Teacher Quality and Student Inequality (Revised 2014)

This paper examines the extent to which the allocation of teachers within and across public high schools is contributing to inequality in student test score performance. Using ten years of administrative data from North Carolina public high schools, I estimate a flexible education production function in which student achievement reflects student inputs, teacher quality, school quality, and a school-specific scaling factor that allows the impact of teaching quality to vary across schools. The existence of nearly 3,000 teacher transfers, combined with a testable exogenous mobility assumption, allows separate identification of each teacher’s quality from both school quality and school sensitivity to teacher quality. I find that teaching quality is surprisingly equitably distributed both within and across high schools. Schools predominantly serving underprivileged students employ teachers who are only slightly below average, and most students receive a mix of their school’s good and bad teachers. Overall, I find that the allocation of teacher and school inputs at the high school level contributes only 4% to the achievement gap between the top and bottom deciles of an index of student background. Finally, I find that schools that disproportionately serve disadvantaged students tend to be more sensitive to teacher quality

Task-Specific Experience and Task-Specific Talent: Decomposing the Productivity of High School Teachers

We use administrative panel data to decompose worker performance into components relating to general talent, task-specific talent, general experience, and task-specific experience. We consider the context of high school teachers, in which tasks consist of teaching particular subjects in particular tracks. Using the timing of changes in the subjects and levels to which teachers are assigned to provide identifying variation, we show that much of the productivity gains to teacher experience estimated in the literature are actually subject-specific. By contrast, very little of the variation in the permanent component of productivity among teachers is subject-specific or level-specific. Counterfactual simulations suggest that maximizing the value of task-specific experience could produce nearly costless efficiency gains on the order of .02 test score standard deviations

Group-Average Observables as Controls for Sorting on Unobservables When Estimating Group Treatment Effects: The Case of School and Neighborhood Effects

We consider the classic problem of estimating group treatment effects when individuals sort based on observed and unobserved characteristics. Using a standard choice model, we show that controlling for group averages of observed individual characteristics potentially absorbs all the across-group variation in unobservable individual characteristics. We use this insight to bound the treatment effect variance of school systems and associated neighborhoods for various outcomes. Across four datasets, our conservative estimates indicate that a 90th versus 10th percentile school system increases high school graduation and college enrollment probabilities by at least 0.047 and 0.11. Other applications include measurement of teacher value-added

The Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay’s Essay de politique: Fénelon and Jacobitism

Andrew Michael Ramsay‟s Essay de Politique (1719) and the revised second edition, the Essay philosophique sur le gouvernement civil (1721) claimed to promulgate the political principles of the Archbishop Fénelon author of Télémaque (1699). The assumed relationship between Fénelon and Ramsay augmented by Ramsay‟s Vie de Fénelon (1723) meant that subsequent biographers of both men have believed the Essay to be a faithful depiction of the prelate‟s political ideas. However this work, aided by the Vie de Fénelon was used by Ramsay to promote the Jacobite cause of James Stuart (the 'Pretender'). The Essay was used by Ramsay to set out a theoretical system of government that would prevent an 'excess of liberty' in the people and thereby prevent the possibility of Revolution against a king. Ramsay's second edition augmented this idea with a more focused attack on the contract theorists and apologists for the 1689 Revolution. Ramsay deliberately manipulated the political legacy of Fénelon and focused on a corrupted view of Fénelon's early (children's) educational works in his promotion of Jacobitism. In doing so, he disregarded the important later reform plans for the French state under the potential reign of (an adult) Duke of Burgundy which were later influential in Regency France. Moreover, Ramsay manipulated the name and reputation of Fénelon to disguise the real influence of his Essay, Fénelon's nemesis Bossuet. The reliance of the Essay upon the seventeenth century absolutist theory of Bossuet at a time when eighteenth century Britain and Regency France had rejected absolutism in favour of reform led to its failure. The aim of the Thesis is therefore to examine the extent of Ramsay's Jacobitism, his impact on the political legacy of Fénelon in his attempt to create a work of Jacobite propaganda, and the true influences on the Essay de Politique

Lit environments that promote health and well-being

The beneficial effects of light on human non-image forming processes are subject to much research interest and are outlined in this article. Known mechanisms of impact include those on the circadian timing system, the arousal system and the affective system. An indication is made that it is important to consider the characteristics of the light field not just the light source when making recommendations concerning light of certain spectral quality. What types of light field are people exposed to on a regular basis and can these lit environments be considered beneficial? How much do these lit scenes differ in terms of spectral composition, as well as in light distribution patterns and illuminance levels, from those conditions that are currently suggested for optimising occupant health and wellbeing? A representative set of natural and built lit environments were identified ranging from seascapes/landscapes to an urban square and various interior architectural environments. A photometric and colorimetric snapshot was measured during the midday hours, to replicate the visual field as viewed from the perspective of the observer. The measured spectral irradiance of light received at the cornea was converted into derived lighting metrics that are the subject of current recommendation: relative sensitivity curve (V λ), vertical/horizontal illuminance ratio (Ev/Eh), cylindrical illuminance (Ec) and circadian stimulus. The data were analysed to demonstrate that the indications are that more natural lit environments are expected to be beneficial. Discussion follows about the relative importance of spectral composition, intensity and light distribution within the visual field and how these might combine to optimise our health and wellbeing. / Practical application: Architectural and engineering designers are being encouraged to devise environments that promote human health and wellbeing. New lighting metrics are being suggested and this article seeks to indicate how effective these metrics are in their ability to characterise these lit environments

Changing attitudes to 'the change'

Copyright © 2004 Royal Australian College of General PractitionersBACKGROUND In order to practise efficiently, experienced doctors use heuristics (decision making shortcuts). In most cases decision making shortcuts improve the service we offer, allowing us to make appropriate decisions more quickly. However, occasionally shortcuts can mislead. It is important to reflect on the shortcuts we use so as to reduce the risk of mistakes. OBJECTIVE This article examines the potential pitfalls of decision making shortcuts using hormone therapy (HT) in menopause as an example. DISCUSSION Recent randomised controlled trials have changed the thinking on the risk-benefit ratio for HT. The previously assumed long term health benefits of HT for women during and beyond menopause resulted from shortcuts in decision making including ‘association means causation’ (observational data), ‘experts know best’ (the experience of gynaecologists seeing women with severe menopausal symptoms is applied to all women) and ‘a biological theory to explain a phenomenon makes it likely to be true’ (oestrogen has a positive effect on lipid profiles and so was assumed to be cardioprotective).Katrina Allen, Peter Mansfiel

Creating positive atmosphere and emotion in an office-like environment: A methodology for the lit environment

This study investigated whether positive human emotion can be set as a goal through the lighting design process. The study first used a model of emotion – the circumplex model of affect – to characterise four different emotion states (liveliness, relaxation, tense and gloom). Second, five professional lighting designers were recruited and were asked to devise the concepts of each lively and relaxing workspace lit environment. A total of fifteen lighting scenarios with the intention to explore the four emotion states were configured and their emotional effect was investigated through a controlled experiment via a self-reported questionnaire with 42 participants (within-subject design). The results indicate that positive emotions of liveliness can be cued under two lighting settings and that of relaxation under three lighting settings of varying colour temperatures and light distribution. There was also a promising link between perceived atmosphere and human emotion, indicating that atmosphere could be a predictor for human emotion

Field condensations and Noncritical String for c>1

Quantum theory of 2d gravity for $c>1$ is examined as a non-critical string theory by taking account of the loop-correction of open strings whose end points are on the 2d world surface of the closed string. This loop-correction leads to a conformal anomaly, and we obtain a modified target-space action which implies a new phase of the non-critical closed-string. In this phase, the dual field of the gauge field, which lives on the boundary, condenses and the theory can be extended to $c>1$ without any instability.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, no figur