We investigate parents' preferences for school attributes in a unique data set of survey, administrative, census and spatial data. Using a conditional logit, incorporating characteristics of households, schools and home-school distance, we show that most families have strong preferences for schools' academic performance. Parents also value schools' socio-economic composition and distance, which may limit the potential of school choice to improve academic standards. Most of the variation in preferences for school quality across socio-economic groups arises from differences in the quality of accessible schools rather than differences in parents' preferences, although more advantaged parents have stronger preferences for academic performance.Strong parental demand for academic performance is a central element of the view that strengthening school choice will drive up school performance . As school choice is a widely endorsed school improvement policy, this assumption is also an important policy issue, and the academic and policy debates on school choice are both controversial and unresolved (Hoxby, 2003). We contribute to this debate by offering new evidence on the nature and heterogeneity of parents' preferences for schools. We address three key questions. First, what school attributes do families value? Is the school's academic attainment record important, or do other factors out-weigh it? Second, how much do preferences differ between families of different socio-economic status? Answering these questions helps to explain the disproportionate admission of children from poor families to academically low-performing schools (Burgess and Briggs, 2009). Finally, we provide evidence on the degree to which this arises through differences in preferences for school attributes as opposed to constraints caused by differences in the attributes of available accessible schools.To address these questions we assemble a unique data set. We use survey information on parents' primary school choices and a rich set of family socio-economic and neighbourhood characteristics. We link this to administrative data on the characteristics of schools, and the nature of the local school choice mechanism. To identify
The paper focuses on the empirical evidence on the use and usefulness of performance measures in the public sector. It begins with consideration of the features of the public sector which make the use of performance measures complex: the issues of multiple principals and multiple tasks. It discusses the form that performance measures may take, the use made of these measures and the responses that individual may make to them. Empirical examples from the fields of education and health, with a focus on the US and UK, are examined. There is clear evidence of responses to such measures. Some of these responses improve efficiency, but others do not and fall into the category of 'gaming'. Generally, there has been l ittle assessment of whether performance measures bring about improvements in service. The paper ends with consideration of how such measures should be used and what measures are useful to collect.
The paper provides evidence on the extent of ethnic segregation experienced by children across secondary schools and neighbourhoods (wards). Using 2001 Schools Census and Population Census data, indices of dissimilarity and isolation are employed to compare patterns of segregation across nine ethnic groups, and across Local Education Authorities in England. Looking at both schools and neighbourhoods, high levels of segregation are found for the different groups, along with considerable variation across England. Consistently higher segregation is found for south Asian pupils than for Black pupils. For most ethnic groups, children are more segregated at school than in their neighbourhood. The relative degree of segregation is analysed and it is shown that high population density is associated with high relative school segregation.
a b s t r a c tThis paper evaluates the impact of a performance-related pay scheme for teachers in England. Using data which matches individual pupils to individual teachers, and contains both test scores and value-added, we test whether the introduction of a payment scheme based on pupil attainment increased teacher effort. Our evaluation design controls for pupil effects, school effects and teacher effects, and adopts a difference-indifference methodology. We find that the scheme did improve test scores and value added increased on average by about 40% of a grade per pupil.
Ethnic test score gap, School attainment, Education, I20, J15,
The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, a Research Centre based at the University of Bristol, was established in 1998. The principal aim of the CMPO is to develop understanding of the design of activities within the public sector, on the boundary of the state and within recently privatised entities with the objective of developing research in, and assessing and informing policy toward, these activities. AbstractExtending choice in health care is currently popular amongst English, and other, politicians. Those promoting choice make an appeal to a simple economic argument. Competitive pressure helps make private firms more efficient and consumer choice acts as a major driver for efficiency. Giving service users the ability to choose applies competitive pressure to health care providers and, analogously with private markets, they will raise their game to attract business. The paper subjects this assumption to the scrutiny provided by a review of the theoretical and empirical economic evidence on choice in health care. The review considers several interlocking aspects of the current English choice policy: competition between hospitals, the responsiveness of patients to greater choice, the provision of information and the use of fixed prices. The paper concludes that there is neither strong theoretical nor empirical support for competition, but that there are cases where competition has improved outcomes. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of this literature for policies to promote competition in the English NHS.
Monoclonal antibodies (Syva Co., Palo Alto, Calif.) were used for the detection and serotyping of herpes simplex virus (HSV) isolates by immunofluorescence 16 h after inoculation of MRC-5 monolayers in 3.7-ml shell vials and after low-speed centrifugation. A total of 119 specimens were inoculated into conventional tube celi cultures and sheil vials. Of 98 specimens inoculated on the same day of receipt in the laboratory (fresh specimens), all 23 (23.5%) HSV-positive specimens were identified by serotype in 16 h in shell vials by immunofluorescence, whereas only 8 of 23 HSV-positive specimens (34.8%) produced cytopathic effects in conventional tube cell cultures in this time period. Similarly, of 21 original specimen extracts previously determined to be culture positive for HSV (stored specimens), all were detected and serotyped by the immunofluorescence test with monoclonal antibodies 16 h postinoculation compared with the recognition of only 8 of these isolates (38.1 %) by cytopathic effect that soon. This technique of centrifugal inoculation of HSV in sheli vials containing MRC-5 cells permitted detection of this virus in ail positive specimens with serotype determination within 16 h postinoculation.
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