Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Administration and Social Policy'

Forestlands have been identified as a valuable resource to mitigate climate change due to the biome’s capacity to both sequester greenhouse gases and substitute for fossil fuels. Woody biomass has been proposed as a substitutable input for coal-generated electricity as economies attempt to transition to renewable power while addressing economic development goals. However, increasing the intensity of forest management for energy production has the potential to result in significant ecological, economic and social consequences at local, regional and global scales. In this context, my dissertation explores the capacity of existing policy frameworks to stimulate and support sustainable power production from forest biomaterials. In Chapter Two, I explore the interactions between shifting goals, actors and institutions in influencing incentives that shape today’s policy mix for woody biopower production in Wisconsin. The study’s results reveal that the state’s shifting focus away from using renewable energy as a means to pursue climate change mitigation and energy security goals combined with an absence of supportive coalitions has resulted in the dismantling of support for the woody biopower policy framework. In Chapter Three, I use data from a household survey of Tomahawk, Wisconsin residents to evaluate support for woody biomass production for power generation. Results show that respondents in biomass producing communities are more supportive of biomass sources such as forestry residues and forestry thinnings than dedicated harvesting operations. In addition, the results indicate that using an ecosystem services approach can help explain differences in support between these respondents and provide insights into socially acceptable forms of biomass harvesting operations. Chapter Four evaluates the use of sustainable forest management certification programs as a policy instrument to source sustainable woody biomass. The study evaluated the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification programs using bioenergy sustainability criteria found in the academic literature. The analysis shows a deficiency in these programs to address key criteria pertaining to climate change mitigation and would be improved by coupling sustainable forest management programs with bioenergy sustainability schemes such as designed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials.

Beginning with the notion that the dominant economic ideology in society is in a position to direct and serve the public interest, it is reasonable to ask if the public interest is well served by that ideology. That is the objective of this dissertation. In contemporary America, the dominant economic ideology is neo-liberalism, an evolutionary form of capitalism with its foundation in market fundamentalism, and characterized by an acute focus on profit and material acquisition and minimal involvement of government in the economy. The prefix neo derives from the ostensible return of liberalism to those free market values after a detour in the mid-20th century when it appeared that state intervention in the economy would result in redistributionist social welfare policies.

This dissertation examines the research questions: Does neo-liberalism serve the public interest? If not, what alternatives to neo-liberalism exist that better serve the common good? Answering these questions requires the subject to be parsed into a number of additional questions, each of which is explored in an independent essay. The essays discuss the nature of the public interest and role of self-interest in forming neo-liberal values. In addition, the essays examine the institutional responses to neo-liberalism through business as manifested by the corporate social responsibility movement and through government as manifested by welfare capitalism and, in particular, social democracy.

The conclusion drawn is that neo-liberalism is not conducive to the public interest and that social democracy offers a structure for a more economically efficient and morally just society. Policy prescriptions and arguments favoring social democracy are offered.

English learners (EL) account for approximately 10 percent of American public school students and a quarter of all public school students in the state of California. This student group, while already a sizable minority, is also the fastest growing group of students across the state and nation. Therefore, ways that public school systems meet, or fail to meet, the educational needs of EL students will have an increasingly significant impact on outcomes for public school students generally. However, English learners have traditionally experienced public education in very different ways from native English speaking students, ways that frequently restrict access to educational opportunities and further systemic forms of advantage for some student groups and disadvantage for others.

The purpose of this research was to better understand the relationship between the philosophies, beliefs, and practices of educational leaders, and the experiences of English learners. A conceptual framework was developed that combined the theories of Applied Critical Leadership and Moral Leadership. This framework guided the development of an interview instrument to collect qualitative data in the form of participant beliefs and practices. These qualitative data were then compared to quantitative institutional data representing EL student placement in both higher-track and lower-track educational pathways in order to understand whether a relationship between the two sets of data existed. The sample included 11 participants who were educational leaders who worked directly with EL students. Quantitative data represented course placement data for approximately 8,000 students across three high school campuses within the same district.

Findings from this research indicated that the beliefs and practices of educational leaders were consistent between schools serving demographically different communities, and that levels of equity or inequity, for English learners remained consistent on these disparate campuses. Furthermore, while all three schools had made recent progress in moving toward more equitable representation of EL students in various educational pathways, this progress may have been hindered by the lack of two leadership components, 1) the ability of educational leaders to engage site staff in critical conversations regarding race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and language proficiency, and 2) the ability of educational leaders to extend collaborative decision-making processes beyond certificated staff members in order to include the diverse perspectives of classified staff, students, parents, and community members.

Based on the findings, recommendations are made for the establishment of systemic opportunities for educational leaders to employ specific leadership practices that may achieve greater levels of equity for traditionally underserved student groups, including English learners.

Efforts are currently underway in the US federal context to improve and strengthen evaluation practice and increase the use of evaluation results to inform policies and programs. However, these efforts remain unrealized, due partly to the lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework that views evaluation and related organizational processes and institutions as part of a larger system. Early intuitive theoretical taxonomies of evaluation policy suffer from the lack of connection to specific examples and instances, and are missing clear classification criteria that would allow practical application. To generate a grounded taxonomy of evaluation policy, this study surveyed members of the American Evaluation Association in 2009, asking them to generate examples of evaluation policy, and then to sort and rate these suggested policies. Results are analyzed using the concept mapping method of Trochim (1989), which first translates aggregate sorting decisions into conceptual “distances” on a two-dimensional dot map, then uses hierarchical cluster analysis to generate groupings of ideas. These groupings become the foundation for categories in a theoretical taxonomy. Findings reveal several different dimensions by which participants grouped evaluation policies, including the dimensions of “value” and “policy mechanism.” A values-by-mechanisms taxonomy and instructions for its use in an evaluation policy inventory process are proposed.

Several researchers have identified social capital as a means to improve the social sustainability of communities. While there have been many studies investigating the benefits of social capital in homogeneous White communities, few have examined it in Black homogeneous communities. Also, there has been limited research on the influence of racism on social capital in African American communities. In this dissertation a comparative case study was used within a critical race theory framework. The purpose was to explore the role of racial oppression in shaping social capital in majority African American communities. Data were collected from 2 majority Black communities in Florida. The collected data included reviews of local news reports, voter turnout reports, and community health assessments, along with focus groups and semi structured interviews with a purposive sample of 20 of the communities’ African American residents. Benet’s polarities of democracy model was employed to analyze the relationship between racism and social capital. Analysis included inductive coding followed by pattern matching to identify overarching themes between the selected cases. One key theme was that perceived racial disparity inhibited bridging and linking social capital in the selected communities. Another key theme was that racism created social capital deficiencies and a dysfunctional community culture, which limited the capacity to address collective issues. Social change implications include specific policy recommendations to state and local leaders to increase the participation of Black community members in democratic processes. Additionally, this research has potential to improve understanding of the various ways that racism may affect Black Communities.

The purpose of this study was to an investigate school administrator perceptions of their authority to intervene in disciplinary issues that arise from students’ use of social media. The overarching question for this proposal was: How do educational leaders view their role in protecting students and the learning environment from student misconduct that occurs off campus?

The exponential use of personal technology allows students to continuously interact with each other, even off school campus. Some of this interaction represents a continually unwanted harassment between students. In Louisiana, there have been at least three documented cases of students committing suicide following negative exchanges online with their peers. Such negative communications between students may also disturb the learning environment of the school. School districts may also vary in their approach to addressing issues originating either off campus or on social media.

In recent years, emergency managers have recognized the importance of building and sustaining resilience in communities. U.S. disaster preparedness has long been centered at the local and state municipality level. However, there has been an increase in federal policy and grant funding to better prepare communities. These federal initiatives may actually be prohibitive when the money runs out. This funding discontinuity can impede progress toward creating resilient and prepared communities. The relationship between existing hazards and dynamic issues showcase the need for refining future approaches to mitigation. One piece of this forward movement includes the evaluation of mitigation grants that embraces concepts of sustainability. A good practice in this area is already underway in the State of California. It utilizes an evaluative process termed SMART and has shown possibility for adapting to a wider use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with mitigation experts to further inform the adaptation of the instrument. Concepts from the Strategic Foresight Initiative (SFI) were infused together to build community resilience. The adapted mitigation evaluation instrument has been designed to follow current mitigation practices and includes concepts of sustainability, resiliency, and foresight to choose grants that will improve communities. The aim is to better inform the way mitigation project grants are chosen and applied, and to reduce expenditure. Finally, the assessment tool has been adapted to encompass a wider geography.