ClassInfo

Section 1: Education Policy & Reform (Judy Temple)

The purpose of this capstone is to explore current policy and management challenges in the field of public education. We will explore various reform/innovation initiatives in preschool - college education in the United States.

Spring 2019 capstone project teams will work with organizations that are focused on education at different levels (preschool, high school, and college). Depending on the number of students in the class, the following three capstone projects will be offered.

1. Integrating early childhood data (Client: Scott County)
   
   
   Description: Research studies show that a lack of proficiency in reading by third grade predicts educational and economic success into adulthood. Understanding child developmental progress along the path to third grade reading is therefore essential to ensure that all children have the opportunity to be successful. Scott County would like to explore the idea of tracking child outcomes and engagement with relevant social and educational services from birth to age 8. Students will explore the availability of data from various programs that could inform efforts to track progress on early development and learning. Students will investigate what early childhood data integration models are being used successfully in other cities and counties across the United States and what steps would need to be undertaken to pursue data sharing arrangements in Scott County to better track children's developmental progress. What barriers exist to sharing early childhood data? Is there evidence that data sharing and coordination among early childhood programs could improve proficiency rates in reading by third grade?

2. Policy issues in Post Secondary Enrollment Opportunities (PSEO) in Minnesota (Client: People for PSEO)
   
   
   Description: PSEO is an academic option available in MN since 1985 that allows certain high school students to take classes at universities and college for free and get both high school and college credit. People for PSEO is a nonprofit organization devoted to working with families, students, education institutions and lawmakers "to inform, defend and expand opportunities for Minnesota students" through the PSEO program. Students will work with the client to identify key issues that may be affecting participation in PSEO.

3. Predictors of high school graduation, dropout, 2
   and 4 year college attendance and persistence from the U.S. High School Longitudinal Study of 2009. (Client:
   tbd)
   
   
   Description: Students will use newly available follow-up data from the HSLS 2009. In this nationally-representative data set of 9th graders surveyed extensively in 2009, researchers are able to examine the transition from the early high school years into early adulthood as of age 21. In this quantitative project, students will work with a publicly available large data set and use the Stata software package to identify key predictors of important educational and economic outcomes such as school completion and the transition into the workforce or higher education and how these predictors and outcomes vary across socio-economic lines. Students will work with the client to determine specific questions of interest. Students will work together to put together an introduction with useful data analyses and then each student will work independently on answering their own particular empirical question.