higher GPA than non-magnet students. Furthermore, teachers reported a high degree of teacher efficacy, while administrators rated themselves higher on general leadership ability than on STEM leadership. We recommend clearly defining STEM education, additional professional development for teachers and administrators, streamlining accountability for STEM programs, and continuing to invest in STEM education as a pathway to producing college and career ready students.

Since the welfare reform in 1996, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) research has been centered on the debate with respect to whether states given more independence to make their own choices after 1996, have engaged in a competitive "race to the bottom" to reduce benefits for needy people. Despite the mixed empirical findings, the race to the bottom (RTB) debate in TANF is still a popular subject due to the states’ adoption of more severe sanctions, more stringent eligibility, and the overall decline in TANF caseloads. While discussing the race to the bottom in TANF, little attention was given to the impact of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, which caused significant changes in policy related to implementing TANF. Studies have not been undertaken to determine how states responded to the DRA, not only to meet the tougher requirements but also to serve an increasing number of needy people who were the least likely to be assisted through TANF, were it not for states’ strategic plans (e.g., creating solely state funded programs and creating/extending worker supplement programs). This study seeks to test the impact of states’ policy responses to the DRA on the TANF work participation rates, an official performance indicator of TANF. In order to empirically test this, a multivariate model is introduced to reveal the differences in TANF performances between states that actively responded to the DRA by adopting programs for more lenient coverage (i.e., worker supplement programs and solely state funded programs) and implementing severe sanctions for noncompliance with work requirements, and those that did not. The dataset is a balanced panel, consisting of fifty states over a 7-year period (2007-2013). The test results show that states implementing worker supplement programs achieve higher TANF performance than states without them. Also, we find that sanction effects may be much larger than we have known given that states sanctioning entire families and/or imposing harsh disqualification on SNAP for failure to comply with TANF work requirements are more likely to show higher performance in TANF work participation rates. Unlike our expectation, states’ generous stance in welfare programs does not affect achieving higher TANF performance. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / October 4, 2016. / Includes bibliographical references. / Frances S. Berry, Professor Directing Dissertation; Carol Weissert, Committee Member; Kaifeng Yang, Committee Member; Keon-Hyung Lee, Committee Member.

The choice of how poverty is conceptualised can have a significant effect on who is defined as poor and consequently who is targeted by government policies aimed at poverty eradication. This thesis examines the discourses of poverty used by the ANC government in its first decade in power and analyses what concepts of poverty underpin those discourses. By examining what concepts are used, this thesis lays a foundation for understanding what effect (if any) the concepts of poverty used by the ANC government might have on its efforts to combat poverty.

This study looks at five departments in the Provincial Government of the Western Cape as case studies and examines the ways in which they have organized their M&E [monitoring and evaluation] function.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-75)

Word processed copy. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-66). / The study unravels the nature of Cabinet decision making in African Public Sector systems, and discusses its implications on development policy implementation. The demands on the State, and its key machinery, the Public Service, have evolved over time. Many states, including Zambia and Malawi, have since independence seen a decline in the welfare of their citizens, despite the plethora of development policy instruments that have been put in place to address this worrying situation. Weak policy implementation has been cited as the problem.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-143). / This dissertation explores dimensions of social capital and its links with democracy in Cape Town, using data from the Cape Area Study 2003. The main theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of social capital in relation to democracy are critically analysed. The paper offers a descriptive overview of social capital, analysing facets beyond the widely used measures of general interpersonal trust and formal associational activism. While general interpersonal trust and associational activism in Cape Town are low, higher rates of social capital exist in other forms, such as neighbourly trust and informal networks of association with neighbours and kin. Factor and Reliability Analyses are applied to test dimensionality in the data finding that, in Cape Town, social capital is a multi-dimensional concept made up of distinct attitudinal and structural components. These facets are used to analyse the link between social capital and certain hypothesized outcomes linked to democratic stability, namely tolerance of diversity, civic commitment and political participation. The dissertation finds that interpersonal trust is a weak predictor of these outcomes and that associational activism can only sometimes be linked hereto. Other facets of social capital play a significant role in determining these outcomes, but no single variable is a consistently strong predictor hereof. The findings suggest that the dimensions of social capital vary in their functioning and link to the outcomes of tolerance of diversity, civic commitment and political participation.

Includes bibliographical references.

Interactions between the state and Non-governmental Organisations have been heightened globally. This has led to states engaging civil society more than ever before. However, tendencies to control NGOs by the state seem common in African countries. This dissertation seeks to examine relations between the state and NGOs in Botswana. Botswana is a democratic country, which has been hailed as stable and a strong state, however, civil society in Botswana remains weak. This creates a problem of a dominant state and weak civil society. The dissertation employs Najam's theoretical framework in trying to understand the extent of state dominance in the relationship between the state and NGOs in Botswana.