Several staff members from the Ray Marshall Center had roles on the 2012 fall research conference program of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, held in Baltimore from November 8-10.
Chris King, RMC director, spoke at the roundtable session “Reimagining America’s Skills Investments,” along with Carl Van Horn of Rutgers University and Larry A. Good of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, session chair. Roundtable members discussed the global economic and policy trends that are the context for rethinking U.S. approaches to development of skills and supports for adult learners/workers, summarized what of relevance can be learned from research to inform policy choices, and then framed several policy options that would be viable within this context and capable of producing effective results.
Additionally, Dr. King is the co-author of two papers accepted by the conference. New Models of Parent-Child Engagement In Early Childhood Education: Promoting Low-Income Parents’ Education and Careers (with Teresa Eckrich Sommer of Northwestern University; Robert W. Glover, retired research scientist at RMC; and Hirokazu Yoshikawa of Harvard University) was presented at the panel, “21st Century Model for Parent Engagement: Educating Low-Income Parents and Children Simultaneously.”
The Experience of States with Recovery Act Workforce Funds (with Burt Barnow of George Washington University; Randall Eberts of the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research; Joyce Kaiser of the Capital Research Corporation; Tara Smith, RMC research associate; John Trutko of the Capital Research Corporation; and Stephen Wandner of The Urban Institute) was presented at the panel, “Promoting Effective, Efficient and Accountable Government: Lessons From the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” The paper reports on findings from a two-year, 20-state study of Recovery Act approaches, highlighting policy and programmatic changes as well as key achievements and challenges.
Deanna Schexnayder, assistant dean for finance and administration of the LBJ School of Public Affairs and RMC senior research scientist, moderated a roundtable discussion, “Central Texas Student Futures Project: Lessons From a Practitioner-Researcher Partnership.” The speakers were Dr. King, Drew Scheberle of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Kristin Boyer of TG and Camille Clay of Leander (TX) Independent School District. Attendees learned about the overall program design of the project, how school districts have applied lessons learned from the data to enhance student access to higher education, and how private funders have supported the project. The session was organized by Greg Cumpton, RMC social science research associate.
Ms. Schexnayder also spoke at the session, “State Advisory Councils On Early Childhood Education and Care: The Vision and the Reality,” along with Linda K. Smith of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Bobbie Weber of Oregon State University and Lee Kreader of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University. Albert Wat of the National Governors Association moderated the session. Discussion topics included involvement of state legislatures, goals adopted, types of activities undertaken, and involvement of various stakeholders. Attendees explore the advantages and disadvantages of different types of governance structures and the extent to which state council efforts are sustainable over time.
Heath Prince, RMC associate director, is co-author of a paper accepted by the conference, Increasing College Attainment in the United States: Variations in Returns to States and Their Residents (with Matt Crellin, research associate, and Patrick Kelly, senior associate at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems). Dr. Kelly presented the paper at the panel, “Measuring Returns on Investments in Human Capital: A Panel Discussion on Recent Research.”
Ms. Smith presented at the same panel and discussed the RMC report, Exploratory Return on Investment Analysis of Local Workforce Investments, co-authored with Dr. King. The research examines ROI from investments in Capital IDEA, a local workforce intermediary program that sponsors individuals in long-term training for high-wage, high-demand occupations primarily in healthcare.
Mr. Cumpton gave a poster presentation related to the Central Texas Student Futures Project.
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