Nationwide Reform Research Articles

Balancing control and legitimacy in higher education policy implementation

A key policy challenge in establishing new universities is the potential risk of lower academic standards and mission drift, which can affect policy effectiveness and outcomes. While regulation and funding tend to be preferred policy instruments for securing control of higher education expansion and achieving policy objectives, this article reports on a nation-wide reform in which various forms of legitimacy and control were actively used as measures in the design and establishment of almost one hundred new elite universities – the Institutes of National Importance (INIs) – in India. Our theoretical framework is based on the need for reinvention in policy design in higher education, that is based on the possible cross-fertilisation between the field of public administration and organisational theory. Through a mixed-method research design that included archival documents related to higher education reform and case studies of seven new INIs, this article demonstrates how ‘soft instruments’ based on legitimacy may align public policy objectives and stakeholder expectations ensuring quality and mission sustainability of new universities. We suggest that institutional and instrumental dimensions related to legitimacy and control can be integrated into a joint theoretical framework for policy implementation in higher education. We inform higher education policy by uncovering a range of legitimacy-based policy options in higher education, including the significance of reputation, national classification schemes, and organisational archetypes, that can be operationalised to minimise mission divergence.

Islands in the stream: a qualitative study on the accessibility of mental health care for persons with substance use disorders in Belgium.

Persons with substance use disorders (SUD) make up a considerable proportion of mental health care service users worldwide. Since 2010, Belgian mental health care has undergone a nationwide reform ('Title 107') aiming to realize a mental health care system that fosters more intensive collaboration, strengthens the cohesion and integration across and between different services, and is more responsive to the support needs of all service users. Although persons with SUD were named as a prioritized target group, how this reform impacted the lives and recovery journeys of persons with SUD remains understudied. This study aims to investigate how persons with SUD, regardless of whether they have co-occurring mental health issues, experience the accessibility of mental health care in light of the 'Title 107' reform. Data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with a heterogeneous sample of persons with SUD (n=52), recruited from five regional mental health networks in Belgium. In-depth interviews focused on experiences regarding (history of) substance use, accessibility of services and support needs, and were analyzed thematically. Five dynamic themes came to the fore: fragmentation of care and support, the importance of "really listening", balancing between treatment-driven and person-centered support, the ambivalent role of peers, and the impact of stigma. Despite the 'Title 107' reform, persons with SUD still experience mental health care services as 'islands in the stream', pointing to several pressing priorities for future policy and practice development: breaking the vicious cycles of waiting times, organizing relational case management, tackling stigma and centralizing lived experiences, and fostering recovery-promoting collaboration.

Assessing the Impact of Different Agricultural Irrigation Charging Methods on Sustainable Agricultural Production

China is currently experiencing severe water scarcity issues in its agricultural production sector. To address this challenge, the Chinese government has taken steps towards implementing a nationwide reform in agricultural water pricing to accelerate the more sustainable management of the agricultural water resources sector. The present study adopted a multiple regression model to test four alternative irrigation water charging methodologies (charges based on ladder pricing, time, land area, and electricity) accompanied by supportive agricultural pricing policies to address the inherent conflicts between water conservation and agricultural development goals. This study focused on the Wei River Basin, which is recognized as a highly water-stressed region in China. This basin was chosen as a pilot area for comprehensive reform initiatives related to agricultural water pricing and served as the geographical scope for our research. Between June and July of 2022, we conducted comprehensive field surveys within the Wei River Basin, accumulating a dataset of 415 data points pertaining to the crop year of 2022. Our results showed that the ladder water price-based method exhibited remarkable potential in achieving substantial savings, with a minimum of 60.5239 m3/mu of irrigation water conserved for food crops and an impressive 67.8090 m3/mu for cash crops. However, regarding water-saving irrigation technologies, the estimation results indicated that electricity-based charging outperformed the other methods, resulting in an impressive 55.22% increase when ladder pricing served as the benchmark. In addition, regarding agricultural green production, the results for food crops and cash crops are different, with food crops being more sensitive to the ladder water price policies. Moreover, the results suggested that different water charging methods have significant heterogeneity effects from the perspective of the farmers’ scale, land fragmentation, and water price awareness capacity. This study forges an innovative path for water-stressed nations to execute agricultural water pricing reform and enhance agricultural production’s sustainable growth.

Nadanie funkcji kancelaryjnej rejestrom prowadzonym przez starostwa powiatowe województwa lubelskiego w latach 1927–1929

The article outlines the reorganisation of the office service carried out in poviat starost's offices of the Lublin Voivodeship in 1927. It concerned the documentation accruing in enumerated categories of cases, the settlement of which involved entries in official registers kept on the basis of legal regulations. The streamlining consisted in resigning from entering correspondence, in these cases, in the correspondence register, leaving only entries in the appropriate register, which at the same time assumed the function of an office aid. The article assesses the significance of the implementation of this solution against the background of all activities improving the office of the administration of the Second Republic of Poland, and above all the nationwide reform of the office regulations introduced in 1931. The source material is based on normative acts, documents related to their establishment and implementation, as well as reporting and control materials. In addition, the findings made on the basis of the normative acts have been verified in relation to the office aids preserved in the archival legacy of the offices studied.

Assessing Readiness for Change of Juvenile Probation Policies and Practices: A Factor Analysis of the Probation Officer Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behavior (POABB) Scale.

As juvenile probation undergoes nationwide reform to better align with research on adolescent development, it is critical to understand probation officers' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about corresponding changes to supervisory practices within juvenile probation departments. The Probation Officer Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors (POABB) Scale was designed for use with juvenile probation officers (JPOs) undergoing training in a specific evidence-based supervision strategy (i.e., Graduated Response) to assess staff's knowledge and beliefs about Graduated Response's practices and intended supervisory behaviors. To provide foundational empirical support for the novel scale, the current study examined the factor structure of this self-report measure using POABB data from 351 juvenile probation staff across three mid-Atlantic states. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that a five-factor structure within the POABB provided the best fit and, overall, the POABB had good internal reliability (ɑ = 0.84). Importantly, the five-factor structure suggests a key difference between knowledge of Graduated Response components and attitudes toward using those components in everyday practice. Results suggest that use of the POABB can provide probation departments with information about specific attitudes and overall willingness to implement specific supervision practices as well as offer targeted areas for additional training to support developmentally appropriate probation transformations.

Improvements in Survival and Early Retirement Rates - Real-World Evidence on Danish Breast Cancer Patients 2004-2018.

Historically, Denmark has had poor survival for cancer patients relative to other western countries with comparable health-care systems. In this study, we examine the long-term cancer impact of a nationwide reform addressing all cancer diagnostics, implemented in 2006. The analyses include patients diagnosed with breast cancer and their spouses (informal caregivers). Patients and their spouses diagnosed before and after the reform were compared. Focus is on the potential impact on overall survival, early retirement, sick leave, unemployment as well as earnings (income). In a nationwide retrospective cohort study utilizing the Danish National Patient Register we identified 77,474 breast cancer patients between 1st January 2002 and 31st December 2018. Data was merged with the National Cancer Register, the Central Person Register, the Education Register, the DREAM Register and the Income Register using citizens' personal identification number. Spouses of cancer patients were identified through the Central Person Register. Propensity score matching was applied to match populations before and after the reform. Analyses on matched as well as unmatched populations were performed. In a matched sample, risk of mortality was reduced by 15% for breast cancer patients diagnosed after the reform. Moreover, there was a 15% reduced risk of early retirement. The patients diagnosed after the reform had reduced income three to five years after diagnosis relative to those diagnosed before the reform, likely due to survival bias and labor market conditions. In an unmatched sample of patients diagnosed two years before or after the reform, mortality was reduced by 7%. Implementation of the nationwide cancer reform together with advancement in new cancer treatments had a positive impact on survival and reduced risk of early retirement. The results from this study are reassuring that relevant health-care reforms improve cancer outcome.

Is it socioeconomic or academic? Disentangling sources of peer effects on student achievement

Studies regarding school composition have been highly influential in the design of policies. However, methodological and conceptual controversies have hindered the emergence of a consensus on the existence, size, and direction of peer effects. Drawing on four cohorts of Chilean students (n = 620,044), this work analyses the extent to which the socioeconomic and academic classmates’ characteristics are associated with student attainment. The findings suggest a positive medium- to low-magnitude effect of increases in the peers’ academic performance. At the same time, there are almost no effects associated with changes in the classmates’ socioeconomic status. These findings are stable across school types and are not driven by the sorting of students within them. The results are interpreted in the context of a new nationwide reform aiming to foster school integration and taking advantage of peer effects interaction.

Not part of the teacher education reform: perceptions of Thai pre-service teachers

ABSTRACT This study examined Thai pre-service teachers’ perceptions towards a nation-wide teacher education reform that was delayed by a year. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, by using a survey, narrative frames, and visual narratives. The survey items (n = 55) were constructed based on a review of literature on reforms of teacher education programs and education policies. The survey contained four categories, which are reasons for reform, people shaping the reform, outcomes of the reform, and attitudes towards the reform. To provide further insights into the survey data , narrative frames and visual narratives were utilised. There were 44 participants in this study. Survey findings indicated that in general, the reform was perceived as good. The perception that the reform was good revolved around the notion of change, and that teachers would be prepared to teach in the 21st century and in a contextually appropriate manner. From the narrative data, there were no further insights offered by the participants in terms of what constitutes the reform or why it may be perceived as good. This may reflect the lack of understanding of the reform, and also the ambiguity that surrounds it.

Expanding educational opportunities or widening learning inequalities? Evidence from national reform of pre-primary education in Ethiopia

ABSTRACT Since a nationwide reform of pre-primary education in 2010, Ethiopia has experienced a massive expansion of pre-primary enrolment that increased tenfold in six years. Our paper aims to assess the distribution of early literacy outcomes between children who attended preschool and those who did not and explore how that distribution has changed throughout the reform and by factors such as gender, location, and parental literacy. We find an overall increase in the achievement gaps associated with pre-primary participation between 2010 and 2016. There are also differential patterns in the learning gaps over the reform, with a particular disadvantage for rural students and a relative advantage for students with parents who are not literate. This study suggests that understanding a fuller picture of learning inequality is critical to designing policy to leave no one behind aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

TRENDS OF PUBLIC BUILDING PLANNING IN RURAL SETTLEMENTS IN WESTERN UKRAINE

Today the agrarian policy of our state contributes to the latest achievements of science and technology. Their implementation will bring the agricultural sector of the economy out of crisis, ensure its dynamic and stable development and high economic efficiency of its operation. Creating favorable social conditions is one of the most important links in the nationwide reform of rural life, which will further develop the best conditions for balanced rural life of ordinary people. One of the methods of solving this problem is the arrangement of cultural and domestic, administrative, educational institutions in rural areas, landscaping for active and quiet recreation. The main part of these buildings, for optimal convenience, is located directly in the center of the rural area of the village.
 When creating a public center of the settlement it is necessary to solve a number of tasks: the feasibility of location in the architectural and planning structure of the settlement; selection of buildings that will be included in the construction of the center in its composition, taking into account the number of inhabitants; formation of the architectural and planning structure of the center, which corresponds to the situation; establishment of its optimal parameters that ensure the normal functioning and expediency of perception; search for a compositional solution that stands out for its expressiveness and harmony.
 Studies in the western regions of Ukraine show that the existing public buildings do not meet the established regulatory requirements. A large number of buildings are morally and structurally obsolete. The planning structure of public buildings is an important administrative and compositional part of the settlement, the well-formed territory of the public center allows to improve the social level of rural life through communal and cultural services. The qualitative analysis of rural settlements in certain areas in accordance with the peculiarities of economic activity of the settlement will provide an opportunity to optimally address the issue of the range of public buildings, its volume and planning.

How Effective Are Monetary Incentives to Vote? Evidence from a Nationwide Policy

We study voters’ response to marginal changes to the fine for electoral abstention in Peru, leveraging variation from a nationwide reform. A smaller fine has a robust, negative effect on voter turnout, partly through irregular changes in voter registration. However, representation is largely unaffected, as most of the lost votes are blank or invalid. We also show that the effect of an exemption from compulsory voting is substantially larger than that of a full fine reduction, suggesting that nonmonetary incentives are the main drivers behind the effectiveness of compulsory voting. (JEL D72, K16, O17)

Professional Development of Music Teacher in China: Practice and Challenges

Since 2001, national basic education curriculum reforms have been instituting to meet the demands of quality-oriented education in China. Due to this nationwide reform proposed to cultivate students’ moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic development, music education which is a vital component of aesthetic education has received considerable critical attention from Chinese government. In the last two decades, the argument of significance of teachers’ professional development (PD) in curriculum reform has led a growing trend towards practice aimed to promote PD of music teachers in China. This paper presents an analysis of challenges the music teacher PD practice has met. Based on the discussion, it must be suggested that policymakers, school principals, PD program providers should increase attention to the effectiveness of music teacher PD programs and take available measures. This paper contributes to ongoing discussions about factors to be considered in designing PD programs for music teachers in countries or societies under the influence of Confucian culture. Potential areas of further work include exploring the factors restricting the effectiveness of music teacher PD programs in China and the framework of high-quality PD program for music teachers in the context of Confucian culture.

Leave them kids alone! The effects of abolishing grade repetition: evidence from a nationwide reform

ABSTRACT This paper evaluates the impact on dropout rates of a policy change in Mexico that eliminates grade retention for all first to third-grade students, causing a sharp reduction in repetition rates. I use a 12-year panel of schools to exploit such variation and estimate Difference-in-Difference models showing an average decrease in dropout rates of 30%. However, this effect is concentrated in wealthier schools, suggesting that social promotion alone is not enough to offset the influence of socioeconomic factors on school attainment. Further evidence shows that eliminating the 'threat' of grade repetition did not reduce average students' performance in standardized tests.

CCSS 개혁이 미국의 체육교과 교육과정에 미친 영향 : 교육과정 표준화 동향

This paper describes the development of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that has emerged in the backdrop of global educational governance, examining how CCSS influenced the school-based physical education (PE) curriculum in the United States (US). Since the new millennium, states have adopted CCSS as part of standards-based reform with the aim of offering local entities both educational flexibility and consistency. After the implementation of CCSS, however, the school curriculum in the US tends to be standardized focusing on the CCSS system due to an increased influence of the federal government. In this national context, the profession of PE has made multifaceted efforts to address this nationwide reform movement by establishing national standards and summative teacher guidelines, grade-level outcomes, and assessment systems, thereby building a unified common foundation in the field. Such system-wide change, however, does not necessarily signal total standardization for PE curricula. Expansive discourses and debates among professionals in the field have exerted significant limits on curriculum standardization. This implies that although policies for K-12 PE have been assembled focusing on the CCSS movement, the implementation in local programs remains distinct in form and scope due to multiple unique features of each program.

Supply-induced demand for medical services under price regulation: Evidence from hospital expansion in China

In 2009, China launched a nationwide reform to overhaul its enormous healthcare system. Subsequently, government spending on healthcare increased significantly. Simultaneously, public hospitals experienced rapid expansion. This study empirically examines whether supply-induced demand existed for public hospitals during the expansion process, based on hospital longitudinal data from 2007 to 2016, which is matched with individual patient data. We found that medical expenditure increased rapidly, while the quality of medical services did not change significantly during the hospital expansion. In addition, due to the price regulation of medical services, public hospitals mainly passed on the costs of expansion by inducing hospitalization and diagnostic over-testing. Furthermore, supply-induced demand was more obvious in diseases for which doctors had more asymmetric information. Based on the evidence provided in this study, the expansion of public hospitals has resulted in a waste of healthcare resources and a rise in the healthcare burden on patients. This has certain implications for further deepening the reform of public hospitals.

The Macroeconomic Effects of Universal Basic Income Programs

What are the consequences of a nationwide reform of a transfer system based on means-testing toward one of unconditional transfers? I answer this question with a quantitative model to assess the general equilibrium, inequality, and welfare effects of substituting the current US income security system with a universal basic income (UBI) policy. To do so, I develop an overlapping generations model with idiosyncratic income risk that incorporates intensive and extensive margins of the labor supply, on-the-job learning, and child-bearing costs. The tax-transfer system closely mimics the US design. I calibrate the model to the US economy and conduct counterfactual analyses that implement reforms toward a UBI. I find that an expenditure-neutral reform has moderate impacts on agents’ labor supply response but induces aggregate capital and output to grow due to larger precautionary savings. A UBI of $1,000 monthly requires a substantial increase in the tax rate of consumption used to clear the government budget and leads to an overall decrease in the macroeconomic aggregates, stemming from a drop in the labor supply. In both cases, the economy has more equally distributed disposable income and consumption. The UBI economy constitutes a welfare loss at the transition if it is expenditure-neutral and results in a gain in the second scenario.

미국의 체육교과 교육과정 개혁 움직임 : 표준교육과 획일화의 사이에서

System-wide change is needed for the K-12 physical education (PE) to sustain security and credibility as a supported school subject, but which ways would best enhance quality of PE programs, remains unclear. Thus, this article examines how nationwide reform for PE curriculum should be initiated, in particular in the United States where educational governance is split between federal, state and local governments. It seems desirable for the change to occur at a light touch approach for the current standards-based model rather than exerting transformational standardized change in light of sociocultural diversity and contextual differences. It also would have to be implemented in a mutually cooperative way among multiple levels of authority to effect meaningful, substantive change and reduce any potential resistance or noncompliance of local entities. Finally, PE curriculum must be locally adaptable, culturally relevant, and tailored for individual interests, needs and circumstances.

The professionalisation of teaching and teacher education in China: a policy analysis of a nation-wide reform

ABSTRACT Through analysis of policy documents and interviews with educational practitioners, this study investigates the policy of professionalisation of teaching and teacher education in China. Key findings include participants’ overall endorsement of professionalisation and identification with its objective along with mixed feelings towards several aspects of the policy, discontinuity between participants’ attitude and action, and concerns about using a high-stakes certification exam to promote the teaching of the New Curriculum. The findings suggest that while the policy helps to enrich Chinese teacher education curricula and enhance the status of teaching and teacher development, it needs to encourage a more well-rounded teacher education and promote occupational professionalism and systemic school reform to be successful in a global era.

New Opportunities to Improve Mental Health Crisis Systems.

National, state, and local actors seem ready to address the long-neglected mental health crisis system in the United States. Elements of an organized system of crisis care are in place in some states, including regional or statewide call centers, mobile crisis teams, and crisis care facilities. These necessary advances are not sufficient to address the urgent problems of increasing suicide rates, the inappropriate use of emergency departments to hold people in psychiatric distress, and the problematic reliance on inadequately trained law enforcement who frequently respond to mental health crises. This article describes the immediate challenges and opportunities that can launch nationwide reform in systems of care for individuals in psychiatric crisis. Five action recommendations describe clear, feasible next steps that can be taken to move these systems forward and meaningfully improve access and quality of care for people in crisis. The recommendations include a central coordinating role for Congress, an increase in federal authorization and appropriation of funds, enactment of a 5% Mental Health Block Grant set-aside, expanded funding for research and evaluation, and the pursuit of additional payment mechanisms by states and counties.

When Policy Hits Practice – Learning from the Failed Implementation of MST-EA in Australia

ABSTRACT Using a qualitative case study design, this study explored why the implementation of Multisystemic Therapy-Emerging Adults (MST-EA), a program for young people with high and complex support needs, failed after a 1-year trial, initiated in New South Wales, Australia. Introducing this novel and complex intervention in parallel with a nation-wide policy reform created considerable implementation barriers, of which the strongest were policy dynamics present in the outer setting of the implementation. Findings highlight the importance of thorough implementation planning, the urgent need to build provider agencies’ implementation capacities and to utilize theories of the policy process in implementation science.