Evaluating the impact of education on earnings in the UK: Models, methods and results from the NCDS

Regression, matching, control function and instrumental variables methods for recovering the impact of education on individual earnings are reviewed for single treatment and sequential multiple treatments with and without heterogeneous returns. The sensitivity of the estimates once applied to a common dataset is then explored. We show the importance of correcting for detailed test score and family background differences and of allowing for (observable) heterogeneity in returns. We find an average return of 27% for those completing higher education versus anything less. Compared to stopping at 16 without qualifications, we find an average return to O-levels of 18%, to A-levels of 24% and to higher education of 48%.

The demand for private schooling in England: the impact of price and quality

In this paper we use English school level data from 1993 to 2008 aggregated up to small neighbourhood areas to look at the determinants of the demand for private education in England from the ages of 7 until 15 (the last year of compulsory schooling). We focus on the relative importance of price and quality of schooling. However, there are likely to be unobservable factors that are correlated with private school prices and/or the quality of state schools that also impact on the demand for private schooling which could bias our estimates. Our long regional and local authority panel data allows us to employ a number of strategies to deal with this potential endogeneity. Because of the likely presence of incidental trends in our unobservables, we employ a double difference system GMM approach to remove both fixed effects and incidental trends. We find that the demand for private schooling is inversely related to private school fees as well as the quality of state schooling in the local area at the time families were making key schooling choice decisions at the ages of 7, 11 and 13. We estimate that a one standard deviation increase in the private school day fee when parents/students are making these key decisions reduces the proportion attending private schools by around 0.33 percentage points which equates to an elasticity of around -0.26. This estimate is only significant for choices at age 7 (but the point estimates are very similar at the ages of 11 and 13). At age 11 and age 13, an increase in the quality of local state secondary reduces the probability of attending private schools. At age 11, a one standard deviation increase in state school quality reduces participation in private schools by 0.31 percentage points which equates to an elasticity of -0.21. The effect at age 13 is slightly smaller, but still significant. Demand for private schooling at the ages of 8, 9, 10 and 12, 14 and 15 are almost entirely determined by private school demand in the previous year for the same cohort, and price and quality do not impact significantly on this decision other than through their initial influence on the key participation decisions at the ages of 7, 11 and 13.

Evaluating the Impact of Education on Earnings in the UK: Models, Methods and Results from the NCDS

Education

The Role of School Counselors in Meeting Students\u27 Mental Health Needs: Examining Issues of Professional Identity

The professional identity of school counselors has evolved over time. This article traces the historical context driving this evolution, and suggests it is time for the profession to conjoin the roles of educational leader and mental health professional. This proposal is prompted by heightened awareness of unmet student mental health needs, referrals that go unmet, school counselors displaced by other mental health providers in schools, the potential loss of the unique school counselor role, and the natural link between the mental health professional role and the array of personal-social factors that impact student achievement. A conjoint professional school counselor identity that includes the roles of both educational leader and mental health professional positions school counselors to better respond to all students, including those with mental health needs. This article discusses potential roadblocks and offers suggestions for action

Human capital investment: the returns from education and training to the individual, the firm and the economy

This paper provides a non-technical review of the evidence on the returns to education and training for the individual, the firm and the economy at large. It begins by reviewing the empirical work that has attempted to estimate the true causal effect of education and training on individual earnings, focusing on the recent literature that has attempted to control for potential biases in the estimated returns to education and training. It then moves on to review the literature that has looked at the returns from human capital investments to employers. Lack of suitable data and methodological difficulties have resulted in a paucity of studies that have carried out sound empirical work on this issue. In the final part of the review, we look at the work that has tried to assess the contribution of human capital to national economic growth at the macroeconomic level. This work has generally involved using either a ‘growth accounting’ theoretical framework or ‘new growth’ theories. Although the empirical macroeconomic evidence that accompanies this work does not generally allow one to distinguish between the two approaches, there is a substantial body of evidence on the contribution of education to economic growth.

Persons with acquired profound hearing loss (APHL): how do they and their families adapt to the challenge?

The study examined the impact of acquired profound hearing loss (APHL) on the relationship between the hearing impaired person and their normally hearing close family member, usually a partner, and identified the kinds of adjustment leading to maintenance or deterioration of the relationship. The participants were 25 people with APHL and 25 family members, interviewed separately in their own home. Analysis of the interview transcripts adopted a grounded theory methodology. The different levels of analysis were linked in terms of a core category based on the social construction of a committed relationship. The conceptual codes were grouped as: (a) aural impairments giving rise to the need for adjustment; (b) pragmatic adjustments to spoken communication and family activities; (c) managing the adjustments without negative consequences; (d) adjustments leading to negative interaction. The results suggest that APHL places considerable strain on relationships and increases their vulnerability to failure, consistent with previous research. They highlight the need for professional support and suggest that a systemic conceptual framework is needed that includes the public response to profound hearing impairment

Gender and Racial Disparities in a Youth Urban Agriculture Workshop

Urban youth participation in agricultural activities has been linked to positive educational outcomes. This article explores the gender and racial differences in perceived knowledge gain and intended behavior change among youths participating in a youth urban agriculture workshop in 2015. Participants were students from underserved areas in Washington, DC. Female students and Black students had about half-grade higher (0.43–0.63 points) self-reported scores for knowledge change, whereas only female students showed an increase in intent to change behavior. Our results suggest that female students may learn at a faster rate than males and that experiential learning aids Black students in gaining knowledge

The Use of Electronic-Only Journals in Scientific Research

Journals that are published exclusively in electronic format present an innovation in the way that scientific information is communicated to the research community. Significant concerns remain regarding the impermanence of materials in electronic formats and the use of innovative features of electronically formatted material. It has taken some time for the e-only journals to become integrated into scientific information systems, indexed by major services, appear in library catalogs, or cited by other researchers. This article surveys the current place of the e-only journal within the information system

Thioxoethenylidene (CCS) as a bridging ligand

The reaction of [Mo(≡CBr)(CO)2(Tp*)] (Tp* = hydrotris(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)borate) with [Fe2(μ-SLi)2(CO)6] affords, inter alia, the unsymmetrical binuclear thioxoethenylidene complex [Mo2(μ,σ(C):η2(C′S)-CCS)(CO)4(Tp*)2], which may be more directly obtained from [Mo(≡CBr)(CO)2(Tp*)] and Li2S. The reaction presumably proceeds via the intermediacy of the bis(alkylidynyl)thioether complex S{C≡Mo(CO)2(Tp*)}2, which was, however, not directly observed but explored computationally and found to lie 78.6 kJ mol–1 higher in energy than the final thioxoethenylidene product. Computational interrogation of the molecules [M2(μ-C2S)(CO)2(Tp*)2] (M = Mo, W, Re, Os) reveals three plausible coordination modes for a thioxoethenylidene bridge which involve a progressive strengthening of the C–C bond and weakening of the M–C and M–S bonds, as might be expected from simple effective atomic number considerations.This work was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP130102598 and DP110101611)

Peste des Petits Ruminants infection among cattle and wildlife in Northern Tanzania

We investigated peste des petits ruminants (PPR) infection in cattle and wildlife in northern Tanzania. No wildlife from protected ecosystems were seropositive. However, cattle from villages where an outbreak had occurred among small ruminants showed high PPR seropositivity, indicating that spillover infection affects cattle. Thus, cattle could be of value for PPR serosurveillance