2021 Update to the Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement Strategy

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Benefits of Protecting Rural Water Quality: An Empirical Analysis

Concerns about the impact of farm production on the quality of the Nation's drinking and recreational water resources have risen over the past 10 years. Because point sources of pollution were controlled first, agricultural nonpoint sources have become the Nation's largest remaining single water-quality problem. Both public and private costs of policies that address the conflict between agricultural production and water quality are relevant, but measuring the off-farm benefits and costs of changing water quality is difficult. Many of the values placed on these resources are not measured in traditional ways through market prices. This report explores the use of nonmarket valuation methods to estimate the benefits of protecting or improving rural water quality from agricultural sources of pollution. Two case studies show how these valuation methods can be used to include water-quality benefits estimates in economic analyses of specific policies to prevent or reduce water pollution.water quality, nonpoint source pollution, environmental quality, agricultural production, costs, benefits, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Spatial Analysis of Rural Economic Development Using a Locally Weighted Regression Model

This study uses locally weighted regression to identify county-level characteristics that serve as drivers of creative employment throughout the southern United States. We found that higher per capita income, greater infrastructure investments, and the rural nature of a county tended to promote creative employment density, while higher scores on a natural amenity index had the opposite effect. We were also able to identify and map clusters of rural counties where the marginal effects of these variables on creative employment density were greatest. These findings should help rural communities to promote creative employment growth as a means of furthering rural economic development.creative class, locally weighted regression, natural amenities, rural economic development, Community/Rural/Urban Development,

An Investigation of How Institutional and State Characteristics Influence Community College Award Rates

Community colleges are an essential element of the American postsecondary landscape and workforce preparation. In 2017, over six-million students, which represented roughly one-third of the total undergraduate enrollment in the United States, were enrolled in community colleges. In the past ten years, the importance of community colleges in the economic need for greater postsecondary credential attainment has been underscored by state policies and national initiatives. The wide variation in both the nature of community colleges and the students they serve makes examining the outcomes of these institutions difficult and oftentimes imprecise. Assessing the performance of community colleges and determining what factors positively or negatively relate to their outcomes remains incompletely investigated. Statistical models of community college outcomes have failed to account for the distinctive characteristics of community colleges and have studied these institutions in isolation from their environments. Many of the limitations within literature may be attributed to insufficient data availability at the times of those studies. Adequate data, however, have recently become available that allow for the exploration of community college outcomes in a deeper and more meaningful way. This dissertation study investigated how institutional and state characteristics of community colleges determine award rates. This was accomplished by accounting for salient variables, by leveraging three national datasets, and by using a more appropriate analytical method for the study of community colleges at the national level. The results of ordinary least squares and multilevel regressions revealed variation between the institutional characteristics that significantly predict community college award rates once differences between states are taken into consideration. Moreover, variation was also observed in the institutional characteristics that significantly predict the award rates for all entering, first-time, and not-first-time students. In general, however, degree of urbanization, institutional type, and the proportions of part-time students, non-degree-seeking students, racial minority students, and female students emerged as consistent significant predictors across all statistical models

A SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS FOR THE REFINEMENT OF EMPIRICAL MODELLING FOR THE ESTIMATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & SAFETY PROGRAM RESOURCING FOR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

The use of potentially hazardous physical, chemical, biological, and radiological agents is inherent to the teaching, research, and services missions of any university. To manage the risks associated with these agents, it is common for universities to host environmental health & safety (EH&S) programs to protect the safety of the institution’s students, faculty, staff, and visitors. However, since EH&S programs in universities are primarily focused on prevention, it is difficult to estimate the appropriate “industry average” in terms of budget and staffing resources a particular university needs for such programs. Historically, the Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) has collected data on a multitude of statistical measures for benchmarking purposes. CSHEMA currently collects data on a subset of likely predictors using the “vital statistics” survey. Cross-validation and information criteria were used to objectively identify which of the collected statistical measures are critical to the prediction of industry average EH&S program resourcing. The purpose of this project is to pinpoint the variables that explain the majority of variance in the model, thereby minimizing unnecessary resource allocation dedicated to the collection of irrelevant data and illuminating predictors critical to CSHEMA’s “vital statistics” survey. A total of 109 members of the CSHEMA organization participated in this research project. The dependent variables were: (1) environmental health and safety expenditures and (2) environmental health and safety full-time employees; the independent variables were: (1) total institutional net assignable square footage, (2) total institutional expenditures, (3) research net assignable square footage, (4) institutional research expenditures, (5) total number of enrolled students, and (6) total institutional full-time employees. Based on cross-validation and information criteria followed by robust regression methods: M-estimation, LTS-estimation, S-estimation, and MM-estimation, the findings of the present study indicate that institutional research expenditures, institutional research net assignable square footage, and institutional full-time employees are the optimal set of potential predictors for EH&S expenditures. The optimum predictors for EH&S full-time employees are total institutional net assignable square footage, institutional research expenditures, and total institutional full-time employees. The results indicate that these independent predictor variables should be considered critical variables for CSHEMA’s future vital statistics survey

Y2K Serendipity: Benefits and Spinoffs

The primary purpose of the researcher this study was to determine what, if any, unexpected benefits, spin-offs, and other serendipitous events occurred as a result of the year 2000 remediation process undertaken by businesses, industry, and other organizations. This was measured through the use of an online survey instrument comprised of a series of questions designed to measure and discover those benefits. The survey was sent to approximately 50 different businesses/organizations during the pilot stage of this study and 250 during the main stage of this study. These businesses/organizations were randomly selected from the sampling frame using random sampling techniques. The random samples that were used included the areas of financial services, health care, non-computer manufacturing, telecommunications, transportation, and utilities. The survey responses were analyzed in an effort to determine what benefits were common to these businesses as well as to discover possible unique benefits some business may have experienced. Of particular interest were any benefits that companies indicate were totally unexpected or serendipitous. Final analysis of the data was accomplished through the use of canonical correlation. This statistical procedure was chosen because of its usefulness in determining correlations between a set of independent variables and a set of dependent variables. The findings of the pilot study were, for the most part, inconclusive due to the small number of responses. The analysis of the data from the main study resulted in one significant canonical function. The canonical correlation between the computer generated variates created by this function was reported at approximately .86. This indicates a high degree of correlation between criterion variate I that represented the independent variables, and is the predictor variate I that represented the dependent variables. The variables PCSYS, NTSYS, MFSYS had the highest correlation with the Predictor I variate. The variables ITISS, A W AREMIA, and A WAREBF had the highest correlation with the Criterion I variate. Therefore, the independent variables PCSYS, NTSYS, and MFSYS were most predictive of the dependent variables ITISS, AWAREMIA, and AWAREBF. To determine if there were unexpected benefits in those companies surveyed, a multiple regression was performed using the measured variable SEREDIP as the dependent variable and the measured variables Y2KEFFORT, ORGSP, and ORGHM as the independent variables. The null hypothesis was not rejected indicating that among the companies surveyed, the occurrences of serendipitous events were not statistically significant. However, the literature indicated that serendipitous events have occurred, although these occurrences were not universal

Improving the reporting efficiency for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations: progress over a decade

This issues brief examines the evolution of the reporting requirements of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) over the last ten years, with a particular focus on programs funded by the Australian Government Department of Health (the Department). With one exception, the issues brief examines key initiatives implemented by the Department, up to the end of 2013, in an attempt to improve reporting arrangements for ACCHOs. It also examines the impacts of these changes on reporting efficiency. The exception is the Healthy for Life Program. The program is included here because it pioneered Continuous Quality Improvement and outcomes based reporting and as such influenced subsequent reporting developments. The key initiatives are: the Service Development and Reporting Framework (SDRF) (2005 to 2011); the Healthy for Life program (2005 and continuing); the Indigenous and Rural Health Division (formerly Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health) Risk Assessment Process (2008 to 2013); developments in Information Technology and Information Management, with a particular focus on the OCHREStreams web-based reporting tool (2011 and continuing); and a multi-year funding agreement (2011 and continuing). These initiatives have brought about some significant improvements in reporting efficiency, including: standardisation of reporting requirements across several programs under the SDRF, with a consequent reduction in reporting complexity and effort and adoption of a more strategic cross-program approach to planning and reporting; a shift to outcomes based planning and reporting as part of a continuous quality improvement cycle, and an increase in the data management skills and systems needed to support continuous quality improvement; progressive move to independent risk assessment that focused primarily on governance and financial management, which has driven improvements in the quality of financial reporting; the development and roll-out of a web-based reporting tool that allows ACCHOs to submit organisational and service activity data, as well as data for national Key Performance Indicators; and further standardisation of reporting requirements under the Department’s multi-year funding agreement. Despite these improvements, ACCHOs still face a complex and resource intensive reporting load. Current reporting requirements are discussed in some detail, along with a range of possible improvements that could be made with the aim of avoiding unnecessary reporting yet maintaining information flows for policy and programme design implementation and review supporting the accountability requirements of public funds and supports continuous quality improvement in the sector. These include: working with other funders, particularly the states, to coordinate and standardise reporting requirements, with a possible extension of OCHREStreams to enable it to be used by states for some aspects of reporting; reviewing the extensive data reporting-related requirements with a view to removing those that are of least value to the Commonwealth and the sector; and where formal accountability requirements permit, moving progressively away from reporting on inputs and throughputs in favour of outcomes-based reporting, with possible use of targets and benchmarks to enable organisations to track performance. The identified improvements provide a framework for continuing to work towards maximising reporting efficiency which will help to address a range of strategic outcomes including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan (2013–2023) priorities. It should be noted that whilst this issues brief references only arrangements until the end of 2013, there have been considerable reporting changes and initiatives since that time

Remedial education and its relationship to academic performance and retention of students at Central Arizona College: a case study

textThis study examined the relationship between remedial education, academic performance, and student retention. Using an ex post facto research design and the fall 2002 cohort of first-time, degree-seeking students at Central Arizona College, this study used quantitative analysis to explore how need and success varied according to select student characteristics that included, but were not limited to, gender, ethnicity, and enrollment status. Additionally, this study compared levels of academic success and student retention rates for students with a remedial background to those of students who did not require remedial education. This study also identified which select student characteristics served as predictors of academic performance in remedial courses. Finally, this study examined whether grades earned by students in exit remedial courses were predictors of academic performance in subsequent college-level courses. This study had several major findings. First, Hispanics represented the largest percentage of minority students requiring remediation. However, Black students required remediation proportionately higher than any other ethnic group. Furthermore, African-American females who demonstrated financial need and attended part-time were most likely to require remediation. Second, female students outperformed their male counterparts in remedial courses. However, African-American and Native American females were most likely not to achieve academic success in remedial courses. Third, students in initial college-level courses without a remedial background experienced higher levels of success than students with a remedial background. Fourth, students with a remedial background were more likely to be retained each semester and persist to the end of the three-year period under study. Fifth, performance in remedial courses and number of visits to the learning assistance center emerged as greatest predictors of academic success in initial college-level courses. Finally, this study found that academic success in exit remedial courses was a predictor of success in initial college-level courses. This study was concluded with recommendations for further research and strategies that institutions could implement to improve remedial programs.Educational Administratio