Greg Cumpton, social science research associate at the Center, will present a research paper entitled “The Cumulative Effect of Factors Associated with Higher College Enrollment Rates” with the American Educational Research Association at their annual meeting to be held April 13-17 in Vancouver, Canada. Cumpton’s research reviews data and student survey responses from the 2008 and 2009 Central Texas high school graduating classes and examines the cumulative effect of specific factors on initial postsecondary education outcomes.
3/21/2012 – CBS News: Ascend Fellow Brings Poverty in America to Light
On Mar. 19, CBS Evening News aired a special segment discussing poverty in America. The segment featured an interview with Steve Liss, renown photographer and photojournalist as well as recently named Ascend Fellow. The Aspen Institute launched the Ascend Fellows program earlier on Feb. 15 which gathered together the nations leaders, advocates and pioneers working to eradicate poverty in America. Dr. Chris King, director of the Ray Marshall Center, was also selected for the inaugural class of 20 Ascend Fellows. The video can be viewed below or at this link.
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The Ray Marshall Center is working on several projects aimed at reducing poverty by helping parents and their children. The newest project, the Dual Generation Strategy Initiative, builds off and expands the CareerAdvance model that the Center designed for Tulsa County. CareerAdvance provides education, training and accreditation in health care, nursing, and other sectors with high earnings potential to parents of children in Tulsa’s Head Start and Early Head Start centers. The first year of the pilot concluded in August 31, 2011 and the project is now being scaled up and expanded thanks to support from the Health Professional Opportunities Grant program (HPOG) from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Ray Marshall Center recently released a report of the CareerAdvance project’s first year’s activities and outcomes.
Go to CBS Video and News Segment
Go to Report: Expanding the CareerAdvance Program in Tulsa, Oklahoma
3/12/2012 – New Report Available: Factors Associated with Education and Work after High School for the Classes of 2008 and 2009
The Ray Marshall Center has released a new report titled Factors Associated with Education and Work after High School for the Classes of 2008 and 2009. The third report in a series for the Central Texas Student Futures project, this report examines factors linked to successful postsecondary transitions for Central Texas high school seniors that graduated in 2008 and 2009. This analysis builds upon information gained from previous years’ analyses surveyed 2006 and 2007 Central Texas graduates. Researchers identifed those factors – family background and influences, student characteristics, prehigh school and individual high school experiences – consistently associated with transitions to postsecondary education and employment outcomes, as well as those that vary depending upon the data source, time period or geographic area under study. Factors associated with populations of interest – Hispanic, low income and first-generation high school graduates – are also analyzed. Researchers used several methods for their analysis to determine how robust these factors are across cohorts, data sources, locations, and model selection.
The Central Texas Student Futures Project is a research partnership of the Ray Marshall Center and twelve Central Texas independent school districts (ISDs). The project follows the progress of Central Texas high school graduates as they make the critical transition from high school to postsecondary education and the labor market. This effort grew out of concerns among key education, business, workforce development and community stakeholders that the region’s economy and its residents would not prosper in the near- and longer-term unless more of its graduates obtained higher levels of enrollment in postsecondary education and better labor market outcomes. Graduates’ actual postsecondary education and work outcomes are computed annually (for at least four years beyond graduation) using postsecondary enrollment and employment records. Findings are shared annually with local educators, business and community leaders, and policymakers committed to improving education and supporting local initiatives.
3/7/2012 – El Paso Inc: King Comments on Booming Growth of Career Colleges
West Texas is seeing an rapid growth of career colleges and occupational training/certification programs. According to the March 6 article in El Paso Inc., demand for graduates of these programs are outpacing the supply.
These programs, generally higher cost than public college programs but their graduates may have a better chance of a jobs because career colleges typically work very closely with employers to design a program to meet employer needs. In the article, Center director Dr. Chris King comments on the differences between career colleges and traditional colleges.
Click here to read the full article. Photo by Melody Parra, courtesy of El Paso Inc.
3/1/2012 – Huffington Post: Anne Mosle on Two Generation Strategies for Addressing Poverty
On Feb. 19, Anne Mosle, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Acsend Program for family economic security, wrote to the Huffington Post on Ascend’s new efforts to reduce poverty in America by supporting both parents and children. Ray Marshall Center director Dr. Chris King is among the 20 recently named Ascend Fellows “pioneering two-generation approaches.”
Click here to read the full article.
For more information about the Ascend Fellow and the program, click here. Ascend also released the Two Generations, One Future report that provides the framework for the two-generation approach.
The Ray Marshall Center is working on two dual-generation projects:
Creating a Sectoral Workforce Development Strategy for Tulsa – The Ray Marshall Center developed and is implementing two pilots in Tulsa, Oklahoma centered on a sectoral workforce development strategy for low-skilled, low-income parents of children served by early childhood programs. There is emerging evidence that children whose parents hold stable jobs with progressively rising incomes exhibit better academic and behavioral outcomes. RMC and its partners have undertaken a dual-generation approach to poverty reduction that strengthens the investment in early childhood development by equipping Head Start parents with workforce training and gainful employment opportunities. This approach employs a more holistic model than traditional workforce development programs, as it also includes employee counseling and other support services to help parents complete training and adult basic education, retain their jobs, advance in their careers, and become economically self-sufficient.Read more about the project here.
Dual-Generation Strategy Initiative – With support from the Foundation for Child Development, this initiative aims to create and promote the field of “dual-generation” strategies, those in which children simultaneously participate in high-quality early and primary education (PreK-3rd) while their parents participate in leading-edge workforce development and education programs ultimately leading to long-term learning and economic success for low-skilled, low-income families in the United States. The goals of the project are to improve the understanding of dual-generation strategies among policymakers, researchers, and funders, as well as, foster the implementation of dual-generation strategies at the federal and state levels. Read more about the project here.
2/27/2012 – Research Brief Gives Overview of Dual-Generation Strategy Initiative
A new research brief on the Dual-Generation Strategy Initiative project published by the Ray Marshall Center provides a concise and comprehensive overview of the dual-generation project. The brief includes the theory of change behind the strategy, the project’s conceptual framework, opportunities and challenges, the research agenda, as well as next steps for the project.
2/23/2012 – King Discusses Global Labor Market Policies and Outlook
As it stands today, labor worldwide is still in a crisis. The global economy is failing to generate new jobs and unemployment remains high, especially among young adults. Dr. Chris King, director of the Ray Marshall Center, is the guest lecturer for the Feb. 23 International Business Fellows Seminar.
Dr. King provides an overview of economic and labor market transitions worldwide, as well as the changing work environments, job access, and career pathways as well as current labor policies that go hand in hand with these changes. His presentation compares labor market situations and policies across countries around the world and offers concluding thoughts on the actions and cooperation needed to address the situation.
Click here to view the full Global Labor Market Presentation.
2/17/2012 – Center Releases New Reports on Childcare, Workforce Development, and Education
Researchers from the Ray Marshall Center have released four new reports this week, one each in workforce development and early childhood/child care, and two in education. Details as well as links to each report are provided below.
Workforce Development:
- Expanding the CareerAdvance® Program in Tulsa, Oklahoma (January 2012). By Robert W. Glover; Christopher T. King, and Tara Carter Smith.
This report, prepared for the Health Professionals Opportunity Program, Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides the background, rationale, and overview of the first year of implementation of the CareerAdvance® program. The program aims to improve family economic security by providing low-income parents of children in Tulsa’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs with workforce development services and training in high-growthpotential sectors such as healthcare and nursing, in addition to adult education programs, peer support, and performance incentives. After the first year of implementation, early signs indicate that the program is succeeding and participants are showing high rates of completion.
Education:
- Development of a Student Tracking System for ACAN Participants (January 2012). By Deanna Schexnayder, Patty Rodriguez, and Greg Cumpton.
In 2011, the Austin College Access Network, or ACAN, contracted with the Ray Marshall Center to assist in its college persistence project entitled “Staying Powers: Building College Persistence for our Most Challenged Students.” The project’s goal is to conduct a program to enhance the collaboration of participating organizations in the Austin College Access Network to improve college persistence for the region’s low-income and first-generation students at several area colleges and universities. Under this project, the Center was responsible for developing a FERPA-compliant data collection approach that could be used for either program evaluation purposes or for monitoring college enrollment and persistence for ACAN participants; this model is described in detail in the report Development of a Student Tracking System for ACAN Participants.
Early Childhood/Child Care
- 2011 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report (February 2012). By the Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin.
Since 2003, the Ray Marshall Center has partnered with the Center for Social Work Research at the University of Texas in Austin to conduct an annual survey of child care market rate in Texas. Survey results are to provided to 28 Local Workforce Development Boards that manage the federal child care program in Texas with the goal of providing the Boards with up-to-date, reliable data and information to use in setting maximum reimbursements rates that ensure equal access to child care, thereby maximizing public resources. The Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey reports may be obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission‘s website.
2/15/2012 – The Aspen Institute Announces Center Director Chris King as Ascend Fellow
The Aspen Institute today announced that Dr. Christopher King, Senior Research Scientist, Lecturer and Director of the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources at The University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, will be in the inaugural class of its Ascend Fellowship program, one of a select group of 20 leaders from across the country who are pioneering two-generation approaches to move families beyond poverty. 
Dr. King leads a team that designed and is analyzing the implementation and outcomes of a jobs strategy for low-skilled, low-income parents of children in Tulsa’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs. He is a labor economist with four decades of experience conducting policy and program analysis, designing innovative programs, and evaluating the impacts of education and training interventions. He has written widely on education, workforce, and social policy. He also teaches at the LBJ School.
Ascend was launched in 2011 with support from national foundations and women philanthropists, and is a hub for breakthrough ideas and proven strategies that move parents and children—two generations—toward economic security together. Educational success is central to its work.
“Ascend Fellows are exceptional leaders from government, philanthropy, research, non-profits, the media and private sector,” said Anne Mosle, Ascend Executive Director. “Each one will pursue cutting-edge work that illustrates two-generation strategies in their various fields.”
“Christopher King’s work designing and evaluating two-generation strategies at Head Start programs in Tulsa is a great example of breakthrough thinking,” Mosle continued. “I am honored that Chris will be a part of the Ascend network of leaders in two-generation strategies to build a legacy of educational success and economic security.”
The Ascend Fellows will work to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty through public, private, and nonprofit sector innovation and collaboration; state-of-the-art research; public engagement; and different market-based and philanthropic models.
Fellows will receive scholarships to support participation and execute action plans to pursue two-generation approaches. They will be eligible to apply for grants from an Innovation Fund that Ascend is developing to support such work.
The announcement of the fellowship program coincides with the release of an Aspen Institute report, “Two Generations, One Future.” The report makes the case for focusing on educational success for parents and their children together as a promising way to move families out of poverty. 
“A two-generation approach can be a game-changer for families with low incomes,” Mosle said. “We are seeing promising results from programs and policies around the country that promote education and skills for parents and provide quality early-learning opportunities for their children. We believe a focus on education, economic supports and social capital, the core components of the two-generation approach, can lead to economic security for families.”
The full list of Ascend fellows:
Ms. Katie Albright
San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, Executive Director
Ms. Cara Aley
American MoJo, President and COO
Mr. Reggie Bicha
Colorado Department of Human Services, Executive Director
Ms. Mia Birdsong
Family Independence Initiative, Vice President
Dr. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale
Northwestern University, School of Education, Institute for Policy Research, Professor of Human Development & Social Policy and Social Policy Faculty Fellow
Ms. Karla Davis
Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Commissioner
Mr. Steven Dow
Community Action Project, Executive Director
Dr. Chris King
University of Texas at Austin, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, Ray Marshall Center, Director
Ms. Andrea Levere
CFED, President
Mr. Steve Liss
AmericanPoverty.org, Director/photographer
Dr. Meera Mani
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Children, Families and Communities Program, Director
Dr. C. Nicole Mason
NYU Wagner Women of Color Policy Network, Executive Director, Assistant Research Professor
Ms. Margaret McKenna
Lesley University, President Emeritus and Professor of Leadership
Mr. Wes Moore
Author, Host
Reverend Vivian Nixon
College & Community Fellowship, Executive Director
Dr. Eduardo Padrón
Miami Dade College, President
Ms. Gloria Perez
Jeremiah Program, President and CEO
Dr. Mario Small
University of Chicago, Chair and Professor of Sociology
Mr. Henry Wilde
Acelero Learning, Senior Vice President of Operations
Dr. Richard Wylie
Endicott College, President
About The Aspen Institute
The Aspen Institute’s Ascend program is a hub for breakthrough ideas and proven strategies that more parents, especially women, and their children beyond poverty towards educational success and economic security. For more information, please visit www.aspeninstitute.org/ascend.
The Aspen Institute mission is twofold: to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues. The Aspen Institute
does this primarily in four ways: seminars, young-leader fellowships around the globe, policy programs, and public conferences and events. The Institute is based in Washington, DC; Aspen, Colorado; and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also has offices in New York City and an international network of partners. For more information, please visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
Source: The Aspen Institute
2/8/2012 – February 2012 Newsletter Released
The February issue of the Ray Marshall Center newsletter has been released. A copy of the newsletter can be viewed by clicking here.
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