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Unemployment Insurance (UI) is the major social insurance program that protects against lost earnings resulting from involuntary unemployment. Existing literature finds that low-earning unemployed workers experience difficulty accessing UI benefits. The most prominent policy reform designed to increase rates of monetary eligibility, and thus UI receipt, among these unemployed workers is the Alternative Base Period (ABP). In 2009 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act sought to increase use of the ABP, making ABP adoption a necessary pre-condition for states to receive their share of the $7 billion targeted at UI programs. By June 2012, 40 states and the District of Columbia had adopted the ABP despite the absence of an evaluation of ABP efficacy using nationally representative data. This paper analyzes Current Population Survey data from 1987-2007 to assess the efficacy of the ABP in increasing UI receipt among low-educated unemployed workers. We use a natural-experiment design and logistic regression models to capture the combined behavioral and mechanical effects of the policy change. We find no association between state-level ABP adoption and individual UI receipt for all unemployed workers. However, among part-time unemployed workers with less than a high-school degree, adoption of the ABP is associated with a 3.4 percentage point increase in the probability of UI receipt. (Contains 5 tables, 1 figure and 7 footnotes.)

As Duncomb and Yinger (2001) have stated, "School consolidation represents the most dramatic change in education governance and management in the United States in the twentieth century. Over 100,000 school districts have been eliminated through consolidation since 1938, a drop of almost 90 percent (NCES 1999, Table 90). This longstanding trend continues throughout the country, largely because consolidation is widely regarded as a way for school districts to cut costs" (p. 1). The study described in the present paper applies Duncomb and Yinger's methods to Michigan data, looking as possible to financial consequences of consolidation of school districts at the county level. Research data sets for 10 counties in Michigan are used to estimate cost-saving effects of consolidation, as in the Duncombe and Yinger study. It appears that significant savings can be achieved in consolidating school districts at the county level. The coordination of services also produces cost savings for the districts assuming participation in a county level (ISD) coordination of services. These findings are consistent with other research studies in New York and Indiana. However, consolidation studies conducted in Arizona and New Jersey indicated that the fiscal savings hoped for did not materialize to the extent expected. Overall, consolidation seems to make fiscal sense, particularly in rural and small districts. The coordination of services seems more palatable to Michigan communities and also produces significant reduction in cost of services such as transportation and operation. The results of this study should be of interest to state and local elected officials, to state education agency staff, and to public school administrators. The Future of School Districts Consolidation in Michigan is provided in an addendum. (Contains 1 footnote.) [This study was funded by the Booth Newspapers of Michigan.]

In this paper, we address mathematics education in rural contexts from a critical pedagogical perspective. We imagine our audience to be mathematics educators and rural educators who may not have background knowledge of critical pedagogy. We also confess that we are mathematics educators first, with interests in critical pedagogy and rural education. Thus we do not position ourselves as experts and do not intend to proclaim what rural mathematics educators "should" do. To set up our discussion, in this section we characterize (in broad strokes) critical pedagogy, current reform in mathematics education, and issues in rural education.

This paper explores the application of a mathematical optimization model to the problem of optimal enrollments. The general model, which can be applied to any institution, seeks to enroll the "best" class of students (as defined by the institution) subject to constraints imposed on the institution (e.g., capacity, quality). Topics explored include how the model was applied to actual data and the results of that application. The presentation touches on how well the model mimics "real life," insights that can be gained from the output, the model's limitations, and the modifications that might be warranted to improve performance. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/SLD)

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is a large international comparative study of the reading literacy of young students. The student population for the U.S. 2001 PIRLS (hereafter simply referred to as PIRLS) was the set of all fourth-graders in the United States, corresponding to the grade in which the highest proportion of nine-year-olds are enrolled. The PIRLS school sample consisted of 200 schools (150 public and 50 private) containing a fourth grade, selected with probability proportionate to the school'?s enrollment of fourth-graders. One classroom was sampled from each selected school. PIRLS was conducted in April and May 2001. For the original sample, the unweighted response rate at the school level was 62.5 percent, with 125 out of 200 schools responding. Through the use of replacements, the unweighted response rate was improved to 87 percent, with 174 out of 200 schools responding. However, as the response rate from the original sample was below 85 percent, NCES requested that Westat investigate the potential magnitude of nonresponse bias at the school level. The methodology and results of this investigation are described herein.

This paper describes a spreadsheet-based faculty flow model developed and implemented at the University of Calgary (Canada) to analyze faculty retirement, turnover, and salary issues. The study examined whether, given expected faculty turnover, the current salary increment system was sustainable in a stable or declining funding environment, and whether further early retirement incentives would be necessary. The model, called the Academic Staff Resource Projection Model, is based on the Markov chain approach to project faculty movement out four years. It was developed using Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet software. Nine alternative policies and assumptions were tested concerning: (1) retirements for ages 55 to 70; (2) resignation rates by years of service; (3) age distribution of newly hired staff; (4) annual attrition of one rank replaced by another rank; (5) overall attrition replacement ratio; (6) adjustments to allow for addition or elimination of academic programs; (7) starting salaries; (8) salary schedule information; and (9) rate of promotion to next rank. Six figures and flow charts illustrate the model and show the spreadsheet file structure and flows. Three appendixes include a policy variables worksheet, a salary schedule, and an age distribution schedule. (Contains 16 references.) (CH)

The impact of the use of data arising from balanced incomplete block (BIB) spiralled designs on the chi-square goodness-of-fit test in factor analysis is considered. Data from BIB designs posses a unique pattern of missing data that can be characterized as missing completely at random (MCAR). Standard approaches to factor analyzing such data rest on forming pairwise available case (PAC) correlation matrices. Developments in statistical theory for missing data show that PAC correlation matrices may not satisfy Wishart distribution assumptions underlying factor analysis, this impacting tests of model fit. A new approach for handling missing data in structural equation modeling advocated by B. Muthen, D. Kaplan, and M. Hollis (1987) is proposed as a possible solution to these problems. The new approach is compared to the standard PAC approach in a Monte Carlo simulation framework. Simulation results show that tests of goodness-of-fit are very sensitive to PAC approaches even when data are MCAR, as is the case for BIB designs. The new approach outperforms the PAC approach for continuous variables and is comparatively much better for dichotomous variables. One table and one figure illustrate the discussion. (SLD)

Any interstate comparison that does not take differences in the cost of education into account will give an incorrect impression of the relative levels at which different states support their schools. The lack of cost-adjusted statistics on state expenditures for elementary and secondary education interferes with policy analysis, resource allocation, and decision making in education. An examination of state cost data indicates that there is substantially more interstate variation in per-pupil spending than in the amounts of the main educational resource--instructional staff--that states provide for each pupil. In fact, the main conceptual and technical problems in constructing a cost-of-education index arise from the labor-intensive nature of education and the types of labor on which schools rely. This report evaluates some ways of constructing cost-of-education indices, focusing on existing approaches rather than proposing new ones. Conceptual advantages of econometric supply-demand modeling approach are noted, as are its practical disadvantages. Improvements in databases should make construction of a model-based cost-of-education index much more feasible in the near future. Chapters are: (1) "Introduction: Cost Differentials and Cost-of-Education Indices"; (2) "Conceptual Foundations of Cost-of-Education Indies": (3) "Alternative Index Construction Methods"; (4) "Demonstration and Assessment of Simple Cost Indices and Proxies"; and (5) "Conclusions: Current Capabilities and Promising Options." (Contains 19 tables and 48 references.) (SLD)

Investments in schooling are often regarded as essential for economic development, implying that such investments have high rates of return in developing countries. This paper examines the accuracy and usefulness of estimates of rates of return to formal schooling based on the standard human capital model of G. Becker and J. Mincer. Focus is on whether failure to account for differences in ability and school quality across a random sample significantly biases estimates of the private return to schooling derived from estimates of wage equations. This is done using an unusually rich data set from Ghana (over 4,700 households), which includes tests of ability and cognitive skills administered to 389 survey respondents. When years of schooling are used to measure the accumulation of human capital, there are virtually no returns to schooling in the private sector. Replacement of years of schooling by reading and mathematical ability does show positive returns to acquired skills, although these rates may be of little use to governments making schooling investment decisions because of the complexity of such decisions. Many government investments in education are designed to raise rates of return to schooling by raising school quality, but decisions by individuals assume that both rates of return and school quality are exogenous. Thirteen tables present data from the analyses. Four appendices provide supplemental data concerning the calculation of rates of return. (SLD)

Given "T" joint observations on "K" variables, it is frequently useful to consider the weighted average or scaled score. L-scaling is introduced as a technique for determining the weights. The technique is so named because of its resemblance to the Leontief matrix of mathematical economics. L-scaling is compared to two widely-used procedures for data reduction, but no attempt is made to survey the voluminous literature on scaling methods. These methods are the first principal component method and the best weight function method. A robust L-scaling technique is described for use when the data matrix is contaminated by outliers. The discussion proceeds in terms of descriptive statistics since the various techniques have sampling properties that are either unknown or intractable. The technique is illustrated with a hypothetical example of 100 observations on three variables drawn from a pseudorandom-number generator. L-scaling is one method a researcher may apply when a sensitivity analysis, which compares the outcomes of several scaling methods, is desired. Four tables illustrate the study. (SLD)

It is common in regression discontinuity analysis to control for high order (third, fourth, or higher) polynomials of the forcing variable. We argue that estimators for causal effects based on such methods can be misleading, and we recommend researchers do not use them, and instead use estimators based on local linear or quadratic polynomials or other smooth functions.

This paper develops and estimates a model of college attendance that focuses on the influences of public policy and of economic environment. The Policy instruments examined are tuition, admissions requirements, college locations, breadth of curriculum, draft deferments, and class integration of neighborhoods. The aspects of the economic environment examined are the opportunity cost of the students' study time and the size of the anticipated earnings payoff to college graduates. The first five sections of the paper develop a theory of college attendance and then apply it to the choice and definition of variables and the seletion of functional form for the estimating equation. Section 1 examines the college entrance decision when unlimited borrowing is possible. Section 2 handles a more realistic situation. Section 3 applies this theory to the selection of the college. Section 4 examines how planning for college influences model specification and the selection of variables. Section 5 derives the functional form for estimation and describes how the estimated parameters will be used to test the hypotheses discussed in sections 1 and 2. Section 6 describes the data and section 7 presents the results. Section 8 analyzes the effectiveness of public subsidies of undergraduate education by calculating the subsidy cost of an extra student from each of the 20 ability-by-income strata and discusses the policy implication of the results. (Author/KE)

This paper, one of three related documents, explains a model for school finance in Michigan. First, it analyzes where school districts get their money and how they spend it. Next, it details a financial model that identifies the factors related to staff adequacy levels, estimates the strength of those factors, offers ideas for the components of a policy regarding school funding, and estimates the impact of a possible policy alternative. The paper concludes that the model can be improved in three areas. Salary data can be refined and brought up to date. More factors contributing to staff adequacy levels can be identified. Finally, the model can be observed over time to see if it consistently predicts school district behavior. (Author/LD)

The labor market spillover effects of welfare reform were estimated by using models that pool time-series and cross-section data from the Current Population Survey on the state-year cell means of wages, employment, and other labor market outcomes for various demographic groups. The labor market outcomes in question are dependent variables that are related to control variables and the state's welfare caseload. A key feature of the analysis is that the endogeneity of caseloads is corrected for with a rich set of instrumental variables. State welfare caseloads are treated as endogenous, and 10 instrumental variables reflecting state welfare reform policies are used. The resultant estimates indicate significant spillover effects of welfare policies. Over the short term, welfare reforms reduce the wages of male high school dropouts, the wages of single mothers, and the employment of male high school dropouts. In the long run, more educated groups gain wage boosts because of welfare reform. Tables detailing the following items are appended: (1) logit estimates; (2) first-stage estimated coefficients for the instrumental variables, single mothers group, corresponding to second-stage equation with ln(Wage) dependent variable; (3) 2SLS coefficient estimates; and (4) simulated effects of welfare reform on various labor market outcomes. (Contains 30 references and 11 tables/figures.) (MN)

This paper proposes a model for the process of attaining occupational status and income, where change in attainment is generated by the creation of vacant positions in social structure. The distribution of attainments, or the structure of inequality, is assumed fixed and described by a simple exponential or geometric distribution function, depending on whether attainment levels are assumed discrete or continuous. Persons leaving the labor force create chains of vacancies in this structure that present mobility opportunities for persons entering the labor force. The implications of the model for the attainment process derived from these considerations for status attainment research and stochastic models for job-mobility are discussed. (Author/JM)

In an attempt to bridge the gap between academic understanding and practical business use, the Box-Jenkins technique of time series analysis for forecasting future events is presented with a minimum of mathematical notation. The method is presented in three stages: a discussion of traditional forecasting techniques, focusing on traditional techniques that relate to the Box-Jenkins model; a presentation of the key characteristics of the Box-Jenkins model; and a detailed demonstration of the method's steps. A discussion of the technical requirements needed to use the model, its cost versus that of other forecasting methods, and the potential areas of its application conclude the paper. The mathematical rationale is appended. (Author/DW)

This paper attempts to provide a general equilibrium framework for comparing the merits of alternative methods of raising the income of the employable poor. The strategy is to specify a complete and interacting set of factor markets, parameterize alternative program types in a manner convenient to this specification, and then solve the system of equations that characterize this economy for the comparative static response to the initiation of a small version of each program type. Within the income maintenance category the rankings implicit in impact effect analysis recur when general equilibrium effects are considered. Wage subsidies are more transfer-efficient than the negative income tax, or earning supplements. The size of policy multipliers are, however, quite sensitive to elasticities of substitution in production. The general equilibrium impact of targeted employment and training programs is quite different from the impact effect. Expanding the employment of the skilled lowers the income of the less skilled, especially when elasticities of substitution and occupational choice are low. In general, equilibrium effects of transferring workers from the low to the high skilled work force imply that education and training are by far the most effective means of aiding the low skilled. (Author/AM)