Public Management: Policy making, ethics and accountability in public management

Public Management: Policy making, ethics and accountability in public management
Author: Stephen P. Osborne
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 568
Release: 2002
Genre: Civil service ethics
ISBN: 9780415267151

Since the 1980s, the public sector has been undergoing major changes throughout the Western industrialized world, the transitional economies of central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and South East Asia. The main thrust of these changes has been to bring public sector management practices closer to those of the private sector. This raises the question of how far public and private sector management are comparable. This set examines the relationships between public sector and private sector management in terms of both classical management theory and the new public management that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. While the collection concentrates on articles from the last 20 years, some historical pieces are also included. The four volumes are arranged along the following lines: volume 1 - for and against the public sector; volume 2 - managing the plural state; volume 3 - broadening the public management perspective; and volume 4 - from policy to practice in public services.

Testing, Teaching, and Learning

Testing, Teaching, and Learning
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 1999-10-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0309172861

State education departments and school districts face an important challenge in implementing a new law that requires disadvantaged students to be held to the same standards as other students. The new requirements come from provisions of the 1994 reauthorization of Title I, the largest federal effort in precollegiate education, which provides aid to "level the field" for disadvantaged students. Testing, Teaching, and Learning is written to help states and school districts comply with the new law, offering guidance for designing and implementing assessment and accountability systems. This book examines standards-based education reform and reviews the research on student assessment, focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students covered by Title I. With examples of states and districts that have track records in new systems, the committee develops a practical "decision framework" for education officials. The book explores how best to design assessment and accountability systems that support high levels of student learning and to work toward continuous improvement. Testing, Teaching, and Learning will be an important tool for all involved in educating disadvantaged studentsâ€"state and local administrators and classroom teachers.

Proceedings

Proceedings
Author: American Society for Engineering Education
Publisher:
Total Pages: 524
Release: 1987
Genre: Engineering
ISBN:

School Accountability

School Accountability
Author: Williamson M. Evers
Publisher: Hoover Inst Press Publication
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2002
Genre: Education
ISBN:

Scholars from history, economics, political science, and psychology describe the present state of school accountability, how it evolved, how it succeeded and failed, and how it can be improved. They review the history behind the ongoing conflict between educators and policymakers over accountability and testing, describe various accountability schemes, and analyze the costs of accountability. Case studies of three states with strong school systems compare how accountability works in practice. Evers is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy

Handbook of Research in Education Finance and Policy
Author: Helen F. Ladd
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 786
Release: 2012-08-21
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135863881

Sponsored by the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP), this groundbreaking new handbook assembles in one place the existing research-based knowledge in education finance and policy, thereby helping to define this evolving field of research and practice. It provides a readily available resource for anyone seriously involved in education finance and policy in the United States and around the world. The Handbook traces the evolution of the field from its initial focus on school inputs and the revenue sources used to finance these inputs to a focus on educational outcomes and the larger policies used to achieve them. It shows how the current decision-making context in school finance inevitably interacts with those of governance, accountability, equity, privatization, and other areas of education policy. Because a full understanding of the important contemporary issues requires input from a variety of perspectives, the Handbook draws on contributors from a variety of disciplines. While many of the chapters cover complex state-of-the-art empirical research, the authors explain key concepts in language that non-specialists can understand.

Teacher Shocks and Student Learning

Teacher Shocks and Student Learning
Author:
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2005
Genre: Absenteeism (Labor)
ISBN:

"A large literature examines the link between shocks to households and the educational attainment of children. The authors use new data to estimate the impact of shocks to teachers on student learning in mathematics and English. Using absenteeism in the 30 days preceding the survey as a measure of these shocks they find large impacts: A 5 percent increase in the teacher's absence rate reduces learning by 4 to 8 percent of average gains over the year. This reduction in learning achievement likely reflects both the direct effect of increased absenteeism and the indirect effects of less lesson preparation and lower teaching quality when in class. The authors document that health problems-primarily teachers' own illness and the illnesses of their family members-account for more than 60 percent of teacher absences; not surprising in a country struggling with an HIV/AIDS epidemic. The relationship between shocks to teachers and student learning suggests that households are unable to substitute adequately for teaching inputs. Excess teaching capacity that allows for the greater use of substitute teachers could lead to larger gains in student learning. "--World Bank web site.

Proceedings

Proceedings
Author: American Society for Engineering Education. Conference
Publisher:
Total Pages: 528
Release: 1987
Genre: Engineering
ISBN:

Valuing Students with Impairment

Valuing Students with Impairment
Author: J. Joy Cumming
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 99
Release: 2012-01-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9400729359

In this book, the author Joy Cumming draws on knowledge of law, assessment and measurement to provide an original analysis of the inclusion of students with impairment in educational accountability assessments in the U.S., England and Australia. Equitable education of students with impairment is worldwide policy. Educational accountability for improvement of educational outcomes is also a worldwide phenomenon. The U.S., England and Australia are well placed economically and politically to pursue best educational practice for students with impairment and well advanced in both provision and educational accountability systems. Examining these three systems enables an analysis of possible optimal practices to guide other countries. The book identifies three models of impairment in place in legislation, policy and enacted practice for educational accountability with students with impairment. Intentions of legislation and policy reflect a social model of impairment—while an individual has an impairment, social practice creates the barrier that leads to a disability. In implementation, legislation and policy rely on a medical model of disability—categorizing disability in medical or specialist terms. In educational accountability practices, it is argued in this book, a third model of disability is created—a psychometric model, with impairment constructed through overemphasis on standardization of assessment processes. Eight explicit and implicit assumptions that underpin the ways students with impairment are valued in educational accountability are identified and discussed. Three recommendations are made to promote equitable inclusive educational accountability practices for students with impairment, to inform future policy and practice in all countries.

No Child Left Behind and the Reduction of the Achievement Gap

No Child Left Behind and the Reduction of the Achievement Gap
Author: Alan R. Sadovnik
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2013-10-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 113591687X

This monumental collection presents the first-ever sociological analysis of the No Child Left Behind Act and its effects on children, teachers, parents, and schools. More importantly, these leading sociologists consider whether NLCB can or will accomplish its major goal: to eliminate the achievement gap by 2014. Based on theoretical and empirical research, the essays examine the history of federal educational policy and place NCLB in a larger sociological and historical context. Taking up a number of policy areas affected by the law—including accountability and assessment, curriculum and instruction, teacher quality, parental involvement, school choice and urban education—this book examines the effects of NCLB on different groups of students and schools and the ways in which school organization and structure affect achievement. No Child Left Behind concludes with a discussion of the important contributions of sociological research and sociological analysis integral to understanding the limits and possibilities of the law to reduce the achievement gap.