Suchergebnisse

Background:In an ongoing effort to improve teacher quality, most states require continuing education or professional development for their in-service teachers. Studies evaluating the effectiveness of various professional development programs have assumed a normal distribution of quality of teachers participating in the programs. Because participation in many professional development programs is either targeted or voluntary, this article suggests past evaluations of the effectiveness of professional development may be subject to selection bias and policy recommendations may be premature.Research Design:This article presents an empirical framework for evaluating professional development programs where treatment is potentially nonrandom, and explicitly accounts for the teacher's prior effectiveness in the classroom as a factor that may influence participation in professional development. This article controls for the influence of selection bias on professional development outcomes by generating a matched sample based on propensity scores and then estimating the program's effect.Results:In applying this framework to the professional development program examined in this article, less effective teachers are found to be more likely to participate in the program, and correcting for this selection leads to different conclusions regarding the program's effectiveness than when ignoring teacher selection patterns.

Since 1 2, UNHCR has been implementing the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI), a German government-funded programme to provide tertiary education for refugees in countries of asylum. Afghans have comprised the largest group of DAFI students. Adapted from the source document.

Private training establishments are a growing sector in New Zealand tertiary education, although their students receive lower subsidies than do those at public institutions. The determination of public subsidies for private tertiary education students is complex and is based upon philosophical arguments, trends in demand and the capacity of private and public sectors. This issue has gained prominence in New Zealand since the release of the Government Green Paper on tertiary education last year, which suggested equal subsidies for students in private and public tertiary education. This paper reviews the general arguments and overseas examples in this area, before examining the New Zealand situation and outlining options for the future.