Education Production Function and Class-Size Effects in Japanese Public Schools

Education production functions are estimated using student-level achievement data for Japanese students, with emphasis on estimating the causal effect of class size on students' academic performance. The empirical results show that students‟ test scores are strongly affected by individual and family backgrounds, whereas school resource variables and teacher characteristics have a more limited impact. The causal effect of class size, which is currently being politically debated in Japan, is investigated using a regression discontinuity design. The estimation results suggest that class-size reduction has a weak impact on the academic performance of Japanese students.Education production function, Class size, Regression discontinuity design, Japan

Religious Pluralism, Religious Market Shares and the Demand for Religious Schooling

We develop a model of school choice in which the demand for religious schooling is driven partly by the desire of parents to limit their children’s exposure to the influences of competing religions. This framework links the literature on the effects of religious market shares on the within-denomination intensity of religious activity with a separate literature relating religious pluralism to the overall level of religious participation. The model predicts that when a religious group’s share of the local population grows, the fraction of that group’s members whose children attend religious schools decreases. In addition, it implies that the overall demand for religious schooling is a positive function of both the local religiosity level and the level of religious pluralism, as measured by a Herfindahl Index. Using both U.S. county-level data and individual data from ECLS-K and NELS:88, we find evidence strongly consistent with the model’s predictions. Our findings also illustrate that failing to control for the local religiosity level in estimating the effect of religious pluralism on religious participation, as is common in previous studies, may lead a researcher to erroneously conclude that pluralism has a negative effect on participation.Religious participation, school choice, religious pluralism

Panamerican Trauma Society: The first three decades

Panamerican Trauma Society was born 30 years ago with the mission of improving trauma care in the Americas by exchange of ideas and concepts and expanding knowledge of trauma and acute illness. The authors, immediate-past leaders of the organization, review the evolution of this assembly of diverse cultures and nationalities

The place of religion in the college curriculum

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Course Catalog, 1986-1988

Course Catalogs include available majors, course requirements, costs, pictures, a brief institution history, and more.https://digitalcommons.kean.edu/ua_kc_cc/1011/thumbnail.jp