Toward a teacher solidarity lens: former teachers of color (re)envisioning educational research

Based on a two-year self-study by a group of early-career scholars of color, we explore and purposefully name our role, within the contemporary context of neoliberal reform, as educational researchers of color who are former K-12 teachers. We capture the insights that emerged from our self-study through a close reading of dominant neoliberal educational reform discourses, particularly through an examination of the writings of Michelle Rhee and Wendy Kopp. Along three dimensions of: (1) experience as teachers; (2) solidarity with teachers; and (3) analyses of racism in schooling, we characterize prominent discourses through which educators, researchers, and the public describe teachers and teaching. We name these discursive frames to make explicit the assumptions that are embedded in each and the intentional or inadvertent consequences of each. Finally, we propose a teacher solidarity lens through which we strive to approach our research and work with teachers.     

Homicide Rates in a Cross‐Section of Countries: Evidence and Interpretations

This study uses a regression analysis to explore the cross‐country variation in homicide rates for a large sample of countries. It starts by identifying seven significant regional variables, to which traditional socioeconomic, cultural, and institutional variables are added and tested. The importance of institutions, culture, and other factors affecting homicide rates is discussed. One unexpected finding is a curious relationship between the level of education and homicide rates: while an increase in male education tends to reduce homicide rates, an increase in female education tends to increase homicides. Several possible interpretations for this phenomenon are proposed. The study points to relatively unexplored areas of research in order to better understand homicide variation around the world.     

Estimating utility functions using generalized maximum entropy

This paper estimates von Neumann and Morgenstern utility functions using the generalized maximum entropy (GME), applied to data obtained by utility elicitation methods. Given the statistical advantages of this approach, we provide a comparison of the performance of the GME estimator with ordinary least square (OLS) in a real data small sample setup. The results confirm the ones obtained for small samples through Monte Carlo simulations. The difference between the two estimators is small and it decreases as the width of the parameter support vector increases. Moreover, the GME estimator is more precise than the OLS one. Overall, the results suggest that GME is an interesting alternative to OLS in the estimation of utility functions when data are generated by utility elicitation methods.     

Asymmetries in Information Processing in a Decision Theory Framework

Research in psychology suggests that some individuals are more sensitive to positive than to negative information while others are more sensitive to negative rather than positive information. I take these cognitive positive–negative asymmetries in information processing to a Bayesian decision-theory model and explore its consequences in terms of decisions and payoffs. I show that in monotone decision problems economic agents with more positive-responsive information structures are always better off, ex ante, when they face problems where payoffs are relatively more sensitive to the action chosen when the state of nature is favorable.      

Statistics in Latin America

Statistics is a relatively new discipline in Latin America. At present only sparse information is available about the state of the statistical profession in Latin America. We present and summarize the available information about the job market; training, education, and research; professional societies and their activities; and so forth. We also share our hopes, concerns, and suggestions for the future.     

Social Competence in Preschool Children: Replication of Results and Clarification of a Hierarchical Measurement Model

This study tested assumptions and conclusions reached in an earlier confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) study of the social competence (SC) construct for preschool children. Two samples (total N = 408; a new Portuguese sample and one from US samples that had participated in the original study) contributed data. Seven SC indicators were tested for mean differences across age, sex, and sample. Significant sex differences were found for peer acceptance (favoring girls) and for initiating affectively neutral interactions (boys had higher rates), and the sex by sample interaction also was significant for initiating interactions (i.e., effect significant only in the Portuguese sample). In CFAs, the hypothesized structure of SC fits the data and was invariant across sample and age within sample in both measurement and structural tests. The model was invariant at the measurement level for sex within sample tests, but not at the structural level. The results replicate and extend understandings of SC reported in the original study.     

Causal Ordering of Basic Psychological Needs and Well-Being

What is the relationship between well-being and satisfaction of basic psychological needs overtime? The basic psychological needs theory is a subtheory of the self-determination theory that elaborates the concept of psychological needs and its relations to psychological health and well-being. The goals of this research was to establish the causal ordering between basic psychological needs and three psychological well-being indicators (subjective well-being, self-esteem and satisfaction with life), in a longitudinal study. We used a cross-lagged two-wave design. A total of 272 university students completed the questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the semester. Relatedness at time 1 (T₁) had a positive and significant effect on all well-being indicators at time 2 (T₂); competence (T₁) had a positive and significant effect on all indicators except for self-esteem (T₂); finally, autonomy (T₁) did not have a significant effect on any of the well-being indicators (T₂). In conclusion, we confirm the causal ordering of competence and relatedness on well-being, according to the basic psychological needs subtheory. Universities, in general, and teachers, in particular, should promote relations between students and support the need of competence.     

Brain drain in Venezuela: the scope of the human capital crisis

ABSTRACT

Brain drain, the exodus of highly skilled professionals, has a strong connection with Human Resource Development (HRD), as these experts are human capital for organizations, communities, and nations. In today’s global economy, HRD practitioners and scholars need to keep abreast of what circumstances trigger the migration of talented workers around the world and the implications for HRD. This article describes the brain drain in Venezuela. The magnitude of the talent crisis is the result of a complex combination of poor policy implementation, mismanagement, corruption, and socio-economic and political conflict. This article exposes the current realities and the repercussions the exodus of talent has had on Venezuela and the decline of a country that was once among the world’s richest, but is now an impoverished nation.