On Dec. 6, the nation’s top experts in workforce development research submitted a letter of support to Senators Tom Harkin of Iowa and Richard Shelby of Alabama, key members of the Senate Appropriations committee, calling for their consideration of continuing workforce development programs. 

Chris King, director of the Ray Marshall Center, joined Burt S. Barnow, Carolyn Heinrich, Kevin Hollenbeck, Harry Holzer, Peter Mueser and Carl Van Horn to highlight growing evidence of the effectiveness of occupational training programs. Specifically, data have shown increased earnings outcomes above average earnings for participants of workforce development programs. On top of that, research also shows that the training programs are going to help those who have been largely disenfranchised from the labor market and unable to secure long-term sustainable employment. In today’s tough economic times, these disadvantaged individuals face the most difficulty in finding jobs. To view a copy of the letter to Congress, click here.

On Dec. 2, Deanna Schexnayder, senior research scientist at the Ray Marshall Center, presented an overview of the Texas Early Childhood Needs Assessment to the Texas Early Learning Council. The Ray Marshall Center began this new project earlier this summer in partnership with Rice University’s Hobby Center for the Study of Texas. The project has several objectives:

• Understand and estimate the total number of children under age 13 and those who will be eligible for early childhood education programs;
• Understand and document the current supply across the state of Texas of formal providers of early childhood education programs and services as well as school-age care for children under the age of 13;
• Conduct a gap analysis based on data from completion of objectives 1 and 2; and
• Generate a comprehensive needs assessment analyzing Texas’ early childhood education and school-age care system.

An assessment of Texas’ early childhood education programs has not been conducted in 40 years. Today’s demographic trends and population growth necessitates an updated assessment in order to effectively plan and implement future early childhood programs.

The Texas Early Learning Council, the project sponsor, is a 19-member, governor-appointed advisory council on early childhood education and care.

 

In the Nov. 21 issue of the weekly trade journal Employment and Training Reporter, Cecilio Morales reviews Value-added Immigration: Lessons for the United States from Cananda, Australia, and the United Kingdom,  the recently published book by former Secretary of Labor and Center founder Dr. Ray Marshall.

Dr. Marshall’s book explore’s immigrant labor policies from countries sharing similar backgrounds as advanced liberal democracies. He provides lessons learned from these policies that could help advance American productivity and innovation. To read the full book review, please click here.

All previous copies of the Ray Marshall Center newsletter is now available for viewing and downloading on our website at this link:
https://sites.utexas.edu/raymarshallcenter/news

The Ray Marshall Center is seeking qualified applicants for the Associate Director position. The Associate director willl assist in the leadership, managment and procurement of research funds for the Ray Marshall Center, and serve as principal investigator and team member on research projects, many of which involve complex statistical analyses of confidential administrative records data on education, workforce and related areas. Candidates should have a doctoral degree in economics or a related field social science area and ten years experience.

Duties and responsibilities include:

• Responsible for operations including finances, budget, administration, human resources, monitoring and reporting.
• Recruit, develop and supervise Center staff, with special attention to those responsible for acquiring, creating and maintaining research datasets.
• Develop, manage and deliver Center research projects and deliverables.
• Market, publish, communicate, outreach, network and partner.
• Fundraise from government agencies, foundations and other sources.
• Work with the director to lead the development and implementation of the Ray Marshall Center’s vision.
• Represent the Center with and in the absence of the director at the LBJ School, University and other venues.

The position will start immediately. Interested applicants can submit an online application at this link: Associate Director application

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Family has approved a four-year grant under its Health Profession Opportunities Grant program to support the further study of outcomes and impacts for participants of CareerAdvance®, a dual-generation sectoral training program for parents of children in Head Start and Early Head Start in Tulsa, OK. The project will be jointly implemented by the Ray Marshall Center and Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research. RMC director Dr. Chris King and Northwestern University’s Dr. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale are serving as principal investigators of the project. The project has two objectives: the first is to study the long-term family, parent and child outcomes from participation in CareerAdvance®; and secondly, to understand the variation in the program participation in relation to differences in educational attainment, employment, and family health and well-being.

The November issue of the Ray Marshall Center newsletter has been released. A copy of the newsletter can be viewed by clicking here.

Dr. Chris King, director of the Ray Marshall Center and Tara Smith, Center research associate attended a Workforce Data Quality Initiative conference held in Arlington, VA November 14-16. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration provided $12.2 million in funding to 13 states to expand and improve longitudinal databases of workforce data that also link to education data and support state-level initiatives to use these longitudinal databases to conduct research and analysis aimed at pinpointing the effectiveness of employment and training programs in order to better inform workforce system customers. As part of this new program, the Labor Department awarded almost $1 million to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).  TWC partnered with the Ray Marshall Center to implement the Workforce Data Quality Initiative in Texas.

The initiative is nearing the completion of its first year. The purpose of the conference was to bring together WDQI grantees, to share information on challenges and promising practices as well as to explore “creating data-driven products to support sustainability.”  In addition, grantees received information about the U.S. Department of Education’s Privacy Technical Assistance Center, and updates on proposed revisions to FERPA, as well as opportunities to access other data systems, such as the Wage Record Interchange System (WRIS) and Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES).  In the second half of the conference, WDQI grantees joined the Department of Education’s State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grantees to explore opportunities for linking the two initiatives.

Joining King and Smith at the conference were Texas Workforce Commission representatives Ruben Garcia and Grady Giffin. A project overview of the Texas Workforce Data Quality Initiative is available here.

On Nov. 14, Greg Cumpton, research associate at the Ray Marshall Center, met with members of the Austin Chamber of Commerce’s College Readiness and Enrollment Team to present initial findings from a survey of seniors conducted in spring 2011. The senior surveys consisted of responses from over 6,000 students from ten area high schools. Garry Davis, graduate research assistant the David Fellow, developed the survey report and created the presentation, which is available at this link.

Key findings include:

• Respondents are mainly going to their counselors to discuss academic performance graduation plans
• Almost 90% of respondents reported taking a college entrance exam before they graduated
• Over half of the respondents reported submitting a financial aid application from January to June of their senior year
• In comparison to the class before them, the 2011 seniors
• More respondents are taking a college entrance exam during their junior year.
• Black, Hispanic and low-income respondents posted the highest percentage point increase, with  more Black and Hispanic respondents reported completed college applications or the Texas Common Application.
• More Black and White respondents reported applying for financial aid.

The Ray Marshall Center welcomed Vanessa Morales as a new research associate. Morales is working on the Texas Early Childhood Needs Assessment project with principal investigator and senior research scientist Deanna Schexnayder. The Early Childhood Needs Assessment will seek to identify and analyze Texas’  early childhood education and school-age system and provide recommendations for meeting identified gaps in services and programs.

Morales is a doctoral candidate at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austion. Prior to joining the Ray Marshall Center, Morales worked at the Texas Education Agency and various organizations in Austin.