Accountability and yardstick competition in the public provision of education

This paper explores the institutional change introduced by the public disclosure of an education development index (IDEB, Basic Education Development Index) in 2007 to identify the e ect of education accountability on yardstick competition in education spending for Brazilian municipalities. Our results are threefold. First, political incentives are pervasive in setting the education expenditures. The spatial strategic behavior on education spending is estimated lower for lame-ducks and for those incumbents with majority support at the city council. This suggests a strong relation between commitment and accountability which reinforces yardstick competition theory. Second, we nd a minor reduction (20%) in spatial interaction for public education spending after IDEB's disclosure | compared to the spatial correlation before the disclosure of the index. This suggests that public release of information may decrease the importance of the neighbors` counterpart information on voter`s decision. Third, exploring the discontinuity of IDEB`s disclosure rule around the cut-o of 30 students enrolled in the grade under assessment, our estimates suggest that the spatial autocorrelation | and hence yardstick competition | is reduced in 54%. Finally, an unforeseen result suggests that the disclosure of IDEB increases expenditures, more than 100% according to our estimates.

Mapa dos programas sociais: transferência de renda e dinâmicas sociais no Rio Grande do Norte (2000-2007)

The question of evaluating the fight against poverty in a given society is very complex task, considering the range of factors that permeate, such as education, culture and economy itself. Come hence the relevance of the theme and its constant presence in discussions on the fruits of public policies, institutional structure and economic development which are the guiding elements of this work, and noted that seeks to highlight the social demographics and most important, the most significant trends and issues pertaining to her. The assessment was initially made in all the municipalities of Rio Grande do Norte doing a verticalilzação to the municipalities Caicó, Pau dos Ferros, Ipueira and Taboleiro Grande. Highlighting the role of a social policy through government programs, such as the Bolsa Familia Program (PBF), which creates the possibility of changes in the socio demographic profile given the importance that the action of this public policy has in shaping the regional economic reality As well as social programs and actions of the government here reported that generate mobility of people and new social demands, such as rural retirements, the benefit of continuing provision (BPC), the Program for the Eradication of Child Labor (PETI) that put on the market of population living on the margins of various forms of consumption. Accordingly, the socio economic profile of the state shows a significant improvement in their social indicators, vital education and redistribution of income, due to the significant improvement in life expectancy in the fall of school drop-out rate and the drop in indicators of Proportion Poor and destitute of the state. Where the fall in the proportion of poor and indigent is strongly associated with an increase in income, from social programs. With this transfer and redistribution of income can be gauged that occurs a strengthening of local economies and an engagement of families with the conditionalities of social programs and PETI Bolsa Familia. Our research concludes that simply raising the rents caused by transfers, presents relevant impacts on the education of young people in beneficiary families. There is no doubt that the programs of transfer income, no facing the social field, representing a mechanism to decrease the most perverse ills of poverty, social and economic inequality that is hungry. For a significant portion of the Brazilian population living below the poverty line, programs for the transfer of income are expressed directly in improving the material conditions of life and indirectly in improving self-esteem of women and all family members receiving encouraging yet the integration family. Experiments have shown that improvements in health and nutrition can be obtained through the implementation of adequate social policies like the programs of transfer income, while social inclusion and economic does not become full

Globalization and the public provision of higher education: Empirical evidence from selected countries

This research study was designed to examine the relationship between globalization as measured by the KOF index, its related forces (economic, political, cultural and technological) and the public provision of higher education. This study is important since globalization is increasingly being associated with changes in critical aspects of higher education. The public provision of education was measured by government expenditure and educational outcomes; that is participation, gender equity and attainment. The study utilized a non-experimental quantitative research design. Data collected from secondary sources for 139 selected countries was analyzed. The countries were geographically distributed and included both developed and developing countries. The choice of countries for inclusion in the study was based on data availability. The data, which was sourced from international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank, were examined for different time periods using five year averages. The period covered was 1970 to 2009.^ The relationship between globalization and the higher education variables was examined using cross sectional regression analysis while controlling for economic, political and demographic factors. The major findings of the study are as follows. For the two spending models, only one revealed a significant relationship between globalization and education with the R 2 s ranging from .222 to .448 over the period. This relationship was however negative indicating that as globalization increased, spending on higher education declined. However, for the education outcomes models, this relationship was not significant. For the sub-indices of globalization, only the political dimension showed significance as shown in the spending model. Political globalization was significant for six periods with R2 s ranging from .31 to .52.^ The study concluded that the results are mixed for both the spending and outcome models. It also found no robust effects of globalization on government education provision. This finding is not surprising given the existing literature which sees mixed results on the social impact of globalization.^

Globalization and the Public Provision of Higher Education: Empirical Evidence from Selected Countries

This research study was designed to examine the relationship between globalization as measured by the KOF index, its related forces (economic, political, cultural and technological) and the public provision of higher education. This study is important since globalization is increasingly being associated with changes in critical aspects of higher education. The public provision of education was measured by government expenditure and educational outcomes; that is participation, gender equity and attainment. The study utilized a non-experimental quantitative research design. Data collected from secondary sources for 139 selected countries was analyzed. The countries were geographically distributed and included both developed and developing countries. The choice of countries for inclusion in the study was based on data availability. The data, which was sourced from international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank, were examined for different time periods using five year averages. The period covered was 1970 to 2009. The relationship between globalization and the higher education variables was examined using cross sectional regression analysis while controlling for economic, political and demographic factors. The major findings of the study are as follows. For the two spending models, only one revealed a significant relationship between globalization and education with the R2 s ranging from .222 to .448 over the period. This relationship was however negative indicating that as globalization increased, spending on higher education declined. However, for the education outcomes models, this relationship was not significant. For the sub-indices of globalization, only the political dimension showed significance as shown in the spending model. Political globalization was significant for six periods with R2 s ranging from .31 to .52. The study concluded that the results are mixed for both the spending and outcome models. It also found no robust effects of globalization on government education provision. This finding is not surprising given the existing literature which sees mixed results on the social impact of globalization.

Improving the provision of learning assistance services in higher education

This study is motivated by the need to look continually for ways to improve Griffith University's learning assistance services so that they meet the changed needs of stakeholders and are at the same time cost-effective and efficient. This study uses the conceptual tools of cultural-historical activity theory and expansive visibilisation to investigaate the developmenet and transformation of learning assistance services at Griffith University, one of Australia's largest mult-campus universities.

Provision of information and documentation on education in the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education. 'Provisión de información y documentación en educación en el Ministerio Federal de Educación de Austria'.

En un país pequeño como Austria es necesario recibir estímulo del exterior a nivel europeo respectivamente internacional para que los responsables vean lo útil que son las iniciativas nacionales en el campo de documentación educativa. Trabajar de manera comparativa en un contexto europeo ayuda a comprender mejor su propia posición y sirve de base para tomar decisiones y para desarrollar nuevos proyectos en el futuro. Ha crecido el interés en utilizar la información y documentación educativa durante las últimas décadas. Actualmente los ministros de educación ya no pueden seguir su trabajo sin recurrir a todos aquellos datos que han sido recopilados en los respectivos países y presentados a través de las redes europeas como EURYDICE, la red europea de información en educación (htttp://www.eurydice.org).

The benefits of providing benefit information: examining the effectiveness of provision of simple benefit statements on people's judgements about a medicine

Three experiments examined the effects of adding information about medication benefits to a short written explanation about a medicine. Participants were presented with a fictitious scenario about visiting the doctor, being prescribed an antibiotic and being given information about the medicine. They were asked to make various judgements relating to the information, the medicine and their intention to take it. Experiment 1 found that information about benefits enhanced the judgements, but did not influence the intention to comply. Experiment 2 compared the relative effectiveness of two different forms of the benefit statement, and found that both were effective in improving judgements, but had no effect on intention to comply. Experiment 3 compared the effectiveness of the two forms of benefit information but participants were told that the medicine was associated with four named side effects. Both types of statement improved ratings of the intention to comply, as well as ratings on the other measures. The experiments provide fairly consistent support for the inclusion of benefit information in medicine information leaflets, particularly to balance concerns about side effects.

Home, school, community and their role in the provision of music education

The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), is supporting under the Australian Government Quality Outcomes Programme, a National Review of School Music Education. The review, which is intended to submit its report in mid 2005, is interested in investigating the current quality of teaching and learning of music in both primary and secondary schools. It aims to provide examples of best practice of teaching and learning of music, along with a set of recommendations for the development of future approaches and directions to improve the quality of music education offerings in Australian schools. This paper puts forward some proposals for consideration that will be forwarded to the Review and aims to generate debate about future approaches to the delivery of music education in Australian primary schools.
It argues that the home, school and community all have an important part to play in the music education of children, but that at present these three entities are insufficiently connected on a number of fronts, not least being an understanding about the purpose of young people’s engagement with music. There is no doubt that interest in the arts amongst Australians generally is high. A recent Australia Council report revealed that 85 per cent of its respondents agreed the arts are and should be an important part of the education of every young Australian and that what was needed was better arts education and opportunities for all young people. However, the opportunities need not be confined to those offered by the school sector. Engagement with out-of-school music includes both music encountered in the home, which may be affected by family influence, and music provided by the diversity of community organizations, which serve a real and complimentary role to classroom learning and achieve learning outcomes that schools often do not have the resources to foster. A number of proposals for action are suggested for consideration by those involved in education as a means of progressing the discussion. It asserts that there is much valuable activity occurring within the three locales of school, home and community, but a firmer relationship could be forged across all three to ensure young people’s on-going, life-long enjoyable engagement with music.

Benefits of education at the intensive margin: childhood academic performance and adult outcomes among American immigrants

Using the Children of the Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS), we examine the associationbetween education at the intensive margin and twenty pecuniary and non-pecuniary adultoutcomes among first- and second-generation American immigrant youth. Education at theintensive margin is measured by two widely used standardized math and reading test scores,national percentile rankings on these tests and cumulative grade point average (GPA) in bothmiddle and high school. Our findings provide evidence that the academic achievement ofimmigrant children in early adolescence is an accurate predictor of later life outcomes. Wealso examine a novel hypothesis that relative academic performance of immigrant children inhigh school compared to middle school, which could be an indicator of change in adolescentaspirations and motivation as well as the degree of adaptation and assimilation to the hostcountry, has an effect on their adult outcomes even after controlling for the levels ofacademic performance in middle and high school. The results suggest that an improvementin GPA from middle school to high school is associated with favorable adult outcomes.Several sensitivity tests confirm the robustness of main findings.

Gender inequity in the provision of care for hip disease: population-based cross-sectional study

Objectives To examine gender differences along the care pathway to total hip replacement. Methods We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study of 26,046 individuals aged 35 years and over in Avon and Somerset. Participants completed a questionnaire asking about care provision at five milestones on the pathway to total hip replacement. Those reporting hip disease were invited to a clinical examination. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) [95% confidence intervals (CI)] for provision of care to women compared with men. Results 3169 people reported hip pain, 2018 were invited for clinical examination, and 1405 attended (69.6%). After adjustment for age and disease severity, women were less likely than men to have consulted their general practitioner (OR 0.78, 95%-CI 0.61–1.00), as likely as men to have received drug therapy for hip pain in the previous year (OR 0.96, 95%-CI 0.74–1.24), but less likely to have been referred to specialist care (OR 0.53, 95%-CI 0.40–0.70), to have consulted an orthopaedic surgeon (OR 0.50, 95%-CI 0.32–0.78), or to be on a waiting list for total hip replacement (OR 0.41, 95%-CI 0.20–0.87). Differences remained in the 746 people who had sought care from their general practitioner, and after adjustment for willingness and fitness for surgery. Conclusions There are gender inequalities in provision of care for hip disease in England, which are not fully accounted for by gender differences in care seeking and treatment preferences. Differences in referral to specialist care by general practitioners might unwittingly contribute to this inequity. Accurate information about availability, benefits and risks of hip replacement for providers and patients, and continuing education to ensure that clinicians interpret and correct patients' assumptions could help reduce inequalities.

Minimum benefit provision of the disability retirement program [microform] : hearing before the Subcommittee on Compensation and Employee Benefits of the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, second session, February 26, 1980.

Reuse of record except for individual research requires license from Congressional Information Service, Inc.

Legal provision respecting the education and employment of children in factories, &c.; with examples of improvement in manufacturing districts. Education and labor; or, The influence of education on the quality and value of labor; and its connection with insanity and crime.

Microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms [n.d.] (American culture series, Reel 235.2)