Deconstructing School Choice: Problem Schools or Problem Students?

School choice has developed into one of the most contentious policy debates in K–12 education. Proponents argue that choice leads to competition among schools, thereby raising school quality for all students, while opponents claim that school choice often results in racial segregation and worsens inequity. The findings of this study, collected from qualitative interviews with school administrators and quantitative analysis of school performance and enrollment data, suggest that a common form of school choice, intradistrict transfer, may not always have the desired impacts on administrators, particularly with regard to intradistrict transfer programs. In addition, the author finds important differences in criteria that shape transfer decisions at different grade levels, and in the factors that shape the decision to transfer away from a school versus those that influence decisions about which school to transfer into.     

Do School Report Cards Produce Accountability Through the Ballot Box?

Public education has been transformed by the widespread adoption of accountability systems that involve the dissemination of school district performance information. Using data from Ohio, we examine if elections serve as one channel through which these accountability systems might lead to improvements in educational quality. We find little evidence that poor performance on widely disseminated state and federal indicators has an impact on school board turnover, the vote share of sitting school board members, or superintendent tenure, suggesting that the dissemination of district performance information puts little (if any) electoral pressure on elected officials to improve student achievement.     

The Régulation School,the employment relation and financialization

This article examines recent developments in the published work of prominent members of the French Regulation School. It is argued that major revisions are taking place in the school's assessment of contemporary capitalist systems. In particular, the primacy attached to employment relationships is under question, as is the emphasis on distinct national trajectories. In spite of these significant changes in interpretation, it is argued that the work of the school, which continues to insist that market economies can function effectively only in a well-defined institutional context, is still of great interest from a methodological point of view.     

What Types of School Capital Projects are Voters Willing to Support?

In many states, investments in school capital must be approved by bond referenda. Consequently, voter preferences can directly impact the quality of school facilities and their infrastructure. Researchers have often analyzed the causal mechanisms of referendum passage, but they have not examined whether the type of capital project affects the outcome of the referendum itself. In this paper, we use data from the state of Michigan to examine whether voters are willing to provide more or less support for specific types of capital investments. We focus on the relationship between voter support for maintenance versus the construction of a new building or additions to existing buildings. Our analysis suggests there is a higher approval rate for maintenance of existing facilities than the construction of new school buildings or additions.     

Economics and the Practice of Human Action： The Legacy of the Austrian School

Economics is the youngest of all sciences. Its task is to identify the secondary consequences, but it requires a perception of general consequences, including effects which are brought by an implemented or proposed economic policy not only to a certain special interests in short periods of time but also to a general interest for long periods, which somewhat contradicts the assumptions of many economic doctrines. Thus, the current state of economics or management science is difficult to be called autonomic. Economists ＂have opened＂ the domain previously reserved for ＂hard indicators＂ on the human aspects of the assessment of effectiveness. What is more, the discovery of regularity in the sequence and independence of market phenomena, in particular, a markdown role of the ＂invisible hand of the market＂ and ＂government interventionism＂ put into question the validity of the dogmas of traditional British or American schools, as a consequence of the operation of schools with the teaching of economics. This paper is the attempt to show the failure of the most popular scientific economical schools, including neoclassical ones in the area of human performance, comparing with Austrian School principles.     

Can Social–Emotional Learning Reduce School Dropout in Developing Countries?

An alarming number of students drop out of junior high school in developing countries. In this study, we examine the impacts of providing a social–emotional learning (SEL) program on the dropout behavior and learning anxiety of students in the first two years of junior high. We do so by analyzing data from a randomized controlled trial involving 70 junior high schools and 7,495 students in rural China. After eight months, the SEL program reduces dropout by 1.6 percentage points and decreases learning anxiety by 2.3 percentage points. Effects are no longer statistically different from zero after 15 months, perhaps due to decreasing student interest in the program. However, we do find that the program reduces dropout among students at high risk of dropping out (older students and students with friends who have already dropped out), both after eight and 15 months of exposure to the SEL program.     

Community Service by High School Students: A Cure for Civic Ills?

In response to what some see as a crisis in civic attitudes and participation, there has been a reinvigorated effort to involve high school students in school-based community activities and in less formal, volunteer community service. Yet little is known about the extent of participation or its effects. Using a nationally representative sample of 9th–12th graders from 1996, we document a high participation rate but also note that many students perform service only once or twice a year and in limited capacities. Participation rates are related to certain student, family, and school characteristics; school policies are also significant, though arranging but not requiring participation may be the key. Participation appears to stimulate greater political knowledge, more political discussions with parents, enhanced participation skills, and higher political efficacy, but not more tolerance of diversity.     

Influence of Khat （Miraa） on Primary School Dropout Among Boys in Meru County,Kenya

Despite introduction of Kenya＇s Free Primary Education in 2003 to achieve Universal Primary Education （MDG2）, primary school boys＇ enrolment in Kangeta is declining while dropout rates are increasing. This study investigated the influence of Khat （Catha edulis） on the boys＇ dropout rates. A cross-sectional design was used to collect data from 210 randomly selected dropouts and 10 primary school head teachers. Content validity of the teachers＇ questionnaire and boys＇ interview guide was ascertained by education experts, while reliability coefficients determined through a pilot test was 0.83a and 0.72a respectively. Peer pressure, Khat chewing, and easy money from Khat trade forced boys to leave school. Khat was highly regarded, socially accepted, and promoted the local people＇s economy and culture but was partly responsible for the boys＇ dropout. About 62% of the dropouts regretted leaving school and would re-enroll if given a chance. About 89% of the money from Khat was spent on food rather than investment. Parents and education stakeholders should help pupils complete education by discouraging them from engaging in Khat. Those involved in Khat should be encouraged to invest part of their income.     

Inconvenient Truth? Do Collective Bargaining Agreements Help Explain the Mobility of Teachers within School Districts?

We utilize detailed teacher‐level longitudinal data from Washington State to investigate patterns of teacher mobility in districts with different collective bargaining agreement (CBA) transfer provisions. Specifically, we estimate the log odds that teachers of varying experience and effectiveness levels transfer out of their schools to other schools in the district in Washington kindergarten through 12th grade (K‐12) public schools. We find little consistent evidence relating voluntary transfer provisions in CBAs to patterns in teacher mobility, but do find evidence that patterns in within‐district mobility by teacher experience and effectiveness vary between districts that do not use seniority in involuntary transfer decisions and those that use seniority as a tiebreaker or the only factor in these moves. In models that consider teacher experience, the interaction between teacher experience and school disadvantage in teacher transfer decisions is more extreme in districts with strong involuntary seniority transfer protections; novice teachers are even more likely to stay in disadvantaged schools, and veteran teachers are even more likely to leave disadvantaged schools. On the other hand, models that consider value‐added measures of teacher effectiveness suggest that more effective teachers are less likely to leave disadvantaged schools in districts that do use seniority in involuntary transfer decisions, that is, seniority transfer provisions could actually make the distribution of output‐based measures of quality more equitable. Taken together, these results suggest that seniority transfer provisions may have differential impacts on the distributions of teacher experience and effectiveness.     

‘Empty,Swept and Garnished’: the Public Finance Initiative case of Throckley Middle School

As spaces of complex layering of multiple relations, each with their own space–time dynamics and reach, policies of urban governance and their tangible outcomes can be materially experienced as conjunctions of multiple meshworks of assemblages with different scopes and different systems of values. This paper investigates a case example of a Private Finance Initiative for the construction of Throckley Middle School in Newcastle upon Tyne. Completed in 2003, Throckley school closed in 2005. A Deleuzean-inspired tracing of several Throckley assemblages is presented and the paper concludes by discussing the challenges of adopting a Deleuzean perspective for analysis of urban governance and infrastructure development.     

Can Nonexperimental Estimates Replicate Estimates Based on Random Assignment in Evaluations of School Choice? A Within‐Study Comparison

The ability of nonexperimental estimators to match impact estimates derived from random assignment is examined using data from the evaluation of two interdistrict magnet schools. As in previous within‐study comparisons, nonexperimental estimates differ from estimates based on random assignment when nonexperimental estimators are implemented without pretreatment measures of academic performance. With comparison groups consisting of students drawn from the same districts or districts with similar student body characteristics as the districts where treatment group students reside, using pretreatment test scores reduces the bias in nonexperimental methods between 64 and 96 percent. Adding pretreatment test scores does not achieve as much bias reduction when the comparison group consists of students drawn from districts with different student body characteristics than the treatment group students’ districts. The results suggest that using pretreatment outcome measures and comparison groups that are geographically aligned with the treatment group greatly improves the performance of nonexperimental estimators.     

Do More Options Always Benefit the Users of Public Services? An Experimental Study of School Choice,Performance, and Satisfaction

Recent years have seen an increase in choice of provider in many public services, including education. Proponents of provider choice suggest that it increases users' satisfaction. However, insights from the psychology of choice overload suggest that too much choice can be detrimental. The authors use a survey experiment to investigate the effect of provider choice on parents' satisfaction with schools (under performance declines and increases). The findings show that choice increases satisfaction and perceptions of fairness of the process compared with no choice. However, consistent with choice overload, increasing the number of options does not boost satisfaction. The findings have important implications for satisfaction as a measure of performance, because user satisfaction seems not to be independent of choice processes. This suggests lessons for designing delivery systems: although facilitating minimal user choice is preferable to having no choice, further increasing delivery options may not increase users' satisfaction.     

丽都:奢华与梦幻

在法国,曾流传着这样一种说法:"没有丽都,就没有巴黎的夜生活"."丽都"歌舞厅坐落在堪称世界第一街的香榭丽舍,离凯旋门约几百米的路口.每天华灯初上,歌舞厅门口就对着大街打开闭路电视,播放当晚要演出的部分节日的录像,这种广告招来不少观众.一场演出的票价包括晚餐、半杯香槟和表演,可以卖到200欧元.丽都历来是贵族名流、富豪们在巴黎的首选休闲圣地.     

当前中国政府公共信息服务的问题与对策

政府公共信息服务有利于激发公民的政治参与热情,有利于拓展民主的广度和深度,有利于提高政府效率,有利于提高政府能力.从实际情况看,当前中国政府公共信息服务存在的问题是:政府公共信息服务的内容十分有限,方式较为单一,法律有所欠缺,类型不够多样,机构存在不足.为此,有必要扩展政府公共信息服务的内容,完善其服务方式,健全其法律和机构.     

何种意义上的思想史:境况、描述与解释

随着人们对中国思想史研究现状不满足感的增加,试图改变它的期望也变得强烈了.这首先促使我们清醒地反思中国思想史这门专业所处的实际境况.我愿列出一些也许是属于整体性的问题.     

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