La Follette School director Carolyn Heinrich is expanding her evaluation of federally mandated tutoring programs in Milwaukee public schools thanks to a four-year $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
Heinrich and colleagues Patricia Burch and Rob Meyer have added Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas and Austin, Texas, to their study of the effectiveness of tutoring services offered by private pro-viders and local educational agencies in improving student achievement in schools that are not meeting standards under No Child Left Behind.
A book Heinrich edited with University of Wisconsin-Madison economist John Karl Scholz reassesses U.S. labor market policies and examines areas of the safety net where policies and institutions should be changed to better help low-income families. Published by the Russell Sage Foundation, Making the Work-Based Safety Net Work Better examines eight areas where the safety net fails families and describes how policies and institutions could evolve to enhance their self-sufficiency.
“Putting work first was the core idea behind the 1996 federal welfare reform, legislation, but this goal collides with reality,” Heinrich says. “The degree to which work provides a way out of poverty depends greatly on the ability of low-skilled people to maintain stable employment and make progress toward an income that provides an adequate standard of living.”
This article appeared in the fall 2009 La Follette Notes newsletter for alumni and friends.
— posted October 9, 2009