Demonstration of Administrative Records Improving Surveys

Principal Investigator:

Daniel G. Schroeder

Sponsors:

U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce

Research Partner:

Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago

Project Duration:

July 2008 - December 2013

Description:

The Demonstration of Administrative Records Improving Surveys (DARIS) research project will show the value of administrative records to Census Bureau demographic surveys. Initially, the project will focus on the two test states of Illinois and Texas. Later, the project may expand to other states. The objective of the project is to demonstrate methods of integrating data from surveys and administrative records, produce data sets that more accurately represent the target population's characteristics than survey data alone, conduct experiments in disclosure-proofing hybrid data sets, and document feasibility. Results of the analysis will also be used to improve Census surveys, which many program administrators and researchers use to estimate the shares of eligible populations that actually participate in the government programs.

NCHS Data Linkage with Food Assistance and Other Related Data in Texas

Principal Investigator:

Daniel G. Schroeder

Sponsor:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics

Project Duration:

March 2009 - September 2012

Description

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has conducted the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) continuously since 1999. One of the major components of NHANES is the nutrition and dietary component. A recent National Academies panel on Enhancing the Data Infrastructure in Support of Food and Nutrition Programs recommended linking the NHANES data with food assistance and other related program records to more fully understand decisions that the population makes on food consumption and to guide policy makers. NCHS has decided to link 2005-2008 NHANES data with Food Stamp Program and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families administrative records in Texas. If additional funds become available NCHS will also link 2005-2008 NHANES data with Women, Infants and Children and Unemployment Insurance Wage File Reports in Texas.

Under the project, the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources at the University of Texas in Austin will perform the linkage of records.

The goal of the Non-Custodial Parent Choices (NCP Choices) demonstration is to get unemployed and/or underemployed non-custodial parents (NCPs) with unpaid child support orders into workforce development services so that they can better meet their financial obligations to their children.

Child support can be one of the most important sources of income in assisting single parent households to escape from poverty. Despite significant gains over the last decade or so, receipt of child support among public assistance families remains low. Many NCPs are unable to meet their financial obligations due to unemployment or underemployment. Previous attempts to engage low-income NCPs in workforce development services have had success for some participants, but typically have problems meeting enrollment goals. NCP Choices solves this in a straightforward manner: noncompliant NCPs are given the choice of paying their child support, participating in workforce services, or going to jail.

Non-Custodial Parent Choices PEER Pilot: Impact Report (August 2011). Daniel Schroeder, Kimberly Walker, and Amna Khan. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 45 pp.

Non-Custodial Parent Choices Establishment Pilot: Impact Report (August 2011). Daniel Schroeder and Amna Khan. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 52 pp.

Non-Custodial Parent Choices Establishment and PEER Pilots: Preliminary Impact Report (May 2011). Daniel Schroeder and Amna Khan. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 70 pp.

Texas Non-Custodial Parent Choices: Program Impact Analysis (August 2009). Daniel Schroeder and Nicholas Doughty. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 127 pp. Related presentation available.

Texas Non-Custodial Parent Choices: Program Impact Analysis (August 2008). Daniel Schroeder and Stephanie Chiarello. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 101pp.

Texas Non-Custodial Parent Choices: Program Impact Analysis (August 2007). Daniel Schroeder, Stephanie Chiarello, Kelly Stewart Nichols, Christopher T. King, Elizabeth McGuinness. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 74pp.

Texas Non-Custodial Parent Choices: Preliminary Program Impact Analysis (February 2007). Daniel Schroeder, Kelly Stewart Nichols, Elizabeth McGuinness; with Christopher T. King, Esmeralda Garcia, Sarah Looney Oldmixon, Andy David. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 42pp.

Evaluating the Non-custodial Parent Choices Program in Texas: Literature Review, Early Implementation Results and Preliminary Impact Analysis Plan (September 2005). Daniel Schroeder, Christopher T. King, Esmeralda Garcia, Sarah Looney Oldmixon, Andy David. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 76pp.

2011 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report (February 2012). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. Copies may be obtained from Texas Workforce Commission.

2010 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report (February 2011). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. Copies may be obtained from Texas Workforce Commission.

2009 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report (January 2010). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. Copies may be obtained from Texas Workforce Commission.

2008 Texas Child Care Studies: Transportation Study (February 2009). By Daniel Schroeder, Julie Beausoleil, and Laura Lein. Copies may be obtained from Texas Workforce Commission.

2008 Texas Child Care Studies: Non-traditional Hours Study (February 2009). By Julie Beausoleil, Daniel Schroeder, and Laura Lein. Copies may be obtained from Texas Workforce Commission.

2007 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report (February 2008). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. 200pp. Copies may be obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission.

2006 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report (February 2007). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. Copies may be obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission.

2005 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report. (February 2006). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. Copies may be obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission.

2004 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report. (January 2005). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. Copies may be obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission.

2003 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey: Final Report. (January 2004). The Center for Social Work Research and the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, at The University of Texas at Austin. Copies may be obtained from the Texas Workforce Commission.

Researchers at the University of Texas’ Ray Marshall Center, in combination with those at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Baltimore propose to advance the understanding of work-based learning (WBL) and career advancement strategies and bolster the business case for these strategies by applying a rigorous return-on-investment (ROI) approach to two Jobs-to-Careers Projects, the Austin Healthcare Collaborative and the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare. The research will offer a framework for applying state-of-the-art ROI to frontline health/healthcare worker efforts, compute initial ROI estimates for participants (e.g., employees, employers), taxpayers and society and address their implications.

Questions to be addressed are:

• What are key features of WBL and career advancement strategies in the two sites that are expected contributors to the success of frontline health/healthcare workers and how can these best be measured?
• What are key elements of the returns to WBL and career advancement strategies and how can these best be measured?
• What is the near-term (1-2 year) ROI for WBL and career advancement strategies for health/healthcare workers for participants, taxpayers/funders and society?
• How are benefits and costs of WBL and career advancement strategies shared among the actors involved, especially participants themselves? Should participants, taxpayers or society be shouldering a greater share of the costs in light of the distribution of benefits?

The research will feature theoretical/conceptual analysis and fieldwork in year one, and data collection, impact and ROI estimation in year two. It will contribute to understanding the business case for WBL and career advancement strategies for frontline health/healthcare workers, guide future investments in frontline worker strategies, and increase understanding of the burden sharing of costs.

The Ray Marshall Center will participate in the Jobs to Careers: Promoting Work-Based Learning for Quality Care project by assisting with evaluation and analysis of project activities. The University of Texas at Austin will advise and assist with the conduct an independent evaluation of the project, considering both process issues and outcomes. The evaluation will monitor the implementation the project, examining whether implementation was carried out as planned and, if changed, how and why. The evaluation will document the project’s results, assess the extent to which the goals and outcomes of the project are accomplished, how well the project serves its targeted audiences and constituencies, measurable returns on investment of the project, and lessons learned from the experience .

The Ray Marshall Center will collect information through examining documents created by the project, interviews with project staff, and other sources as needed. Ray Marshall Center staff will especially focus on monitoring the project’s activities and accomplishments in achieving its outcomes through project reports and staff interviews with participating organizations (e.g., Austin Community College, Seton Healthcare Network, and St. David’s HealthCare, all in Austin, Texas).

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Texas Department of Human Services

Researchers at the Ray Marshall Center are providing research and technical expertise to the Texas Association of Workforce Boards (TAWB) to update and refine the methodology for estimating the return on investment (ROI) from workforce services and to produce ROI estimates for Texas as a whole and up to 26 of the 28 workforce areas in the state. As part of the project, the researchers will also develop a guide to ROI estimation for use by the boards subsequent to this analysis. Center researchers demonstrated the feasibility of using a simple ROI estimation methodology and in 2003, producing “first-approximation,” taxpayer-perspective ROI estimates for 18 participating workforce areas as well as a composite board ROI estimate.

The current project will improve on the earlier work in a number of important respects:

• be based on real estimated impacts for major workforce services and funding streams locally, projected into the future and discounted to present value;
• be more comprehensive in workforce area coverage and perspectives;
• adjust for varying service delivery modes; and
• provide a practical guide for future board use.

Returns from Investments in Workforce Services: Texas Statewide Estimates for Participants, Taxpayers and Society (August 2008). Christopher T. King, Ying Tang, Tara Carter Smith and Daniel G. Schroeder, with assistance from Burt S. Barnow. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 50pp.

The Ray Marshall Center is conducting an evaluation of a pilot project to enhance educational offering in biotechnology at Austin Community College. Specializations in biotechnical instrumentation and in molecular diagnostics are being developed and implemented in collaboration with industry through a series of teacher externships. In addition, the college is developing a one-semester program in Biotechnology Preparation to provide job applicants with applied skills to access entry-level jobs in biotechnology. Faculty from three ACC departments are involved in this initiative: Electronics, Biotechnology and Medical Laboratory Technician.

The Ray Marshall Center evaluation is considering both process issues and outcomes of the demonstration. The project will monitor implementation of the project, examining whether implementation was carried out as planned and if changed, how and why. The evaluation will document the project’s results, assess to what extent the goals and outcomes of the project were accomplished, how well the project served its targeted audiences and constituencies, the measurable returns on investment of the project, and what lessons can be learned from the experience .

Evaluation of the Austin Biotech Workforce Education Consortium
Author: Robert W. Glover
Date: February 2009
Publication Type: Evaluation

Austin Biotech Workforce Education Consortium: First Year Report
Author: Robert W. Glover
Date: September 2007
Publication Type: Evaluation

The purpose of this research program is to assist Goodwill Industries International (GII) in developing a broader and deeper understanding of the employment and earnings outcomes, both short-term and long-term, of workforce development clients of Goodwill Industries of Central Texas. The goals of this research are to (1) develop a partnership between the Ray Marshall Center and GII in conducting joint research that will extend and enhance our knowledge of the earnings and employment experiences of workforce development clients over periods of several years after program service, and how these experiences differ from their earnings and employment experiences prior to program service andlor among different groups of clients; (2) provide relevant and useful information for management decision-making; (3) provide useful aggregate information that can be shared with other Goodwill members and workforce development service providers regarding the design of workforce development programs; and (4) demonstrate cost-effective data sources and analysis metods for providing information on client outcomes.

This project presents a revised analysis plan to investigate linkages between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Unemployment Insurance (UI). Using administrative data from a group of four large states, this study extends our understanding about the use of UI by recent TANF leavers. Data from the following states are analyzed: Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Texas.

Samples from all four states will be analyzed for 2000 TANF receipt cohorts. These samples include TANF recipients in calendar year 2000 who exit from TANF for employment by the first calendar quarter of 2001. Analysis will be conducted on earlier and later TANF exit cohorts as data is available for other states. The two alternative TANF exit time frames are: (1) TANF receipt 1997Q2 to 1998Q1 and exit by 1998Q2, and (2) TANF receipt 2002Q1 to 2002Q4 and exit by 2003Q1.

Based on data for the Florida 2000 cohort, this report presents a blueprint for analysis of all cohorts by presenting tables and charts to answer questions posed in the draft analysis plan. The sections and sub-sections of this revised analysis plan correspond to the overview of research questions listed in Table 1. An overview of data available to investigate these research questions is given in Table 2.

Analysis of UI and TANF use is primarily based on data provided through the Administrative Data Analysis and Research (ADARE) consortium.1 Additional data for this project was provided directly to the Upjohn Institute by some states. Data for Michigan was provided to the Institute outside ADARE.

The Ray Marshall Center is conducting research on the future of manufacturing in the Greater Austin Area, in collaboration with industry and community representatives. The goal of the project is to facilitate economic development and to alleviate any identified critical skills shortages in Austin’s manufacturing industries. A key focus of the project is skilled and technician occupations.

The project collaborates with interested employers in the selected manufacturing industries to verify the shortages, examine root causes, and seek practical solutions to alleviate the potential shortages.

Project results will be documented in a Critical Skills report for three selected manufacturing industries, including sections on contributing factors and root causes of the shortages, and solutions tailored for each manufacturing industry as well as cross-industry recommendations for action. The solutions analysis will also assess the applicability of existing E-learning systems in training delivery. The end result for Central Texas should be improved productivity for employers, as well as enhanced labor market success for area residents.

The City of Austin makes numerous investments in workforce development activities each year with local tax dollars, primarily emphasizing longer-term training and support services, offerings that have typically been constrained under federal program rules. The City has asked the Ray Marshall Center to conduct an evaluation of these activities. The evaluation is organized into two areas of focus: (1) the Rapid Employment Model project, and (2) other workforce development services.

Rapid Employment Model

The Rapid Employment Model (REM), a collaborative effort of Travis County, the City, WorkSource-The Greater Austin Workforce Board and area workforce service providers, aims to decrease the time that disadvantaged/indigent residents are out of work through partnerships with employment and training providers to connect these individuals to jobs and opportunities for career advancement.

Process Evaluation: The process evaluation will document REM implementation. Service and training providers will be profiled to provide an overall picture of who they serve; what services/training they provide; typical client flows; and other information deemed relevant to the study.

Outcomes Evaluation: The outcomes evaluation will document the results of participation, including the number of clients served; the number completing training and related services; the number placed in employment; wages earned; and other outputs/outcomes determined largely through linked administrative data. It also seeks to validate outcomes data now reported by individual service providers to WorkSource and the City.

Other Workforce Development Services

As resources allow, the evaluation will also examine the impact of the City’s investments in other workforce development services, including: services to youth, support services such as child care, and collaborative activities.

Although billions of dollars are spent each year on child care subsidies to help low-income, working families, researchers are only beginning to understand whether and how child care subsidies influence employment. Recent research, funded by the Child Care Bureau and conducted by the principal investigators in this study, has demonstrated that the child care subsidy (CCS) plays an important role in supporting family self-sufficiency by increasing employment duration among current and former Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients.

The project proposes to extend this work by analyzing subsidy use, and employment and welfare outcomes among all low-income families in Illinois, Maryland, and Texas—not just those with TANF histories. The primary questions are how employment and welfare outcomes differ between those who use
child care subsidies and those who do not, and how these outcomes differ for different groups of low-income families. The researchers will also use the fact that child care subsidy policies vary by state to explore how outcomes vary by policies and practices, thereby advancing our understanding of the contexts that promote family well-being. By collaborating with the U.S. Census Bureau and using individual-level census records, the researchers will be able to overcome past data restrictions that have impeded study of the entire low-income population in a state.

The project will result in a more comprehensive model of CCS use that will allow policymakers to better estimate CCS need and to understand the relation between take-up and outcomes. The researchers will share the model and benchmarks with interested states at a roundtable discussion hosted by Child Care and Early Education Research Connections.

Industry competency models, which specify the knowledge, skills and performance needed by high performing workers, are key to guiding education and training institutions in developing curricula to meet the demands of businesses. The Department of Labor‘s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has identified two key roles in promoting industry developed competency models that drive curricula, assessments and certifications:

• Brokering information on industry recognized competency models and competency based curriculum; and
• Promoting the development of industry driven competency models in high growth, high demand industries.

To fulfill the information-brokering role, ETA is developing an electronic clearinghouse of existing industry recognized skill standards, competency models, and competency-based curriculum. This competency clearinghouse is intended to link to and be used in conjunction with two existing electronic resources in America’s Career InfoNet where users currently can search for skill certifications by occupation and industry and State occupational license requirements. The goal is to create an Internet site that will provide industry a means to publicize their emerging skill needs and where businesses, both small and large, educators, and individuals can go to ascertain the emerging skill demands in the U.S. workplace. It will be a tool for businesses and human resource professionals to develop job requirements; for educational institutions to use in curriculum development; and for career exploration and guidance.

Planmatics, Inc., working with its subcontractor the Ray Marshall Center, will support ETA’s efforts in this arena by carrying out a scan of selected industries that are part of the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative in order to identify and catalogue the major competency models in use within these sectors. While our focus will be on industry-wide technical competencies, we also will report on competencies we find that address other levels in ETA’s building-block framework, for example, industry-specific and occupation-specific competencies.

This task will review existing national, state, and industry skills standards and competency models for 4 to 5 individual industry groups. Summary descriptions, commonalities and gap analyses will be forwarded to ETA as they are completed during this time.

In 2004 and 2005, a series of eight major and minor hurricanes wreaked havoc all along the U.S. Gulf Coast, resulting in scores of counties being declared Major Disaster Area (MDA) counties. Hurricane Katrina, which bombarded the region in September of 2005, was among the most devastating of these. While not inflicting direct damage on facilities critical to the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Katrina caused considerable adverse effects as it shut down schools and destroyed homes, roads, water treatment plants and other essential components of the region’s infrastructure.

The Space Shuttle Program’s mission is to fly up to four human space flight missions each year between now and September 2010, referred to as the SSP “fly-out” date. Each of these missions is estimated to require intensive months of planning and subsequent implementation effort by highly skilled teams of engineers and related technical and support staff in two key facilities that lay in Hurricane Katrina’s path:

• The Stennis Flight Center in Bay City (MS), which tests the rocket engines for the shuttles. Stennis, the only facility in the country that conducts tests on the shuttle’s external rocket engines, is operated by Pratt and Whitney/Rocketdyne.
• The Michoud Assembly Facility just east of New Orleans (LA), which builds the external fuel tanks for the space shuttles. Michoud, the sole facility in the country making and assembling the shuttle’s external fuel tanks, is operated jointly by Lockheed Martin.

Together, these vital SSP facilities employ around 2,000 workers. Many of these employees are highly educated engineers and technical staff with skills that will be costly to replace, both in terms of the time it would take to recruit, screen, hire and train them and the lost productivity for the Space Shuttle Program. Of these employees, more than 1,500 are employed by Lockheed Martin to work n the external tank assembly and related operations and almost 400 work at Stennis Flight Center on rocket engine testing.

It is also important to note that both of these facilities are also facing serious internal workforce challenges as a result of ongoing demographic changes, primarily their aging workforce. According to officials at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, a substantial share of the engineers and technical/support staff at these two facilities are fast approaching retirement age and, given the added “push” from Katrina and its aftermath, may leave their jobs at some point in the near future.

Both of these forces — Katrina and its associated effects on the region’s infrastructure, plus the aging of its workforce — have the potential to adversely impact the ability of the Space Shuttle Program to accomplish its mission, namely flying up to four human space flight missions each year between now and mission “fly-out” in 2010. This proposal will estimate these potential adverse impacts and then develop recommended strategies for addressing them.

Approach

The researchers propose to assess the economic and workforce impact on the Space Shuttle Program’s capacity to achieve its mission of flying human space flight missions between now and September 2010 and to develop a series of recommended strategies for countering any adverse impacts that emerge based on this research.

Major Research Components. The major components of the proposed research are:

• Environmental Scan. We will begin the research with a preliminary scan of the environment affecting these facilities. The scan will rely on basic document and data gathering, as well as initial meetings and discussions with key personnel to gain an understanding of the ‘lay of the land’ in this area. The research team will also examine regional business relationships SSP facilities have with suppliers, vendors, or related product/services companies for a deeper understanding of how the NASA centers are embedded in their local economies.
• Focus Groups. Both to learn about the issues that are likely to affect SSP’s direct and indirect workforce in these facilities—including their decisions to remain in or leave their jobs—and to help us in developing a more comprehensive online survey, we will conduct a number of focus groups in each affected facility/area with workers and adult members of their families.
• Online Workforce Survey. Based on the information gleaned from the focus groups and the environmental scan, we will develop and conduct an online surey of the SSP workforce, direct and indirect, in these facilities to gauge the importance of Katrina, demographic and other factors to their decisions to remain working with the SSP program over the next four years.
• Field Interviews. We will conduct a series of in-depth interviews with SSP directors, HR managers and other senior staff and with government and civic leaders who are playing major roles in the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast area in Katrina’s aftermath.
• Scenario Modeling. Building upon work that both the Ray Marshall Center and IC 2 Institute have done examining critical skills and economic development strategies in key industry sectors in Austin and other areas (including Canada), we will model scenarios for economic and workforce impacts for the area and SSP facilities given what emerge as likely parameters for the near future, i.e., the critical 2006-2010 timeframe.
• Recommended Strategy Development. Finally, we will also conduct a structured process to develop recommended strategies for addressing any projected adverse economic and workforce impacts.

Economic and Workforce Impacts of Hurricane Katrina, Demographic and Related Changes on NASA’s Space Shuttle Program: Findings and Recommendations (Summary Report) (March 2007). Christopher T. King, J. Bruce Kellison, Tara Smith, Eliza Evans, MaryAnn Anderson, Ara Merjanian, Bryan Hadley and Andrew Stackhouse. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, and IC² Institute, The University of Texas at Austin. 52pp.

Economic and Workforce Impacts of Hurricane Katrina, Demographic and Related Changes on NASA’s Space Shuttle Program: Findings and Recommendations (Final Report) (March 2007). Christopher T. King, J. Bruce Kellison, Tara Smith, Eliza Evans, MaryAnn Anderson, Ara Merjanian, Bryan Hadley and Andrew Stackhouse. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, and IC² Institute, The University of Texas at Austin. 214pp.

Central Texas Workforce Intermediary Initiative Pilot

The Central Texas Workforce Intermediary Initiative (CTWII) will build and strengthen support among Central Texas stakeholders for a major workforce intermediary initiative linked to long-term economic growth and regional vitality. Specifically, the initiative will result in increased training and job creation, especially high-skilled jobs offering high wages, improved job retention and career advancement for area residents, new business and industry development, greater productivity for the Central Texas business community, and greater economic and social equity across the community. The will focus its efforts on nursing and allied health careers in the region’s steadily growing healthcare industry sector.

The CTWII coalition will utilize a two-phase approach as it transitions from the planning stage to implementation. Phase I will focus on systems and capacity building. It will continue to solidify and expand accomplishments from the planning grant phase, including promoting ongoing stakeholder engagement, bolstering funding, finding additional ways to align funding streams, and continuing to work for improved public policies and political support. This phase will allow the group to implement and test select strategies in one initial industry sector — healthcare — then make adjustments as necessary before full-scale implementation.

Phase II will include the continued expansion of the initial industry sector initiative and planning for the expansion of the initiative into at least one and possibly two additional industry sectors. This phase will also focus on long-term planning and sustainability of the efforts launched in Phases I and II.

The overarching goal of our work in the healthcare industry sector will be to address the human resources needs of Central Texas healthcare employers by increasing the capacity of leading education and training institutions locally — especially Austin Community College and University of Texas’s School of Nursing — to connect low-income workers with job and career advancement opportunities in the healthcare industry. Through our efforts, we will:

• Support the continued growth of the Central Texas healthcare industry sector;
• Promote “high-road” strategies that result in high-skill, high-wage jobs;
• Develop a healthcare workforce that is more representative of the Central Texas region’s diversity;
• Create new career advancement opportunities for adults with significant barriers to employment; and
• Build on the accomplishments of the Health Industry Steering Committee (HISC) by identifying additional opportunities to align local healthcare workforce development programs and funding streams.

Legislative reforms in the food stamp and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs in the 1990s, together with a booming economy and the Earned Income Tax Credit, led to dramatic increases in employment among single mothers and smaller increases among other low-income families. The deterioration of the economy after 2000, however, has raised again the question of the adequacy of the safety net for nonworking families. This study will examine the extent of support from government programs, especially food stamps, among nonworking families, but with a focus on a program that has not received much research attention: the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program.

The UI program is of interest because the increases in employment among disadvantaged families in the 1990s should have been expected to increase eligibility for benefits. This, in turn, may have led to greater receipt of UI in the recent downturn and to less reliance on food stamps, given that the latter program is also aimed, in part, at serving unemployed families during downturns. The researchers will use an administrative data set from the state of Texas containing information on food stamp, TANF, and UI recipients over the period 1996 to 2005 to investigate these questions.

The study will document the incidence of different kinds of assistance receipt, especially during the downturn, giving particular attention to the relationship between food stamps and UI benefits (how many individuals receive one but not the other, both, neither); will estimate event history models to determine whether receipt of UI leads to reduced entry and increased exit from the food stamp program; will examine how the nature of food stamp and UI spells changed as the Texas economy moved from expansion to recession to recovery; and will estimate the effects of such receipts on income from earnings, UI, and welfare.

Reports Available:

Community Agenda Assessment Project

Principal Investigators:

Christopher T. King and Ying Tang

Sponsor:

United Way Capital Area

Project Duration:

November 2005 - December 2006

Description:

The Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas at Austin (RMC) is conducting a research project to assist the United Way Capital Area (UWCA) develop a Community Agenda on health and human services within the 10-county Capital Area region. The research is designed to lead to a synthesis of existing information and stakeholder perspectives on the priorities in health and human services. Specifically, RMC is charged as follows:

Phase I: Identify, collect and analyze existing regional data on the state of major health and human services issues, indicators and demographic trend; and

Phase II: Gauge the perspectives of major stakeholders across the ten-county area regarding major issues, root causes, solutions and prospects for health and human services.

The Ray Marshall Center will produce a data analysis report as a result of Phase I work. The data analysis report will present major indicators of demographic trends, several indicators under important issue areas related to health and human services, a summary listing of the issues or priority issues previously identified by stakeholders through community assessment or planning processes in recent years, and a number of regional and county-specific highlights based on data and issues analysis.

The report of the Phase II work will be a summary of findings based on analysis of input from different types of stakeholders in the ten counties. Specifically, stakeholder input is sought on the following topics:

• The way stakeholders define their community
• Their vision for that community, or how they would like it to be;
• What issues they believe are “in the way” of realizing this vision for their community;
• The issues that they think are the highest priority;
• Their thoughts on the possible root causes, or “drivers” behind the problem or issue;
• Their ideas for possible solutions or approaches for addressing these root causes; and
• Their perspectives on the highest priorities for initial action, based on the highest priority issues and the responses that would leverage results.

To the extent possible, the Phase II report will also attempt to compare the issues and priorities that loom largest in the perspectives of the stakeholders and comparable data points on such issues and priorities.

Reports Available:

A Profile of the Capital Area Community: A data analysis report for the United Way Capital Area (March 2006). Ying Tang, Suzanne Hershey, Christopher T. King, Katie Ryan and Erin Brown. Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 94 pp., 3 appendices.

A Profile of the Capital Area Community: A Profile of the Capital Area: A Regional Summary (March 2006). Ying Tang, Christopher T. King, Katie Ryan, Erin Brown and Suzanne Hershey. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 21pp.

Toward Equity for All: Findings from Stakeholder Input on the Capital Area Community Agenda Project (July 2006). Ying Tang, Christopher T. King, Erin Brown, Katie Ryan, Bryan Hadley and Suzanne Hershey. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 165pp.

Toward Equity for All: Findings From Stakeholder Input on the Capital Area Community Agenda Project (Executive Summary) (July 2006). Ying Tang, Christopher T. King, Erin Brown, Katie Ryan, Bryan Hadley, Suzanne Hershey. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 9pp

Community Agenda Project Findings and Recommendations (August 2006) (PowerPoint presentation). Christopher T. King and Ying Tang. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 16pp.

The Ray Marshall Center will collaborate with industry and community representatives to work with two industrial sectors to alleviate critical skills shortages in key occupations. The two targeted industrial sectors will have high job growth, pay higher than average wages and benefits, and be experiencing critical skill shortages in key occupations. The project will examine root causes for these critical shortages and propose practical solutions.

The researchers anticipate that the first target sector will be health care. Abundant information is already available regarding this industry in Central Texas, as well as existing activities and institutions that can be built on. Researchers will do a quick verification to confirm this choice. This strategy of selecting health care on the front end will allow researchers to accelerate the project rapidly into the second (root causes) and third (solutions) phases for this sector. Key representatives from this sector have indicated that while much is known about it already, much more needs to be done to understand and effectively respond to its needs.

The second industry sector will be selected on the basis of findings from the data analysis and discussions with representatives from industry and the community regarding their responsiveness to work with this initiative.

Researchers will build on existing efforts and make best use of available data and programs underway. They will collaborate with interested employers in the selected industries to verify the shortages, examine root causes, and seek practical solutions to alleviate the shortages. The project will be documented in a series of reports, including a Critical Skills Report, for each of the two industry sectors selected, a report on Root Causes of the shortages, and a report on Solutions tailored for each sector. Each of the solutions reports will include a work plan, with endorsements that could be used as the basis of a proposal to be submitted to an external funding agency or organization.

The researchers view this project as a means to establish a more effective collaborative process in Central Texas – not merely a research project designed to develop a series of written reports. They aim to put into placed a catalytic process that will generate and facilitate activities by key actors. Success will require strong input and meaningful participation by the firms and industries involved, as well as by training providers and the community. The end result for Central Texas should be improved productivity for employers in key sectors, as well as enhanced labor market success for area residents.

The "Bridging the Gap"Pilot Study has the following goals:

• To begin to show how the problems faced by working families appear and unfold in any particular state, but are also part of a national pattern;

• To show how the full project will add value to the work being conducted by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) by making the findings from the Family Resource Simulator (FRS) part of a policy-oriented research undertaking and dissemination project;

• To demonstrate how collaboration between national and state-level partners is critical for understanding the problems facing working families and determining the appropriate policy solutions;

• To engage policy advocates in the start-up phase of the project to make the research relevant to those actively engaged in the political process.

The Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources will produce a preliminary report on the major findings in Texas. RMC will subsequently conduct outreach activities, which will include briefings for advocates and provider organizations in Texas, in order to present preliminary findings and generate feedback from advocates.

Center for Social Work Research, The Univeristy of Texas at Austin

The purpose of this three-year research project is to examine subsidized child care programs over a time period during which responsibility for these programs was devolved from the state to the local level. The study will address the following questions: How do local child care policies in Texas vary following the devolution of responsibilities for child care policies to the local workforce boards? What is the process by which changes in the provision of publicly subsidized child care are implemented? Which changes in the availability of child care statistically associated with policy variations? Which change in patterns of child care usage are statistically associated with policy variations at the state and local level?

During the first year of this project, researchers will survey all 28 local workforce boards, identify policy changes, and analyze subsidy and market rate data to develop profiles describing each local area. Three sites will be selected for an in-depth examination of policy variations, patterns of service utilization, shifts in the supply of services, costs of care and quality of services.

In the third year, data from all facets of the over six years covered by this research will be combined and used in an econometric analysis to answer the research questions.

The Texas Child Care Subsidy Program After Devolution to the Local Level: A Product of the Study of Child Care Devolution in Texas (June 2004). Deanna Schexnayder, Daniel Schroeder, Ying Tang, Laura Lein, Julie Beausoleil, Gina Amatangelo. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, and Center for Social Work Research, School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin. 50 pp., 5 appendices.

Texas Child Care Profiles for Local Workforce Development Areas FY 1998 - FY 2001: A Product of the Study of Devolution of Subsidized Child Care in Texas (April 2003). Daniel Schroeder, Trish Norman, Ying Tang, Matthew Randazzo, Deanna Schexnayder, Laura Lein, Julie Beausoleil, Sara Trott. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 92pp.

Preliminary Findings from Interviews with Child Care Program Managers: A Product of the Study of Devolution of Subsidized Child Care in Texas (April 2003). Laura Lein, Julie Beausoleil, Sara Trott, Deanna Schexnayder, Daniel Schroeder, Ying Tang, Matthew Randazzo. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 29pp

The Process of Devolution: Perceptions from Local Boards: A Product of the Study of Child Care Devolution in Texas (October 2007). Laura Lein, Julie Beausoleil, Ying Tang. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, and the Center for Social Work Research, School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin. 58pp.

Child Care Devolution in Texas: The Relationship of Child Care Policies to Subsidy, Employment and Market Durations: Final Technical Report (March 2008). Deanna Schexnayder, Daniel Schroeder. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, and the Center for Social Work Research, School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin. 64pp.

The Devolution of Subsidized Child Care in Texas: Final Summary Report (March 2008). Deanna Schexnayder, Laura Lein. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, and the Center for Social Work Research, School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin. 27pp.

Central Texas has a robust, dynamic and unique set of workforce institutions — including Skillpoint Alliance (formerly Capital Area Training Foundation), Capital IDEA, and Austin Community College — that
are the envy of other communities across the nation. These organizations, as well as Central Texas’ two workforce development boards, embody key features of leading-edge workforce intermediaries. The region is also unique in a number of other respects that make it a particularly attractive site for developing and operating a major workforce intermediary initiative, including: unusually high levels of public and private support for its workforce development services; its pursuit of a cluster-based approach to workforce
services; and the level of grass-roots action and public concern over skills gaps and income disparities among its residents.

The Ray Marshall Center is coordinating a nine-month planning process to design a workforce intermediary initiative for all of Central Texas, working in partnership with two of Austin’s premier workforce intermediaries: the Skillpoint Alliance and the Capital IDEA. The researchers will also engage a broad array of local stakeholders in this process, including employer groups, community organizations, and philanthropic institutions. The principal outcome of this planning process will be the design and funding plan for a uniquely Central Texas workforce intermediary initiative, based in its own set of institutions, traditions and context.

During the planning process the research will focus on addressing several core questions:

♦ What is the nature and scope of employer demand in targeted sectors for skilled, living-wage occupations?

♦ What is the current capacity and education level of disadvantaged workers who could potentially fill these occupations and what would it take (cost and services) to match these workers to target occupations?

♦ How does Central Texas develop a long-term model with diverse revenue strategies that can create stability and sustainability in workforce initiatives?

♦ What are the key public policy initiatives that can help drive and support these funding streams over time?

Approaches to Adjusting Workforce Development Performance Measures (August 2005). Joe Siedlecki and Christopher T. King. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 7pp.

Proposed Approaches to Workforce Development Performance Measurement (February 2005). Sarah Looney and Christopher T. King. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 6pp.

Expanding Opportunities for Business and Workers: Promising Practices for Workforce Intermediary Initiatives (February 2005). Sarah Looney and Christopher T. King. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 31pp.

Mapping and Improving State Workforce Development Systems: Lessons from Five States (August 2004). Sarah Looney and Christopher T. King. Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. 15pp.

Researchers at the Ray Marshall center participate in selecting and convening a Next Generation Initiative Advisory Group. They assist in conducting a competitive process in the spring of 2002 for selecting up to eight states to participate in the academy for planning and implementing policies and strategies to transform the workforce development system in their states. They participate in conducting site visits in each of the selected states in late spring/early summer to meet with the state team regarding their participation in the academy and work with the partners to expand the scope of the Next Generation Initiative throughout the first year by connecting with other related initiatives.

Through research on policies, strategies, and practices they develop a policy/strategy paper on comprehensive performance management/measurement to inform the Next Generation on workforce development.  They will assist in developing papers starting in early fall 2001 as part of the NGA Chair’s Initiative that draws on the knowledge gained from the Next Generation policy/strategy papers. The paper will be finalized in January 2001 and presented to Governors at the NGA Winter Meeting in February 2002.

Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board,
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices

The purpose of this project is to provide the Department of Labor with input from the states on what is required to support integrated information on the results of workforce investment programs and the One-Stop system. Examples of integrated information on results include but are not limited to: outcome measures that apply across multiple workforce development programs; measures of the performance of One-Stop Centers and the One-Stop system; other measures of the shared results of workforce investment programs that are attributable to the combined effects of multiple programs; and training provider results reported to meet the requirements of multiple programs.

The project encompasses the six states of Florida, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, Texas and Washington. In collaboration with its partners, Ray Marshall Center staff have:

• Planned and facilitated three IPI "academy" meetings with the 6 Planned and facilitated three IPI "academy" meetings with the 6 Planned and facilitated three IPI academy meetings with the six states and other experts;
• Prepared three issues papers;
• Planned and participated in a one-day meeting of performance measurement and management experts from workforce, education and related fields in Washington. D.C., to solicit their input and suggestions; and
• Contributed to preparation of the draft project blueprint report that will be released in Fall 2004.

Integrated Performance Information for Workforce Development: Framing the Issues, by Christopher T. King and Dan O'Shea. Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, December 2003.

The Alignment of Workforce Performance Measures and Policymaker Needs in Ten Leading-edge States, by Dan O'Shea, Sarah Looney and Christopher T. King. Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, March 2004.

Proposed Performance Measures and State Responses: Analysis and Next Steps, by Christopher T. King and Sarah Looney. Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, June 2004.

The Capital Area Training Foundation (CATF) and the Ray Marshall Center have entered into a strategic partnership that will:

• Provide valuable research on regional workforce and educational issues;
• Offer program analyses and evaluations of CATF programs; and
• Develop standards for objective research and evaluation of CATF programs.

The Construction Gateway Evaluation component of this partnership seeks to document results of the Gateway Program, identify practices/policies associated with positive results, and provide options for maintaining and expanding the initiative as well as exploring the possibility of replicating the model in other industry sectors. Moreover, the research feeds back into the larger objective of engaging civic interest and capacity in workforce development and career advancement, validating current investments, and influencing the public policy environment to promote more investment through the example of a “grounded” community program. The evaluation will be available Fall 2004.

Texas Office of the Attorney General, Center for Public Policy Priorities

Factors Affecting Participation in Programs For Young Low-Income Fathers: Findings from the Texas Bootstrap Project, by Sarah Looney and Deanna Schexnayder. Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, April 2004.

Impacts of Workforce Services for Young, Low-Income Fathers: Findings from the Texas Bootstrap Project, by Daniel Schroeder, Sarah Looney and Deanna Schexnayder. Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, The University of Texas at Austin, October 2004.

Non-federal Workforce System Performance Measures in the States: Overview by Dan O'Shea, Sarah Looney and Christopher T. King. Austin: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, December 2003.

Non-federal Workforce System Performance Measures in the States: Ten State Profiles by Dan O'Shea, Sarah Looney and Christopher T. King. Austin: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, December 2003.

The Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources is working with the Workforce Leadership of Texas (now the Texas Association of Workforce Boards), a membership group comprised of local workforce Board chairs and executive directors, to develop, implement and test improved performance measures for the Texas workforce development system.  This work builds upon previous work the Ray Marshall Center has done in this area, including developing initial performance standards for national CETA programs in the late 1970s and early 1980s; implementing state and local performance standards for JTPA and other programs in the 1980s; examining and recommending cross-cutting performance measures for workforce programs nationally in the 1980s; and devising more systemic state workforce measures in the 1990s, including early work on return-on-investment and employer performance measures.

The ongoing work is being conducted in two stages.  During Phase I, researchers reviewed current workforce performance measures and proposed a series of new system outcome measures for implementation in workforce boards around the state.  In Phase II of the project, researchers developed a Return-on-Investment model and ROI estimates for local workforce development boards.

Columbia University (School of Social Work and National Center for Children in Poverty), Oregon State University

Texas Families in Transition/Surviving without TANF: An Analysis of Families Diverted From or Leaving TANF (January 2002)

Texas Families in Transition/Surviving without TANF: A Preliminary Analysis of Families Diverted From or Leaving TANF (March, 2001)

Parent Satisfaction Survey of Austin Independent School District

Reports Available:

Technology-Based Solutions to Workforce Service Delivery
Project Directors: Robert W. Glover, Christopher T. King, Francis Dummer Fisher, Lodis Rhodes
Date: October 2002
Publication Type: Policy Research Project Full Report (PDF, 243pp). Printed Copies: $22.00 (PR-142, ISBN 0-89940-755-2)

Administrative Data Research and Evaluation (ADARE) Project

Principal Investigator:

Christopher T. King, David W. Stevens and others

Sponsor:

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration

Research Partners:

University of Baltimore, Florida Atlantic University, Georgia State University, University of Missouri-Columbia, Northern Illinois University and W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Project Duration:

April 1998 - June 2012

Description:

The ADARE Project began in 1998 using the availability of longitudinal files of state administrative records and the combined expertise of university researchers and state Labor Market Information unit staffs to investigate policy issues of interest to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The 1998-2002 phase of the Project focused on welfare-to-work transition flows in six large urban centers—Atlanta, Baltimore, Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale), Chicago, Houston and Kansas City. Since July 2002, the ADARE Project partners — the University of Baltimore, the University of Texas-Austin, Florida Atlantic University, Georgia State University, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Northern Illinois University, and the W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research — have concentrated attention on Workforce Investment Act Standardized Record (WIASRD) files provided by Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Texas and Washington. Projects are currently focusing on client flows, services and outcomes under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 in the participating states. An ADARE Project website is being developed. Project reports and related information will be available on the website of the Jacob France Institute at the University of Baltimore.

Reports Available:

Welfare and Work: Experiences in Six Cities
Authors: Christopher T. King and Peter R. Mueser.
Publication Date: 2005 (Kalamazoo, MI: Upjohn Institute Press.)
Availability: Available for purchase from W. E. Upjohn Institute at this link.

The Role of Child Support and Earnings in Texas Welfare and Poverty Dynamics
Authors: Christopher T. King and Daniel Schroeder.
Publication Date: September 2003
Availability: PDF of Report. Click here.

Preliminary WIA Net Impact Estimates: Administrative Records Opportunities and Limitations
Authors: Kevin Hollenbeck, Christopher T. King and Daniel Schroeder.
Publication Date: July 2003 (Austin: Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin).
Availability: PDF of Report. Click here.

Human Capital Potential of NonCustodial Parents: Preliminary Texas Results
Authors: Christopher T. King and Daniel Schroeder.
Publication Date: February 2002.
Availability: Available from the Ray Marshall Center, contact rmcpubs@raymarshallcenter.org

The Welfare Caseload, Economic Growth and Welfare-to-Work Policies: An Analysis of Five Urban Areas
Authors: Christopher T. King, Peter Mueser, Julie Hotchkiss, Phil Rokicki, and David W. Stevens.
Publication Date:  April 2000 (Baltimore: The Jacob France Center, University of Baltimore)
Availability: PDF of Report. Click here.

Welfare-to-Work Transitions in Five Urban Areas: Initial Results from the Pooled Multivariate Analysis
Authors: Christopher T. King, Jerome Olson, Julie Hotchkiss, Peter Mueser, Phil Rokicki, and David W. Stevens.
Publication Date: March 2000. (The Jacob France Center, University of Baltimore, Baltimore)
Availability: PDF of Report. Click here.

Urban Welfare-to-Work Transitions in the 1990's: A First Look
Authors: Julie L. Hotchkiss, Christopher T. King, Peter R. Mueser, Phillip S. Rokicki and David W. Stevens.
Publication Date: December 1999, revised October 2001 (The Jacob France Center, University of Baltimore)
Availability: PDF of Report. Click here.

The Dynamics of Welfare-to-Work: A Comparative Analysis of Four Urban Areas, 1990-1997
Authors: Julie L. Hotchkiss, Christopher T. King, Peter R. Mueser and David W. Stevens
Publication Date: November 1998 (Presented to the Southern Economic Association Meeting).
Availability: Available from the Ray Marshall Center, contact rmcpubs@raymarshallcenter.org