Building Medical Homes: Lessons From Eight States With Emerging Programs

Profiles states' progress in developing and implementing medical home programs, strategies to encourage primary care providers' adoption, and states' ability to convene stakeholders, help improve and evaluate performance, and address antitrust concerns

Investing In Veterans: The Need for Career and Education Advising

Federal education benefits for veterans represent a substantial investment -- $18 billion since 2009 under the Post-9/11 GI Bill -- in the development of a skilled American workforce. Unfortunately, this investment does not always pay off because many veterans encounter serious obstacles as they attempt to navigate the difficult terrain of the higher education system and the labor market. Access to career and education advising programs would enable more veterans to successfully complete degrees and to pursue satisfying careers.This paper surveys the career and education advising options currently available to veterans via military reintegration programs, web-based resources, non-profit service providers, and colleges and universities. It concludes that additionalm career and education advising resources are needed -- especially those available to veterans prior to enrollment in postsecondary institutions -- to ensure that veterans are able to take full advantage of their federal education benefits. This paper offers specific recommendations for helping veterans make informed choices about how to use their education benefits at each stage of the transition process

Opportunities and Challenges: A Community Perspective on Nonprofit Services for Latinos and Community Need

Opportunities and Challenges: A Community Perspective on Nonprofit Services for Latinos and Community Need provides an important snapshot of the current nonprofit services, capacity gaps, and barriers to service from the perspectives of Latino community members and nonprofit leaders in four communities in the metropolitan Chicago area. It builds on reports by the Institute for Latino Studies and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that document the features of this important demographic shift, the economic, social, and cultural roles Latinos play, and challenges facing Latinos in the Chicago metropolitan area. It also builds on a recent report by the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago and the Chicago Community Trust that describes the work of nonprofit health and human services organizations in light of broader demographic shifts, policy changes, and stagnant and decreased funding

Talent Is Ready: Promising Practices for Helping Immigrant Professionals

Outlines the need to better integrate highly skilled immigrants into the workforce, promising practices in assessment and advising, skill building, and organizational capacity building; and tips and insights for nonprofits, funders, and policy makers

Promise for the Future: How Federal Programs Can Improve Career Outcomes for Youth & Young Adults with Serious Mental Health Conditions

This report focuses on a critical area of mental health policy – how to assist youth and young adults with serious mental health conditions with improved prospects for successful independent living and economic security through education, job training and community services and supports. It identifies and discusses the array of federal programs that can be deployed to help these individuals through the transition into adulthood; includes recommendations on how state and local policymakers can make the best use of these programs; and suggests changes that should be made to make them more accessible and more effective

Seeking Effective Policies and Practices for Students with Special Needs

Data from the 2008 administration of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) examination reveal an alarming 84% of districts did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress for the "special education subgroup" in both subject areas. In addition, 53% of Grade 10 special education students failed to earn a passing score on the MCAS in all three subject areas (ELA, math, science and technology).In light of these findings, the Rennie Center's recent report, entitled Seeking Effective Policies and Practices for Students with Special Needs, highlights schools making progress in educating students with special needs. The Rennie Center's study features four districts, two vocational technical high schools and one additional K-8 school that is "beating the odds" in serving students with special needs. The report examines the status of special education in the Commonwealth including legislation surrounding special education, the incidence of students receiving special education services and the distribution of students by disability type in different types of districts. These include the state's ten large urban districts, the 50 most demographically advantaged districts, charter schools and vocational technical schools. Among the findings, vocational technical schools educate more special education students (23%) than all other types of districts yet spend less on special education students and get solid results. Out of the 25 districts with the lowest percentage of special education spending, 23 are vocational schools.The report identifies the core practices of districts ranking in the top 5-10% for growth in the performance of students with special needs. Districts that are making progress no longer isolate students with special needs in separate classrooms; instead they adapt their general education classrooms to accommodate the needs of all students. These districts have adopted a culture in which faculty view "all kids as my kids" and in which general and special education teachers collaborate to design curriculum that meets the needs of all learners -- including those with special needs.In a series of recommended next steps, the report offers several considerations for district leaders and state policymakers. It highlights the importance of data, including the use of ongoing formative assessment to provide teachers with timely feedback. The report recommends that schools and districts adapt their instructional practice and curriculum to best meet diverse students' needs. The Rennie Center report also pushes for further study of effective practices found within the state's thirty vocational technical schools. Finally, the report urges the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and districts to work together to disseminate effective practices in educating students with special needs

Improving the Yields in Higher Education: Findings from Lumina Foundation's State-Based Efforts to Increase Productivity in U.S. Higher Education

In 2008, Lumina asked SPEC Associates (SPEC) to evaluate the foundation's grant making aimed at improving the productivity of higher education through statewide policy and program change. The initiative was initially known as Making Opportunity Affordable and later became known more broadly as Lumina's higher education productivity initiative. Eleven states received planning grants in 2008 and a year later seven of these states received multi-year grants to implement their productivity plans. In 2009, Lumina published Four Steps to Finishing First in Higher Education to frame the content of its productivity work. In 2010, the foundation, working with HCM Strategists, launched the Strategy Labs Network to deliver just-in-time technical assistance, engagement, informationsharing and convenings to states. Lumina engaged SPEC to evaluate these productivity investments in the seven states through exploring this over-arching question: What public will building, advocacy, public policy changes, and system or statewide practices are likely to impact higher education productivity for whom and in what circumstances, and which of these are likely to be sustainable, transferable, and/or scalable

21st Century Skills for 21st Century Jobs

Joint Agency Report21stCenturySkillsJobs.pdf: 8198 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Building Medical Homes in State Medicaid and CHIP Programs

Presents strategies, best practices, and lessons learned from ten states' efforts to advance the medical home model of comprehensive and coordinated care in Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Programs in order to improve quality and contain costs