Health Information Technology

“Disease Management Technologies: User Needs Can Guide Decision Making,” Trends in Health Information Technology, Issue Brief #3. Rachel Shapiro and Lorenzo Moreno, January 2006. As disease management for chronically ill people proliferates, providers are moving toward programs that incorporate computers with telecommunication features and other technology. Although these technologies hold promise for improving care coordination and delivering timely information more effectively to help chronically ill people take better care of themselves, little is known about which options are best suited for those seniors who know little about health matters or computers. This issue brief explores these issues and identifies considerations disease management purchasers and health care providers should take when selecting technology-based disease management systems.

Read more about our work in this area.

Closing the Achievement Gap

A large proportion of U.S. elementary school students show mastery of only rudimentary mathematics; furthermore, only a small proportion achieve at high levels. Elementary school students from poor families also have substantially lower math scores than their advantaged peers. What is taught to students and how it is taught may be important factors in a school’s ability to improve math achievement. Mathematica is conducting a large-scale rigorous study that will select, implement, and evaluate the relative effects of several early elementary math curricula that show promise for improving math achievement in disadvantaged schools. A new website provides details on this important study.

Work-Focused Disability Programs

The State Partnership Initiative (SPI) is one of the first large-scale attempts by the Social Security Administration to promote employment for beneficiaries who receive Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance benefits by improving information about the effect of work on benefit receipt, encouraging the use of available work incentives, testing modifications to the program rules to allow SSI beneficiaries in four state projects to earn and save more, and providing better access to vocational supports. Two new reports from the evaluation are available:

“State Partnership Initiative: Selection of Comparison Groups for the Evaluation and Selected Impact Estimates.” Deborah Peikes, Sean Orzol, Lorenzo Moreno, and Nora Paxton, October 2005. This report, focusing on employment and earnings, describes how nonexperimental comparison groups were selected for each of the 11 state projects that targeted adult beneficiaries, the validity of the comparison groups, and short-term project effects on employment and earnings in 3 state projects that used randomized designs. The report finds promising results on employment, but negative or no effect on earnings.

“State Partnership Initiative: Synthesis of Impact Estimates Generated by the State Projects’ Evaluations.” Deborah Peikes and Ankur Sarin, June 2005. This report presents preliminary findings on the effect of service interventions that can be synthesized from the state projects’ evaluations, which is the first component of the national evaluation to be completed. The findings reflect the likely effects of the state projects based on examination of the evaluation designs, data sources, methods, and conclusions in the states’ final reports, as well as discussions with each state’s evaluators during the demonstration and reviews of literature evaluating programs that promote employment.

Read more about the SPI study.

Supporting New Teachers

“Design of an Impact Evaluation of Teacher Induction Programs.” Steven Glazerman, Sarah Senesky, Neil Seftor, and Amy Johnson, January 2006. In recent years, researchers have argued that the shortage of highly qualified teachers in poor school districts may have less to do with attracting new teachers than with retaining them. To provide the scientific evidence that will support sound decisions about teacher induction, Mathematica is examining whether high-intensity teacher induction programs lead to higher retention rates and other positive teacher and student outcomes. This report lays out the study design in detail, documenting the process for building the sample of districts, schools, and students, and for conducting random assignment. In addition, it describes the data collection and analysis plans.

On the Move: Staff News and Changes

Surveys and Information Services Division

Mark Pierzchala,an internationally known computer-assisted interviewing expert, has been named senior fellow.

John Mamer, vice president of information technology and director of information services, has been appointed senior vice president.

Research Division

Paul Decker, vice president and managing director of Human Services Research, has been appointed senior vice president.

Craig Thornton, vice president and managing director of Health Research, has been appointed senior vice president.

Administration Division

David Myers, chief strategy officer responsible for mission leadership, has been appointed senior vice president.