School choice,racial segregation,and test‐score gaps: Evidence from North Carolina's charter school program*

Using panel data that track individual students from year to year, we examine the effects of charter schools in North Carolina on racial segregation and black‐white test score gaps. We find that North Carolina's system of charter schools has increased the racial isolation of both black and white students, and has widened the achievement gap. Moreover, the relatively large negative effects of charter schools on the achievement of black students is driven by students who transfer into charter schools that are more racially isolated than the schools they have left. Our analysis of charter school choices suggests that asymmetric preferences of black and white charter school students (and their families) for schools of different racial compositions help to explain why there are so few racially balanced charter schools. © 2006 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Black electoral power,white resistance,and legislative behavior

This paper examines the relationship between black electoral power and white legislative behavior in Mississippi. The initial theoretical foundation is provided by the work of William R. Keech. Keech's implicit model is presented and a more elaborate model which views black payoffs as a function of black electoral power and white resistance, and the political generation of white legislators is developed and tested. A typology of electoral contexts is constructed, and the impact of such contexts on the relationships between the key variables is examined. The findings suggest that the processes responsible for the curvilinear relationship between black electoral power and black payoffs are more complex than previous research has implied and that the nature of electoral contexts may have a substantial influence on these processes.     

Racial Composition, White Racial Attitudes, and Black Representation: Testing the Racial Threat Hypothesis in the United States Senate

We make the case for why the racial threat hypothesis should characterize the relationship between states?? racial composition, whites?? racial attitudes, and black representation in the United States Senate. Consistent with this claim, we find that senators from states with larger percentages of African-Americans among the electorate and more racially conservative preferences among whites provide worse representation of black interests in the Senate than their counterparts. We also apply theories of congressional cross-pressures in considering how senator partisanship and region moderate the effect of white racial attitudes on black representation. Finally, consistent with the racial threat hypothesis, we show that the negative effect of white racial attitudes on the quality of black representation is stronger when state unemployment rates are higher.     

Explaining race,poverty, and gender disparities in advanced course‐taking

We use panel data on Florida high school students to examine race, poverty, and gender disparities in advanced course‐taking. While white students are more likely to take advanced courses than black and Hispanic students, these disparities are eliminated when we condition on observable pre–high school characteristics. In fact, black and Hispanic students are more likely than observably similar white students to take advanced courses. Controlling for students' pre–high school characteristics substantially reduces poverty gaps, modestly reduces Asian–white gaps, and makes little dent in female–male gaps. Black and Hispanic students attend high schools that increase their likelihood of taking advanced courses relative to observably similar white students; this advantage is largely driven by minorities disproportionately attending magnet schools. Finally, recent federal and state efforts aimed at increasing access to advanced courses to poor and minority students appear to have succeeded in raising the share of students who take advanced courses from 2003 to 2006. However, secular trends (or spillovers of the policies to non‐poor, non‐minority students) have spurred faster growth for other students, contributing to widening demographic gaps in these years. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Educational and economic characteristics of student beneficiaries: black-white differences

This article compares black and white student beneficiaries under the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) program during the 1972-73 school year from the standpoint of differences in economic and educational characteristics. The role that OASDI played in enabling students to continue in school full time is studied. The findings show that relatively more blacks were in the student beneficiary population than in the general student population; they were also overrepresented among students attending high school. Blacks were disadvantaged with respect to the educational attainment of their fathers and in terms of total family income. They also had lower-grade-point averages and those in high school were older than their white counterparts. Black high school students nevertheless planned to continue their education and to attend 4-year colleges in about the same proportion as whites. The total amount of educational income of black students was greater than that of white students, but the members of the latter group received more from loans and miscellaneous sources. Grants were the most important source of educational income for blacks. About half the student beneficiaries said they could continue full time in school without benefits and a third said they could not.     

Race and Assisted Housing

This article explores racial disparities between assisted housing outcomes of black and white and white households with children. We compare the assisted housing occupied by black and white households with children, and examine whether young adult education, employment, and earnings outcomes in 2011 differ between blacks and whites who spent part of their childhood in assisted housing in the 2000s. We use a special version of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) that has been address-matched to federally assisted housing, and the PSID’s Transition to Adulthood supplement, along with geocode-matched data from the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), CoreLogic real estate data, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Statistical methods include difference in means, logit and general linear models. We find no evidence of racial disparities in the type of assisted housing program, the physical quality of project-based developments, or the management of public housing developments in the 2000 decade. But black households with children are more likely to live in assisted housing that is located in poorer quality neighborhoods. Multivariate tests reveal that the worse outcomes of black young adults compared with whites disappear once socioeconomic differences are taken into account. The discrepancy in assisted housing neighborhood quality experienced by black and white children makes no additional contribution to predicting young adult outcomes. Nonetheless, black children living in relatively better assisted housing neighborhoods tend to have better outcomes in young adulthood than those who live in poorer quality assisted housing neighborhoods. We discuss sources of racial disparity in neighborhood quality, and the policies enacted and proposed to address it.     

Race,gender, and jobs

In his influential indictment of the Great Society, Charles Murray focused upon young black males being unemployed as the result of government programs. He is correct in stating that the employment problems of young black males have worsened since 1965 but wrong in asserting that older black males and white males had no employment problems. Labor force participation for all males has dropped since 1965. The employment problems of young black males resulted from sweeping changes in the job market and, secondarily, the revolution in female employment. Blue-collar jobs and full-time jobs are a smaller portion of the job market, while white collar and part-time jobs have increased substantially. Women have obtained a far higher proportion of all jobs than ever before, and sometimes in occupational categories dominated by males. Both the restructured job market and the competition of men and women for jobs, issues ignored by, Murray, raise painful policy dilemmas. To what extent should a politically powerless group like young black males be directly assisted in their employment struggles? To what extent should they be encouraged to migrate or secure further education? To what extent should women's employment be publicly supported through programs such as day care?     

Race and residential accessibility to shopping and services

Abstract

Predominantly black, upper‐income census tracts in the 10‐county Atlanta region have lower accessibility to certain personal consumption opportunities than comparable white tracts do; black residents are more likely to have to leave their neighborhoods to eat out (other than at fast food restaurants), grocery shop, or see movies. Accessibility is calculated as a function of travel time to providers of local goods and services. Such accessibility is a desirable attribute and contributes to neighborhood quality and housing value.

We find that differences in residential accessibility to shopping and services by race are not explained by income differences, but could result from real differences in consumption patterns, though these are more likely due to demographic differences between black and white populations of comparable incomes; inaccurate information on neighborhood attributes and personal consumption preferences; or racially biased business decisions. We conclude by summarizing the policy implications of our findings.     

Institutional racism in child welfare

Three reasons are most often provided to explain the persistent overrepresentation of black children in the child welfare system. One, since black families have more risk factors (unemployment, single-parent families, poverty, etc) that cause them to abuse and neglect their children more than white families, the higher representation of blacks is appropriate. Two, since blacks are more highly concentrated among the poor than whites, blacks are expected to be overrepresented in child welfare due to their lower class status—not because of their race. But this article focuses on a third explanation—institutional racism. This thesis holds that systemic discrimination, which emanates from decision-making processes in child welfare, is a major contributor to the disparate representation of black children.This analysis examines how institutional racism influences the operation of the child welfare system to result in disparate adverse effects on black children and their families. The evolution of blacks in child welfare is viewed from an historical perspective. It assesses the impact of other systems (notably mental health, special education and juvenile justice) on the child welfare system. It examines the extent to which decision-making processes at various stages of child welfare screen in black children and screen out white children. It describes how systemic racism denies vital social and economic supports to kin caregivers who are responsible for their related children. This assessment ends with practice, policy and research recommendations to reduce the overrepresentation of black children in child welfare.     

The salience of racial identity among African-American and white students

This study examines the salience of racial identity among white and black students at four American universities. Utilizing the Twenty Statements Test [Kuhn, M. H., & McPartland, T. S. (1954). An empirical investigation of self-attitudes. American Sociological Review, 19, 68–76], we measure racial identity salience among students at three predominantly white northeastern universities and one historically black southern university. As predicted, we found that racial identity salience for white students at the predominantly white universities (PWUs) was significantly lower than racial identity salience among black students in these university settings. Contrary to our expectations, racial identity salience among white students at the historically black university (HBCU) was lower than racial identity salience exhibited among black students at this university, and white students at the HBCU were not more likely to exhibit racial identity saliency than white students at the PWUs. These findings indicate that the “transparency phenomenon,” transcends context in that whites are generally far less likely to think of themselves in racial terms than are people of color. Thus, racial transparency among whites appears to supercede context. Racial salience is much higher among African-American students at the PWUs than at the HBCU; this finding suggests the importance of context for African-Americans. However, fully one-third of African-American students at the HBCU listed race on the TST, suggesting the transcendent power of a racialized identity in a dominantly white society.     

Spatial mismatch,discrimination, and male youth employment in the Washington,DC area: Implications for residential mobility policies

Residential mobility policies are in part premised on the assumption that place and not race explains blacks' joblessness in central cities. The article investigates the potential effects of residential mobility programs by analyzing a “natural” black residential mobility process in the Washington, DC area, where black suburbanization has coincided with suburban job growth. Using data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), this article examines the relative contribution of place and race in explaining racial differences in employment for young men with a high school diploma or less. The results show that having a suburban residential location improves young males' spatial access to jobs, but that the employment benefits are greater for white than comparable black youth. Simulations point to racial discrimination in suburban labor markets being as important as having a suburban residential location as an explanation of white‐black employment rate differences in the Washington, DC area. Thus, if residential mobility programs are to be fully effective in improving central city minorities' employment prospects, antidiscrimination enforcement efforts in suburban labor markets must be included in the policy package.© 1998 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

Attitudes toward integration among black and white school board members: Public comparisons and etiological factors

Comparisons of school board members' attitudes toward integration (derived from nationwide surveys of black and white school board members) with public attitudes toward integration indicate that (1) elites (school board members) appeared more liberal than the public for both races; (2) this gap between elites and the public was less distinct for blacks than whites; and (3) black school board members evidenced more liberal attitudes toward integration than white school board members.Multiple regression analyses for school board members indicated that (1) race and education were the main factors determining board members' attitudes toward racial integration; (2) political participation showed a positive association with liberal attitudes toward integration; and (3) initial method of selection (elected or appointed) apparently bears no relationship to attitudes toward integration.     

Outsourcing in the public services: a comparative analysis of practice,capability and impact

This article analyses thinking and practice concerning privatization and outsourcing in the public services and compares recent trends with the findings of an extensive comparative survey of outsourcing conducted at Cranfield School of Management. Particular attention is paid to the systems and processes being outsourced, their importance to the organization and the impact of outsourcing on public service organizations. The results of the survey suggest that public service managers are more skilful than managers from the private sector at handling the transactional aspects of outsourcing. However, managers from public service organizations, unlike managers from the private sector, assert that outsourcing is damaging the running of public service enterprises. It is concluded that until the political and administrative processes are more closely aligned public service managers will continue to hold a more negative view of outsourcing. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implications of Successful Career Paths of Top Local Government Finance Managers

Little is known about successful local government financial management careers and their implications for organizations. This study identifies three levels of career success—top managers, aspirants, and the plateaued status—and how these groups differ on important personal and professional characteristics. Findings reveal that top managers differ in important ways from aspirants and the plateaued. Furthermore, top managers hired from outside the organization pay more attention to the financial viability of the organization and are more willing to innovate financially than those promoted from within. Results have implications for professionals, their employing organizations, educators, and the ethics of government finance.     

Government Reform,Political Ideology,and Administrative Burden: The Case of Performance Management in the Bush Administration

This article examines how ideological differences between political officials and agencies may have affected the implementation of an ostensibly nonpartisan, government‐wide administrative initiative: the George W. Bush administration's Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) review of federal programs. The analysis reveals that managers in agencies associated with liberal programs and employees (“liberal agencies”) agreed to a greater extent than those in agencies associated with conservative programs and employees (“conservative agencies”) that PART required significant agency time and effort and that it imposed a burden on management resources. Further analysis reveals that differences in reported agency effort can be explained partly by objective differences in the demands that PART placed on agencies—liberal agencies were required to evaluate more programs and implement more improvement plans relative to their organizational capacity—and partly by the ideological beliefs of employees—on average, liberal managers reported more agency effort, even after accounting for objective measures of administrative burden.     

City Managers,Career Incentives,and Municipal Service Decisions: The Effects of Managerial Progressive Ambition on Interlocal Service Delivery

City managers play an influential role in brokering intergovernmental service arrangements on behalf of their jurisdiction, yet their motivations for doing so are not well understood. One argument, drawn from theories of bureaucratic entrepreneurship and ambition theory, suggests that cities with managers who are motivated to advance their careers will parlay more interlocal service delivery as means of capturing economic efficiencies. Such strategies serve to build their personal resumes of career achievements. An alternative argument suggests more altruistic motives, including a desire for increased social equity and valuing the common good of the region, compel city managers to pursue interlocal service arrangements. These competing theories are tested on 134 large municipalities, using survey data from the city managers of these jurisdictions, coupled with interlocal revenue and expenditure data for these cities. Results yield greater support for the first theory. However, progressive ambition possesses complex consequences for interlocal service delivery choices. Jurisdictions managed by city managers with career‐enhancement ambitions are more likely to sell services to other local governments. Yet, they are significantly less inclined to buy services from other jurisdictions, thereby underscoring entrepreneurship in shaping managers’ professional trajectories.     

Managers in Governance Networks: How to Reach Good Outcomes?

ABSTRACT

There is a large amount of literature and research on network management activities. This article explores the role of network managers in governance networks. It fits into the discussion of managerial activities and their outcome. This article discusses and analyses the results of a survey that was conducted in 2006–2007 among those involved in environmental projects in the Netherlands (323 respondents, 111 of whom were managers of these projects). The respondents were asked questions about their background, trust, project characteristics, network management activities, and outcomes (both process and content outcomes). This article uses the data collected on network managers to study some of their background characteristics, the management activities they use, and project outcomes. The research shows that more experienced managers achieve good outcomes (trust and substantive outcome). However, the most important insight gained from this research is that network managers who employ a large number of management activities in the management of their network achieve good outcomes.     

The Effect of Problem Severity,Managerial and Organizational Capacity,and Agency Structure on Intergovernmental Collaboration: Evidence from Local Emergency Management

Like most public managers nowadays, local emergency managers operate within complex, uncertain environments. Rapid changes in the scope and severity of the issues increase the extent of intergovernmental collaboration necessary to address such challenges. Using a large data set of county emergency management agency directors, variations in intergovernmental collaboration reflect influences from problem severity, managerial capacity, and structural factors. The results demonstrate that public managers who perceive problems as severe, possess specific managerial skills, lead high‐capacity organizations, and operate in less complex agency structures collaborate more often and more effectively across governmental boundaries.