Teacher Attitudes About Compensation Reform: Implications for Reform Implementation 2007

Examines how teachers' views of merit pay and additional pay for hard-to-staff schools, subjects, and additional certification differ by individual characteristics, including subject area, experience, and school performance. Considers policy implications

On the Clock: Rethinking the Way Schools Use Time

In an era of increased accountability, educators are searching for new ways to boost student achievement. Is extending the school day the answer

Estimating revenues from tax reform in transition economies

Quantitative analysis is a key aspect of the design and evaluation of tax policy. To make informed decisions, policymakers should know how much revenue is collected and from whom. The tax reform planned for transition economies should include the introduction not only of new tax structures but also of new models to estimate revenues. Preliminary methodologies can be developed in time to influence the current discussions on the design of tax legislation. These efforts will also lay the groundwork for the further development of data bases and models that will be used to evaluate tax policy in the years ahead. ; This paper provides an introduction to quantitative techniques for analyzing tax reforms. Section I discusses three interrelated functions of tax analysis departments. These functions are (1) forecasting tax receipts, (2) estimating revenues resulting from changes in tax laws, and (3) analyzing the economic effects of tax laws. Section II lays out a general conceptual framework for preparing these analyses. Section III presents examples of relatively simple techniques for forecasting, estimation, and analysis for a value-added tax. Section IV offers conclusions.International finance ; Tax reform

Permanent Legal Immigration to the United States: Policy Overview

Four major principles currently underlie U.S. policy on legal permanent immigration: the reunification of families, the admission of immigrants with needed skills, the protection of refugees, and the diversity of admissions by country of origin. These principles are embodied in federal law, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) first codified in 1952. The Immigration Amendments of 1965 replaced the national origins quota system (enacted after World War I) with per-country ceilings, and the statutory provisions regulating permanent immigration to the United States were last revised significantly by the Immigration Act of 1990. The critiques of the permanent legal immigration system today are extensive, but there is no consensus on the specific direction the reforms of the law should take. As the Congress considers comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), many maintain that revision of the legal immigration system should be one of the major components of a CIR proposal. This primer on legal permanent immigration law, policies, and trends provides a backdrop for the policy options and debates that may emerge as Congress considers a revision of the legal immigration system

In praise of the referee

There has been a lively debate in many fields, including statistics and related applied fields such as psychology and biomedical research, on possible reforms of the scholarly publishing system. Currently, referees contribute so much to improve scientific papers, both directly through constructive criticism and indirectly through the threat of rejection. We discuss ways in which new approaches to journal publication could continue to make use of the valuable efforts of peer reviewers.Comment: 13 page

Unauthorized Aliens in the United States: Policy Discussion

The unauthorized immigrant (illegal alien) population in the United States is a key and controversial immigration issue. Competing views on how to address this population have been, and continue to be, a major obstacle to enacting immigration reform legislation. It is unknown, at any point in time, how many unauthorized aliens are in the United States; what countries they are from; when they came to the United States; where they are living; and what their demographic, family, and other characteristics are. Demographers develop estimates about unauthorized aliens using available survey data on the U.S. foreign-born population and other methods. These estimates can help inform possible policy options to address the unauthorized alien population. Both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Pew Research Center estimate that approximately 11.5 million unauthorized aliens were living in the United States in January 2011. DHS further estimates that there were some 11.4 unauthorized residents in January 2012. Pew has released a preliminary estimate of 11.7 million for the March 2012 unauthorized resident population. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and other federal laws place various restrictions on unauthorized aliens. In general, they have no legal right to live or work in the United States and are subject to removal from the country. At the same time, the INA provides limited avenues for certain unauthorized aliens to obtain legal permanent residence. Over the years, a range of options has been offered for addressing the unauthorized resident population. In most cases, the ultimate goal is to reduce the number of aliens in the United States who lack legal status. One set of options centers on requiring or encouraging unauthorized immigrants to depart the country. Those who support this approach argue that these aliens are in the United States in violation of the law and that their presence variously threatens social order, national security, and economic prosperity. One departure strategy is to locate and deport unauthorized aliens from the United States. Another departure strategy, known as attrition through enforcement, seeks to significantly reduce the size of the unauthorized population by across-the- board enforcement of immigration laws. One of the basic tenets of the departure approach is that unauthorized immigrants in the United States should not be granted benefits. An opposing strategy would grant qualifying unauthorized residents various benefits, including an opportunity to obtain legal status. Supporters of this type of approach do not characterize unauthorized immigrants in the United States as lawbreakers, but rather as contributors to the economy and society at large. A variety of proposals have been put forth over the years to grant some type of legal status to some portion of the unauthorized population. Some of these options would use existing mechanisms under immigration law to grant legal status. Others would establish new legalization programs. Some would benefit a particular subset of the unauthorized population, such as students or agricultural workers, while others would make relief available more broadly