Lead Them to Water and Pay Them to Drink: An Experiment with Services and Incentives for College Achievement

High rates of attrition, delayed completion, and poor achievement are growing concerns at colleges and universities in North America. This paper reports on a randomized field experiment involving two strategies designed to improve these outcomes among first-year undergraduates at a large Canadian university. One treatment group was offered peer advising and organized study group services. Another was offered substantial merit-scholarships for solid, but not necessarily top, first year grades. A third treatment group combined both interventions. Service take-up rates were much higher for students offered both services and scholarships than for those offered services alone. Females also used services more than males. No program had an effect on grades for males. However, first-term grades were significantly higher for females in the two scholarship treatment groups. These effects faded somewhat by year's end, but remain significant for females who planned to take enough courses to qualify for a scholarship. There also appears to have been an effect on retention for females offered both scholarships and services. This effect is large enough to generate an overall increase in retention. On balance, the results suggest that a combination of services and incentives is more promising than either alone.

Comparing Quality: The Quality Assurance and Enhancement Report for England and Northern Ireland and the Ontario Quality Assurance Framework

This is a comparative study of two reports on the assurance of quality in higher education that appeared contemporaneously in 2008. One was the result of a joint working group of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, the Higher Education Academy, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The other was the result of a task force of the Council of Ontario Universities and the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies. Both groups had the endorsement of government. Both groups began with extensive surveys of institutional opinion about existing quality assurance and enhancement regimes. Using NVivo software, documentary analysis, and archival records the paper identifies and compares several recurring themes, such as: the boundary line between academic support services and student services, the assurance of quality as separate from the enhancement of quality, balancing homogeneity and isomorphism, the institution versus the basic academic unit as the focus of assurance, self-regulation versus system regulation, the assurance of quality versus the enhancement of quality, the role and role of league ranking, performance indicators, and benchmarking, aggregation, and scope of jurisdiction. The paper pays particular attention to the balance between institutional autonomy and system-wide standards in promoting quality and innovation. Some particular findings are that the Ontario perspective focuses on assuring quality in contrast to the British approach’s orientation to enhancing quality. The British orientation is towards formative assessment while the Ontario approach is more normative. Neither report discusses the demonstration of quality. Both approaches, then and now, rely on external audits, but the meaning of “audit” is different between the two

Axial resonances a1(1260), b1(1235) and their decays from the lattice

The light axial-vector resonances $a_1(1260)$ and $b_1(1235)$ are explored in Nf=2 lattice QCD by simulating the corresponding scattering channels $\rho\pi$ and $\omega\pi$. Interpolating fields $\bar{q} q$ and $\rho\pi$ or $\omega\pi$ are used to extract the s-wave phase shifts for the first time. The $\rho$ and $\omega$ are treated as stable and we argue that this is justified in the considered energy range and for our parameters $m_\pi\simeq 266~$MeV and $L\simeq 2~$fm. We neglect other channels that would be open when using physical masses in continuum. Assuming a resonance interpretation a Breit-Wigner fit to the phase shift gives the $a_1(1260)$ resonance mass $m_{a1}^{res}=1.435(53)(^{+0}_{-109})$ GeV compared to $m_{a1}^{exp}=1.230(40)$ GeV. The $a_1$ width $\Gamma_{a1}(s)=g^2 p/s$ is parametrized in terms of the coupling and we obtain $g_{a_1\rho\pi}=1.71(39)$ GeV compared to $g_{a_1\rho\pi}^{exp}=1.35(30)$ GeV derived from $\Gamma_{a1}^{exp}=425(175)$ MeV. In the $b_1$ channel, we find energy levels related to $\pi(0)\omega(0)$ and $b_1(1235)$, and the lowest level is found at $E_1 \gtrsim m_\omega+m_\pi$ but is within uncertainty also compatible with an attractive interaction. Assuming the coupling $g_{b_1\omega\pi}$ extracted from the experimental width we estimate $m_{b_1}^{res}=1.414(36)(^{+0}_{-83})$.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, updated to match published versio

Vector and scalar charmonium resonances with lattice QCD

We perform an exploratory lattice QCD simulation of $D \bar D$ scattering, aimed at determining the masses as well as the decay widths of charmonium resonances above open charm threshold. Neglecting coupling to other channels, the resulting phase shift for $D \bar D$ scattering in p-wave yields the well-known vector resonance $\psi(3770)$. For $m_\pi = 156$ MeV, the extracted resonance mass and the decay width agree with experiment within large statistical uncertainty. The scalar charmonium resonances present a puzzle, since only the ground state $\chi_{c0}(1P)$ is well understood, while there is no commonly accepted candidate for its first excitation. We simulate $D \bar D$ scattering in s-wave in order to shed light on this puzzle. The resulting phase shift supports the existence of a yet-unobserved narrow resonance with a mass slightly below 4 GeV. A scenario with this narrow resonance and a pole at $\chi_{c0}(1P)$ agrees with the energy-dependence of our phase shift. Further lattice QCD simulations and experimental efforts are needed to resolve the puzzle of the excited scalar charmonia.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, updated to match published versio

Incentive Funding Meets Incentive-Based Budgeting: Can They Coexist?

Two major developments in the financial management of higher education have occurred more or less contemporaneously: incentive or performance funding on the part of government and incentive-based budgeting on the part of institutions. Both are based on fiscal incentives. Despite their several inherent and interconnected similarities, incentive funding and incentive-based budgeting have been viewed and appraised on parallel tracks. This study investigates their convergence. In doing so, it sharpens the definitions of both, identifies their respective track records, and discusses problems that are chronic to both. The study concludes that although incentive funding and incentive-based budgeting are sometimes at cross-purposes, they are functionally interconnected. The study uses Canada as an example because it is the jurisdiction that so far has seen the most extensive mutual deployment of performance funding and incentive-based budgeting.  Deux changements importants sont survenus plus ou moins simultanément dans la gestion financière de l’enseignement supérieur : le financement incitatif ou basé sur le rendement, pour ce qui est du gouvernement, et le budget basé sur des mesures incitatives, pour ce qui sont des institutions. Tous deux sont basés sur des incitatifs fiscaux. Malgré plusieurs similitudes inhérentes et inter-reliées, le financement incitatif et le budget basé sur des mesures incitatives ont été considérés et évalués en parallèle. Cette étude se penche sur leur convergence. Ce faisant, elle en affine les définitions, identifie leurs résultats respectifs et traite des problèmes chroniques qui s’appliquent à tous les deux. L’étude conclut que, même si le financement incitatif et le budget basé sur des mesures incitatives travaillent parfois à contre-courant, ils sont inter-reliés dans leurs fonctions. L’étude utilise le Canada comme exemple parce que, jusqu’à présent, c’est la juridiction qui a connu le plus important déploiement mutuel en matière de financement basé sur le rendement et en matière de budget basé sur des mesures incitatives.&nbsp

Major Airline Pilot Hiring, Low Cost Versus Legacy

There are 15 major airlines and 15 different types of initial pilot selection processes. Airlines generally publish low minimum application requirements in order to comply with non discrimination laws in the United States. However, most applicants will have far exceeded these minimums in order to be competitive. As airlines become more selective, their applicant pool becomes smaller resulting in a more homogenous group. Since all major airlines draw from this relatively small homogenous group, why does every airline have a different selection process? Most major airlines administer written and or computer tests, simulator evaluations, psychological tests, and aeronautical knowledge tests. Most, if not all, legacy airlines administer simulator evaluations during initial screening while none of the low cost airlines use them. However, no low cost airlines use simulator evaluations. This study examined the differences in pilot selection between the low cost airline Jet Blue and the legacy major airline Continental. The results indicate that neither carrier has attempted to validate their selection process. Although various tests or phases might select pilots with desired traits neither airline can show if they are actually selection their desired pilot. Both airlines would be much better served with a structured type selection processes that is founded on proven research and statistical analysis. When asked about the hiring process at major airlines, Kit Darby, the owner of a career counseling and information service company for commercial pilots (Air Inc.), said the hiring process is “consistently inconsistent “ (Damos, 2003). JetBlue and Continental Airlines were chosen because they have separated themselves from other airlines by consistently achieving multiple awards for excellent customer service and desirable corporate cultures. Even though both airlines focus on selecting applicants with extensive experience and superior customer service skills, essentially trying to hire the same type of pilot, they both take significantly different approaches in their pilot selection process. The results of this study will enable future major airline pilot applicants to evaluate an airline’s selection process. A thorough evaluation of airlines hiring practices will allow pilots to discover if they are the best fit for that airline and how to go about positioning themselves for future hiring opportunities. This study will also provide airlines with potential suggestions for improving their selection process

The influence of societal individualism on a century of tobacco use: modelling the prevalence of smoking

Smoking of tobacco is predicted to cause approximately six million deaths worldwide in 2014. Responding effectively to this epidemic requires a thorough understanding of how smoking behaviour is transmitted and modified. Here, we present a new mathematical model of the social dynamics that cause cigarette smoking to spread in a population. Our model predicts that more individualistic societies will show faster adoption and cessation of smoking. Evidence from a new century-long composite data set on smoking prevalence in 25 countries supports the model, with direct implications for public health interventions around the world. Our results suggest that differences in culture between societies can measurably affect the temporal dynamics of a social spreading process, and that these effects can be understood via a quantitative mathematical model matched to observations