Lynn A. Karoly

This report provides initial findings from the evaluation of the Senate Bill 1041 reforms to the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program, with implementation informed by an All-County Survey, state-level interviews, and interviews and focus groups in six focal counties, plus initial insights on participant outcomes explored with state administrative data and nationally representative data from the Current Population Survey.

The authors find that well-targeted early intervention programs for at-risk children, such as nurse home visits to first-time mothers and high-quality pre-school education, can yield substantial advantages to participants in terms of emotional and cognitive development, education, economic well-being and health.

The report presents a rigorous retrospective analysis of the costs and benefits of LifeSet, a Youth Villages program that provides case management and other services for young adults, ages 17 to 22, aging out of the foster care system. The analysis examines the resources required to implement LifeSet-and therefore program costs-and the economic value of the effects of the program, based on a prior impact evaluation conducted in Tennessee.

This report examines evaluations of early childhood programs that meet criteria for scientific rigor and synthesizes their results to better understand program outcomes, costs, and benefits. It focuses on programs serving children or parents of children from the prenatal period to age 5. The programs reviewed use approaches alone or in combination that include early care and education, home visiting, parent education, and government transfers.

In July 2012, the City of Santa Monica Human Services Division and the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District contracted with the RAND Corporation to conduct an assessment of child care programs in Santa Monica. The project sought to assess how well Santa Monica s early and school-age care programs meet the needs of families. Recommendations for improvement focused on advancing access, quality, service delivery, and financial sustainability."

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential program coupled with post-residential mentoring that seeks to alter the life course of high school dropouts ages 16-18. A cost-benefit analysis employing estimates of the program's effectiveness from a random assignment program evaluation indicates that every dollar invested in the ChalleNGe program yields $2.66 in social benefits, an estimated return on investment of 166 percent.

This California Preschool Study examined the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education in California. This fourth and final analysis integrates the results from the series of studies and makes recommendations for preschool policy in the state.

This title describes the education and labor market initiatives implemented or under way in four countries in the Arab region - Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates - to address the human resource issues they each face as they prepare their countries for a place in the 21st century global economy. Together, these countries highlight the variety of challenges faced by countries in the region and responses to those challenges.

The Qatar Supreme Council for Family Affairs is developing a social indicators database system that will provide essential information for assessing the well-being of families in Qatar. This report, which presents the final results of an analysis by the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute, addresses questions related to the implementation, use, and maintenance of the database, as well as its potential short- and long-term benefits.

During the 1990s the United States undertook the greatest social policy reform since the Social Security Act of 1935. In Welfare Reform: Effects of a Decade of Change, Jeffrey Grogger and Lynn Karoly assemble evidence from numerous studies, including nearly three dozen social experiments, to assess how welfare reform has affected behavior. To broaden our understanding of this wide-ranging policy reform, the authors evaluate the evidence in relation to an economic model of behavior. The evidence they collect reveals the trade-offs that policymakers face in achieving the conflicting goals of promoting work, reducing dependency, and alleviating need among the poor. Finally, the authors identify numerous areas where important gaps remain in our understanding of the effects of welfare reform.The book will be a crucial resource for policy economists, social policy specialists, other professionals concerned with welfare policy, and students.

One-liner: Increased interest in California and other states in providing universal access to publicly funded preschool education is behind this study's aims to analyze the economic returns from investing in high-quality preschool education in California. 450-character abstract: There is increased interest in California and other states in providing universal access to publicly funded preschool education. In considering such a program, policymakers and the public focus on the potential benefits and costs of such a program. This study aims to inform such deliberations by conducting an analysis of the economic returns from investing in high-quality preschool education in the state of California.

Increased interest in California and other states in providing universal access to publicly funded preschool education is behind this study's aims to analyze the economic returns from investing in high-quality preschool education in California.. There is increased interest in California and other states in providing universal access to publicly funded preschool education. In considering such a program, policymakers and the public focus on the potential benefits and costs of such a program. This study aims to inform such deliberations by conducting an analysis of the economic returns from investing in high-quality preschool education in the state of California.

This title looks at the likely evolution of the U.S. workforce and workplace over the next 10 to 15 years, focusing on demographics, technology and globalization.