| Principal Investigators: | Christopher T. King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | Kellogg Foundation |
| Research Partners: | Rockefeller Institute of Government/The Research Foundation of State University of New York |
| Project Duration: | May 2001 – August 2002 |
| Description: | Researchers at the Ray Marshall Center provided state analysis and annual updates regarding cash assistance, job training, Medicaid, and other social services in Texas. These reports combined with those of researchers in other states to produce national studies regarding the capacity of state government administrators and program operators to efficiently manage services in an era characterized by the devolution of increased responsibility for human services from the federal government to states and localities. The current analyses concerned recent changes in TANF cash assistance and work programs, which were followed by a study of the design and implementation of the Food Stamp program in Texas. The studies were conducted under the direction of Richard Nathan at SUNY-Albany through a field network of Rockefeller Institute Associates in selected states. |
Child Care Subsidy Duration Study
| Principal Investigator: | Deanna Schexnayder, MBA |
| Sponsor: | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
| Research Partners: | Columbia University (School of Social Work and National Center for Children in Poverty), and Oregon State University |
| Project Duration: | 1999-2001 |
| Description: | The Child Care Subsidy Duration was a collaboration of researchers in several states aimed at providing important information to policymakers on the duration of child care subsidy use. The research team used administrative records from state subsidy systems to build comparable linked, longitudinal datasets on children receiving subsidies, and used the data to produce descriptive information on the dynamics of child care subsidy use. The project was a multi-state study of relationships between subsidy policies, the duration of individual’s subsidy use, and the duration of individual child care arrangements. The main objective was to determine the duration of child care subsidy use and to explore how subsidy duration varies by family income, ages of children, and types of child care used. Ray Marshall Center researchers conducted the Texas portion of this analysis. |
Surviving Without TANF: A Longitudinal Study to Determine the Effects of Welfare Reform on Individuals Denied, Redirected, or Diverted from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families
| Principal Investigator: | Deanna Schexnayder, MBA |
| Sponsor: | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
| Research Partners: | Texas Health and Human Services Commission (formerly Texas Department of Human Services) and The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work |
| Project Duration: | 1999-2001 |
| Description: | The purpose of this study is to research the economic and non-economic outcomes of Texans who were redirected or denied Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) services for non-financial reasons, those who elected to receive a lump-sum payment in lieu of TANF, and those families who left TANF. Research questions will address the following topics: demographics of families diverted from or leaving TANF; employment and other economic supports; utilization of government programs; applicants’ attitudes toward the diversion/application process; hardships faced by families; and factors influencing TANF exits, TANF returns, and employment. |
| Reports Available: | Texas Families in Transition/Surviving without TANF: An Analysis of Families Diverted From or Leaving TANF Authors: Deanna Schexnayder, Daniel Schroeder, Laura Lein, David Dominguez, Karen Douglas, and Freddie Richards Date: January 2002 Publication Type: Report, 244pp. Texas Families in Transition/Surviving without TANF: A Preliminary Analysis of Families Diverted From or Leaving TANF |
Parent Satisfaction Survey of Austin Independent School District
| Principal Investigator: | Robert Glover, PhD |
| Sponsors: | Office of the President, The University of Texas at Austin; The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce; and The Sid Richardson Foundation |
| Project Duration: | December 1999 – August 2001 |
| Description: | This project conducted an independent survey of the satisfaction of parents with the Austin schools their child attended during March and April 2000. The survey was sponsored jointly by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and by the Office of President Larry Faulkner of the University of Texas at Austin. The Sid Richardson Foundation provided partial financial support. Telephone surveys were conducted in English or Spanish by the Office of Survey Research in the UT College of Communications with a randomly selected sample of 1,176 parents who had a child enrolled in an Austin ISD public school during the 1999-2000 school year. Dr. Bob Glover of the Ray Marshall Center staff served as overall coordinator for the project. Lee Holcombe assisted with the analysis of the data. Deanna Schexnayder participated with a group of volunteer experts on education or survey research from across the University and the Austin business community to develop the survey instrument. Professor Lynn Stokes of the UT Department of Management and Information Systems designed a random sample stratified to provide valid results by major ethnic or racial group (African American, Anglo and other, Asian American, or Latino), by level of school in which the child was enrolled (elementary, middle school, or high school), and by the income status of the household (low income or not). The survey included 32 questions measuring satisfaction with various aspects of schooling in Austin, along with 13 questions identifying school programs in which the child participated and activities in which parents participated. A follow-up parent satisfaction survey is planned. |
| Reports Available: | Parent Satisfaction with School Quality: Evidence from One Texas District Authors: Toni Falbo, Robert W. Glover, S. Lynne Stokes, W. Lee Holcombe, Wei Na Lee, Veronica Inchauste, O’Neil Provost, Deanna Schexnayder, and others. Date: January 2003 Publication Type: Report, 33pp. |
Technology-Based Solutions to Workforce Service Delivery
| Principal Investigator: | Christopher T. King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | Texas State Comptroller |
| Project Duration: | September 2000 – August 2001 |
| Description: | Ray Marshall Center researchers are conducting a policy research project addressing challenges and opportunities in workforce service delivery resulting from technological innovation in the New Economy. Drs. Christopher King and Robert Glover serve as PRP co-directors, meeting with participating students on a weekly basis, shaping their assignments, guiding their research, arranging for speakers, overseeing preparation of the project reports, and related project tasks. |
| Reports Available: | Technology-Based Solutions to Workforce Service Delivery Project Directors: Robert W. Glover, Christopher T. King, Francis Dummer Fisher, and Lodis Rhodes Date: October 2002 Publication Type: Policy Research Project, 243pp. |
Estimating the Impact of Subsidized Child Care on the Employment & Earnings of Welfare Recipients in Harris County (Houston), Texas
| Principal Investigator: | Jerome A. Olson |
| Sponsor: | U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
| Research Partners: | Wellesley College |
| Project Duration: | March 2001 – July 2001 |
| Description: | This project applies an existing statistical model to study the relationship between subsidized child care, employment and training in two disparate locations – Dade County (Miami), Florida, and Harris County (Houston), Texas. Ann Dryden Witte and Magaly Queralt performed the Florida application, and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources tested the statistical model for Texas. The primary purpose of this research was to test the generality of the model by fitting in different locations and during different time periods. |
| Reports Available: | Employment and Earnings of Child-Care Subsidy Recipients in Harris County, Texas Authors: Jerome A. Olson and Deanna Schexnayder Date: June 2002 Publication Type: Report, 51pp. |
Transforming Workforce Development Systems: Planning Phase
| Principal Investigator: | Christopher T. King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | University of Washington |
| Research Partners: | National Governors Association, John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, and Institute of Public Policy and Management at University of Washington |
| Project Duration: | April 2000 – April 2001 |
| Description: | Dr. Christopher T. King and Daniel P. O’ Shea worked with consortium partners, the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices and Rutgers University’s Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, to create a network of workforce institutes as outlined in a proposal to the Ford Foundation entitled, “Transforming State and Local Workforce Development Systems to Meet the Demands of the New Economy”. |
The Cost-Effectiveness of Non-Custodial Parent Referrals to Texas Workforce Services
| Principal Investigator: | Christopher King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | Texas Office of the Attorney General |
| Project Duration: | March 2000 – February 2001 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center assessed the cost-effectiveness of referrals of noncustodial parents from the Office of the Attorney General’s Child Support Division and other agencies to workforce services provided through local workforce investment boards and their provider networks in demonstrations operating in Bexar and Harris Counties. The three main components of this assessment were be implementation analysis, quasi-experimental analysis, and cost-effectiveness analysis. |
| Report Available: | The Effectiveness of Non-Custodial Parent Referrals to Workforce Services in Bexar and Harris Counties: An Initial Assessment Authors: Dan O’Shea, Christopher T. King, Daniel Schroeder, and Patricia Norman Date: January 2001 Publication Type: Report, 84pp. |
The Effectiveness of Various Child Support Collection Strategies in Increasing Child Support Collections
| Principal Investigator: | Deanna Schexnayder, MBA |
| Sponsor: | Texas Office of the Attorney General |
| Project Duration: | March 2000 – February 2001 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center analyzed several different child support collection strategies to determine their cost effectiveness. The strategies studied included round-up of non-custodial parents who were delinquent in their child support payments, increased pass-through of child support payments to custodial parents on welfare, and enforced access and visitation privileges for non-custodial parents. Each analysis measured the cost-effectiveness of a given collection strategy. |
| Report Available: | The Effectiveness of Various Texas Child Support Collection Strategies Authors: Deanna T. Schexnayder, Jerome A. Olson, Jennifer Beck, Ying Tang, Hyunsub Kum, Daniel Schroeder, Patricia Norman, and Daniel P. O’Shea Date: February 2001 Publication Type: Report, 99pp. |
State Capacity Project/Texas
| Principal Investigators: | Christopher T. King, PhD and Dan O’Shea, MA |
| Sponsor: | Kellogg Foundation |
| Research Partners: | Rockefeller Institute of Government, State University of New York (SUNY) – Albany, and Field Associates in 20 states |
| Project Duration: | 1998 – 2000 |
| Description: | The national study, directed by Dr. Richard P. Nathan and Thomas L. Gais of the Rockefeller Institute at SUNY-Albany, explored welfare and workforce devolution and the capacity of states and localities for taking on new roles. Researchers at the Ray Marshall Center conducted the Texas portion of this research and a pilot of the workforce devolution portion of the study. |
| Reports Available: | Implementing the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996: A First Look Authors: Richard P. Nathan and Thomas L. Gais Date: 1999 Publication Type and Availability: Book, 80pp; Available through the SUNY Press. |
