The Promise and Precondition of Educational Autonomy

Part One of this Essay defends the Court\u27s [Grutter] analysis. The thesis here is a simple one: Universities should have a zone of freedom in which to conduct their academic affairs because they are better at making choices about educational matters than are generalist courts. This is the position I took, both in the Sixth Circuit and in the Supreme Court, as the chief counsel to the amicus deans of many of the nation\u27s leading private law schools in Grutter. Academic freedom has become something of a pariah concept; indeed, our amicus brief contained the only substantial discussion, let alone defense, of educational autonomy among the various briefs filed in the case. Grutter\u27s celebration of such autonomy was by necessity modest, for what was left unmentioned were the many abuses of power in the name of academic freedom. To construct a viable system of deference to university decisionmaking, one must isolate not only the advantages of autonomy, but also its dangers. Part Two, to that end, sets forth some structural preconditions before academic autonomy claims should be recognized by courts. The Part explains why universities that seek to use educational autonomy to defend their admissions practices must release admissions data to a broader set of people than university administrators. As such, I issue a cautionary note to universities that are tempted to use their autonomy wantonly to carry out policies that cross the constitutional line

University autonomy: Improving educational output

University autonomy and funding is an important aspect in university-level education due to its impact on graduates’ competencies, and on the quality and quantity of research produced. Political factors influence the amount of autonomy allotted to public universities in specific countries. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that an increase in autonomy for universities would provide better educational outcomes and have a direct impact on labor market productivity. However, the debate on autonomy has been overshadowed by discussions on tuition fees and student aid in political circles

Educational media and learner autonomy

From the analysis of some of the strategies designed and implemented between 2002 and 2009 in three academic programs of higher education institutions in the city of Bogota, introduces the study of the impact it has had on teaching practices, policy Colombian State's public demand that higher education institutions working on developing skills for independent learning of students and teachers, and support training for learner autonomy. We conclude that the terms used in documents that expose the complete educational policy determining the research agenda of the groups of teachers from institutions of higher educationDesde el análisis de algunas de las estrategias diseñadas e implementadas entre el 2002 y el 2009 en programas académicos de tres instituciones de educación superior de la ciudad de Bogotá, se introduce el estudio del impacto que ha tenido, en las prácticas de enseñanza, la política pública del Estado colombiano de exigir a las instituciones de educación superior trabajar en el desarrollo de competencias para el aprendizaje autónomo de estudiantes y profesores, y de apoyar la formación de la autonomía del estudiante. Se concluye que los términos utilizados en los documentos que exponen la política educativa determinan la agenda investigativa de los colectivos docentes de instituciones de educación superio

Perceveid Social Support in middle school students

Research on school climate has among its purposes to contribute to improving the quality of education, one of the main challenges of the Mexican educational system, particularly at the level of basic education. Our aim was to explore the relationships between the dimensions of school climate of perceived social the support teacher-student, support student-student and opportunities for autonomy and academic performance. The study was non-experimental and correlational. The sample consisted of 325 students from a middle school in northeastern Mexico, with a mean age of 13.4 years who responded to a scale of perceived school climate. The results show that students perceive great teacher support associated with student-student support and opportunities for autonomy. In addition, we found that academic achievement related to teacher support and opportunities for autonomy. These data are consistent with the country´s educational policy, which emphasizes the teacher´s role as facilitator of student learning to improve learning outcomes and the quality of education.Fil: Rodriguez, María Concepción. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MéxicoFil: Vivas, Jorge Ricardo. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Psicología. Centro de Investigación en Procesos Básicos, Metodologías y Educación; ArgentinaFil: Comesaña, Ana. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Psicología. Centro de Investigación en Procesos Básicos, Metodologías y Educación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata; ArgentinaFil: Ramirez, Laura Minerva. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; MéxicoFil: Peña, José Armando. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León; Méxic

Political liberalism and the value of autonomy

Is there a conflict between the claim that the state ought not to promote any values and the idea that it ought to encourage autonomy? Colburn (2010) denies such a conflict. In this paper, I will argue that Colburn’s considerations fail to dissolve the dissent between political liberalism and an autonomy-minded perfectionism. In order to show this, I will focus on the question of whether or not the state may be committed to the value of autonomy in the educational system

Institutional Effects in a Simple Model of Educational Production

This paper presents a model of educational production that tries to make sense of recent evidence on effects of institutional arrangements on student performance. In a simple principal-agent framework, students choose their learning effort to maximize their net benefits, while the government chooses educational spending to maximize its net benefits. In the jointly determined equilibrium, schooling quality is shown to depend on several institutionally determined parameters. The impact on student performance of institutions such as central examinations, centralization versus school autonomy, teachers\u27 influence, parental influence, and competition from private schools is analyzed. Furthermore, the model can rationalize why positive resource effects may be lacking in educational production

Mother's Autonomy and Child Welfare: A New Measure and Some New Evidence

We construct a new, direct measure of female autonomy in household decision-making by creating an index from the principal components of a variety of household variables on which mother of a child takes decision. We then examine its impacts on her child’s secondary education in Mexico and find that the children of Mexican mothers with greater autonomy in domestic decision making have higher enrolment in and lower probability of dropping out of secondary school. We use the relative proximity of spousal parents as instruments for relative autonomy to ameliorate the potential endogeneity between autonomy and welfare outcomes. We argue that omitted variables that may drive education and autonomy are likely to be uncorrelated with the ones driving location choice of families given the migration patterns in Mexico. However, the positive autonomy effect is weaker and non-existent for older children and for girls suggesting that gender-directed conditional cash transfer policies may not necessarily hasten educational and gender transition in the process of development.instrumental variable, education, principal component, female empowerment

Balancing Autonomy Rights and Protection:Children’s Involvement in a Child Safety Online Project

Researchers who involve children in their research are faced with the challenge of choosing between differing theoretical approaches which can prioritise children’s autonomy rights or their ‘vulnerability’ and their need to be protected. Somewhat confusingly, ethical guidelines seem to reflect a combination of these approaches. Even when researchers have settled on their preferred approach, they may find that this then has to be modified in accordance with gatekeeper requirements. In the context of children’s involvement in a child safety online project, this paper highlights the difficulties encountered because of a tension between children’s autonomy rights, educational norms in a school setting and child protection concerns, and considers whether an appropriate balance was achieved

Mother's Autonomy and Child Welfare: A New Measure and Some New Evidence

We construct a new, direct measure of female autonomy in household decision-making by creating an index from the principal components of a variety of household variables on which mother of a child takes decision. We then examine its impacts on her child's secondary education in Mexico and find that the children of Mexican mothers with greater autonomy in domestic decision making have higher enrolment in and lower probability of dropping out of secondary school. We use the relative proximity of spousal parents as instruments for relative autonomy to ameliorate the potential endogeneity between autonomy and welfare outcomes. We argue that omitted variables that may drive education and autonomy are likely to be uncorrelated with the ones driving location choice of families given the migration patterns in Mexico. However, the positive autonomy effect is weaker and non-existent for older children and for girls suggesting that gender-directed conditional cash transfer policies may not necessarily hasten educational and gender transition in the process of development.Female Empowerment, Principal Component, Education, Instrumental Variable

The Effect of Early Noncognitive Skills on Social Outcomes in Adolescence

This paper investigates the impact of early noncognitive skills on social outcomes in adolescence. The child's attention span, approach, prevailing mood and distractibility in early childhood may be crucial predictors for school achievements, health risk behavior, delinquency and autonomy as adolescent. We investigate this issue using a longitudinal epidemiological cohort study of 384 children at risk from the Rhine-Neckar Region in Germany. Our results indicate that noncognitive skills in early childhood are important predictors of educational success, tobacco and alcohol use, delinquency and autonomy in adolescence. In particular, the attention span has emerged as a dominant factor among noncognitive skills regarding educational performance, health behavior and delinquency in our study. Further, we find that boys with low noncognitive skills have significantly lower social outcomes compared to girls. --noncognitive skills,early childhood,risk factors,social outcomes