Here's the reading for the week:
http://www.kof.ethz.ch/publications/science/pdf/wp_146.pdf - please focus on the intro, previous literature and conclusion sections and skim over part III (part III is interesting, yet a bit complicated because they don't really explain how their model was run)
http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4151710.pdf
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/books_ladd-educationreform
http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0161-956X%28198922%2966%3A4%3C72%3AIUEIT1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/pdfs/teach.pdf - please read the Executive Summary and Chapters VI VII and VIII (the last three chapters including the conclusion)
Our Presentations:
Sarah:Primary Education
Allison: I placed my presentation as an attachment on the previous (Week 11) page. It is a power point file. I am sorry that I didn't put everything here.
Questions to think about for Thursday's class:
- What
are the incentives for each of the parties involved in the three groups Allison discussed?
- Should
incentives for teachers or students change?
- Is
it possible to change the current educational system in the US?
- Does paying for good grades help decrease the education gap?
- Does
an opportunity cost approach work?
- Should
there be a focus on hiring certified teachers?
- Should
teachers receive a salary based on their performance?
- How
should their performance be evaluated?
1. Looking further into a question from the 1st group of presenters in April: Can technology help
stimulate a healthy relationship between benevolent outsiders and potentially
skeptical communities? Or will the relationship become less transactional
(think back to Woolcock’s) and therefore less meaningful?
2. What are some
advantages and disadvantages of using technology, whether it be through a
website like KIVA or by giving laptops to children, to provide aid?
3. Should we press governments to get more involved in the country’s education
(like in Ethiopia), or should government’s be bypassed? (related to question
about monopolies and switching education to the private sector)
4. Continuing the discussion from two weeks ago: should direct aid be sent to countries? Or can we empower communities to do it
on their own? If so, how?
Here's a critique of the Stossel show: http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh011706.shtml
Also, look at Stossel's approach, re: global warming: http://mediamatters.org/items/200412170002
