Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council: A Study of Council Effectiveness

The purpose of this research is to measure and assess the effectiveness of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council. Given that effectiveness may be defined in a number of ways, the research conducted includes many types of information that can provide a well-rounded assessment of the council

Goal Complexity in Financial Aid and the Contingency of Organizational Sector

Expectations of public institutions of higher education now include a growing number of competing goals. Financial assistance policies are expected to reward student talent, expand access to education, boost retention and graduation rates, and more. Yet research has not generally provided an empirical assessment of whether and how higher levels of goal complexity are linked to institutional processes and outcomes. The present study examines financial assistance goal complexity in two- and four-year public institutions using survey data from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO). Findings show that both two-year and fouryear colleges are affected similarly by goal complexity in terms of state and institutional financial aid awards but quite differently for student outcomes. Complexity has a strong negative effect on graduation and retention rates at two-year institutions, suggesting that state actors need to better differentiate between their demands of two- and four-year institutions

Recruiting a Lady: The Depiction of the Women\u27s Army Corps

The Women\u27s Army Corps [WAC] proves to be an interesting topic for reading and analysis for students of the Army in WWII. One can see a good deal of patriotism in the examination of how WAC was formed and \u27how women were recruited. Patriotism greatlyfueled all of the propaganda sun-ounding the Women\u27s Army Corps. Patriotism was also at the root of most of the scholarship on the Women\u27s Army Corps, thus it is at the heart of theArmy sanctioned story of the WAC. This Army sanctioned story is cemented most in Mattie E. Treadwell\u27s The Women\u27s Army Corps, which was the first book on the WAC, and therefore the most cited book on the WAC. Because of this reliance on Treadwell, the vast majority of schol~ship onthe Women\u27s Army Corps shows a strong con-elation to this Army sanctioned story and a strong reliance on patriotism as the reasons for a Women\u27s Army Corps and the reasons women chose to join the WAC. This thesis will look at the history of, the Women\u27s Army Corps, the scholarship on the Women\u27s Army Corps, and lastly, in attempt to show that there is more to the WAC than the propaganda of patriotism, this paper will look at some more recent scholarship on women in the Army that takes a femini~t, approach to the subj ect

Book Review: Privatization and the Public Good: Public Universities in the Balance

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Performance funding policies in higher education have had little effect on student outcomes

Performance and cost efficiency concerns have taken center stage in discussions about the funding and oversight of public universities in recent years. One of the primary manifestations of these concerns is the rise of performance funding policies, or policies that seek to directly link state appropriations to the outcomes institutions generate for students. In a study of over 500 four year post-secondary institutions in all fifty states from 1993-2010, Amanda Rutherford and Thomas Rabovsky find that current performance funding policies are not associated with higher levels of student performance and that these policies may in fact contribute to lower performance over a longer period of time. However, more recent policies linked to institutional base funding may produce some likelihood of long-term improvement and require additional attention by scholars and policymakers

School boards were more likely to have Latino members incounties covered by the language assistance provisions of thenow defunct Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.

More than two years ago the Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, meaning that certain districts and states would no longer need to gain preclearance from the U.S. District Court before making changes to electoral rules. In new research, Melissa Marschall and Amanda Rutherford look at the effects of the language assistance provisions of Section 4(f)(4) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) on Latino representation on local school boards. They find that in counties covered by the VRA, school boards were more likely to have Latino members, and that this effect was enhanced when elections were monitored by federal observers

In majority Democratic school districts, African Americans gain significantly more representation in at-large elections

Research on electoral structure has often touted single member districts to be beneficial for achieving minority representation. In a study of a national sample of school board elections between 2002 and 2008, Kenneth J. Meier and Amanda Rutherford find an unanticipated trend—African Americans are now over-represented on school boards with at-large elections when they are a minority of the population. They argue that partisanship changes the relationship between electoral structure and race so that African American may benefit in counties with a majority Democrat constituency. The traditional pattern of African-American under representation occurs only in school districts with a Republican voting majority

Chapter 1 The Common Denominator: Persistent Racial Gaps in the Administration of Policy

Issues of race permeate virtually every corner of policy creation and implementation in the United States, yet theoretically driven research on interactions of policy, race, and ethnicity rarely offers practical tools that can be readily applied by current and future civil servants, private contractors, or nonprofit boards. Arguing that scholarship can and should inform practice to address issues of equity in public affairs, rather than overlook, ignore, or deny them, Race and Public Administration offers a much-needed and accessible exploration of current and cutting-edge research on race and policy. This book evaluates what contradictions, unanswered questions, and best (or worst) practices exist in conducting and understanding research that can provide evidence-based policy and management guidance to practitioners in the field.　 Individual chapters are written by established and emerging scholars and explore a wide range of policy areas, including public education, policing, health and access to healthcare, digital governance, nonprofit diversity, and international contexts. Together, the chapters serve as a link between theoretically informed research in public administration and those students and professionals trained to work in the trenches of public administration. This book is ideally suited as a text for courses in schools of public administration, public policy, or nonprofit management, and is required reading for those actively involved in policy analysis, creation, or evaluation

Chapter 1 The Common Denominator: Persistent Racial Gaps in the Administration of Policy

Issues of race permeate virtually every corner of policy creation and implementation in the United States, yet theoretically driven research on interactions of policy, race, and ethnicity rarely offers practical tools that can be readily applied by current and future civil servants, private contractors, or nonprofit boards. Arguing that scholarship can and should inform practice to address issues of equity in public affairs, rather than overlook, ignore, or deny them, Race and Public Administration offers a much-needed and accessible exploration of current and cutting-edge research on race and policy. This book evaluates what contradictions, unanswered questions, and best (or worst) practices exist in conducting and understanding research that can provide evidence-based policy and management guidance to practitioners in the field.　 Individual chapters are written by established and emerging scholars and explore a wide range of policy areas, including public education, policing, health and access to healthcare, digital governance, nonprofit diversity, and international contexts. Together, the chapters serve as a link between theoretically informed research in public administration and those students and professionals trained to work in the trenches of public administration. This book is ideally suited as a text for courses in schools of public administration, public policy, or nonprofit management, and is required reading for those actively involved in policy analysis, creation, or evaluation

It's good for students when parents work with teachers to design and produce their education.

The New York City Department of Education has long recognized the role of parent involvement in student academic achievement. Indeed, parents and teachers can work together to 'coproduce' educational services to benefit student achievement. However, we do not know what kind of coproduction directly and effectively supports educational attainment. In a new research, Julio Zambrano-Gutiérrez, Amanda Rutherford, and Sean Nicholson-Crotty ..