Quantitative Methods for Public Policy

什么是量化扫盲？你是怎么教的？你如何衡量它？你如何才能开发一个程序，将确保所有的本科生有它的时候，他们毕业？Macalester学院的教师与来自Carleton，Grinnell，Lawrence和St. Olaf的同事一起，正在深入思考这些问题并测试一个概念。Macalester正在实施一个试点方案，改善中学后教育基金（FIPSE）资助了一个为期四年的项目，以制定、实施和评估这一模式的推广，并开始向其他机构推广。国家科学基金会的项目是对国际和平与安全教育基金会项目的补充，为更多的讲习班活动提供支助，编写学生项目和作业，以及开发一个网站和一本专业小册子。部分资金将提供给将测试麦卡莱斯特模式的机构。该计划是跨学科的。试点年涉及数学、统计学、经济学、政治学、地理和英语课程。它也具有凝聚力。重点是公共政策，所有课程都使用相同的政策问题来说明应用程序。所有学生每周聚在一起一个晚上，听取专家辩论政策问题，并谈论他们自己在分析选项中使用的定量方法。然而，政策主题每年都在变化。虽然某些核心课程每年都参加，但其他部门只有在主题特别相关时才参加。这是一种吸引数量较少的部门的机制。通过政策分析的透镜观察定量方法有可能成为学生的强大动力，在学生认为重要的背景下展示定量方法的力量。

What is Quantitative Literacy? How do you teach it? How do you measure it? How can you develop a program that will ensure that all undergraduates have it by the time they graduate? Faculty from Macalester College, joined by colleagues from Carleton, Grinnell, Lawrence, and St. Olaf, are thinking deeply about these questions and are testing a concept. A pilot program is running at Macalester and the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) has funded a four-year project to develop, implement, and assess an extension of this model and to begin to disseminate it to other institutions. The NSF project is complementing the FIPSE project by providing support for additional workshop activities, preparation of student projects and assignments, and development of a web site and a professional brochure. Some partial funding is being provided to institutions who will test the Macalester model.The program is interdisciplinary. The pilot year involve courses in Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Political Science, Geography, and English. It is also cohesive. The focus is on public policy, and all courses use the same policy issue to illustrate applications. All students come together one evening per week to hear experts debate the policy issue and talk about their own use of quantitative methods in analyzing options. The policy topic however changes from year to year. While certain core courses participate every year, other departments participate only when the topic is particularly relevant. This is a mechanism for drawing in less quantitative departments. Viewing quantitative methods through the lens of policy analysis has the potential to be a strong motivator for students, demonstrating the power of quantitative methods in a context students recognize as important.