RMC to Evaluate NURU International
Outcomes
RMC is partnering with Nuru International to evaluate outcomes data from their Kenyan and Ethiopian Projects. These projects are designed to increase crop yields and, therefore, reduce poverty along a range of metrics. The Ray Marshall Center will assist Nuru International in analyzing their data and refining their survey instruments as they create longitudinal multidimensional poverty indices. Nuru International is a non-profit organization whose goal is to end extreme poverty in remote, rural areas. Nuru has designed programs to promote self-reliance among farmers in Kenya and Ethiopia in addition to investing in core issues like agriculture, health care, finances, and education.
|
RMC Receives Hitachi Foundation Behavioral Economics Grant
The Hitachi Foundation has awarded the Ray Marshall Center a grant to evaluate how behavioral economics can improve workforce development. The center is creating a literature review in terms of the field's best practices and is using the information to convene a group of experts in the Spring to discuss how to implement what is learned from the convening. More information about the project can be found here.
|
Annie E. Casey Foundation Invites RMC to Guide Workforce Investment Boards Through WIOA
RMC has received a grant from the Annie E Casey Foundation to analyze how workforce investment boards around the country are creating sector-based training programs. The foundation's aim is to create a guidebook for WIBs to improve their sector-based training efforts as the new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is implemented. The project description can be found here.
|
Chris King Presents Capital IDEA Impacts and Returns on Investment to Austin City Council
In August, RMC Senior Research Scientist Chris King presented testimony to the Austin City Council on Capital IDEA's employment and training impact. RMC evaluations suggest that Capital IDEA's long-term sectoral skills training has significantly improved participants' employment and earnings over time, and has provided substantial Return on Investment to Capital IDEA investors, tax payers, and participants. See the full presentation here.
|
RMC Director Receives UNRISD Grant
RMC Director Heath Prince was awarded an individual grant with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva. He is partnering with a colleague at Brandeis University and former RMC researcher Amna Kahn to evaluate social programs related to youth employment and training. His work will focus on five African and Middle Eastern countries over the next year, including Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, and Egypt.
|
RMC Director and Associate Director Meet with Texas Representatives in Washington, DC
|
RMC Director Heath Prince and Associate Director Greg Cumpton participated in the annual Austin Chamber of Commerce trip to Washington, DC to meet with Central Texas representatives to discuss RMC work in Central Texas regarding workforce development and education research. There, they met with White House staff responsible for economic development, workforce development, and education to inform future policy decisions. Read the full story here.
Heath Prince (left) and Greg Cumpton at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building
|
|
Austin Two-Generation Pilot Project Evaluation Prepared for the United Way of Greater Austin
RMC Social Science Research Associate Cynthia Juniper and former Graduate Research Assistant Tanlyn Roelofs just published a report evaluating the Austin Two-Generation Pilot Project. The project provided English as a Second Language classes for adults with children enrolled in two different AISD sites. The pilot was designed to better understand the impact of two-generation projects in Austin and better inform project development in the future. Read the final report here.
|
RMC Director Invited to White House Meeting
Ray Marshall Center Director Heath Prince attended a meeting at the White House to provide input on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) with representatives from the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Economic Council, and Office of Management and Budget. The purpose of the meeting was
to discuss the utility of web-based dashboards for tracking outcomes and metrics of programs funded through WIOA, as well as how to best address the need for data alignment.
|
Associate Director Greg Cumpton Earns PhD
Greg Cumpton defended his dissertation on August 28th to receive his PhD in Public Policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. His dissertation examines the effect of school reconstitution on student achievement in Texas. Reconstitution requires all staff at failing schools to reapply for their positions. Greg finds that reconstitution is applied judiciously; schools replace staff at roughly the same rates the year they are reconstituted as in prior years. Students who experience reconstitution improve their performance in math and reading and failing schools improve their minimum passing rates after reconstitution. Greg utilizes both a regression discontinuity design and two-way fixed effects models to investigate this topic.
|
The Ray Marshall Center Welcomes Four New Employees
|
Kristie Tingle, an SSRA IV, will be working on a UI Wage project with Senior Research Scientist Chris King. She has her Masters in Economics and previously worked at the Great American Country cable network and NBC Universal.
|
|
Samuel Storey is a first year Masters of Public Affairs student at the UT LBJ School and the incoming Bryna and Henry David Fellow. Maryland, Sam graduated from Stanford University in 2013 with dual B.A. degrees in Public Policy and Feminist Studies. After his undergraduate education, Sam worked as a strategic research analyst at EMC Research, a public opinion research firm in Oakland, CA.
|
Christina Caramanis, a GRA
, will be working on the Two Generation project with Chris King. Christina is a first-year doctoral student at the LBJ School, teaching assistant, and has her M.A. from Columbia University.
Ernesto Canales
is seeking his Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in Computer Science. His experience includes downloading datasets and producing visual aids for the IC
2
Institute here at UT.
We are very excited about the skills they bring and know they will be an excellent addition to the Center.
|
|
|
|
|
