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CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATION Economics PARADIGM DISCIPLINE AREAS. EPPL 604 Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska College of William and Mary.
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CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATIONEconomicsPARADIGM DISCIPLINE AREAS EPPL 604 Dr. Joyce VanTassel-Baska College of William and Mary
The science of economics is based on the premise that the distribution of resources in an economy is tied to the choices human beings make. Scarcity plays a major role in these choices because resources are limited but wants can be unlimited.
Economic debate centers around three main issues: • The appropriate model of the economy • How to interpret data to make predictions about the economy • Policy decisions based on value conflict
Benefits of on-the-job training • Coupled with experience yields high earnings • Attachment • Stability with company However, Productivity is not due to training nor does it rise with experience.
What accounts for sex differences in human capital investments? Societal Discrimination • Women have shorter more disrupted work lives and skills depreciate. • Socialization • Gender-appropriate traits and competencies • Fear of success • Biased evaluations • Discrimination by education institutions
New Directions • Role models • Mentor-protégé system • Access to informal networks • Open choice of fields
Transaction – Cost Economics: (Used as appraisal framework for reform initiatives) Implied Contracting Process = planning, promise, competition, or governance Components to be assessed: • Bounded rationality (people have limitations in translations due to skills, attitude, knowledge) • Opportunism (self-initiated) lack of obedience, personal integrity and competence • Asset specificity (skills embedded in experience) personal integrity and competence
Transactions = cost reasoning assumes each contracting arrangement will fail • Planning discourse of bounded rationality (hard to account for all contingencies) • Promising because of opportunism • Pure market when assets are at risk (they meet safeguards)
Table 1: Attributes of the Contracting Process Note: Williamson, 1985, p. 31 Source: House, E. (1996)
Table 2: Attributes of Educational Reforms Note: After Williamson, 1985 Source: House, E. (1996)
Central Park East • Small (N=300) • Teacher connections (peer coaching/observations, compensation) • Reducing administration hierarchy to a strategic staff • Autonomous and unregulated • Schools of choice model • Dynamic staff development • Self-assessment ongoing
For reform to be successful, schools must: • Accommodate bounded rationality • Control opportunism • Recognize the value of specific assets
“Sometimes change is directly visible, but sometimes it’s apparent only to peripheral vision, altering the meaning of the foreground (p.6).” Bateson, 1994