Publications
Special Care for Special Kids
 "Quality Care for Children with ADHD: The Role of Primary Care Physicians." Quality Care for Special Kids: Profiles of Children with Chronic Conditions and Disabilities, Update #6. Stephanie Peterson, Shanna Shulman, and Henry Ireys, April 2007. This brief, the sixth in a series on critical issues involved in caring for children with special health care needs, notes that 40 percent of children with special health care needs enrolled in commercial health insurance plans have an emotional or behavioral disorder. Of these children, 34 percent have a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) alone, and an additional 22 percent have ADHD along with another chronic condition. Children with ADHD receive most of their care from primary care clinicians and use significantly more health care services than do children without ADHD. The brief lists some newly developed health care tools that health plans can use to help ensure that treatment for these children is delivered efficiently and appropriately in primary care offices.
Read more about the study.
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Individual Training Accounts
 "Managing Customers' Training Choices: Findings from the Individual Training Account Experiment." Sheena McConnell, Elizabeth Stuart, Kenneth Fortson, Paul Decker, Irma Perez-Johnson, Barbara Harris, and Jeffrey Salzman, December 2006. A key goal of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) is to provide people with choices in the types of services they receive. This goal was addressed by requiring that vouchers or individual training accounts (ITAs) be used for WIA-funded training. Workforce agencies were given a great deal of flexibility about how to implement ITAs, but had little information on which to base this choice. This report addresses this information need by presenting findings from an experimental evaluation of three approaches to implementing ITAs. The approaches varied by how much counseling was required, whether the counselor could veto a choice, and how the amount of the ITA was set. The evaluation examined the effect of each approach on the use of counseling, receipt of training, and employment and earnings outcomes. |
NAEP Report Card: Math in Puerto Rico
 "The Nation’s Report Card: Mathematics 2003 and 2005 Performance in Puerto Rico—Highlights." Gail P. Baxter, Martha M. Bleeker, Tiffany L. Waits, and Sameena Salvucci, March 2007. This report for the National Center for Education Statistics presents results for the 2003 and 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment for fourth- and eighth-grade students in Puerto Rico. Because all jurisdictions receiving federal Title I funds are required to participate in NAEP every other year, the NAEP mathematics assessment was administered in Spanish to public school students in Puerto Rico for the first time in 2003. Results are reported in scale scores and achievement levels, and comparisons are made between Puerto Rico’s results and those of the nation. For both years, on average, fourth- and eighth-grade students in Puerto Rico scored lower than public school students in the nation. Fourth-grade female students in Puerto Rico scored significantly higher than male students in the geometry and spatial sense content area. Eighth-grade female students in Puerto Rico scored significantly higher than male students in the data analysis and probability content area.
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Food Stamp Participation
 "Empirical Bayes Shrinkage Estimates of State Food Stamp Participation Rates in 2002-2004 for All Eligible People and the Working Poor." Karen E. Cunnyngham, Laura A. Castner, and Allen L. Schirm, April 2007. The Food Stamp program is a central component of American policy to alleviate hunger and poverty. This report presents estimates for each state that measure the need for the Food Stamp program and the program’s effectiveness from 2002 through 2004. The estimates for all eligible people and for the working poor were derived jointly using empirical Bayes shrinkage estimation methods and data from the Current Population Survey, the decennial census, and administrative records.
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Social Service Vouchers
 "Using Vouchers to Deliver Social Services: Learning from the Goals, Uses, and Key Elements of Existing Federal Voucher Programs." Andrew Burwick and Gretchen Kirby, March 2007. In this primer on studying vouchers and their role in delivering social services, the authors summarize reasons for using vouchers; present an overview of how vouchers currently are used in public programs, with an emphasis on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services programs; derive lessons from existing programs about design and implementation; and assess outcomes of existing voucher programs. In addition, the paper outlines steps for research on vouchers, particularly in the Child Care and Development Fund and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs.
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