Race to the Tablet? The Impact of a Personalized Tablet Educational Program

The presence of tablets and laptops in schools has burgeoned in recent years, with 4.9 billion dollars spent on over 10.8 million devices in 2015. Despite the large and increasingly prevalent monetary and time investments in education technology, little causal evidence of its effectiveness exists. I estimate the effect of a Math and English Language Arts tablet educational program that supplements core instruction using a randomized controlled trial in Boston charter middle school. I find that the personalized learning technology can substantially increase end of year test scores by 0.202 standard deviations in Math, but find no effects for the summative English exam. For the quarterly formative exams, I find positive, but insignificant effects for Math and marginally significant effects for English. This paper demonstrates the potential of technology to enhance student learning in Math and could serve as a cheaper alternative to high intensity tutoring for school districts without funding or labor supply for extensive tutoring programs.

Electoral competition and the party politics of public investments

When do political parties propose long-term investments? Electoral competitiveness should be a key variable explaining parties’ investment priorities: parties can be less responsive to voters’ short-term priorities and overcome time inconsistencies when they are more likely to win the next election. The article distinguishes the characteristics of three types of investments in education, environmental protection and technology and infrastructure, gathered from the Comparative Manifesto Project. It finds a linear positive relationship between parties’ probability of entering office and the proportion of manifestoes allocated to statements about technology and infrastructure. In contrast, statements about education are highest at high levels of electoral competitiveness, as parties propose more education to attract voters, while statements about the environment are affected by parties’ ideology on the left-right axis rather than by electoral competitiveness. Power-sharing institutions help parties to overcome time inconsistency problems, reducing the impact of electoral competition on investments.

‘Utility’ of education and the role of transformative agency: Policy challenges and agendas

Over the last two decades, increasing participation rates in post-secondary education in many countries have been accompanied by decreases in aggregate economic growth and raising social tensions. It is obvious now that education does not ‘automatically’ produce more well-being (at least, if conventionally measured through income or gross domestic product) either for the individual or for society. This puts the question about education’s ‘utility’ in a new light, especially in relation to funding, which is central to the policymaking process. We briefly review literature on various rationales for supporting education and analyze existing evidences concerning the effects or consequences for societies of such investments in education and its related expansion. We outline two alternative agendas for positioning education in the framework of broader socioeconomic development. These agendas stem from different answers to the core question: can education drive the change in other spheres of societal life, or does it only respond to and follow the logics of larger institutional transformations? We suggest greater recognition in policy and public debates of the possible contribution that education may have to shaping transformative agency, and outline related prospects and potential pitfalls.

What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates

Background: It is not well understood what occupations public health graduates have after graduation, nor is it well known whether their education provides them with the relevant knowledge and skills to feel well matched to their occupations. Furthermore, it is commonly presumed that public health graduates work in government, and investments in education would bolster this workforce. Methods: We aimed to describe the common occupations of Australian public health graduates, describe the heterogeneity of graduate destinations, describe the level of mismatch that graduates report, and compare these results with other fields of study. We used eight years of Australian graduate survey data (2008–2015) from the Graduate Destinations Survey, examining outcomes data from 8900 public health graduates from four levels of education. We compared occupation and industry heterogeneity, and level of occupational mismatch between public health graduates, and graduates from other fields of education. Results: Public health graduates report having a broad set of occupations in a broad set of industries after graduation, and this breadth is dissimilar to most health degrees. Furthermore, public health graduates tend to have average or lower-than-average rates of mismatch. Conclusions: Despite going into a broad set of occupations and industries, graduates from public health tend to report being well prepared given their education. Given that both occupation and industry outcomes are heterogeneous for graduates, an investment in public health education does not guarantee an increase in the governmental public health workforce.

Os investimentos na educação infantil municipal de Teófilo Otoni no período 2014/2017: uma análise no Vale do Mucuri – MG

No Brasil, os movimentos e as reivindicações sociais tiveram relação direta com os direitos alcançados pela educação infantil (EI). Como consequência, a Constituição Federal de 1988 determinou aos Municípios a oferta da EI. Contudo, a administração pública da EI segue com uma postura empírica e assistencialista. Neste artigo, analisaram-se os investimentos públicos na EI do Município de Teófilo Otoni (no vale do Mucuri em MG) no período de 2014 a 2017, por meio da pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e de campo. Na execução financeira, constataram-se sérias discrepâncias entre o orçamento e sua execução, bem como percebeu-se que os investimentos realizados não suprem a demanda, embora os valores executados sejam superiores aos mínimos orientados pelo Custo Aluno-Qualidade Inicial (CAQi) incluída a demanda reprimida. Para os profissionais da educação entrevistados, as limitações para o acesso, para a permanência e para a expansão da EI às crianças de 0 a 5 anos se devem à inexistência de uma política de EI para o município. Os processos de natureza financeira, gerencial e política dos recursos destinados à EI se mostram desarticulados.Palavras-chave: Educação Infantil. Investimentos na Educação. Teófilo Otoni-MGThe investments in chilhood education in Teófilo Otoni city from 2014 to 2017: an analysis in the Mucuri Valley - MGABSTRACTIn Brazil, the social movements and social claims were related to the rights achieved by childhood education. Therefore, The Brazilian Federal Constitution (1988) determined that cities should assist and offer childhood education. Even so, the proposal of the Government continues empirical and assistentialist. In this article, investments data in childhood education in the Brazilian city of Teofilo Otoni (in the Mucuri Valley – Minas Gerais State), was analyzed, from 2014 to 2017, through bibliographical, documentary and field researches. In the data of the this program’s budget and financial execution of the city, from 2014 to 2017, there are differences between the planning and execution of the values, as well it is clear that the investments made do not meet all the necessary demands – even though they may represent values superior to the minimum investment standards guided by the Initial Quality Student Cost (Custo Aluno-Qualidade Inicial - CAQi). According to education professionals’ perceptions, the limitations and challenges to the access, permanence and expansion to children from 0 to 5 years old is due to nonexistence of public policy for childhood education. The processes of financial, managerial and political for childhood education has been seeing as a challenging issue.Keywords: Childhood Education. Investments in Education. Teófilo Otoni-MG.Inversiones en educación de la primera infancia de la ciudad de Teófilo Otoni en el período 2014/2017: un análisis em el Valle de Mucuri - MGRESUMENEn Brasil, los movimientos sociales y las demandas estaban directamente relacionados con los derechos logrados por la educación de la primera infancia. Como consecuencia, la Constitución Federal de Brasil de 1988 determinó que los municipios ofrezcan la educación de la primera infancia. Sin embargo, la administración pública continúa con una postura empírica y asistencialista. En este artículo, se analizaron las inversiones públicas en la primera infancia en el municipio de Teófilo Otoni (en el Valle de Mucuri - Estado de Minas Gerais) de 2014 a 2017, mediante investigaciones bibliográficas, documentales y de campo. En la ejecución financiera, hubo serias discrepancias entre el presupuesto y su ejecución, así como se observó que las inversiones realizadas no satisfacen la demanda, aunque los valores ejecutados son más altos que los valores mínimos orientados por el Costo Inicial de Calidad Estudiantil (Custo Aluno-Qualidade Inicial - CAQi), incluido demanda acumulada. Para los profesionales de la educación, las limitaciones en el acceso, la permanencia y la expansión de la educación de la primera infancia a niños de 0 a 5 años, se deben a la falta de una política para la primera infancia em el municipio. Los procesos financieros, gerenciales y políticos de los recursos destinados a la primera infancia están desarticulados.Palabras clave: Educación de la Primera Infancia. Inversiones en Educación. Teófilo Otoni-MG.

ZNAČAJ INVESTICIJA U OBRAZOVANJE ZA EKONOMSKI RAZVOJ NR KINE

This paper deals with educational issues in the People's Republic of China and potential economic development due to investments in the education system. In the period from 1998, there was a big growth in education which was accompanied, among other things, by positive growth in gross domestic product. The crucial importance of investing in education is providing a competent workforce which is a pillar of a successful modern economy. There is a difficulty of the proper allocation of resources and the reform of education is the hukou system in China, which restricts people to live and work in a certain location which is an obstacle for people to freely move and equal chances for education. So far, the discrepancy between rural and urban hukou has been noticed, with urban hukou recording a higher percentage of educated people, as well as a proportionally higher income, while rural hukou is lacking opportunities for further education. For China to achieve the planned economic growth, it is evident that it must reform its education, the focus of which would be on improving human/knowledge capital as well as set aside a higher percentage of gross domestic product for investments in education.

Fathers’ Migration and Academic Achievement among Left-behind Children in India: Evidence of Continuity and Change in Gender Preferences

This article examines the link between paternal migration and children’s arithmetic and reading achievement, using the 2005 and 2012 waves of the national India Human Development Survey (IHDS). Additionally, it investigates if fathers’ migration is associated with increased investments in children’s education and time spent on educational activities. Using propensity score matching, this article finds that fathers’ current and long-term migration, defined as being a migrant in both IHDS waves, is positively associated with children’s education. However, the benefits of paternal migration are experienced more frequently by sons than by daughters. Sons of migrant fathers demonstrate higher reading and arithmetic achievement, benefit from higher education expenditure, and spend more time on educational activities than sons of non-migrant fathers. Daughters of migrant fathers exhibit higher reading skills and receive higher investments in education but are no different from daughters of non-migrant fathers in time spent on educational activities and arithmetic achievement. These results suggest a gendered process at play in remittance utilization, with sons experiencing a more robust remittance effect. Nevertheless, it is promising to note that daughters also gain from the economic and social remittances received by left-behind families in a modernizing India.

Regional Disparities, Growth, and Inclusiveness

We discuss regional disparities in economic performance and living standards. We first set out some key facts, and provide a conceptual framework to help analyze whether such disparities are efficient, or instead reflect market and/or policy failures. We examine whether policy attempts to reduce regional disparities necessarily involve a trade-off between equity and efficiency. We then investigate whether policymakers should focus on boosting the economic performance of lagging regions—or, conversely, accept the presence of regional disparities, and instead assist households in lagging regions through transfer payments, investments in education, health, and other basic services, and by facilitating out-migration.

Understanding of economism and commercialization in the system of higher education: empirical analysis

The main point of the article is to analyze the essence of the phenomena of economism and commercialization in the system of higher education. Economism is seen as a part of globalization of education. It is noted that scientists argue that investments in education lead to the economic growth, reduce the income inequality and increase employment. It is worth noting that the processes of economization belong to the most important factors of the economic development of the country and cause social changes. Education is considered as a powerful factor of social development, social and economic progress and sustainable development of the social system. The aim of the article is to represent the phenomena of commercialization and economism in the system of higher education throughout the methods of sociological knowledge. It is mentioned that commercialization is one of the tendencies of education system change.