Community Reinvestment Act lending : is it profitable?

In 1977, Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to encourage federally insured depository institutions to lend in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods and to low- to moderate-income people. Since then, the profitability of the many special lending programs designed to achieve these goals has been questioned on both theoretical and practical grounds. ; The study examines the CRA loan profitability issue in the context of home mortgage lending. We surveyed 97 large institutions to explore profitability differences between their CRA and conventional home mortgage lending. ; Twenty-four percent of those answering the survey said their CRA lending was as profitable as their conventional lending. We found these lenders were more likely to treat their CRA lending like they did their conventional lending. Further, they managed to keep origination and servicing costs for their CRA loans similar to those for their conventional loans. These findings have important implications for lenders, community groups, government enhancement providers, and banking regulators as they seek wider markets for CRA loans.Community Reinvestment Act of 1977

Delocalization of Expenditures: The Role of Foreign Actors in Infrastructural Public Private Partnerships

This paper investigates the role played by foreign actors in infrastructural public private partnerships. It uses a case study of PortMiami where two public private partnerships, developed under the auspices of the Florida Department of Transportation, have been recently completed or are under construction. The PortMiami Tunnel, a road tunnel providing highway access to the port, was built by a special purpose vehicle under the control of a series of foreign actors. The Intermodal/ rail restoration, providing freight rail services to the port, is being built by a Florida based development firm. This paper will use its findings to gain an understanding of the role played by foreign actors in Public Private Partnerships and their potential to change the way regions plan infrastructure

A Retrospective Analysis of Sustainability: CHCS That Were Part of a Consortia When Federal Funding Ended

Community health centers (CHCs) serve an important role in addressing gaps in access to care experienced by millions of Americans. There have been programs in the past developed to provide funding support to increase access to care. However, when funding ends some grantees are faced with program sustainability challenges. This study sought to identify factors and advice for sustainability of programs and services once funding ends. The findings of this study are consistent with the literature; however there were two qualities of leadership important to sustainability that were not as pronounced in the literature that were found in this study-perseverance and tenacity. Study findings were based on interviews with former CHC and non-CHC Healthy Communities Access Program (HCAP) grantees that were able to sustain programs and services despite the discontinuation of HCAP funding. Factors and advice identified in this study can be used by both prospective grantees and funding agencies

The Road Ahead for State Assessments

The adoption of the Common Core State Standards offers an opportunity to make significant improvements to the large-scale statewide student assessments that exist today, and the two US DOE-funded assessment consortia -- the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) -- are making big strides forward. But to take full advantage of this opportunity the states must focus squarely on making assessments both fair and accurate.A new report commissioned by the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy and Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), The Road Ahead for State Assessments, offers a blueprint for strengthening assessment policy, pointing out how new technologies are opening up new possibilities for fairer, more accurate evaluations of what students know and are able to do. Not all of the promises can yet be delivered, but the report provides a clear set of assessment-policy recommendations. The Road Ahead for State Assessments includes three papers on assessment policy.The first, by Mark Reckase of Michigan State University, provides an overview of computer adaptive assessment. Computer adaptive assessment is an established technology that offers detailed information on where students are on a learning continuum rather than a summary judgment about whether or not they have reached an arbitrary standard of "proficiency" or "readiness." Computer adaptivity will support the fair and accurate assessment of English learners (ELs) and lead to a serious engagement with the multiple dimensions of "readiness" for college and careers.The second and third papers give specific attention to two areas in which we know that current assessments are inadequate: assessments in science and assessments for English learners.In science, paper-and-pencil, multiple choice tests provide only weak and superficial information about students' knowledge and skills -- most specifically about their abilities to think scientifically and actually do science. In their paper, Chris Dede and Jody Clarke-Midura of Harvard University illustrate the potential for richer, more authentic assessments of students' scientific understanding with a case study of a virtual performance assessment now under development at Harvard. With regard to English learners, administering tests in English to students who are learning the language, or to speakers of non-standard dialects, inevitably confounds students' content knowledge with their fluency in Standard English, to the detriment of many students. In his paper, Robert Linquanti of WestEd reviews key problems in the assessment of ELs, and identifies the essential features of an assessment system equipped to provide fair and accurate measures of their academic performance.The report's contributors offer deeply informed recommendations for assessment policy, but three are especially urgent.Build a system that ensures continued development and increased reliance on computer adaptive testing. Computer adaptive assessment provides the essential foundation for a system that can produce fair and accurate measurement of English learners' knowledge and of all students' knowledge and skills in science and other subjects. Developing computer adaptive assessments is a necessary intermediate step toward a system that makes assessment more authentic by tightly linking its tasks and instructional activities and ultimately embedding assessment in instruction. It is vital for both consortia to keep these goals in mind, even in light of current technological and resource constraints.Integrate the development of new assessments with assessments of English language proficiency (ELP). The next generation of ELP assessments should take into consideration an English learners' specific level of proficiency in English. They will need to be based on ELP standards that sufficiently specify the target academic language competencies that English learners need to progress in and gain mastery of the Common Core Standards. One of the report's authors, Robert Linquanti, states: "Acknowledging and overcoming the challenges involved in fairly and accurately assessing ELs is integral and not peripheral to the task of developing an assessment system that serves all students well. Treating the assessment of ELs as a separate problem -- or, worse yet, as one that can be left for later -- calls into question the basic legitimacy of assessment systems that drive high-stakes decisions about students, teachers, and schools." Include virtual performance assessments as part of comprehensive state assessment systems. Virtual performance assessments have considerable promise for measuring students' inquiry and problem-solving skills in science and in other subject areas, because authentic assessment can be closely tied to or even embedded in instruction. The simulation of authentic practices in settings similar to the real world opens the way to assessment of students' deeper learning and their mastery of 21st century skills across the curriculum. We are just setting out on the road toward assessments that ensure fair and accurate measurement of performance for all students, and support for sustained improvements in teaching and learning. Developing assessments that realize these goals will take time, resources and long-term policy commitment. PARCC and SBAC are taking the essential first steps down a long road, and new technologies have begun to illuminate what's possible. This report seeks to keep policymakers' attention focused on the road ahead, to ensure that the choices they make now move us further toward the goal of college and career success for all students. This publication was released at an event on May 16, 2011

Investigating Gender Diversity, Equity, And Inclusivity And Students’ Experiences Within Collegiate Team-Based Learning Environments

As the United States works towards strengthening and diversifying the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce, many national charges aim to increase the quantity of female participants, while overlooking how systematic barriers affect the quality of female students’ education. Many STEM workforce development programs, such as the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, are committed to improving the nation’s diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) efforts, enabling technical education through hands-on team-based learning (TBL) environments. The purpose of this study was to take a holistic approach to assess how gender DEI in STEM team environments influence the quality of female students’ learning outcomes and experiences. The socio-ecological framework, guided by feminist standpoint theory, was used to explore how the macro- and micro-levels affect female team members. Through a mixed-methods approach, this work presents two studies: 1) a qualitative document analysis (QDA) that analyzes STEM programs’ recruitment documents and assesses how gender DEI is integrated into STEM programs’ student-centric policies, and 2) a survey tool that analyzes how gender relates to technical task distribution and individual students’ experiences. Data analysis showed that a lack of gender DEI integration into STEM programs negatively influences students’ learning outcomes. First, almost all of the national STEM programs failed to embed gender DEI into the programmatic frameworks and strategic goals. Second, female students were statistically more likely to lead the non-technical tasks on STEM teams, reinforcing the traditional gender roles found in the literature. Also, although female students reported similar motivation levels as the male students, they were less likely to: (a) conduct technical tasks, X2 (1, N = 203) = 7.8, p = .005, (b) feel like they can lead group work and be effective, X2 (3, N = 192) = 12.9, p = .005, and (c) feel like they belong to the STEM community, X2 (5, N = 196) = 10.7, p = .05. Female students were also statistically more likely to (d) feel like an outsider, X2 (5, N = 196) = 11.8, p = .04, and (e) believe they can effectively coordinate tasks and activities of a group, X2 (3, N = 192) = 12.9, p = .005. These findings add to a growing body of literature that national efforts are not sustaining a conducive environment that promotes equitable learning experiences. The STEM workforce will fail to see its full potential until systems of inequalities are addressed at all levels of the socio-ecological system

Space resources. Volume 4: Social concerns

Space resources must be used to support life on the Moon and exploration of Mars. This volume, Social Concerns, covers some of the most important issues which must be addressed in any major program for the human exploration of space. The volume begins with a consideration of the economics and management of large scale space activities. Then the legal aspects of these activities are discussed, particularly the interpretation of treaty law with respect to the Moon and asteroids. The social and cultural issues of moving people into space are considered in detail, and the eventual emergence of a space culture different from the existing culture is envisioned. The environmental issues raised by the development of space settlements are faced. Some innovative approaches are proposed to space communities and habitats and self-sufficiency is considered along with human safety at a lunar base or outpost

Steering Capital: Optimizing Financial Support for Innovation in Public Education

Examines efforts to align capital to education innovation and calls for clarity and agreement on problems, goals, and metrics; an effective R&D system; an evidence-based culture of continuous improvement; and transparent, comparable, and useful data

UK energy strategies under uncertainty: synthesis report

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