Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2015
Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Job Creation
Project Director: Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D.
Funded by: National Science Foundation
This project examines the role of immigrant entrepreneurs in fostering innovation, creating jobs, and growing the U.S. economy. It identifies how skilled immigrants choose to start firms, what the effects are for overall U.S. innovation and employment, and which specific geographic areas and industries are most affected by the process. The results reveal entirely novel information that is of significant importance both for the public discussion on the impacts of immigration, as well as for actual science and innovation policy making and design of immigration programs.Research & Action Report,Spring/Summer 2015
Segregation and Job-to-Job Mobility
Project Director: Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D.
Funded by: Institute for Social Research, University of Oslo (with Norwegian Research Council)
This sub-project draws on an ongoing collaboration between the research partners, where Erling Barth, Ph.D. and Claudia Olivetti, Ph.D. use Norwegian time-use survey data to study the effect of performance pay on the allocation of tasks within the household, and where Barth, Kerr, and Olivetti have started analyzing worker mobility and earnings in the U.S.-linked employer employee data; both examples of work that will also benefit this project.
New Firms and Founders: Characteristics of Entrepreneurs in the United States
Project Director: Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D.
Funded by: Anonymous Funding Source
This project will produce detailed new information on the demographic characteristics and personality traits of founders who are responsible for creating new U.S. firms and generating jobs. The project relies on both large national data sets as well as experimental evidence from Cambridge Innovation Center (MA). The results are of significant importance both for the public discussion on the impacts of entrepreneurship as well as for actual policy making and the design of local and national programs.
Hey NHS . . . How are you?: Addressing Depression in the Natick High School Community
Project Director: Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D.
Funded by: The Leonard Morse Grants Panel of the MetroWest Health Foundation
This comprehensive program will begin with a concentrated effort to increase mental health literacy in the Natick (MA) High School community, and to prepare the community for a broad-based screening and intervention approach to the problem of youth depression/suicidal behavior. Then, with parental permission, all teens in the Natick High School community will receive a phone call to screen them for depressive symptoms and for an indication of suicidal behavior. Teens who are in need of immediate intervention will be connected with local mental health resources; teens who endorse current depressive symptoms and/or a past history of depressive disorder (i.e., “at-risk teens”) will be referred to an open trial of an Internet-based depression prevention program. All referred teens will be followed with periodic assessments of symptoms and service utilization.
Improving Two-Generation Approaches for Children and Family
Project Director: Layli Maparyan, Ph.D.
Funded by: W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The Wellesley Centers for Women has been commissioned to prepare a white paper and two research reviews that will frame the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s approach to two-generation strategies related to advancing family economic security and children’s education and learning simultaneously. At the heart of these papers will be the Kellogg Foundation’s historic focus on addressing structural inequity in the areas of race and economic status, with community solution-building at the center.
Afterschool Matters Initiative
Project Director: Georgia Hall, Ph.D.
Funded by: Robert Bowne Foundation
The Afterschool Matters Initiative includes the National Afterschool Matters (NASM) Fellowship Program and the Afterschool Matters Journal. New funding has been received from the Robert Bowne Foundation for the National Institute on Out-of-School Time’s (NIOST) continued work on this initiative. The NASM Fellowship is an intensive professional development opportunity in which out-of-school-time (OST) professionals from a range of youth-serving organizations and experiences engage in a facilitated inquiry-based experience to enhance their own practice and improve program quality and experiences for children and youth. Based at NIOST, the program works in partnership with the National Writing Project (NWP). Fellows participate in facilitated virtual meetings over the course of two years to produce products such as manuscripts for publication, conference presentations, blogs, or recorded webinars. Prior to 2015, fellowships occurred locally in Minneapolis, MN, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, and Seattle, WA. (New York and New Jersey’s fellowships are still in operation in 2015.) The Afterschool Matters Journal is a peer-reviewed journal that is produced semi-annually and highlights the work of OST researchers, NASM Fellows, OST practitioners, and other related professionals. The Afterschool Matters Journal is dedicated to promoting professionalism, advancing scholarship, and shaping policy in the OST field.
Digital STEM Badge and Assessment Project
Project Director: Georgia Hall, Ph.D.
Funded by: Noyce Foundation (with Providence After School Alliance)
The National Institute on Out-of-School Time will develop and pilot a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) digital badge that connects existing student assessments with CitySpan’s web-based program management tool.
Evaluation of “BridgeUp: STEM”
Project Director: Georgia Hall, Ph.D.
Funded by: American Museum of Natural History
The National Institute on Out-of-School Time is serving as the research and evaluation study partner to BridgeUp: STEM an initiative of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in Manhattan, New York. The focus of the study will be on the delivery of Computational Science (CS) and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning experiences in the context of the education, science, and research resources of the AMNH to a cohort of New York City high school girls.The study includes both summative evaluation components along with consultation towards program design and development during the start-up phase.The research team expects the information collected, shared, and translated from this study and consultation to be informative to BridgeUp: STEM and enhance the quality of the initiative’s experiences for participating youth, families, and Museum staff.
Assessing the Professional Development Needs of BPS Early Childhood Programs
Project Director: Nancy Marshall, Ed.D.
Funded by: City of Boston, Boston Public Schools (with Abt Associates)
The primary goals of this project are to describe the quality of Boston Public School early childhood programs in public schools and in community-based programs, and examine the contributions of current Boston Public School initiatives to quality programs.
Additional Funding
Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D. received additional funding from the National Institute of Health for CATCHIT/ PATH project with the University of Illinois. Collaborating with Boston Children’s Hospital, Gladstone also received additional funding from Sidney R. Baer Foundation for both “Understanding and Coping with Mental Illness: Taking Family Prevention to Scale” and “Family Matters: Preventing Adolescent Depression by Treating Parents and Families.”
Georgia Hall, Ph.D. received additional funding from the Robert Wood Johnston Foundation for “Obesity and Chronic Disease Risk Reduction in Out-of-School Time: Crafting a Special Issue of New Directions for Youth Development”
Amy Hoffman, M.F.A. received continued funding from Massachusetts Cultural Council for the Women’s Review of Books at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). The Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at WCW received gifts from various individuals and supporters.
Nancy Marshall, Ed.D. provided analyses of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test PPVT-4 and Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening PASs data to Nurtury. The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at WCW received support for training, technical assistance projects and continuing evaluations from Wyoming Afterschool Alliance, Minnesota Department of Education 21st CCLC, Belle Chasse Academy, Denver Public Schools, Capitol Region Education Council, City of Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation Department, Boston Public Schools, New Jersey School-Age Care Coalition, Reebok International, YMCA, Boston After School and Beyond, Thompson Island Outward Bound, Providence After School Alliance, the American Museum of Natural History, and City Connect Detroit. The Open Circle program at WCW received various gifts from friends and supporters of the social and emotional learning program.
Joanne Roberts, Ph.D. provided Environmental Rating Scales (ERS) Observations and Data Collection to EEC for their Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). Dr. Roberts also received continuing support under a Providence Plan grant from the U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) for “Empowering Families”. With the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, Dr. Roberts provided support to EEC for their Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) validation study.
Wendy Robeson, Ed.D. with Nancy Marshall, Ed.D. provided Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test PPVT-4 and Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening PASs PreK training to Nurtury. Robeson received continuing support from Thrive in Five of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley for both “Boston Quality Inventory 2013: Community Early Care and Education Programs” and “Ready Educators Pilot: Linking Program Improvement to Child Outcomes.”
Nan Stein, Ed.D. consulted with the University of Pittsburgh for the National Institutes of Healthfunded project “Emergence of Gender Inequitable Practice in Adolescence.” Stein also provided Shifting Boundaries Training and Consultation to California Coalition against Sexual Assault (CALCASA). Stein received National Institute of Justice consulting contracts to provide training on Shifting Boundaries (see page 14).
