| Principal Investigator: | Daniel G. Schroeder, PhD |
| Sponsor: | National Center for Health Statistics |
| Project Duration: | March 2009 – September 2012 |
| Description: | The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has conducted the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) continuously since 1999. One of the major components of NHANES is the nutrition and dietary component. A recent National Academies panel on Enhancing the Data Infrastructure in Support of Food and Nutrition Programs recommended linking the NHANES data with food assistance and other related program records to more fully understand decisions that the population makes on food consumption and to guide policy makers. NCHS has decided to link 2005-2008 NHANES data with Food Stamp Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families administrative records in Texas. If additional funds become available, NCHS will also link 2005-2008 NHANES data with Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Unemployment Insurance Wage File Reports in Texas.
Under the project, the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources at the University of Texas in Austin will perform the linkage of records. After the linkage has occurred, statistical analyses will be conducted. The analyses will assess the participation in food program assistance and the effects of long term participation as it relates to food consumption and nutrition. In addition, the analyses will assess the accuracy of collecting this information in a self reported survey compared to the results of record linkage to an administrative database. The results from this linkage analysis will help gain understanding for future food and nutrition-related policy planning in the United States and perhaps future linkage projects. |
Texas Workforce Return-on-Investment Analysis Plan
| Principal Investigator: | Christopher T. King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | Texas Association of Workforce Boards |
| Project Duration: | September 2007 – August 2008 |
| Description: | Researchers at the Ray Marshall Center are providing research and technical expertise to the Texas Association of Workforce Boards (TAWB) to update and refine the methodology for estimating the return on investment (ROI) from workforce services and to produce ROI estimates for Texas as a whole and up to 26 of the 28 workforce areas in the state. As part of the project, the researchers will also develop a guide to ROI estimation for use by the boards subsequent to this analysis. Center researchers demonstrated the feasibility of using a simple ROI estimation methodology and in 2003, producing “first-approximation,” taxpayer-perspective ROI estimates for 18 participating workforce areas as well as a composite board ROI estimate. The current project will improve on the earlier work in a number of important respects:
|
| Reports Available: |
Returns from Investments in Workforce Services: Texas Statewide Estimates for Participants, Taxpayers and Society Authors: Christopher T. King, Ying Tang, Tara Carter Smith, and Daniel G. Schroeder; with assistance from Burt S. Barnow Date: August 2008 Publication Type: Report, 50pp. |
Welfare and Employment Dynamics Using Matched Data
| Principal Investigators: | Daniel Schroeder, PhD |
| Sponsor: | National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture |
| Research Partners: | The Johns Hopkins University, The George Washington University |
| Project Duration: | November 2005 – July 2008 |
| Description: | The project will conduct studies of food stamp, welfare, and employment dynamics using matched data from the “Three City Study” and administrative records from various governmental welfare and employment sources. It has a data collection goal and an analysis goal. The data collection goal is to gather administrative records from TANF, Food Stamps, Unemployment Insurance earnings records, and several other public assistance and social service agencies on the families in the survey, to match them to the survey, and to develop a restricted use file that could be made available to other authorized researchers. The analysis goal is to use the matched data to conduct primary analyses of food stamp, welfare, and employment dynamics using state of the art econometric methods and to conduct a series of additional substantive and methodological analyses. These additional analyses include a study of methods of efficient estimation models which use the survey data and the universe of administrative data; a study of the seam problem in event history surveys; an examination of the effects of work requirements, time limits, and sanctions on welfare use and employment outcomes; studies of food and financial hardships among families; and studies of welfare participation of children of immigrants, employment patterns of Latinas, aging low income mothers, and social service use. The researchers at the Ray Marshall Center will participate mainly in data collection tasks, using administrative data from the state of Texas to: (1) develop research files describing families’ food stamp, welfare, and other program experiences and histories of their UI-covered earnings, and (2) link these data to information from the “Three City Study.” The researchers will also assist with other analysis tasks, as time and interest allow, and may develop their own analysis projects with the data. |
TANF, Unemployment Insurance, and the Safety Net
| Principal Investigator: | Daniel Schroeder, PhD |
| Sponsor: | W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research |
| Project Duration: | June 2007 – April 2008 |
| Description: | This project presents a revised analysis plan to investigate linkages between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Unemployment Insurance (UI). Using administrative data from a group of four large states, this study extends our understanding about the use of UI by recent TANF leavers. Data from the following states are analyzed: Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Texas. Samples from all four states will be analyzed for 2000 TANF receipt cohorts. These samples include TANF recipients in calendar year 2000 who exit from TANF for employment by the first calendar quarter of 2001. Analysis will be conducted on earlier and later TANF exit cohorts as data is available for other states. The two alternative TANF exit time frames are: (1) TANF receipt 1997Q2 to 1998Q1 and exit by 1998Q2, and (2) TANF receipt 2002Q1 to 2002Q4 and exit by 2003Q1. Based on data for the Florida 2000 cohort, this report presents a blueprint for analysis of all cohorts by presenting tables and charts to answer questions posed in the draft analysis plan. The sections and sub-sections of this revised analysis plan correspond to the overview of research questions listed in Table 1. An overview of data available to investigate these research questions is given in Table 2.
Analysis of UI and TANF use is primarily based on data provided through the Administrative Data Analysis and Research (ADARE) consortium. Additional data for this project was provided directly to the Upjohn Institute by some states. Data for Michigan was provided to the Institute outside ADARE. |
Community Agenda Assessment Project
| Principal Investigators: | Christopher T. King, PhD and Ying Tang |
| Sponsor: | United Way Capital Area |
| Project Duration: | November 2005 – December 2006 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas at Austin (RMC) is conducting a research project to assist the United Way Capital Area (UWCA) develop a Community Agenda on health and human services within the 10-county Capital Area region. The research is designed to lead to a synthesis of existing information and stakeholder perspectives on the priorities in health and human services. Specifically, RMC is charged as follows:
Phase I: Identify, collect and analyze existing regional data on the state of major health and human services issues, indicators and demographic trend; and Phase II: Gauge the perspectives of major stakeholders across the ten-county area regarding major issues, root causes, solutions and prospects for health and human services. The Ray Marshall Center will produce a data analysis report as a result of Phase I work. The data analysis report will present major indicators of demographic trends, several indicators under important issue areas related to health and human services, a summary listing of the issues or priority issues previously identified by stakeholders through community assessment or planning processes in recent years, and a number of regional and county-specific highlights based on data and issues analysis. The report of the Phase II work will be a summary of findings based on analysis of input from different types of stakeholders in the ten counties. Specifically, stakeholder input is sought on the following topics:
To the extent possible, the Phase II report will also attempt to compare the issues and priorities that loom largest in the perspectives of the stakeholders and comparable data points on such issues and priorities. |
| Reports Available: | A Profile of the Capital Area Community: A Data Analysis Report for the United Way Capital Area Authors: Ying Tang, Suzanne Hershey, Christopher T. King, Erin Brown, and Katie Ryan Date: March 2006 Publication Type: Report, 100pp. A Profile of the Capital Area Community: A Profile of the Capital Area: A Regional Summary Toward Equity for All: Findings from Stakeholder Input on the Capital Area Community Agenda Project Toward Equity for All: Findings From Stakeholder Input on the Capital Area Community Agenda Project (Executive Summary) Community Agenda Project Findings and Recommendations |
Critical Skill Shortages Initiative
| Principal Investigators: | Robert Glover, PhD and Christopher T. King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | WorkSource – Greater Austin Area Workforce Board |
| Project Duration: | April 2005 – August 2006 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center will collaborate with industry and community representatives to work with two industrial sectors to alleviate critical skills shortages in key occupations. The two targeted industrial sectors will have high job growth, pay higher than average wages and benefits, and be experiencing critical skill shortages in key occupations. The project will examine root causes for these critical shortages and propose practical solutions. The researchers anticipate that the first target sector will be health care. Abundant information is already available regarding this industry in Central Texas, as well as existing activities and institutions that can be built on. Researchers will do a quick verification to confirm this choice. This strategy of selecting health care on the front end will allow researchers to accelerate the project rapidly into the second (root causes) and third (solutions) phases for this sector. Key representatives from this sector have indicated that while much is known about it already, much more needs to be done to understand and effectively respond to its needs.
The second industry sector will be selected on the basis of findings from the data analysis and discussions with representatives from industry and the community regarding their responsiveness to work with this initiative. Researchers will build on existing efforts and make best use of available data and programs underway. They will collaborate with interested employers in the selected industries to verify the shortages, examine root causes, and seek practical solutions to alleviate the shortages. The project will be documented in a series of reports, including a Critical Skills Report, for each of the two industry sectors selected, a report on Root Causes of the shortages, and a report on Solutions tailored for each sector. Each of the solutions reports will include a work plan, with endorsements that could be used as the basis of a proposal to be submitted to an external funding agency or organization. The researchers view this project as a means to establish a more effective collaborative process in Central Texas – not merely a research project designed to develop a series of written reports. They aim to put into placed a catalytic process that will generate and facilitate activities by key actors. Success will require strong input and meaningful participation by the firms and industries involved, as well as by training providers and the community. The end result for Central Texas should be improved productivity for employers in key sectors, as well as enhanced labor market success for area residents. |
| Reports Available: | Critical Skill Shortages Project: Recommendations for Selection of Two Key Industry Clusters for Further Work Authors: Robert W. Glover, Suzanne Hershey, Christopher T. King, and Deepshikha Roychowdhury Date: June 2005 Publication Type: Report, 48pp. Critical Skill Shortages Project: An Assessment of Root Causes for Skill Shortages in Biosciences and Biotechnology in Greater Austin Critical Skill Shortages Project: An Assessment of Root Causes for Skill Shortages in the Wireless Industry in Greater Austin Critical Skill Shortages Project: Addressing Potential Skill Shortages in Biosciences and Biotechnology in Greater Austin Critical Skill Shortages Project: Addressing Potential Skill Shortages in Wireless Technology in Greater Austin |
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. |
Teacher Mentoring Programs in Texas
| Principal Investigator: | Robert W. Glover, PhD |
| Sponsor: | SEDL – Southwest Educational Development Laboratory |
| Project Duration: | March 2000 – November 2000 |
| Description: | In collaboration with Southwest Educational Development Laboratory staff, Dr. Robert Glover examined mentoring programs and practices for novice teachers in schools and school districts across Texas. The study included a survey mailed to all Texas school districts, an analysis of administrative data available from the Texas Education Agency, and case studies of three school districts with established programs for mentoring teachers new to the profession. The study aimed to identify promising practices, gather information on the effects of mentoring, and provide a research base for advising educators in schools and school districts and state policy makers who want to begin or improve mentoring programs. |
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
