"Student voice: : perceptions of the Gifted Kids Programme alumni 2000-2007 : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Education at Massey University

Whilst there is some international research available regarding withdrawal programmes and out-of-school options for gifted students, there is little information internationally or nationally surrounding a withdrawal model that students can attend over an extended period, nor information that details the perspectives of the participants involved. This case study explored the effectiveness of a nationwide New Zealand out-of-school gifted education provider. It investigated the experiences and perceptions of 174 students who had attended the Gifted Kids Programme (GKP), during their primary and/or intermediate schooling. The purpose of the study was to gain insight into the effectiveness of this provision by measuring how the goals advocated by the Gifted Kids Programme were perceived by the students who were involved in the programme, and to determine the value students placed on these goals both during and after their involvement in the programme. Data was collected through an online questionnaire and follow-up focus group sessions. The key finding of this study was that attending the Gifted Kids Programme was perceived to be of great value to the students who participated in the research. The research indicates students had positive experiences which stimulated both cognitive and affective growth. It shows that this one-day-a-week programme has provided a research- based and appropriately differentiated programme for the participants. Themes of self- confidence, opportunity, talent, challenge and like-minded peers arose from the student responses. The findings provide validation for the Gifted Kids Programme as a provider of gifted education within a continuum of provisions. It also demonstrates the importance of using students' perceptions to inform educational provisions

Leaving Home: What Economics Has to Say about the Living Arrangements of Young Australians

Like their counterparts elsewhere, more young Australians than ever are delaying the move to establish residential independence from their parents. This paper reviews the developing economics literature surrounding young people’s decisions to continue living in their parents’ homes in order to begin to assess the causes and consequences of this decision. In particular, co-residence with parents appears to be an important form of intergenerational support for young adults. It is important to understand the extent to which young people rely on this form of support as they complete their education, enter the labour market, and establish themselves as independent adults. Specific attention is paid to the ways in which Australian income-support, education, and housing policies may influence these patterns.household decision-making, economics of the family

Getting Ahead: The Determinants of Payoffs to Internal Promotion for Young U.S. Men and Women

promotion, gender, wage growth

Do Selection Criteria Make a Difference? Visa Category and the Labour Force Status of Australian Immigrants.

This paper assesses the role of selection criteria in the immigrant settlement process by analysing the labour force status of immigrants entering Australia under different immigration programs. In particular, do immigrants selected on the basis of labour market skills rather than family relationships have higher participation and employment rates immediately after migration? To what extent does this represent a head start as opposed to long-term labour market advantage? Information fron the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia (LSIA) are used address these questions.IMMIGRATION ; LABOUR MARKET ; AUSTRALIA

Leaving Home: What Economics Has to Say about the Living Arrangements of Young Australians

Like their counterparts elsewhere, more young Australians than ever are delaying the move to establish residential independence from their parents. This paper reviews the developing economics literature surrounding young people’s decisions to continue living in their parents’ homes in order to begin to assess the causes and consequences of this decision. In particular, co-residence with parents appears to be an important form of intergenerational support for young adults. It is important to understand the extent to which young people rely on this form of support as they complete their education, enter the labour market, and establish themselves as independent adults. Specific attention is paid to the ways in which Australian income-support, education, and housing policies may influence these patterns.Economics of the family, Household decision-making

The case for making public policy evaluations public

This brief sets out the case for making public policy evaluations public. It first reviews the various challenges associated with impact evaluations, paying particular attention to the unique hurdles involved in evaluating Indigenous policy. Lessons learned from clinical trials registries in medical research are then used to argue that Australian economic and social policy evaluations could be improved by making them public

“High”-school: the relationship between early marijuana use and educational outcomes

Abstract: We use unique survey data linked to nearly a decade of administrative welfare data to examine the relationship between early marijuana use (at age 14 or younger) and young people’s educational outcomes. We find evidence that early marijuana use is related to educational penalties that are compounded by high-intensity use and are larger for young people living in families with a history of welfare receipt. The relationships between marijuana use and both high school completion and achieving a university entrance score appear to stem from selectivity into the use of marijuana. In contrast, early marijuana use is associated with significantly lower university entrance score for those who obtain one and we provide evidence that this effect is unlikely to be driven by selection. Collectively, these findings point to a more nuanced view of the relationship between adolescent marijuana use and educational outcomes than is suggested by the existing literature. Authored by Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, Sonja C. Kassenboehmer, Trinh Le, Duncan McVicar and Rong Zhang

Econometrics for Summative Evaluations: An Introduction to Recent Developments

There has recently been a rapid expansion of interest in the econometrics of summative program evaluation, both within Australia and around the world. We provide a review of the key issue and recent developments in this field. A central feature of recent developments is the attempt to allow for program impacts that vary across individuals. This contrasts with earlier econometric approaches which implicitly assumed a homogenous treatment effect. We survey alternative non- experimental estimation strategies, and note that they can be characterised by (1) an assumption about how untreated outcomes vary across individuals: this assumption in turn suggests how the counter-factual untreated outcomes of program participants should be estimated, and (2) the way in which the estimator aggregates or weights the program impacts of different individuals in the treatment group.Program, Evaluation, Econometrics

Emigration and the Age Profile of Retirement Among Immigrants

This paper analyzes the relationship between immigrants' retirement status and the prevalence of return migration from the host country to their country of origin. We develop a simple theoretical model to illustrate that under reasonable conditions the probability of return migration is maximized at retirement. Reduced-form models of retirement status which control for the rate of return migration are then estimated using unique data on emigration rates matched to individual-level data for Australia. We find that immigrants, particularly immigrant women, are more likely to be retired than are native-born men and women with the same demographic, human capital, and family characteristics. Moreover, within the immigrant population, there is a negative relationship between the propensity to be retired and the return migration rate of one's fellow countrymen, particularly amongst men. This link is strongest for those individuals who are at (or near) retirement age and among those with the highest cost of return migration. These results suggest that the fiscal pressures associated with aging immigrant populations vary substantially across origin countries.retirement, immigrants, return migration, emigration, Australia

Old-Age Support in Indonesia: Labor Supply, Intergenerational Transfers and Living Arrangements.

This is the first paper of which we are aware that attemps to formally model the supply-supply behavior of elderly individuals in a developing countryWithout broad-based public pension schemes, the majority of the elderly in developing countries are left to rely on their current and accumulated earnings and support from children as means of support.DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ; AGED ; PENSIONS