Operational Research in Education

Operational Research (OR) techniques have been applied, from the early stages of the discipline, to a wide variety of issues in education. At the government level, these include questions of what resources should be allocated to education as a whole and how these should be divided amongst the individual sectors of education and the institutions within the sectors. Another pertinent issue concerns the efficient operation of institutions, how to measure it, and whether resource allocation can be used to incentivise efficiency savings. Local governments, as well as being concerned with issues of resource allocation, may also need to make decisions regarding, for example, the creation and location of new institutions or closure of existing ones, as well as the day-to-day logistics of getting pupils to schools. Issues of concern for managers within schools and colleges include allocating the budgets, scheduling lessons and the assignment of students to courses. This survey provides an overview of the diverse problems faced by government, managers and consumers of education, and the OR techniques which have typically been applied in an effort to improve operations and provide solutions

Minnesota Public School Consolidation: Factors Most Influential When Voting in Favor of Consolidation

The purpose of this study was to ascertain and rate the importance of factors which were perceived by school board members as pivotal in their decisions to consolidate their school districts with one or more other school districts. Additionally, this study intended to determine whether or not school board members – serving at the time of a school district’s consolidation–continued to agree with the value of that consolidation decision and if so, the comparative strength of their perceptions of the outcomes of consolidation of the school district at the time of consolidation and the degree to which those perceptions continued to hold true at the time of the conduct of this study. Data from select Minnesota school board members serving on governing Boards at the time of a school district consolidation vote. The sample included school board members from among the 11 different school districts which voted to consolidate into five school districts between the years 2000 and 2006. Data were gathered from two sample groups. Quantitative data were gathered from the aggregate sample of school board members. Qualitative data were gathered from a subset of the aggregate sample to provide a more detailed examination of the experiences and perceptions related to the research questions. The study found that declining student enrollment ranked highest among selected factors by responding school board members as the factor most influencing their votes in favor of school district consolidation. The factors declining programs, services, staffing and/or courses and an imbalanced or declining general fund were second or third most influential depending upon the type of analysis. As many as fifteen years after respondents’ voted in favor of consolidating their school districts, strong levels of agreement remained with the votes in favor of the consolidations. The study of factors influencing votes in favor of Minnesota public school consolidation is important because consolidation of school districts nationally and in Minnesota has occurred over the past one hundred-fifty years (Minnesota School Law, 1849). Despite this fact, consolidation is a reform choice that has rarely been examined in Minnesota public school districts. Given existing fiscal constraints at the state level, increasing expectations for accountability and changing demographics - largely evidenced by declining student enrollment - among a large majority of Minnesota school districts, consolidation likely will remain a viable option for consideration in the foreseeable future and, thus, merits comprehensive study

Algorithms for the School Districting Problem

This paper presents two algorithms for finding solutions to the problem of school districting, which is the dividing of an administrative area into some school districts consisting of several population units. The problem is formulated as a set partitioning problem, after having enumerated the feasible districts satisfying all the given requirements. An algorithm for finding an exact optimal solution is first proposed. Using the population units as indivisible elements, the first phase enumerates all the feasible districts which satisfy the given requirements, such as contiguity, capacity, and so on. The second phase determines the optimal school districting that minimizes the sum of the distances traveled by all students. Since the computation time of the exact algorithm increases very quickly as the number of population units increases, an improved algorithm is derived for finding an optimal or near-optimal solution within a reasonable computation time. This algorithm constructs the core of each school district before enumerating the feasible districts. The core of each school district is composed of the population units which are assigned to the school, with the minimal distances traveled until the given bound on the population is satisfied. Computation results show that the improved algorithm can find an optimal or near-optimal solution for a problem having 122 units within one minute

The Effect of School Construction on Test Scores, School Enrollment, and Home Prices

This paper provides new evidence on the effect of school construction projects on home prices, academic achievement, and public school enrollment. Taking advantage of the staggered implementation of a comprehensive school construction project in a poor urban district, we find that, by six years after building occupancy, $10,000 of per-student investment in school construction raised reading scores for elementary and middle school students by 0.027 standard deviations. For a student receiving the average treatment intensity this corresponds to a 0.21 standard deviation increase. School construction also raised home prices and public school enrollment in zoned neighborhoods.school construction, test scores, home prices

DISAPPEARING ACTS: THE DECLINING NUMBERS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN TEACHERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOL SETTINGS

African American teachers are slowly leaving the classroom, causing an imbalance in the student/teacher ratio (NCES, 2019). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, African American teachers make up 3% in California and 7% nationally. This study sought to understand the reasons for the decline in the number of African American teachers in public school settings. Due to the decline in their numbers, African American students have suffered high dropout rates, low standardized test scores, and low college attendance (Gershenson, Hart, Hyman, Lindsey, & Papageorge, 2017). This qualitative study examined the obstacles current African American teachers face and the celebrations that sustain them. This study also sought participant input on future recruitment, support, and retention of African American teachers. Purposive sampling was used to understand the phenomena African American teachers encounter while working in public school settings (Creswell, 2012). Prerequisites included self-identification as African-American/Black, teaching in grades K-12, and two years of public school experience. Participants who did not meet all three criteria were disqualified. The results showed that districts need to increase pay to attract more African American teachers. In addition, to pay increases, participants identified obstacles such as placement in high-needs schools and experiencing a lack of respect from parents and peers. The love of students and being the change African American students deserve were identified as motivating sustainers. The findings from this study may help teacher preparation programs, districts, and administrators nationwide recruit more African American teachers. It may also influence the creation of affinity programs for recruiting, supporting, and retaining African-American teachers

Exploring Catholic Education In The Twenty-First Century: Teaching Practices, Technology Integration, And Educational Goals

Although Catholic schools are the largest sector of the national private and faith-based educational market, the overall student enrollment in Catholic K-12 schools has steadily declined. In order for Catholic schools to remain sustainable and competitive among the many different educational options in the twenty-first century, they must set themselves apart from other schools by offering unique learning opportunities that support twenty-first century education while promoting Catholic educational values. Recognizing the need for updated teaching practices, balanced pedagogy with Catholic educational values, and focused research on Catholic education, this two-year multiple-case study explored the instructional practices of eight middle level Catholic teachers during an initiative focused on shifting instructional strategies to support twenty-first century education supported by educational technology integration. Teaching practices were documented through participant observations, interviews, survey, and historical and field evidence. Data illuminated much variability in teachers\u27 interpretations of twenty-first century education, classroom practice, and levels of technology integration. All teachers encouraged creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration in their instruction, however these specific domains of learning were primarily supported through an emphasis on lower order cognitive skills and processes. Although evidence suggested consistent technology integration in classrooms, technology was primarily used to substitute or augment instruction as opposed to the transformation of teaching and learning to support twenty-first century education. Data also revealed a balance between Catholic educational values and new teaching pedagogies except in Religion classes or instruction. This finding suggested content subject culture was a confounding aspect to instructional practices. This study highlights suggestions for teacher practice that include rethinking the purpose and structure of assessment, balancing personal opinions of technology with twenty-first century instruction, and shifting teacher-student classroom roles to foster teaching and learning environments that support creativity. Furthermore, additional implications for teachers and policy makers center on collaboration as a model for student learning, and to promote a shared vision for Catholic education in the twenty-first century. The implications for future research focus on expanding the study to include school level influencing factors and participants, centering on Religion class as the context, and the inclusion of students\u27 perspectives

Factors influencing school board decisions on redistricting

The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the factors that influence the decisions of local school boards concerning redistricting, and (2) to determine if the factors influencing redistricting decisions-are more instructional or non- instructional in nature. The study employed a case study methodology, examining a specific school board involved in a redistricting process that occurred in 1996.;Data for the study were collected utilizing the following: interviews with school board members; interviews with staff members; interviews with members of the media who covered the redistricting process; interviews with community members; newspaper articles; school board meeting minutes and other internal documents about the redistricting process; and correspondence from the public to the school board about the redistricting process.;The study\u27s conclusions were as follows: (1) The superintendent and the recommendations he made were a very strong influence. (2) Interest groups had an influence on the board, but not an overwhelming one. (3) Individual values influenced the board\u27s decisions as members weighed the various alternatives. (4) Cultural/normative factors influenced the board\u27s decision, especially in terms of the process to reach a decision. (5) The high level of emotion present during the process and the lack of viable alternatives influenced the board\u27s decision. (6) The board was influenced by several concrete measurable criteria, including: building capacity/projected growth; cost effectiveness; feeder patterns; minimizing numbers redistricted; neighborhood schools/proximity of schools; socioeconomic/ethnic diversity; and travel distance and time. These factors served as a buffer against the high level of emotion in the process. (7) Non-instructional factors were the strongest influences on the board; however, instructional factors also played an important role.;Major implications of these conclusions included the need for accurate information on measurable instructional and non-instructional criteria; the need for establishing community and board consensus on priority redistricting criteria; the need for adequate time for decision making; the need for alternative means of gathering public input; and, the importance of process

Institutions and facility mergers in the Italian education system: Models and case studies

In recent years, across Europe, the economic crisis has resulted in an increased pressure on education systems. Notably, Italy has been one of the countries that has experienced the most severe reduction in public expenditure in the education sector. In the described conditions, Italian governmental institutions have started to perform rationalisation actions, aimed at modifying the current configuration of the existing facilities offering educational services (either by entirely closing and merging some of them, or by downsizing or transferring capacities), in order to increase the affordability of the system while still providing a required minimum service level. These strategic choices may have a lasting impact; therefore, there is a need for appropriate decision support tools capable of assisting planners. For this reason, after a description of the context and a review of the current literature, this paper presents two novel mathematical models for addressing rationalisation decisions in the Italian education system. The usability of such models is tested by means of real-world case studies, offering interesting insights