What has been the level of public investment in this higher education system, and how has it performed over the past century? What are the challenges that California higher education faces in the future and what level of investment is necessary? This paper attempts to provide an historical context to these questions to assist Californians as they once again consider how to expand educational opportunity. California now faces a dramatic new period of potential enrollment and program growth that will have a significant impact on socio-economic mobility, and on the state's economic competitiveness. How might the state rise to the occasion?

To examine service cost and access for persons with severe mental illness under Medicaid mental health capitation payment in Colorado. Capitation contracts were made with two organizational models: community mental health centers (CMHCs) that manage and deliver services (direct capitation [DC]) and joint ventures between CMHCs and a for-profit managed care firm (managed behavioral health organization, [MBHO]) and compared to fee for service (F.F.S.).

This paper uses the charter schools legislation of three states, California, Arizona and Michigan, as a lens to understand the policy values embodied in school choice reforms. We question the prevailing rubrics of the Center for Education Reform and the American Federation of Teachers. Briefly stated, the former ranks laws as either “strong” or “weak” and the latter identifies laws as either “good” or “bad.” We examine the legislation in light of an alternative framework. Specifically, we consider how the laws incorporate choice, productive efficiency, equity, and social cohesion. We also consider what policy tools, such as finance, information, and regulation are provided in the legislation to achieve these values. We find this framework more comprehensive than current, normative frameworks that pervade charter school research. Though we emphasize the need for continued research at the local charter school level to understand the connection between legislation and implementation, this framework enables observers to move beyond value-laden descriptors of charter school laws. 

There is an emerging consensus among disciplines dealing with human decision making that the context in which
a decision is made is an important determinant of outcomes. This consensus has been slow in the making because
much of what is known about context effects has evolved from a desire to demonstrate the untenability of certain
common assumptions upon which tractable models of behavior have generally been built. This paper seeks
to bring disparate disciplinary perspectives to bear on the relation between context and choice, to formulate
(1) recommendations for improvements to the state-of-the-practice of Random Utility Models (RUMs) of choice
behavior, and (2) a future research agenda to guide the further incorporation of context into these models of
choice behavior.

Using Clark Kerr's observations on the American research university in the post-World War II era as a discussion point, this paper offers a brief summary of the expansion of the University of California during the 20th century, general observations on the emergence of its contemporary management structure after World War II, and an preliminary assessment of the possible scope of expansion and change in the new century.