Planning, Public Policy and Management Capstone and Terminal Projects

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/17

This collection includes theses and terminal projects written by graduate students in the University of Oregon's Dept. of Planning, Public Policy & Management and predecessor programs.

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Browsing Planning, Public Policy and Management Capstone and Terminal Projects by Author "Beach, Paul"

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    Oregon Department of Justice Crime Victim Service Division: The Cost and Distribution of Victim Assistance Programs
    (Department of Planning, Public Policy & Management, University of Oregon, 2013-05) Beach, Paul; Ference, Jessica; McKay, David
    The purpose of this report is to clarify the existing distribution of service costs for District Attorney Victim Assistance Programs (VAPs) in Oregon. VAPs are essential components of the criminal justice system by reducing the impact of crime on victims and strengthening victims’ ability to be productive members of society. By promoting rights, providing information, and empowering lives, VAPs serve the underserved and support the less visible side of justice. Scarce state and federal funding for these county-based programs mean it is essential that the Crime Victims’ Services Division (CVSD) allocate resources to these programs both equitably and efficiently. This means ensuring a minimum level of service provision for all victims across the state regardless of location and doing so in the most cost-effective manner possible. In clarifying the existing distribution of service costs for VAPs, this report highlights potential improvements to the equity between programs. There are two major funding issues when attempting to improve the ability of VAPs to provide services. The first is the total amount of funding available for all VAPs. Local, county, state, and federal resources and political priorities influence total funding. Because of the data available, this report touches briefly on the need for more overall financial support, but provides recommendations that would allow a more robust estimate of VAPs total funding needs in the future. The second issue is the distribution of existing funding across current programs. An equitable distribution should consider all the demographic factors that influence VAP service provision, including county crime rates, per capita population, and the number and type of victims.
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    Standardized Test Scores and Accountability Policy: A Quantile Regression Approach
    (Department of Planning, Public Policy & Management, University of Oregon, 2013-06) Beach, Paul
    Standardized test scores are the primary mechanism that state and federal education policy makers use to hold schools accountable. Student achievement data is used to hold schools accountable for certain thresholds of test scores for all students, and in some cases, subgroups of students. The typical methods, specifically ordinary least squares, employed by policymakers and researchers that study student achievement are generally concerned with averages. The use of average effect models generally results in one-size-fits-all policy interventions meant to raise average tests scores across a large population of students. This approach often does not take into consideration the differential effects of explanatory variables across te entire distribution of standardized test scores. Quantile regression supplements ordinary least squares by generating information across the entire distribution of student achievement, from the lowest to highest performers. As this study shows, federal and subsequent state education policies are concerned with the lowest performers, and not just the average student or school. This study used data from K-12 public schools in Oregon that test students in grades 3-8 and 11 in mathematics and reading. The results show that quantile regression is a useful tool for analyzing school standardized tests scores in an acccounability framework by providing information that ordinary least squares generally misses.