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"Contains brief summaries of 240 known completed social experiments. Each summary outlines the cost and time frame of the demonstration, the treatments tested, outcomes of interest, sample sizes and target population, research components, major findings, important methodological limitations and design issues encountered, and other relevant topics. In addition, very brief outlines of 21 experiments and one quasi experiment still in progress [as of April 2003] are also provided"--p. 3.
Almost everyone would like to see the enactment of sound, practical measures to help disadvantaged people get off welfare and find jobs at decent wages, and over the past quarter-century federal and state governments have struggled to develop just such programs. How do we know whether they are having the hoped-for effect? How do we know whether these vast outlays of money are helping the people they are designed to reach? All welfare and training programs have been subject to professional evaluations, including social experiments and demonstrations designed to test new ideas. This book reviews what we have discovered from past assessments and suggests how welfare and training programs should be planned for the 1990s. The authors of this volume, each a recognized expert in the evaluation of social programs, do more than summarize what we have learned so far. They clarify why the issue of the proper conduct and interpretation of evaluations has itself been a subject of continuing controversy. In part, the problem is organizational, requiring the integrated efforts of social scientists, public officials, and the professionals who execute evaluations. In addition, there is a dispute about scientific method: should evaluators try to understand the complex social processes that make programs succeed (or fail), or should they focus on inputs and outputs, treating the programs themselves as "black boxes" whose machinery remains hidden? Evaluating Welfare and Training Programs will be important for policy researchers and evaluation professionals, social scientists concerned with evaluation methods, public officials working in social policy, and students of public policy, economics, and social work.
"Good government" is commonly seen either as a formidable challenge, a distant dream, or an oxymoron, and yet it is the reason why Wisconsin led America toward welfare reform. In this book, Lawrence Mead shows in depth what the Badger State did and--just as important--how it was done. Wisconsin's welfare reform was the most radical in the country, and it began far earlier than that in most other states. It was the achievement of legislators and administrators who were unusually high-minded and effective by national standards. Their decade-long struggle to overhaul welfare is a gripping story that inspires hope for better solutions to poverty nationwide. Mead shows that Wisconsin succeeded--not just because it did the right things, but because its government was unusually masterful. Politicians collaborated across partisan lines, and administrators showed initiative and creativity in revamping welfare. Although Wisconsin erred at some points, it achieved promising policies, which then had good outcomes in terms of higher employment and reduced dependency. Mead also shows that these lessons hold nationally. It is states with strong good-government traditions, such as Wisconsin, that typically have implemented welfare reform best. Thus, solutions to poverty must finally look past policies and programs to the capacities of government itself. Although governmental quality is uneven across the states, it is also improving, and that bodes well for better antipoverty policies in the future.
Tom Corbett takes us on a wild ride over the past four decades of welfare reform and antipoverty policy making. Drawing on his personal experiences in both academia and government, he exposes the raw realities of doing policy. Tom celebrates his policy life as an adventure, both challenging yet totally rewarding. He tells this story with a deft and light touch, bringing the characters and events to life with wit, wisdom, and sensitivity. It is a journey accessible to all who care about our nation and about our most vulnerable citizens.
A hearing was held on education, training, and service programs that serve disadvantaged teens. Testimony was presented on recent research findings concerning these programs and on their implementation. The major lessons learned from the Summer Training and Employment (STEP) program were presented, including those of implementation and impact. A second topic was a discussion of the effectiveness of three programs serving teenage mothers on welfare: New Chance (for mothers who have dropped out of school); Learning, Earning, and Parenting (LEAP), an Ohio program for teen parents; and Demonstrations of Innovative Approaches to Reduce Welfare Dependency among Teen Parents. A third topic was the discussion of the work provisions of the Family Support Act of 1988. The following witnesses addressed the hearing: (1) Milton J. Little, Manpower Demonstration Research Corp.; (2) Deanna Phelps, Maryland Department of Human Resources; (3) Alan M. Hershey, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.; (4) Kevin W. Concannon, Oregon Department of Human Resources; and (5) Michael A. Bailin and Frances Vilella-Velez, Public/Private Ventures. Three submissions for the record are included. (SLD)
Explores the role that public opinion plays in the development of social policy in the United States.
In The Boat Captains Conundrum, author Tom Corbett completes an intellectual journey that reflects on his four-plus decades as a scholar and doer of social policy. That journey starts with Ouch, Now I Remember in which he recounts his early days growing up in a closed, working class, ethnic community from which he underwent several transformative experiences that broadened his worldview. In Browsing Through My Candy Store, the author shared his struggles while confronting many of the most vexing poverty and welfare battles of the last half century. This final volume, the Boat Captains Conundrum, completes the trilogy. This work takes the reader on quite a different journey, a path that goes deeper into how to think about the big policy issues and social challenges of our times. In the end, Corbett makes a number of compelling points. Becoming a successful policy wonk is more than conquering the technical skills of doing quantitative analysis. It demands that we do more than merely dissect issues with analytical acumen. Rather, doing good policy work requires creativity, imagination, breadth of interests, a nimble and acquisitive mind, historical depth, and just a little rebellious risk-taking. But if you can conjure up such traits, there is no better way to spend your professional life. Follow the author as he shares his take on how to do policy work well and even make a contribution to the public good. Get inside his head as he struggled to make sense out of the more daunting social challenges of the late twentieth century. Above all, enjoy his wistful and sometimes witty wanderings as seen through a policy wonks eye where he touches upon mind-numbing conundrums with deft insight. It is a great journey to be enjoyed both by students of policy and all those concerned with public life.