Equity and Efficiency of Community College Appropriations: The Role of Local Financing

The study analyzes the equity of community college financing and demonstrates intrastate variations in appropriations to community colleges. The ratio of 90th to 10th percentile values ranges from 2.0 to 2.8 in half the states analyzed, levels which are considered high in comparison to K-12 finance inequities. In 10 states with high revenue disparities, the direction of revenue deviations is more often progressive in state-funded than in local-share states, suggesting the local role may undermine equity. Differences in economies of scale, geographic costs, and program costs are explored as factors determining funding disparities

Computing Variances from Data with Complex Sampling Designs: A Comparison of Stata and SPSS

Most of the data sets available through the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) are based on complex sampling designs involving multi-stage sampling, stratification, and clustering. These complex designs require appropriate statistical techniques to calculate the variance. Stata employs specialized methods that appropriately adjust for the complex designs, while SPSS does not. Researchers using SPSS must obtain the design effects through NCES and adjust the standard errors generated by SPSS with these values. This presentation addresses the pros and cons of recommending Stata or SPSS to novice researchers. The first presenter teaches research methods to doctoral students and uses Stata to conduct research with NCES data. She uses SPSS to teach her research methods course, due to its user-friendly interface. The second presenter is a doctoral student conducting dissertation research with NCES data. In his professional life as an institutional researcher, he uses SPSS. NCES data sets are a rich resource, but the complex sampling designs create conceptual issues beyond the immediate grasp of most doctoral candidates in the field. The session considers and invites comment on the best approaches to introducing new researchers to complex sampling designs in order to enable them to use NCES data.

Extreme Measures of Agricultural Financial Risk

This paper is from the Centre for Financial Markets (CFM) Working Paper series at University College Dublin.Agricultural financial risk, Spectral risk measures, Expected Shortfall, Value at Risk, Extreme Value Theory., Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, E17, G19, N52,

Corporations - Stockholder\u27s Suit - Necessity of Demand on Other Stockholders in Derivative Action

In two related cases, a holder of common stock brought a derivative suit against the directors of his corporation claiming their illegal acts had deprived the corporation of assets. On defendants\u27 motion to dismiss and for summary judgment, held, judgment for the defendants. Plaintiff\u27s failure to allege either that he had presented his claim to the stockholders at a stockholders\u27 meeting or that a majority of the stockholders\u27 votes were under the control of the directors defeated his action. Carroll v. New York, New Haven & Hartford R.; Glenmore v. Alpert, (D.C. Mass. 1956) 141 F. Supp. 456

A National Study of the Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Student Conduct Administrators

Although previous studies examined the ethical dilemmas faced by student affairs administrators (Janosik, Creamer, & Humphrey, 2004; Janosik, 2007), no such study explored the ethical dimensions of administering student conduct. The purpose of this mixed method study was to identify the ethical dilemmas experienced by student conduct administrators and to test the applicability of Kitchener\u27s model as a framework for resolving ethical dilemmas. Also examined were the theories, professional codes, and core values informing ethical decision making. Further, the study explored possible correlations between knowledge of ethical principles and codes, and actual use of the ethical principles and codes. Finally, the study inquired about the amount of graduate school training in ethics. A national survey with open-ended questions and Likert-scale items in Survey Monkey was disseminated online to 1,595 professionals belonging to the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) in February 2011 yielding a 24.38% response rate. Results were coded using qualitative techniques (Tesch, 1990) and uploaded into PASW, Version 18, formerly called SPSS, for analysis. The results indicated that sexual assault cases, situations involving athletes, demands for preferential treatment, and alcohol/drug policy enforcement most often pose ethical dilemmas. Categorical grouping of ethical dilemmas fit well under Kitchener\u27s principles, particularly justice. Student conduct administrators reported relying most heavily on their professional code of ethics, personal values, cultural perspectives, institutional mission, and legal ramifications to resolve dilemmas. There was a significant correlation (p \u3c .01) between the extent of respondents\u27 knowledge of ethical theories and frequency of use. Only 5% of respondents reported receiving very extensive ethical instruction in graduate school