Enrollment Patterns Research Articles

Public administration in the cross‐hairs of evidence‐based policy and authentic engagement: School closures in Ontario

AbstractEducation policy affects communities across Canada. Changes in demographics, enrolment patterns, and pressures on education budgets have put school closures on the political agenda in many provinces. Implementing these policies is increasingly contested and conflict‐ridden. Public administrators are at the cross‐hairs of implementing evidence‐based policies, based on authentic stakeholder input and engagement. This article examines two cases of school closure policy implementation in Ontario to illustrate the tension between these two important dimensions of public administration and challenges that must be overcome in this and other policy areas where evidence and engagement are increasingly important.

Prevention of Early Postoperative Decline: A Randomized, Controlled Feasibility Trial of Perioperative Cognitive Training.

Postoperative delirium and postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) are common after cardiac surgery and contribute to an increased risk of postoperative complications, longer length of stay, and increased hospital mortality. Cognitive training (CT) may be able to durably improve cognitive reserve in areas deficient in delirium and POCD and, therefore, may potentially reduce the risk of these conditions. We sought to determine the feasibility and potential efficacy of a perioperative CT program to reduce the incidence of postoperative delirium and POCD in older cardiac surgery patients. Randomized controlled trial at a single tertiary care center. Participants included 45 older adults age 60-90 undergoing cardiac surgery at least 10 days from enrollment. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 fashion to either perioperative CT via a mobile device or a usual care control. The primary outcome of feasibility was evaluated by enrollment patterns and adherence to protocol. Secondary outcomes of postoperative delirium and POCD were assessed using the Confusion Assessment Method and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, respectively. Patient satisfaction was assessed via a postoperative survey. Sixty-five percent of eligible patients were enrolled. Median (interquartile range [IQR]) adherence (as a percentage of prescribed minutes played) was 39% (20%-68%), 6% (0%-37%), and 19% (0%-56%) for the preoperative, immediate postoperative, and postdischarge periods, respectively. Median (IQR) training times were 245 (136-536), 18 (0-40), and 122 (0-281) minutes for each period, respectively. The incidence of postoperative delirium (CT group 5/20 [25%] versus control 3/20 [15%]; P = .69) and POCD (CT group 53% versus control 37%; P = .33) was not significantly different between groups for either outcome in this limited sample. CT participants reported a high level of agreement (on a scale of 0-100) with statements that the program was easy to use (median [IQR], 87 [75-97]) and enjoyable (85 [79-91]). CT participants agreed significantly more than controls that their memory (median [IQR], 75 [54-82] vs 51 [49-54]; P = .01) and thinking ability (median [IQR], 78 [64-83] vs 50 [41-68]; P = .01) improved as a result of their participation in the study. A CT program designed for use in the preoperative period is an attractive target for future investigations of cognitive prehabilitation in older cardiac surgery patients. Changes in the functionality of the program and enrichment techniques may improve adherence in future trials. Further investigation is necessary to determine the potential efficacy of cognitive prehabilitation to reduce the risk of postoperative delirium and POCD.

68: Characteristics of randomized controlled trials in gynecological surgery registered on clinicaltrials.gov

In gynecological focused Practice Bulletins published by ACOG, only 34.7% of recommendations are based on Level A evidence (randomized controlled trials). The primary objective of this review was to identify factors associated with the successful completion and subsequent publication of randomized controlled trials in surgical gynecology. A secondary analysis compared completion and publication rates of surgical and nonsurgical randomized controlled trials in gynecology. For this retrospective cohort study, data was obtained from the National Institute of Health’s US National Library of Medicine database on ClinicalTrials.gov. Self-reported descriptive data was collected on studies registered over five years between 2009 and 2013. Gynecological studies were identified with the use of the search terms under the National Institutes of Health recommended: “Search by Topics.” Two authors examined all trials to ensure they met randomization and intervention criteria. All studies registered at Clinicaltrials.gov have their recruitment status defined. Based on this, trials with a “completed” status were identified. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched and all studies published in a peer-reviewed journal indexed to PubMed were considered “published.” Categorical variables were compared using chi-square and continuous variables were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. Between 2009 and 2013 there were 812 gynecological studies registered as randomized controlled trials. Of these, 123 (15.1%) were surgical and 689 (84.9%) were nonsurgical. Of the surgical cases, only 66 (53.7%) were “completed”. Of the completed surgical RCTs, only 41 (62.1%) were “published.” Between completed and published surgical RCTs, there were no differences noted in single site vs. multi-center trials or international vs. US studies (p=0.84). However, multiphasic surgical RCTs were more likely to be completed than single-phase RCTs (p=.004). Only 2 of the 66 surgical RCTs that achieved completion were federally funded. In comparing surgical and nonsurgical RCTs, there were no differences noted in enrollment patterns. Amongst published trials, the median enrollment in surgical and nonsurgical trials was 100 (Interquartile Range (IQR) 60-150) and 119 (IQR 55-287), respectively (p=0.23). There were also no differences noted in single site vs. multi-center trials (p=0.57), or international vs. US trials (p=0.35) when comparing publication rates of surgical versus nonsurgical published RCTs. Nonsurgical drug-related RCTs were the most likely to be published out of all of the intervention types (p<.001). This study highlights the lack of surgical randomized controlled trials that are completed and published in gynecology. It also brings attention to the lack of federal funding towards gynecological RCTs.

Who Signs Up for E-Verify? Insights from DHS Enrollment Records

E-Verify is a federal electronic verification system that allows employers to check whether their newly hired workers are authorized to work in the United States. To use E-Verify, firms first must enroll with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Participation is voluntary for most private-sector employers in the United States, but eight states currently require all or most employers to use E-Verify. This article uses confidential data from DHS to examine patterns of employer enrollment in E-Verify. The results indicate that employers are much more likely to sign up in mandatory E-Verify states than in states without such mandates, but enrollment is still below 50 percent in states that require its use. Large employers are far more likely to sign up than small employers. In addition, employers are more likely to newly enroll in E-Verify when a state’s unemployment rate or the state’s population share of likely unauthorized immigrants rises. However, enrollment rates are lower in industries with higher shares of unauthorized workers. Taken as a whole, the results suggest that enrolling in the program is costly for employers in terms of both compliance and difficulty in hiring workers. A strictly enforced nationwide mandate that all employers use an employment eligibility program like E-Verify would be incompatible with the current reliance on a large unauthorized workforce. Allowing more workers to enter legally or legalizing existing workers might be necessary before implementing E-Verify nationally.

Morning or Afternoon: Does It Make a Difference in Early Childhood Programs?

ABSTRACT Young children are often enrolled in either AM (morning) or PM (afternoon) sessions in early childhood programs. However, little research is available on this routine practice. We used multilevel analysis to investigate if there are differences in the literacy, math, and social outcomes for children who participate in AM or PM sessions beyond those that can be explained by differences in child, family, teacher, and session characteristics. Five hundred and eighty-eight preschool children in 63 half-day sessions participated in this study in five U.S. states. Results indicate there were no patterns of significant effects between time of day and preschool children’s academic and social outcomes. However, a number of child, family, teacher, and session-level variables (e.g., child’s age, gender, disability and language status, parents’ education level, and teachers’ years of experience) moderated the effect of time of day on children’s cognitive and social outcomes. The findings highlight the need to further investigate how we constitute half-day programs and how enrollment patterns are established and implemented in preschool classrooms. Thus, the study has methodical implications for future research, policy, and practice.

Gross Enrolment Ratio Prediction using Artificial Neural Network

The present paper deals with Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) prediction in higher education within the state of Mizoram, India. The data used in this study are obtained from the yearly report of All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), published by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India and Statistical Handbook of various years published by Dept. of Economics &amp; Statistics, Govt. of Mizoram. In this study, a soft computing technique known as Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is implemented for prediction of GER in higher education. The data obtained are analyzed and categorized into two classes known as the input and target data. The input data represent the years from 1968 to 2017. The target data represents the enrolment details corresponding to the input year such as, male enrolment, female enrolment, eligible population and GER. After generating these input data and target data, an ANN is used for building a model. The model has been trained and tested using 530260 student enrolment data for the period of 50 years. In order to obtain an accurate GER prediction, the accuracy of four architectures of ANN known as Back Propagation (BP), Radial Basis (RB), Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), and Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN) are compared. The comparison is carried out by performing a prediction on the known data set. It is found that BP Neural Network with 50 hidden neurons and a learning rate of 0.1 gives the best prediction accuracy. Therefore, to predict the future GER, a BP neural network is implemented in this study. The main focus of this study is to analyze the pattern of enrolment and to predict future GER, as GER is a primary indicator for the status of higher education. The result obtained may help policymakers to take suitable decision to increase GER in higher education within the state of Mizoram so as to contribute to the govt. of India's target of 30% by the year 2020.

Gender and choice: differentiating options in Swedish upper secondary STEM programmes

ABSTRACT The extensive reforms of Sweden’s education system during the last few decades have resulted in deregulation and individualization of schools. In upper secondary education, a distinct flexible course structure with multiple options was introduced in order to enhance school effectiveness and equity. This study departs in some of the previously outlined tensions in educational research between market interests and a ‘free choice discourse’ in relation to processes of differentiation. The purpose of this article is to investigate the ways gender patterns may be reproduced in relation to the emergence of multiple options and the re-organization of subject matters within Swedish upper secondary science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Our case addresses relations between discourses of choice and gender articulated in policy incentives, and large-scale enrolment patterns. Our results show how multiple options reproduce gender orders by 1) changing the system in accordance with a general market logic emphasizing ‘freedom of choice’, and 2) distinguishing predominantly gendered subject matters. Also, our results point to the importance of studying the STEM domain at a non-aggregated level to further understand the mechanisms behind gender gaps in STEM education.

The US university governance: Challenges and opportunities for the board of directors

This study investigated the differences between the distribution of international and non-international students across majors at a southern private American university located in the southeast United States as well as issues related to decisions and selection of majors by these two groups and the implications of those decisions on the U.S. educational system. For this purpose, a database that included 3001 full-time undergraduates at this southern American university was used. Chi-square tests and logit regressions were used to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that there was a major difference between international and non-international students regarding the selection of majors. International students were less likely to be in a major that requires certification as a condition of employment in the United States. This study can help U.S. colleges and universities understand the needs of both American and international students and their patterns of enrollment at the undergraduate level. An improved understanding of the students’ patterns of enrollment will help American colleges and universities, educational leaders, educational board members, and policymakers, to better allocate their human, financial, and physical resources in order to meet students’ needs. If we consider the income from foreign students as international trade, education can be regarded as a major export with great potential for growth. This article examines some of the factors which may affect the attractiveness that American education holds for international students. It is one of the first research studies to explore the fields of study by international and non-international students.

Exploring the role of quality in a population study of early education and care

This paper uses rich, representative data from the Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H) to examine the landscape of early education and care among three- and four-year-olds in one state. We examine the distribution of children in setting types, taking socio-demographic characteristics of children and families into account, investigate how micro-features of quality differ across early education and care setting types (i.e., formal and informal settings), and explore whether variation in micro-features of quality is associated with children's language, literacy, math, executive functions, and social-emotional skills across the setting types. To address these aims, we employ measures of quality that capture detailed information about adult–child interactions and the nature of daily activities. Overall, we found a slight majority of three- and four-year-olds in the state were enrolled in formal settings, with fewer children enrolled in informal settings or parental care only. We observed different patterns of enrollment in formal and informal care settings based on child and family characteristics; younger children were less likely than older children to attend formal care settings, and middle-income families were less likely to use formal care relative to lower-income and higher-income families. Moderate differences in quality across setting types were observed. Children's skills also varied across setting types. However, controlling quality features did not change these patterns, and child and family characteristics accounted for much of the variation in child skills between setting types.

Enrolment Patterns in Federal Universities Based on Three Criteria (2010-2031): A Time Series Analysis

Enrolment Patterns in Federal Universities Based on Three Criteria (2010-2031): A Time Series Analysis

Assessing the Impact of the CARES Act on Online Students: A Case Study of Two-Year Public College

The COVID-19 pandemic has made a major impact on higher education and affected students’ livelihoods and attainment of education. To help students during these challenging times the Federal CARES Act was established to provide financial relief and support students in their time of need, However, not all students are eligible to participate and these limitations have impacted funding to specific institutions. The following research study examined the implications of the CARES Act for higher education by assessing the current factors associated with the national funding model. Additionally, three additional models were created to estimate the FTE impact and approximated the financial implications of the Act in relation to the unserved or excluded populations. A survey was conducted to understand current student essential needs and the implications of COVID-19 on their livelihoods. The survey was reverse engineered to understand enrollment patterns to determine the proportionality of needs based on the enrollment patterns.

What Lessons should Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Learn from the Shortfalls of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: The Case of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana in Chhattisgarh.

Context:Publicly funded health insurance has been rolled out by many states as well central government. As it is being seen as a way of protection against catastrophic health expenditure. Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) has been one such attempt succeeded by the recent scheme Ayushman Bharat, which provides coverage of 5 lacs for each family per year.Aims:To assess RSBY on issues of equity across the state of Chhattisgarh.Materials and Methods:The district-wise secondary data for Chhattisgarh were obtained from the official state website of RSBY maintained by the Government of Chhattisgarh. The data were utilized to estimate the claim ratio (procedure wise as well as district wise), enrollment pattern, rate of hospitalization, and average costs of hospitalization across the district to compare the change in trends since 2011 till 2017.Results:There is an overall increase in enrollment, utilization, and number of empanelled hospitals. Also, a higher conversion ratio (i.e., increased proportion of the below poverty line households enrolled) shows a positive sign of improved coverage. All the districts faired on an average, barring Sukma with lowest enrollment rate (55%) probably due to poor accessibility and political disturbances.Conclusions:Although there has been an increase in the overall utilization, procedure-wise claims, and enrollment, there are signs of inequity, namely the skewed distribution of empanelled hospitals. Therefore, good or bad, RSBY offers important lessons to be learned for Ayushman Bharat.

Who Signs up for E-Verify? Insights from DHS Enrollment Records

E-Verify is a federal electronic verification system that allows employers to check whether their newly hired workers are authorized to work in the United States. To use E-Verify, firms first must enroll with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Participation is voluntary for most private-sector employers in the United States, but eight states currently require all or most employers to use E-Verify. This article uses confidential data from DHS to examine patterns of employer enrollment in E-Verify. The results indicate that employers are much more likely to sign up in mandatory E-Verify states than in states without such mandates, but enrollment is still below 50 percent in states that require its use. Large employers are far more likely to sign up than small employers. In addition, employers are more likely to newly enroll in E-Verify when a state’s unemployment rate or population share of likely unauthorized immigrants rises. However, enrollment rates are lower in industries with higher shares of unauthorized workers. Taken as a whole, the results suggest that enrolling in the program is costly for employers in terms of both compliance and difficulty in hiring workers. A strictly enforced nationwide mandate that all employers use an employment eligibility program like E-Verify would be incompatible with the current reliance on a large unauthorized workforce. Allowing more workers to enter legally or legalizing existing workers might be necessary before implementing E-Verify nationally.

Factors Influencing High School Students' Career and Technical Education Enrollment Patterns

Career and technical education (CTE) has gone through major transformations in the United States with important benefits for all students seeking postsecondary and career success. Research analyzing students' CTE enrollment patterns is important to understand which students are taking CTE courses and why in order to inform future research and practice. Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:2009), this study investigated CTE enrollment patterns using Aliaga, Kotamraju, and Stone's (2014) typology and literature-based individual and social factors. Results from descriptive and multinomial logistic regression indicated that the majority of students were enrolling in some level of CTE credits and that individual and social factors were influential but varied by specific enrollment patterns.

They Came, But Will They Come Back? An Observational Study of Re-Enrollment Predictors for the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline.

Although quitlines reach 1% to 2% of tobacco users annually, additional efforts are needed to increase their impact. We hypothesized that offering less intensive services would increase the rate of re-enrollment in any service, as well as re-enrollment in more intensive services. This study describes the enrollment patterns and identifies re-enrollment predictors for Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline (OTH) participants. This study used a comparative observational design. The setting for this study was the OTH, a telephone-based cessation program funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. The OTH participants could select either a multicall telephone-based cessation program (MC) or one or more individual services (IS), including a 2-week nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) starter kit, e-mail or text-based support, and a printed quit guide. A total of 35 648 first-time adult OTH participants eligible for the multicall program from October 2015 through September 2018 were included. Demographic and tobacco use variables and initial quitline service selection were collected at intake. Additional service utilization was tracked for 6 months following initial registration. Pearson chi-square and t tests were used to test for significant differences between groups. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine predictors of re-enrollment. Individual services were more frequently selected (n = 17 266) than MC (n = 14 326), despite all users being eligible for MC. A much higher proportion of IS registrants re-enrolled than MC registrants (16% vs 3%, P < .0001) Among the IS cohort, those who received an NRT follow-up call were 14.7 times more likely to re-enroll in IS, and 7.8 times more likely to re-enroll in MC, than those who were not reached by phone. Access to free NRT without a telephone-coaching requirement is a draw for tobacco users, especially those with lower income and the uninsured. The results suggest the value of increasing use of nonphone services in an effort to increase interest in quitting and reach.

Enrolment status disparity: evidence from secondary education in Myanmar

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore individual enrolment trajectories to fully understand the actual disparity in secondary education enrolment statuses among the different socio-economic status (SES) groups in a newly emerged nation, Myanmar.Design/methodology/approachThe differences in enrolment statuses among various SES groups (high, middle and low) were examined based on enrolment trajectory diagrams and individual enrolment patterns using longitudinal data. The analyses utilised a sample of 932 students from government schools in the urban Yangon Region.FindingsThe results revealed that the ideal enrolment trajectory cases (i.e. entering secondary education at Myanmar’s official age and completing all grades without repetition) increased for the highest-SES level, whilst the cases with diverse and complex enrolment trajectories increased for the lower-SES levels. Additionally, over-aged students in the lowest-SES level (boys in particular) were more likely to demonstrate worse enrolment patterns.Originality/valueBy analysing disparities with enrolment trajectories rather than with the cross-sectional parity index, the findings offer clearer and more detailed evidence for the current enrolment status inequalities by SES level in Myanmar. This more complete evidence could allow for an effective accomplishment of worldwide equitable and universal secondary education.

Student Stratification among a Combination of School Choice Policies in Detroit

ABSTRACTA large body of research on school choice has examined whether choice-based policies reproduce and exacerbate existing racial and socioeconomic inequalities. While many states have enacted multiple school choice policies at once, most of these studies focus on a single choice-based policy. This study examines enrollment patterns in Detroit in the context of a combination of school choice policies: charter schools, intra-district choice, and inter-district open enrollment. It assesses the extent to which Detroit students are stratified by race, socioeconomic status, and special education status, and describes how different socio-spatial push and pull factors may be associated with different options for school choice. Even among Detroit’s racially and socioeconomically homogeneous student population, the results show some evidence of a stratified educational landscape, and suggest the need for more research on how a combination of choice mechanisms may be taken up differently by different students and families.

Seeking Patterns in Swirl and Drift: Retention, Persistence, and Transfer

AbstractAlthough not a new phenomenon, student swirl and drift continues to grow, and student enrollment patterns are becoming progressively more complex. Many students attend multiple institutions throughout their academic careers, either separately or concurrently, often starting while they are still enrolled in high school. The role of institutional research in helping to define and measure student success, particularly as it relates to retention and persistence, also grows in importance for institutional, state, and national purposes. This chapter will examine strategies for institutional research professionals to address this murky area. Perspectives of both 2‐year and 4‐year institutions will be explored.

Effects of course modality in summer session: Enrollment patterns and student performance in face-to-face and online classes

Online summer courses offer opportunities to catch-up or stay on-track with course credits for students who cannot otherwise attend face-to-face summer courses. While online courses may have certain advantages, participation patterns and student success in summer terms are not yet well understood. This quantitative study analyzed four years of institutional data cumulating in 72,441 course enrollments of 23,610 students in 433 courses during summer terms at a large public research university. Multi-level logistic regression models indicated that characteristics including gender, in-state residency, admission test scores, previous online course enrollment, and course size, among others, can influence student enrollment by course modality. Multi-way fixed effects linear regression models indicated that student grades were slightly lower in online courses compared to face-to-face courses. However, at-risk college student populations (low-income students, first-generation students, low-performing students) were not found to suffer additional course performance penalties of online course participation.

The Challenges of Science Education in Secondary School Level: A Case Study from Chakaria Upazila of Cox‟s Bazar District

In the present context of the fourth Industrial Revolution, science education is considered as theappropriate tool for the development of a nation. Accordingly, the government of Bangladesh has laidsignificant emphasis on science and technology education as a gateway to development with anaspiration to build a „Digital Bangladesh‟ and to attain the status of a middle-income country by2021. However, contrasting to a large number of government initiatives, a declining scenario ofenrollment in science groups at the secondary level has been reported for nearly a decade. Thissituation is likely to be worse in rural areas as it was evident from a visit to Chakaria Upazila ofCox‟s Bazar. Drawing attention to the underlying problems of science education, this study attemptsto provide an account of the present scenario of science enrollment at secondary school level in therural Bangladesh, and identifies the factors responsible for the enrollment pattern. The ten years‟trend analysis on science group enrollment provided a clear picture of declining scenario since 2010.Compared to the other two groups of Business and Humanities, preferences to be enrolled in theScience group at secondary level steadily showed a marked decrease from 2009 to 2018. Complexityand volume of the science syllabus creating “Science Fear”, weak teaching capacity, shortage ofscience and mathematics teachers, scarcity of teaching materials and paucity of laboratory equipmentwere found to be the key factors responsible for declining science enrollments in the secondary levelof rural Bangladesh.