| Principal Investigator: | Greg Cumpton, PhD |
| Sponsor(s): | Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Lumina Foundation |
| Project Duration: | January 2018 – December 2018 |
| Description: | Many former college entrants interrupt their education prior to completing their degree, either dropping out completely or later returning to college. These non-completing individuals have college experience, familiarity with the application process, college credits, and knowledge of course enrollment procedures. These individuals represent a source of ready and readily accessible potential workers to whom the region could support to re-enter and complete college, increasing the labor pool of those possessing critical skills and knowledge needed in the local labor market. With direct contact information collected while in college and a repository of information about them, the Austin community intends to target this population for re-enrollment through advertising and other outreach efforts.
Researchers seek to examine stop-out patterns, barriers leading to stop-out behaviors, and assess potential solutions to re-enroll students, eventually measuring the extent to which these efforts increased the number and share of individuals returning to and completing college. |
| Reports Available: |
RMC researchers present at Texas Evaluation Network’s fall institute in Austin
On November 9th, Director Dr. Heath Prince facilitated a presentation by Associate Director Dr. Greg Cumpton on Propensity Score Matching (PSM) at the Texas Evaluation Network‘s second evaluation institute. Held at the First Baptist Church of Austin from November 8-10, 2018, the Fall 2018 Evaluation Institute brought together people who are interested in learning more about evaluation, program staff who want to learn how to do evaluations in their organizations, evaluation professionals who want to improve their skills in evaluation, and anyone who wants to network with others who use evaluations to improve lives, communities, and organizations. Dr. Cumpton’s presentation was part of a 3-hour long session providing attendees with the basics of PSM, equipping them with tools sufficient to begin using PSM at their home agencies and organizations. You can view the presentation here.
Dr. Prince and Ms. Patnaik participate in panel at annual AEA conference
RMC researchers Dr. Heath Prince and Ms. Ashweeta Patnaik attended the American Evaluation Association‘s annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio. This year’s conference, Evaluation 2018: Speaking Truth to Power, was held at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland from October 29th through November 3rd and brought together evaluators, evaluation scholars, students, and evaluation users from around the world to assemble, share, and learn from the successes of the international discipline and practice of evaluation. Dr. Prince and Ms. Patnaik participated in a panel on November 2nd on Assessing Exit: How to Gauge the Capacity of Local Community Development Efforts to be Self-Sustaining. Dr. Prince chaired the panel while Ms. Patnaik presented and discussed RMC’s Review and Redesign of the Leadership Sustainability Index for Nuru International.
Data Linkage for Padua™ Project Evaluation
| Principal Investigator: | Ashweeta Patnaik, MPH |
| Sponsor: | Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities, University of Notre Dame |
| Project Duration: | April 2018 – December 2020 |
| Description: | The Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) at the University of Notre Dame is examining the impact of an innovative comprehensive case management program, the Padua™ Program, created by Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW). The program is designed to permanently lift people out of poverty. It addresses the fact that the disadvantaged face complex, multifaceted, and interrelated challenges by offering a new approach that considers the whole person and his or her environment by providing (a) detailed needs assessment, (b) wrap-around case management, and (c) financial resources. LEO is conducting a study to examine through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation whether this innovative intervention improves the well-being of low-income individuals.
The Ray Marshall Center (RMC) is supporting LEO in its research by linking data on Padua™ program participants to administrative data on employment, wages, TANF participation, and SNAP participation. RMC will help LEO evaluate the impact of assignment to the Padua™ intervention on TANF and SNAP participation, as well as on employment and earnings. |
| Reports Available: |
Impact Evaluation of SAEP Scholarship
| Principal Investigator: | Greg Cumpton, PhD |
| Sponsor: | San Antonio Education Partnership |
| Project Duration: | February 2018 – December 2018 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center entered into an agreement with the San Antonio Education Partnership to conduct an impact analysis to answer four research questions, a description of the study population, data and methodology used, and a review of the existing research that attempts to answer similar questions about the relationship between grant aid and student outcomes. The four research questions are the following:
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| Reports Available: |
Heath Prince and Ashweeta Patnaik present at annual AEA conference
RMC Director and Research Scientist Heath Prince, along with Social Science Research Associate Ashweeta Patnaik, participated in two panel discussions during the American Evaluation Association’s annual conference Evaluation 2017: From Learning to Action held in Washington, DC, from November 6-11, 2017. The first discussion, held on November 9th, dealt with quasi-experimental approaches, challenges, and lessons learned from impact evaluations of TAACCCT grants. The second discussion, held on November 10th, dealt with using monitoring and evaluation (M&E) data to evaluate the impacts of Nuru International’s integrated and holistic international development model. Several Nuru representatives also participated in that discussion.
Nigeria Evaluation Plan
| Principal Investigator(s): | Heath J. Prince, PhD and Ashweeta Patnaik, MPH (Co-Principal Investigator) |
| Sponsor(s): | Nuru International |
| Project Duration: | September 2017 – December 2017 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center (RMC) has partnered with Nuru International to write a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan for Nuru’s anticipated programming in Nigeria. The plan will include an exhaustive literature review, a review of Nuru’s past approaches to evaluation, a review of poverty measures, a review of Nuru’s Leadership Sustainability Index (LSI), suggested methods, and suggested survey tools. The planning process will include expert consultation, interviews with Nuru staff, document review, literature review, and overall close coordination with personnel on the Nuru International team. |
| Reports Available: |
Ashweeta Patnaik pens blog post about RMC’s evaluation of Nuru International initiative
RMC Social Science Research Associate Ashweeta Patnaik wrote a blog post about lessons learned from RMC’s evaluation of Nuru International‘s integrated and holistic international development model for the American Evaluation Association‘s AEA365 blog. You can view the post here. You can also learn more about RMC’s Multidimensional Poverty Assignment partnership with Nuru here.
Talent Metric Evaluation (Oregon Talent Council)
| Principal Investigator: | Heath J. Prince, PhD |
| Sponsor(s): | TIP Strategies |
| Project Duration: | May 2017 – August 2017 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center (RMC) will partner with TIP Strategies in the creation of an evaluation methodology for the Oregon Talent Council (OTC) that relies on new and innovative ways to measure the impact of talent investment in Oregon, and that can accurately and consistently track outcomes of interest. The project is composed of the following activities, divided into two phases: Phase 1 will develop a metrics methodology for OTC-related investments—how to measure investments in the niches that the Talent Council has identified as gaps. While the methodology will show how OTC metrics applies to an overall talent development framework, it will not develop detailed metrics for education and workforce investments controlled by other state agencies. Phase 2 will seek to develop a methodology for identifying key measures (approximately 5-7) by which aspects or desired outcomes of talent development could be benchmarked against other states. The primary purpose of the methodology for this phase is to establish a baseline to understand Oregon’s relative position in desired talent outcomes and be able to track the relative state’s progress over time. |
| Reports Available: |
Regional Hiring Survey
| Principal Investigator: | Heath J. Prince, PhD |
| Sponsor(s): | Austin Regional Manufacturers Association |
| Project Duration: | April 2017 – December 2017 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center (RMC) will partner with the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association (ARMA) to conduct a survey of manufacturing employers operating within the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area in order to learn more about their workforce needs. RMC will work with ARMA to develop a customized survey that would provide new insights on a range of manufacturing workforce issues, e.g.:
Our aim with this study is to provide ARMA with a clear understanding of the current and emerging skill needs of area manufacturers, as well as a more complete picture of the resources available locally to help manufacturers meet their skill needs. |
| Reports Available: |
