Daywalt, Drew, Author

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.

Through the Parents and Children Together evaluation, Mathematica researchers are contributing to the evidence base regarding approaches to increase positive father involvement in children’s lives. At a forum on December 7, researchers, program administrators, and program participants shared their experiences and what they learned.

The Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium (CCEEPRC) provided a forum for researchers and policymakers to investigate emerging research findings, questions, and methods that relate to improved outcomes for children and families. Several Mathematica researchers presented on topics such as: child care quality measures, support for home-based care providers, and research on coordinated services for children and their families.

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.

Child welfare agencies regularly make crucial program decisions that can impact the health and well-being of children and families across the country. Agency leaders and line staff alike can benefit from current, high quality data and evidence to inform their decisions. However, systemic challenges at play in the realm of child welfare—including, for example, short deadlines, limited resources, and high staff turnover—can make it difficult for program leaders to draw on relevant research and encourage a culture of evidence. At the same time, research evidence can be difficult to access or interpret, or it may not fully address the needs of practitioners and other decision makers.

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.

Recent federal policy changes require state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to expand service delivery to transition-age youth and young adults with disabilities. These expanded services intend to improve youth’s preparation for college and employment.

Finding and interpreting relevant evidence can be a frustrating experience for many policymakers.

This conference highlighted the DRC’s latest research findings and their implications for the future of state and federal disability policies and programs.

Mathematica and OPRE hosted a webinar on September 17, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Presenters shared insights into strategies for developing trauma-informed systems of care and lessons from programs that address trauma among fathers.

Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson launched his “Great Society” agenda, where do we stand when it comes to providing services, as well as economic and social mobility, to those in need? Between 1964 and 1968, President Johnson launched and implemented a huge range of social programs known as the “Great Society” agenda. Fast-forward fifty years, the form and efficacy of these programs are being questioned at every level of government. On October 2, Mathematica partnered with Government Executive and Route 50 to explore the future of these social programs and look at ideas for reform that are being tested across our nation, as well as the data behind them.

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.

There is increased awareness and urgency within the research community to ensure that evaluation and assessment practices are sensitive to the cultures of people who are most impacted by those practices. Driven by changing demographics and the increasing complexity of problems that researchers and communities seek to address, new efforts are underway to develop research practices that better account for the unique perspectives and needs of the communities being studied. But there is hardly consensus on what culturally responsive research actually means or, more broadly, what implications such approaches could have on evidence-based policies and programs.

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.

The goal of the webinar is to expand local and state leaders’ knowledge of teacher survey instruments to enhance the evaluation of school leaders.

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?

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 defined educational inequity and discussed its implications. It included a brief introduction to culturally responsive pedagogy and what broader systemic changes may be necessary to implement equity and culturally responsive pedagogy.

This webinar explored research on culturally responsive pedagogy and what is known about its effectiveness.

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.

This webinar explored how best to prepare educators to implement culturally responsive pedagogy, including and exploration of how programs train future teachers and school administrators and what changes programs may need to consider to effectively prepare these educators.

Hear from ACOs about their approaches to improving care delivery, and from CMS about new policy opportunities.

Chronic absenteeism is particularly high in the early grades, compared with elementary and middle school. For a young child to succeed and develop a strong foundation for learning, he or she must attend school regularly.

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.

The spread of COVID-19 has caused schools and districts across the country to shutter their doors. States, districts, and schools must suddenly and unexpectedly grapple with the new reality of providing a quality education to every student remotely.

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

This webinar will review the research on the home and parenting characteristics that support young children’s learning.