This presentation series offers education researchers across the Chicago region an opportunity to learn about each other’s work, interact informally, and support the field of education research in Chicago.

The employment rate among people with disabilities has consistently been low. People with disabilities face many barriers to securing competitive, integrated employment, such as lack of access to transportation, difficulty finding a job, and needs for workplace accommodations. Mathematica is evaluating the SourceAmerica Pathways to Careers program, a customized employment service model designed to help people with intellectual or developmental disabilities or autism obtain competitive integrated employment that matches their skills, interests, strengths, and abilities. This webinar featured a panel of experts who will discuss how Pathways promotes competitive integrated employment, give an employer’s perspective on partnering with Pathways and hiring its participants, present interim evaluation outcomes, and report on SourceAmerica’s plans to expand the customized employment service model.

Mathematica’s Center for Studying Disability Policy (CSDP) hosted a webinar to examine these issues from the employer perspective. Panelists discussed: (1) actions employers can take to better accommodate employees with disabilities; (2) feedback from employer interviews about the challenges associated with recruiting and retaining workers with disabilities; and (3) findings from the National Employment and Disability Survey, recently released by the Kessler Foundation.

Amid renewed interest in the role of principals in supporting effective instruction, there is a growing need for practical guidance on how to prepare principals to serve as instructional leaders.

Australia is the only country in the world that regularly collects comprehensive information about the holistic development of every child entering its schools. This information, gathered through the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), guides national and state policy and informs program development. Over the past 12 years, AEDC data have shown progress in reaching the most vulnerable children. The AEDC, along with population-based measurement more broadly, is useful for the United States because it can inform current discussions of equity in access to early childhood services.

Research reveals that the earliest years of life are a critical period of human development. Early relationships and experiences have a strong influence on brain development and future health and well-being. Young children’s foundational relationships and experiences take place in the context of families and communities. Yet, low-income families—especially families of color and rural families—often do not have access to the basic necessities and resources for fostering the nurturing experiences and stimulating environments that young children need to thrive. Furthermore, policy and program silos can impede cross-functional solutions and service delivery, which are designed to holistically address the needs of children and families.

Significant attention has been focused on helping beneficiaries of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) participate in the work force. Increased work activity for these beneficiaries can increase self-sufficiency and reduce reliance on federal benefits, while simultaneously reducing federal outlays. Despite these efforts, work activity among beneficiaries has not increased substantially in recent decades. Three studies sponsored by the Social Security Administration’s Disability Research Consortium provide new information on work activity among SSI and SSDI beneficiaries and offer insights about the barriers they face in pursuing work.

The current earnings rules for Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) specify that, after using available work incentives, DI beneficiaries are not owed a DI benefit check if they earn more than a certain threshold. The Benefit Offset National Demonstration (BOND) tested a design intended to encourage DI beneficiaries to work by replacing the so-called cash cliff with a ramp—a $1 reduction in benefits for every $2 of additional earnings. BOND simultaneously tested the new rules with two groups: a nationally representative sample of DI beneficiaries and a group of recruited and informed volunteers—those thought to be most likely to earn more than the earnings threshold. Results from the five-year evaluation of BOND are now available for both groups.

A key challenge for policymakers is creating a pipeline of principals who are prepared to serve as instructional leaders. Districts often use the assistant principal position as a training ground for new principals. Yet little is known about how to design and implement on-the-job training opportunities that prepare assistant principals to serve as principals.

Recognizing that school leaders play a critical role in school performance, states and districts are rethinking how they prepare principals. But this retooling of preparation programs raises a number of important questions: What skills do new principals need? How can we identify aspiring principals with the potential to develop those competencies? And how can we use these insights to improve the training of leaders at all levels of the system, from teacher leaders to principal supervisors?

In the past two decades, many federal and state Medicaid initiatives have been designed to rebalance the long-term services and supports (LTSS) system by increasing access to home and community-based services (HCBS) in order to reduce the use of expensive institutional care.

Mathematica brought together leaders from a variety of sectors to discuss the challenges of becoming data driven and offer action-oriented, accessible advice on how organizations can take their first steps, or their next steps, to progress together.

This webinar explored how a school and district have approached the challenge of implementing culturally responsive practice. It elaborated on programs, policies, and practices that were implemented to support efforts to achieve equity and use culturally responsive pedagogy.

The March 2020 issue of Health Affairs, “The Affordable Care Act Turns 10,” offers must-read analyses of the ACA.

Mathematica will launch a groundbreaking new quality measurement observation tool, now available to the early childhood community (including program administrators, professional development providers, researchers, and others) during a webinar.

This webinar highlights three research-to-practice partnerships between state and local policymakers and the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic to address this challenge, connecting educators and policymakers with researchers who provide analytic support and help education agencies build capacity to conduct their own analyses.

With school buildings closed by COVID-19, schools and districts across the country are rapidly (and sometimes frantically) transitioning to remote learning.