The Promise and Peril of Title IX Addressing Sexual Violence: A University Case Study, 1972–2017

Gronert, Nona Maria The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2025 해외박사(DDOD)

In this dissertation, I investigate the interplay between campus sexual violence laws, activism, and university structures within the context of one university. Title IX has transformed universities and curtailed some forms of gender discrimination—increasing funding for women’s sports, for example—yet it has had less impact on reducing sexual violence. Despite resources devoted to both preventing and responding to gender inequity in personal safety on campus, sexual violence at universities remains prevalent and clearly harmful. Using an in-depth sociohistorical case study of one institution that I call “State University,” I triangulated content analysis of 1,807 newspaper articles with 69 archival data sources, and supplemented these with purposively sampled interviews of 23 key actors. I ask the following questions: (1) how have activists sought to transform how universities approached sexual violence; (2) whether and how has the movement against sexual violence become institutionalized at universities; (3) how have Title IX and other linked campus sexual violence laws provided opportunities or obstacles for activists and formal organizations, including the university; (4) when and how have activists and university actors leveraged the ambiguity created by multiple laws on sexual violence; (5) when, how, and by which constituencies is sexual violence framed as a problem specific to the university for which the university as a formal organization bears responsibility; and (6) when and how do university constituencies demand that policies and practices extract accountability from organizational insiders?In the first empirical chapter (Chapter Three), I focus on the institutionalization of the movement against campus sexual violence at U.S. universities. I find that the movement has become institutionalized through the complementary processes of professionalization, formalization, and ritualization. I introduce the concept of hybrid activists, who productively link these three institutionalization processes. I show how hybrid activists provided movement continuity by fighting for State University to take new approaches to sexual violence, mentoring student activists, and routinizing student activism through ritual events (e.g., Take Back the Night or Sexual Assault Awareness Month). In the second empirical chapter (Chapter Four), I compare the multiple trajectories and interactions of federal and state law on campus sexual violence at State University to understand how sexual violence was rendered into a problem that universities were legally required to address. I find three phases or layers of how the university came to understand sexual violence as a legalized problem for the organization. In the first layer, the university came to understand sexual violence as both a social and legal problem. In the second layer, the university came to understand sexual violence as a problem of student misconduct. In the third layer, the university came to understand sexual violence as gender discrimination under Title IX. Nevertheless, the university diminished gender to an identity, rather than a power structure. I argue that the ambiguity created by the legally plural environment contributed to the variation in the trajectories of use of state law, the Clery Act, and Title IX by the university and activists. In the third empirical chapter (Chapter Five), using an organizational lens, I examine how several university constituencies (meaning sets of actors with specific institutional responsibilities) defined sexual violence and its perpetrators and how these constructions changed. The first constituency, student journalists, is often overlooked by scholars. I specifically focus on student journalists and show that they carried out enduring coverage of State University members committing sexual violence, while also covering local and national debates over sexual violence at universities. In particular, student journalists called for institutional accountability in addressing sexual violence. Other constituencies analyzed include feminist faculty and graduate students, non-academic offices and staff, and university leaders. Many of these constituencies and their constructions of sexual violence perpetrators overlapped in time periods. I argue that the ongoing contestations within State University over definitions of sexual violence and its perpetrators illustrates how student journalists are key organizational actors. Student journalists’ ongoing reporting on sexual violence, which contrasted with leaders’ public statements and leaders’ restrained organizational changes, kept sexual violence under discussion. The dissertation distinguishes itself from other work on Title IX and campus sexual violence by considering longer-term change; showing how activist, organizational, and legal processes within the context of one university intersect with broader political, legal, and movement processes to shift definitions of the problem of sexual violence, shape institutional responses to it, and refocus activism. The dissertation contributes a new analytic perspective on the importance of ritualization (meaning rendering ritual events part of organizational life) to institutionalizing social movements. I proffer the concept of hybrid activists, which expands the insider-outsider activist continuum beyond organizational location to include the productive bundling of movement institutionalization processes. The dissertation also contributes an analysis of legal activism in a legally pluralistic, ambiguous environment created by multiple linked laws on campus sexual violence. Multiple layers of law co-existed for how the university regulated sexual violence. Because I analyzed law as indeterminate, I show the consequences of the legal framing of sexual violence as gender discrimination that fell under Title IX, demonstrating that the contestation between the university and activists was not only about whether Title IX applied to sexual violence, but also about the very definition of what constituted gender discrimination. .

South Asian American Attitudes Towards Seeking Mental Health Services: An Exploratory Randomly Controlled Trial of Model Minority Myth Internalization, Therapist Culture Matching, and Barriers to Care

DeVitre, Zubin The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

In 2014, Inman et al., published a three-decade long content analysis on the psychological literature of South Asian Americans (SAAs). Between 1980 and 2012, only 133 empirical articles focused specifically on SAAs in psychology, with only 10.53% (roughly 14) solely recruiting from college campuses and only 15.73% (roughly 21) focusing on psychological health (Inman et al., 2014). As such, this study adds to the paucity of literature focusing on SAA undergraduate students while laying a foundation for future research to build upon. To understand what systemic structures may inhibit SAA undergraduates’ well-being, this study addressed the effects of the therapist-client racial/ethnic matching, the internalization of the model minority myth, and their relationship regarding attitudes towards seeking mental health services.Using a psychosociocultural (PSC) approach (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000) to study how racial/ethnic matching of SAA therapists informs the internalization of the MMM and attitudes towards seeking mental health services, the study took an exploratory, concurrent triangular mixed methods approach (Crewswell & Plano Clark, 2007) to understanding the internal processes of SAA undergraduates. Recognizing that many college students use mental health services through their university providers and ensuring that our findings are understood within the context of predominantly White institutions, this study was conducted as a regional study at a large Mid-Western University. Our study takes a mixed methods pre-post treatment approach to answer our main research questions (RQ) and sub-research questions (SRQ).RQ1: How does the racial/ethnic relationship between counselor and client inform internalized attitudes of the model minority myth and one’s attitudes towards seeking mental health services for SAA undergraduates?RQ2: Will the internalization of the model minority myth act as a mediator between therapist racial/ethnic match and one’s attitudes towards seeking mental health services for SAA undergraduates?RQ3: What are the experiences of SAA students who meet with racial/ethnically matched therapists versus those that do not?SRQ1: How will bond influence other study variables?SRQ2: Will “cultural match” act as a moderator between significant variable relationships?To answer the research questions, 13 SAA undergraduates were recruited to take a pre-post treatment survey composed of four empirically validated instruments and one demographic questionnaire. The four surveys consisted of the Asian American Values Scale-Multidimensional (AAVS-M) (Kim et al., 2005), the bond subscale of the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) (Horvath et al., 1989), the IM-4 (the Internalization of the Model Minority Myth Measure (IM-4) (Yoo et al., 2010) and the Inventory of Attitudes Towards Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS) (Mackenzie et al., 2004). The study used a pre-post treatment format, where participants completed a pre-session survey (AAVS, IM-4, and IASMHS) prior to meeting with a study team member for a mock session. During the mock session, participants met with either a SAA or White identifying study team member for 35-45-minutes. Due to the exploratory nature of the study, all mock sessions were recorded and transcribed for follow-up analysis. For the main study analysis, the primary focus of the mock session was the interaction between the study team “therapist” and the participant, rather than the content of the session. At post session, participants completed a second survey (IM-4, the bond subscale of the WAI, and IASMHS) and met with another study team member for a brief semi-structured interview (5-10 minutes) about their experience in the study, their attitudes towards help seeking services, and their thoughts about having a SAA or White identifying therapist. Following the semi-structured interview, participants partook in a debrief and given information related to study purpose and mental health services. Ensuring that racial/ethnic matching is not the only measure of identity match, the AAVS was used to assess for cultural/values match. Capturing a person-environment approach to psychological, social, and cultural constructs, study results provide insights towards SAA attitudes towards seeking mental health services, and direction for mental health professionals and university personnel alike.

Maximizing Stellarator Coil Tolerances by Minimizing Island Sensitivity

Kruger, Thomas G The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2023 해외박사(DDOD)

Stellarator confinement was theoretically resolved with the discovery of Quasi-Symmetry in 1988. A strong physics basis for the stellarator has since been established with experiments like the Helically Symmetric eXperiment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wendelstein 7-X experiment at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. Good plasma confinement and stability properties are observed in optimized stellarator experiments, but at a significant cost. Stellarator magnetic fields are difficult to produce, often requiring non-planar magnets with tight manufacturing tolerances. The complexity of these magnet systems adds significant cost and risk to new stellarator projects. The engineering risks associated with the stellarator were made clear with the National Compact Stellarator Experiment which was unfortunately terminated after the coil system was manufactured. The NCSX stellarator requires complex magnet geometries due to its highly shaped plasma boundary. Moreover, NCSX coils had to be manufactured to a level of precision that proved difficult given the shape, size, and strength of its coil system. This work investigates a new stellarator coil optimization method which significantly loosens coil manufacturing tolerances.

Development of Cold Spray Cr Coatings on Zr-Alloy for Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cladding

Dabney, Tyler Alexander The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2024 해외박사(DDOD)

Zirconium alloys (Zr-alloys) have been used as materials for fuel cladding (tubes that contain the uranium-bearing fuel) on account of their high neutron transparency, strength, and corrosion resistance. Several generations of Zr-alloys have been developed with minor adjustments in already low concentration of alloying elements (e.g., Fe, Sn, Nb, Cr) with the goal of imparting improvements to high temperature strength and corrosion resistance. In recent years, there has been a drive to enhance the oxidation resistance and accident tolerance of Zr-alloy fuel cladding in loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) scenarios, where the temperature can significantly exceed the normal reactor operating temperature. A potential solution is to apply a thin coating of an oxidation-resistant material to the outer surface of the Zr-alloy cladding. This research focuses on the development of chromium (Cr) coatings using cold spray deposition technology. Although not the focus of this study, such a coating can potentially enhance the ballooning and bursting resistance of the cladding, a requirement for the use of economically attractive higher enrichment, higher burnup fuel. In cold spray, powder particles of the coating material are propelled at supersonic velocities towards the surface of a substrate, where upon impact they plastically deform at high strain rates to form a coating. The particle temperature is low, and deposition occurs in solid state. The research was conducted using the commercial 4000-34 CGT cold spray facility at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.This research focused on four areas crucial to the development of Cr cold spray coatings on Zr-alloy for advanced nuclear fuel cladding, namely: (i) coating formation mechanisms, (ii) irradiation effects, (iii) mechanical behavior of the coating and coating-substrate system, and (iv) hydrothermal corrosion and high temperature oxidation of the coatings. The research was conducted using powders referred to in this thesis as electrolytic soft Cr powders, that were produced commercially by a combination of an electrolytic method and a gentle impact milling process. Zr-alloys used in reactors for cladding, namely Zircaloy-4, ZIRLOTM, and Optimized ZIRLOTM (OPZ) in either flat or tubular cladding geometry were used as substrates for various phases of this research. Deposition was conducted using either nitrogen or helium or a mixture of these carrier gases to propel the particles though the converging-diverging de Laval nozzle and to then accelerate them at supersonic velocities towards the substrate.  Given the importance of the powder microstructure in solid state processes such as cold spray, extensive characterization of the feedstock Cr powder particles was conducted using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), transmission Kikuchi diffraction (TKD), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The powders were phase-pure and consisted of large grains in the central regions and fine elongated nanocrystalline grains near the edges, a result of the manufacturing route. Nanoindentation tests of the powders showed low hardness - a beneficial feature for cold spray - as it is indicative of the ability of the particles to plastically deform upon impact. Coating depositions were performed by varying select parameters that are known to profoundly influence the microstructure and other characteristics of the coating, including carrier gas composition, gas preheat temperature, and gun traverse speed. Dense thick coatings (25 to over 150 µm) with strong adhesion to the substrate were achieved. Typical of cold spray, the coatings exhibited a heterogeneous structure over multiple length scales, consisting of elongated and dynamically recrystallized grains (ultrafine to nanocrystalline), high dislocation density and strained structures, gradation in grain size, and interparticle boundaries. A fundamental understanding of the coating formation mechanisms both in the interfacial bonding and buildup phases was achieved by single particle impact studies of Cr-on-Zr-alloy and Cr-on Cr, respectively. Cold spray parameters were adjusted to deposit individual Cr particles on these substrates, leading to the identification of two regimes of impact and two distinct sets of critical velocities for bonding. Deposition efficiency was measured by taking the ratio of the number of adhered particles to the total number of particles impacted as a function of particle velocity, and the critical velocity was determined as the velocity where deposition efficiency became non-zero. The particle velocity was predicted using computation fluid dynamics (CFD) codes. For the Cr-on-Zr system, characterization of impacted particle cross-sections using SEM and EBSD revealed that changes due to impact were confined to the outer regions of the Cr particle,while the near-interface regions of the Zr-alloy consisted of a dynamically recrystallized nanograined structure. High resolution TEM (HR-TEM) imaging and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis showed the evolution of crystallographic coherency between the. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest).

How to Know What to Feel: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Curriculum Legislation in Wisconsin

Krause, Elise M The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2024 해외박사(DDOD)

This critical discourse analysis examines the expectations for English Language Arts (ELA) teachers' emotional labor and its attendant feeling rules as formulated in 2021 in the State of Wisconsin's Holocaust education bill (now Wisconsin Act 30) and "divisive concepts" bills prohibiting the teaching of Critical Race Theory (or CRT) in K-12 schools. In an analysis of the legislative texts and their hearings on the floor and in committee, this study attends to the speeches of politicians, advocates, parents, lobbyists, teachers, and students as the language contributes to the discourses about appropriate emotions and "difficult knowledge" in humanities classrooms. The Holocaust education bill, legislation supported unanimously by the legislature and the governor, prioritizes a learning of, about, and through difficult feelings when encountering tragedies and human atrocities in humanities classrooms. Teachers are supported and trusted in their facilitation of these challenging discourses for students. By contrast, the anti-CRT legislation prohibits the teaching of "race and sex stereotyping," as well as teaching that may provoke negative affect in students. Supporters of the anti-CRT legislation characterize the classroom space as one that is hostile to dissenting voices and where students' feelings require statutory protection from teachers who subscribe to CRT. The legislation's detractors fear that it denies opportunities for student connection and belonging, as well as their acquisition of knowledge about the history and legacy of racism in the United States. These distinct feeling rules - trusting and supporting teachers, providing protection from teachers, or promoting connections to knowledge of injustices - define how teachers are understood to care about their students. This research contributes to the literature by closely attending to the discourses of emotional labor provided in secondary ELA classrooms in fraught political environments and recommends that teachers may require additional discursive and emotional support as they perform emotional labor in contested and increasingly legislated educational contexts.

Microbial-Derived Residues and Their Role in Carbon Stabilization and Aggregate Formation in Southern Wisconsin Cropping Systems

Leon Tinoco, Angela Y The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2025 해외박사(DDOD)

Soil aggregation is important for soil health, protecting soil organic matter from microbial degradation and potentially enabling soil carbon (C) accumulation and stabilization. However, the mechanisms underlying aggregation and long-term C stabilization are uncertain. We addressed relationships among microbial residues, aggregation, and C pools in soils from agroecosystems typical of southern Wisconsin.In Chapter 1, we reviewed literature addressing relationships among soil aggregation, soil C stabilization, and two microbial-derived compounds—glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). GRSP is traditionally associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), while EPS is mainly produced by bacteria and archaea. Chapter 2 addressed GRSP and EPS abundance across four cropping systems at the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) – a) continuous maize, b) organic forage (maize-oats/alfalfa-alfalfa), c) management-intensive rotational grazing of cool-season pastures, and d) periodically burned restored tallgrass prairie. We observed greater macroaggregate abundance and higher levels of stable C (estimated as mineral-associated organic C, MAOM-C) within macroaggregates in perennial grassland (perennial pasture and restored prairie) soils compared to continuous maize and organic forage soils that are frequently disturbed. GRSP, but not EPS, was positively correlated with macroaggregate abundance, supporting the idea that AMF-associated GRSP plays a prominent role in long-term SOC stabilization and the persistence of macroaggregate structure.In Chapter 3, we conducted an experiment evaluating the effect of storage conditions on EPS extraction from perennial pasture soils. We found that storage duration, but not temperature, significantly influenced EPS abundance, emphasizing the importance of standardized sample handling in EPS studies. Chapter 4 examined the direct effects of experimental additions of AMF necromass and bacterial EPS on macroaggregate formation under in vitro conditions without plant growth. AMF necromass—but not EPS—promoted macro aggregation in low-organic matter loamy sands. Interestingly, AMF residues also stimulated AMF biomass (assayed with lipid extraction), but not GRSP production. These results suggest that under in vitro conditions, AMF activity contributes to soil aggregation but does not appear to be related to GRSP.Overall, AMF and GRSP exhibited a more persistent and influential role in soil aggregation and C stabilization than EPS, highlighting the importance of intact soils for climate change mitigation strategies. The mechanism for these relationships appeared to be related to a combination of C inputs from AMF, physical occlusion from AMF hyphal growth, and the tacky ‘glue-like’ nature of AMF necromass.

The Role of State Educational Agencies in Addressing Racial Disproportionality in Special Education: A Multi-Methods Study

Iverson, Deonte E The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2025 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation examines the role of state educational agencies in addressing racial disproportionality in special education, with a focus on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) revision of the eligibility criteria for identifying students with Emotional Behavioral Disabilities (EBD). Guided by Dis/ability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit), this study investigates two primary research questions: (1) What factors influenced Wisconsin DPI to revise the administrative rule on EBD eligibility? and (2) How do school practitioners understand the new policy and perceive its impact on their practice?Using a multi-methods qualitative approach, the study draws on critical discourse analysis, content analysis, and critical policy analysis to explore the language, context, and implementation of the revised policy. Data sources include three key policy texts, twenty policy-related documents, and thirty-two semi-structured interviews with school practitioners from districts across the state. The research design is carried out in two phases: Phase 1 analyzes the policy and surrounding documentation to uncover the motivations and discourse behind the rule change, while Phase 2 examines practitioners’ interpretations and enactments of the new policy in their local contexts.Findings reveal a disconnect between the policy’s language and its underlying intentions. Although a subset of DPI documents explicitly names racial disproportionality as a motivating factor in revising the EBD criteria, the final policy text remains race-neutral, thereby obscuring its equity-oriented objectives. Furthermore, practitioners' interpretations and implementation of the policy are significantly shaped by their own understandings of disability, the enduring stigma associated with EBD labels, and the accountability pressures tied to racial disproportionality identification. These factors result in varied applications of the policy, often influenced more by local context and professional judgment than by consistent, equity-driven guidelines.This study contributes to the growing body of research on race, dis/ability, and educational policy by illuminating how state-level intentions may be diluted or reshaped during implementation. It also underscores the importance of explicitly addressing race and dis/ability together in policy design and professional development to advance educational equity.

Unveiling Respectability in Curricular Formations of Concert Dance: A Historical Analysis of Body, Refinement, and Agency in the 1940s for African-American Women Dancers at UW-Madison

Amie, Kandyce Anderson The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2025 해외박사(DDOD)

Recent literature in dance studies has called for a revisionist inquiry into the racial lineages of the dance education archives. Drawing together dance, education, and Black studies, I explore the shaping of dance modernism and the national, gendered, and racial formulations overwriting students in higher education. This dissertation examines how mid-20th-century discourses of eugenics, health, and Black womanhood shaped the Black dancing body as an inscribed curriculum within dance education. Discussed are three students, Jessie E. Abbott, Mary Hinkson, and Matt Turney, who studied under Margaret H’Doubler Claxton, founder of the University of Wisconsin-Madison dance program, between 1940 and 1952. Through a critical framework of intersectional assemblages, I examine the production of the Black dancing body through U-Madison’s dance program—the first of its kind. Over 500 archival materials, including student records, assessments, recommendation letters, and administrative documents were collected from university and national archives. These archives include the New York Public Library, Southern Illinois University, and the American Dance Festival archives. Chapter 2 identifies creativity and self-improvement in the curriculum as tools to regulate women’s emotionality, irrationality, and “primitive” nature. Chapter 3 explores the intersection of womanhood, respectability, and Black women’s position within it, illustrating how “success” or expulsion from the program was negotiated by portraying various desires, especially the desire to teach rather than perform. Chapter 4 identifies the shaping of Black womanhood through the cult of true womanhood’s systems of modifying behavior through charm and beauty. It also considers how Black women used potentiality as a strategy to resist societal classifications and health disparities.This dissertation reveals the conditions of possibility within dance curricula, offering three key claims: (1) The dancing bodies of Black women are bodies of enunciation, existing within prescription, practice, teaching, and performance; (2) Black women make visible the racialized, gendered orders of womanhood and were thus framed as potential threats to the social order; (3) These women, as embodied archives, reveal conditions of possibility for shaping new subjectivities. This dissertation contributes to dance, Black studies, and education by analyzing how dance education functioned as inscribed curricula of racialized regulation and epistemic resistance.

Essays on Ozone Pollution, Dairy Productivity, and Nutritional Quality

Liu, Ziheng The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2025 해외박사(DDOD)

My dissertation, consisting of three chapters, makes contributions to the intersection between the environment and dairy production. Focusing on the Wisconsin and multi-state dairy industry, I study the impact of ozone on dairy cow productivity, the corresponding behavioral responses of dairy producers, and the nutritional quality of the milk produced.The first chapter examines the causal effects of ozone on dairy cows’ lactational performance and the corresponding behavioral responses of dairy farmers. While recent research has shown the negative impact of ambient ozone on crop production, evidence of its effects on animal agriculture is lacking. Using an instrumental variables framework, this chapter shows evidence that an increase in ozone concentrations shortens lactation length, likely owing to lowered milk yield and elevated somatic cell counts. Forecasts suggest that ignoring changes in lactation length underestimates the milk production benefits of declining ozone levels by approximately 35%. Both physiological changes in dairy cows and economic decisions by dairy farmers are important when evaluating the benefits of reduced ozone levels. Although not targeting the livestock sector, a one-part-per-billion (ppb) reduction in ozone levels would generate positive spillovers for dairy production, resulting in a 0.70–1.08% increase in Wisconsin’s dairy industry revenue. The complexity of ozone effects on lactation is further emphasized by the heterogeneity across lactation cycles, age groups, and pregnancy trimesters.The second chapter provides the first empirical assessment of how ozone exposure influences the nutritional quality of dairy cow milk. This chapter discovers that increased ozone levels during both pregnancy and lactation reduce milk protein yield; ozone exposure during pregnancy alters the nutritional composition of milk by lowering the protein percentage. However, since fat and protein synthesis operate via distinct processes, ozone exposure has no effect on fat yield. As fat synthesis remains stable while overall milk production declines, the fat percentage in milk increases. Based on the estimates, this chapter projects protein and fat production under three emission scenarios. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the nutritional quality response of dairy cow milk to ambient ozone pollution varies by calving seasons.The third chapter offers a multi-state analysis of the ozone effects on milk yield and yield risk. The multi-state analysis validates the first chapter’s finding that ozone pollution significantly decreases milk yield. This chapter specifically finds evidence that across multiple states, one additional ppb of average annual ozone concentration lowers milk yield by 2.705% in terms of percentage and 447 lbs. per head in terms of absolute weight in the U.S. The ozone effect on milk yield exhibits heterogeneity with respect to the temperature-humidity index; the negative ozone effect magnifies as temperature humidity deviates from the mean to the high extremes. Finding evidence that higher ozone levels widen the dispersion of milk yield around the mean and raise the probability of rare but extreme yield occurrences, this chapter also examines yield risk to draw attention to ozone-induced low milk yield and extreme events, helping farmers implement risk management techniques to mitigate potential losses.

Essays on the Economics of Education and Inequality

Jain, Arjun The University of Wisconsin - Madison ProQuest Dis 2025 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation includes three essays on the economics of education, with a special focus given to inequalities and inequities across students from different subgroups. In the first chapter, joint with Jeremy Kirk, we generalize the canonical model of school value-added to identify heterogeneity in school effectiveness driven by differences in student health. To do this, we first match the universe of K-12 public school records for the state of Wisconsin to individual-level Medicaid claims and enrollment; we then measure student health with a random forest, predicting students' absence rates directly from observed diagnosis codes. We find that the dispersion in school effectiveness is up to 31% larger among unhealthy students than among healthy students, indicating that schools are more influential in determining academic outcomes among unhealthy students. We then investigate how school nurses and homebound teachers (those qualified to provide at-home instruction to severely ill or disabled students) improve student outcomes. While nurses have little effect on test scores, homebound teachers boost test scores of unhealthy students and close the achievement gap between healthy and unhealthy students by 16%.In the second chapter, I investigate how a high school's curriculum - in particular, the array of advanced courses it offers - influences its quality, and how participation in a high school's advanced courses affects achievement gaps between students from low- and high-resource households. Equipped with student-level data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, I use a value-added model to estimate high school quality, which I decompose into factors from the curriculum, teacher characteristics, and student body composition. I find that the student composition is most closely tied to school quality and that little variation can be attributed to the curriculum or teacher characteristics. Turning to the curriculum more directly, while schools’ advanced course offerings themselves have little direct impact on ACT scores or achievement gaps, the returns to participation in advanced courses are substantial. I also find that the students that select into advanced courses – those with higher prior ability and those from high-resource households – are the ones who experience the largest benefit of participation.In the third chapter, I explore one-to-one technology initiatives, policies in which school districts provide computers to every student. Using a two-way fixed effects approach, I evaluate these policies' impacts on test scores and achievement gaps between students from low- and high-income households. To do this, I combine student-level public school records with hand-collected computer distribution plans for several of Wisconsin's largest public school districts. I find that one-to-one initiatives widen English Language Arts (ELA) achievement gaps by 0.03 standard deviations, driven by negative effects on students from low-income households. This could be due to a combination of technological dependence of ELA curricula and limitations of internet at home for students from low-income households. Despite negative short-term effects, I find suggestive evidence that these initiatives helped mitigate some of the widespread learning losses that hit school districts across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.