Publications
National Emergency Grants
 "Evaluation of the Military Base National Emergency Grants." Karen Needels, Jeanne Bellotti, Mina Dadgar, and Walter Nicholson, December 2006. The U.S. Department of Labor awards National Emergency Grants (NEGs) to states or local areas that need supplemental resources to provide workforce development services. This report summarizes an evaluation of NEGs to military communities to support U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) employment efforts—initially, to downsize and then, after the events of 9/11/2001 and the war in Afghanistan, to retain military personnel. Four types of clients were targeted for services: involuntarily separated military personnel, military spouses, DoD civilian personnel, and returning members of the National Guard and reserves. The evaluation looked at the program’s history and implementation; provided information about the makeup of the target populations, costs associated with serving them, services they received, and employment experiences of those exiting program services; and identified policy implications, such as how the workforce investment system might better serve military populations.
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Jamaica's Safety Net
 "Evaluation of Jamaica’s PATH Program: Final Report." Dan Levy and Jim Ohls, March 2007. The government of Jamaica launched its social safety net initiative, the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), in 2001 to better target welfare benefits to the poor and to increase human capital by conditioning receipt of the benefits on requirements for school attendance and health care visits. Our study found that PATH succeeded in targeting benefits to the island’s poorest households and in encouraging households to send their children to school with greater regularity. The program also increased the use of preventive health care for children in PATH families. There was no evidence that PATH affected longer-term outcomes, such as grades, advancement to the next grade, or health care status.
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What Works Clearinghouse Reviews
 "What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report: Reading Recovery." A new Beginning Reading review finds that Reading Recovery, a short-term tutoring intervention intended to serve the first-grade students who are struggling to read, has large positive or potentially positive effects in four domains: alphabetics, fluency, comprehension, and general reading achievement. Read the review, which was conducted by a team led by principal investigator Jill Constantine.
Two new reviews in the area of dropout prevention, conducted by a team led by principal investigator Mark Dynarski, focus on interventions in middle school, junior high, or high school designed to increase high school completion, including techniques such as the use of incentives, counseling, or monitoring:
"What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report: Middle College High School." These alternative high schools located on college campuses aim to help at-risk students complete high school and encourage them to attend college. There were no effects on the outcomes examined.
"What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report: Twelve Together." This one-year peer support and mentoring program for middle and early high school students offers weekly after-school discussion groups led by trained volunteer adult facilitators. There were potentially positive effects on staying in school and no effects on progressing in school.
Read more about Mathematica's work in this area.
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Pharmaceutical Outcomes
 The growing use of pharmaceuticals to control many illnesses has prompted increased interest in managing the costs and monitoring the effectiveness of these drugs. A new web page highlights our pharmaceutical research, including studies of drug policy at the state and national levels, outcomes of medication treatment at the individual level, and effects of pharmaceutical policy and treatment in a broader context.
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Upcoming Conferences
On April 9 to 13, our education experts will be sharing their findings at the 2007 AERA Annual Convention, "The World of Educational Quality." This theme highlights the intensified focus on the meaning of quality in education research and practice. Please join us to hear about our work in readiness, teacher licensing and credentialing, educational technology, methods updates, and other topics. See who is presenting at the conference. Read more about the conference.
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