Social Policy Research Associates (SPR)

This Thursday at #APPAM2019, come hear SPR along with Mathematica Policy Research, RTI International and MDRC speak about efforts by public agencies and private organizations to improve youth employment prospects through career and technical education and career pathways programs. https://lnkd.in/gzzJvcg

IES released results from a study, that SPR supported, on principal professional development (PD). The report shows that the PD did not make the impact as intended, highlighting the complexities of supporting leadership to drive changes in schools. https://lnkd.in/gCNpxh6

Because individualized learning is a significant shift from the traditional way that educators engage with students and learning in the classroom, educators require in-depth support to make that change. Our article with The Bush Foundation in Learning Forward explores what must happen to make #IndividualizedLearning a reality. #LearnFwdTLP https://lnkd.in/eHJ65Nx

What does it mean to center race in advocacy for health equity? Join this webinar to hear stories about how these complementary efforts to build racial equity capacity are changing hearts and minds and furthering advocacy for health equity in Colorado. https://lnkd.in/dy4HGwh #healthequity #advocacy

Take a look at SPR’s finding on the Flint National Service Accelerator, an initiative focused on exploring national service as a civic engagement and community change strategy. These reports include a toolkit developed in collaboration with the United Way of Genesee County, which provides lessons for communities seeking to use National Service as a strategy for achieving community change. https://lnkd.in/gfmVe7m

Minnesota Department of Education districts are exploring strategies to ensure SoC and low-income students have access to high-quality & diverse teachers. Read more about their progress here: (link: https://lnkd.in/gnEsNNB) lnkd.in/gnEsNNB #educationequity #worldsbestworkforce

Want to learn how community colleges can create innovative internships, certificate programs to address #STEM workforce needs and enhance student learning to support a STEM workforce? Yavapai College developed 2 new certificate programs and students received 183 industry certifications (e.g. HAAS CNC Operator certificate and FANUC Robot Operator certificate) in 2.5 years. Read more about Yavapai College’s Applied Pre-Engineering Program Expansion funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s ATE grant. #STEMworkforce #robotics #NSFATE #evaluationreport https://lnkd.in/gEac7GY

As part of AEA365’s Policy and Advocacy TIG week, SPR’s Heather Lewis Charp and Laura Pryor, PhD wrote a blog detailing our approach for a frame analysis for analyzing Twitter data to track narrative change in policy advocacy initiatives. The blog includes information about frame analysis, resources, considerations for how to use frame analysis and using R to extract Twitter data. Head over to AEA365, to learn more! https://lnkd.in/gTVUz4w

SPR is proud to be helping #LARISE learn #whatworks ow.ly/yyP650up6QF Our thanks to all the LA:RISE partner organizations for serving Angelenos with high barriers to employment and for making this evaluation possible! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NstsV63Bq4

As we close out #SecondChanceMonth it’s important to also learn from programs that prevent youth from entering the criminal justice system. Our impact study for City of San José Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services found that the San José BEST program was associated with lower youth arrests and gang incidents, offering a promising approach. https://lnkd.in/g527UUm

We are hiring a Workforce Development and Human Services Associate! https://www.spra.com/about-spr/careers/

Join SPR’s Vinz Koller as he moderates a panel on the Apprenticeship Inclusion Model (AIM) currently being piloted at 4 sites to use #apprenticeships to expand employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Sunday March 24, 3:00-4:15, Columbia 6.

As part of our partnership with Parent Voices, SPR conducted focus groups with parents across California to understand what they believe is needed in order to improve California’s child care system. On March 11, parents’ wisdom was brought to the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Early Care and Education through a final report and presentation at the Commission’s March hearing. Read more about the project and view the report here: https://lnkd.in/gQSBKHT #childcare #BlueRibbonCommissionECE #parentvoice

SPR is in the Capitol today presenting alongside parents at the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Early Care and Education hearing to discuss parent recommendations on reforming California’s child care system. Tune in here! https://lnkd.in/gzTNRtp #childcare #BlueRibbonCommissionECE #parentvoice

SPR is joining practitioners and policymakers from all over the country to build a modern youth apprenticeship for the 21st-century. #ApprenticeshipWorks #YouthApprenticeships #PAYA

We are hiring an Education & Youth Development Associate and Senior Associate in our Philanthropy, Equity and Youth and Education Divisions! Click here to learn more... https://lnkd.in/eFfdVnA #education #philanthropy

SPR is excited to serve as the evaluation partner for The San Francisco Foundation and Kaiser Permanente Thrive Keep Oakland Housed (KOH) initiative. This initiative is a coordinated strategy between the East Bay Community Law Center Catholic Charities of the East Bay and Bay Area Community Services (BACS) to prevent Oakland residents from losing their #housing and becoming homeless. https://lnkd.in/ecj5xBU

Bob Lanter, Executive Director of California Workforce Association interviews Eric Seleznow, Senior Advisor at JFF, and Vinz Koller, Senior Strategist for Capacity Building at Social Policy Research Associates (SPR), as they discuss Closing the Gap the recently released paper about the future of youth #apprenticeship in California. https://lnkd.in/gCfgDWE

Is college without debt possible? Check out this video, SPR produced in collaboration with our partners at Norco College that explains how to eliminate this paradox through #apprenticeship programs. https://youtu.be/r-5k1eBRLuc

Since 2008, SPR has conducted the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Audits on behalf of The California Endowment. This report summarizes the institutional support framework that guides this equity audit and provides links to the audit. #diversity #equity #philanthropy https://www.spra.com///TCE-Culture-of-Equity-Framework.pdf

California’s growing innovation economy is struggling to attract talent and there’s a growing mismatch between the type of talent in demand and the type of talent in supply. Read this paper by SPR and Jobs for the Future that describes why one of California’s best options for closing this talent gap is to expand and modernize the State’s apprenticeship system. The James Irvine Foundation Salesforce.org https://center4apprenticeship.jff.org//closing-gap-future/ #talentgap #apprenticeship

This year SPR worked with our clients to lead a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Audit; conduct a regional scan to explore individualized learning across three Midwest states; participate in conversations around apprenticeship in California; and much more. See our Year-in-Review. https://www.spra.com/2018/12/20/2018-year-in-review/

SPR’s education team is developing a framework to support schools and practitioners in creating culturally relevant learning environments for students. See reference to this work in The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/hamilton-cultural-relevance-an/

Come join SPR as we share our insights at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) 2018 Fall Research Conference from November 8-10, 2018 in Washington DC! https://lnkd.in/gz36s4q #research #2018appam #publicpolicy

James Fallows, founding chairman of New America is helping to kick off the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship at New America https://www.newamerica.org//partnership-advance-youth-app/

SPR is honored to be keynoting the Kern County Workforce Summit with one of our favorite topics - the future of apprenticeships.

Implications of California’s 2018-19 Budget for Career and Technical Education Career and Technical Education (CTE) is experiencing a resurgence in high schools nationwide, and California is no exception. Much of this resurgence is due to its evolution, from traditional vocational education to CTE pathways, which can provide students with a tangible leg-up for both college and career. California’s 2018-19 budget provides the financial support districts need to create, expand, and sustain high quality programs... https://www.spra.com//implications-of-californias-2018-19/

SPR is pleased to announce and welcome Raquel L. González, PhD as Director of Business Strategy and Senior Associate. Dr. González will be focused on supporting business development at SPR, engaging with clients, and developing processes and systems to support SPR’s business strategy. In addition, she will serve as a Senior Associate designing and managing studies. Dr. González has over 18 years of research and evaluation experience. Her research has focused on describing an...d understanding different pathways and experiences in education. She has content experience on early childhood education; family engagement; and recruitment and retention of a diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. Dr. González also is a mixed-methods researcher, who has led several randomized controlled trials (RCT), as well as qualitative descriptive studies. Prior to joining SPR, she was a Senior Researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) leading a portfolio of projects worth over $11 million. At AIR, she served as the Project Director for an impact evaluation of First 5 LA’s Welcome Baby home visiting program, the Program Manager for First 5 California’s Dual Language Literacy Pilot Study, and was an NSF co-Principal Investigator on a qualitative study of Master’s to PhD bridge programs. Dr. González received a doctorate in Education Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park. She also received a B. S. in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

SPR staff enjoying today's @Warriors Championship Parade! #WarriorsParade #oakland

SPR’s Vinz Koller is with Bob Lanter at the awesome Sequioa Conference Center in Eureka, CA, working with the Workforce Development Community in Humboldt County on a prosperous future through earn and learn strategies.

Getting students into college is only the first step. Ensuring students have the support they need to complete their degrees, particularly those facing greater barriers, is imperative for promoting a society built on inter-generational mobility. The REACH program designed a promising, research-informed model to do just that.

Youth Participatory Evaluation is a meaningful way to engage youth participants in the design and implementation of an evaluation that considers and reflects their values, identities, and culture. Over the last year and a half, our team at SPR has engaged youth in an evaluation of the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth programs.

On May 8th, at 10:30 am, join Vinz Koller and Kristin Wolff in in Cleveland (or via webcast), during Ohio's "IN-Demand-Jobs-Week" as they discuss "Apprenticeship 2.0: Finding the Sweet Spot for Employers and Apprentices" Apprenticeships offer great promise in the contemporary moment because they blend classroom and work-based learning, they cultivate the talent that businesses need, and they offer people opportunities to build great careers without going deeply into debt. R...egister through link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/apprenticeship-20-finding-the- Register for Webinar: https://tri-c.webex.com/tri-c/j.php Meeting number: 854 525 489 See more

Today May 7th, 10:30 am ET, join SPR's Kristin Wolff and Vinz Koller in Cleveland (or online) during Ohio's "In-Demand-Jobs-Week as they discuss "The Future of Work: Tools for Change" (webinar) Tri-C Corporate College East Room 126 4400 Richmond Road... Warrensville Hts., Ohio 44128 Record low unemployment has created opportunity for many, while economists warn of large-scale displacement as machines learn to manufacture themselves. How can the workforce advance new strategies to navigate this new world? Research leaders share what they’ve learned. Register through link to join us in person: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-work-tools-for-c Register for Webinar: https://tri-c.webex.com/tri-c/j.php Meeting number: 856 982 097

Helping WIOA programs thrive, today with the great service provider team for Santa Cruz county in Watsonville.

The future of work is reaching the farm. And just like elsewhere, the picture is complex: Robots don’t just take jobs away. They may make some jobs easier and in fact may allow some businesses to stay in business: https://www.npr.org//when-robots-milk-cows-farm-families-t

We are working on human centered design - today at the Community Foundation in Santa Cruz County. What an awesome facility!

Marian Negoita of Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) puts forth a #servicedelivery #model based on #benchmarking, iterative #planning and #design, and #err...or detection/correction mechanisms! The research could be implemented to help improve efficiency and effectiveness in #PublicSector service delivery! Read the full article at http://www.tandfonline.com///10.1080/15309576.2017.1408473 #theory #nonprofit #Government #publicservice #mpa #SuffolkUniversity #Boston #PublicAdministration #Policy #PublicSector #Performance #Measure

Career pathways programs have the potential to transform the educational and labor market landscape of the manufacturing sector. SPR conducted multiple evaluations of TAACCCT-funded career pathways programs, including the M-CAM initiative and the AMMQC initiative, both of which focused on helping to close the skills gap in manufacturing.

SPR with Jobs for the Future is at US Dept of Ed. all week for the third annual gathering on improving reentry education - hearing inspiring stories about reducing recidivism through education. The ROI is substantial!

We love co-facilitating with Bob Lanter of CWA - today at the Ventura County Workforce Development Board toward a vision that aligns earning and learning toward prosperity.

Our SPR team is at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office working on apprenticeship strategy for CA. Michael Bernick is talking about how to build partnerships to make apprenticeship programs sustainable.

The latest Dastardly Cleverness podcast episode is live! It's "Debt-Free College - and Other Ways We Could Transform Education, Jobs, and the Economy with Apprenticeships."

First snow at Boys Totem Town in St. Paul where we were strategizing on how to improve reentry education for the young talent of Minnesota. Can’t afford to waste any minds!

SPR is working with the Minnesota Department of Education on the Worlds Best Workforce strategy in Saint Paul today.

Mike Starr, GM of Boeing Portland talking to NCATC conference about how he uses Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs more than his engineering background to engage the talent, pride and passion of its workforce.

SPR’s Kristin Wolff and Vinz Koller will be talking about Remaking Apprenticeship for the Modern Workforce at the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers Fall Conference in Portland, Oregon on Friday, October 20th. https://www.spra.com//remaking-apprenticeship-for-the-mod/

SPR is at The National Coalition of Advanced Technical Centers Fall Conference this week. Portland Community College President Mark Mitsui just opened the conference, talking about how so many community college students are one sick kid - one flat tire away of from dropping out which is one reason Kristin Wolff and Vinz Koller will be talking about apprenticeships in the tech industry as a way to go to college without all the debt.

Seeking applications for a full-time researcher for our #Education Division https://www.spra.com/about-spr/careers/

Gates Foundation selects SPR to perform Evaluation for Washington State Strategy https://www.spra.com//gates-foundation-selects-spr-to-per/

See you at APPAM! https://www.spra.com/2017/10/12/see-you-at-appam/

Excited about the California Workforce Association's Fall conference in Monterey next week. I'm moderating a couple of sessions on the 'Apprenticeship Advantage' where we look at ways to reimagine work based education in California. And best of all, we are bringing the Swiss model to Monterey, with former US Ambassador to Switzerland Suzi and Eric LeVine and Katie Caves of the Swiss Economics Institute talking about how they are supporting the adaptation of Swiss style apprenticeships in the US.

Meet SPR at Meeting of the Minds 2017! https://www.spra.com//09/01/meet-spr-at-meeting-of-the-mi/

Excited to hear from Dr. Katie Caves of the Swiss Economics Institute talking about ways in which countries around the world have applied the Swiss dual vocational education model. Bottom line, its highly demand driven and works best as a whole eco-system.

Nice to see Colorado's work on reinventing apprenticeship get some national attention. https://www.google.com//colorado-apprenticeship-program-tu

The global economy is on the cusp of profound economic shifts stemming from the diffusion of new technologies such as robots, self-driving vehicles, and machine learning and the impacts they are likely to have on the US economy and the world as a whole. https://www.spra.com/job-training-for-the-automation-age/

Evidence in Action: Connecting Workforce Innovation Fund Evaluation Results to the Implementation of WIOA https://www.spra.com/2017/06/28/evidence-in-action/

For #workforceweek, SPR's Kate Dunham & Annelies Goger on #jobtraining for the #automation age on @KQED_CalReport: http://bit.ly/2stKqmI

A gold standard study focuses on help for the persistently #unemployed. Read The Hill's look at our work with MDRC, Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) and the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce.

We have just posted for a senior quantitative associate in our Workforce Development and Human Services Division. Please help forward this job announcement through your networks, and encourage them to apply at: http://www.spra.com/about-spr/careers/

There are rarely panaceas in any field, but the 21st century apprenticeship model (as part of a comprehensive dual education system) as practiced in Germany and Switzerland comes as close as it gets by combining workforce development, youth development, and employer engagement at a whole new level. https://www.nytimes.com//factory-workers-college-degree-ap

The risk of assuming there are average minds... http://www.gse.harvard.edu/ne//17/01/bored-out-their-minds

We are actively hiring for a Senior Associate for the Philanthropy, Equity and Youth Division, as well as an Associate/Senior Associate with expertise in Facilitation, Training, and Capacity Building. https://www.spra.com/about-spr/careers/

Filming coach operator apprenticeship program in San Jose, California

Taping Bus Operators in training using Feldenkrais methods to stay limber while driving city buses. They are part of VTA's apprenticeship program.