cross-disciplinary perspectives in education economics paradigm discipline areas eppl 604 dr. joyce...
TRANSCRIPT
CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATION
Economics PARADIGM 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.
Societal Discrimination• Socialization
• Gender-appropriate traits and competencies
• Fear of success
• Biased evaluations
• Discrimination by education institutions
What accounts for sex differences in human capital investments?• Women have shorter more disrupted work
lives and skills depreciate.
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:1) Bounded rationality (people have limitations in
translations due to skills, attitude, knowledge)2) Opportunism (self-initiated) lack of obedience,
personal integrity and competence 3) 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
Bounded rationality
Opportunism Asset specificity
Implied contracting
process
0
+
+
+
+
0
+
+
+
+
0
+
Planning
Promise
Competition
Governance
Note: Williamson, 1985, p. 31
Source: House, E. (1996)
Table 2: Attributes of Educational Reforms
Bounded rationality
Opportunism Asset specificity
Reforms
0
?
0
?
0
+
+
0
0
0
+
+
?
+
+
+
+
0
+
+
+
National goals
National standards
Decentralization
Open markets
Performance incentives
Self-assessment
Central Park East
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
PARADIGM ELEMENTSECONOMICS
ONTOLOGY Social life results from the distribution of goods and services/resources
Division of labor
EPISTEMOLOGY Resources are exchanged
Amount of nature of acquisition of resources determine social interaction – based on
incentives and preferences
METHODOLOGY Analysis of resources, their distribution, and ramifications
AXIOLOGY Understanding of resource distribution modes, rationale, and strategies
“Sometimes change is directly visible, but sometimes it’s apparent only to peripheral vision, altering the meaning of the foreground (p.6).”
Bateson, 1994