Examining Comprehensive School Reform (Book)Author(s): Daniel K. Aladjem,
Kathryn M. BormanUrban school reformers for decades have tried to improve educational outcomes for underserved and disadvantaged students, with the assistance of constantly evolving federal and state policies. In recent years, education policies have shifted from targeting individual students to developing universal standards for teaching and learning, and comprehensive school reform (CSR) has emerged as an effective key model. The federal CSR program seeks to support the implementation of comprehensive school reform, especially in high-poverty schools, and to improve efforts to help all children meet challenging academic standards. Schools that receive federal CSR funds must adopt approaches that comply with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). This book provides a series of studies and reflections on CSR by leading experts in the field.
The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax (Research Report)Author(s): Greg Leiserson,
Jeff RohalyThe individual alternative minimum tax (AMT) was originally enacted in 1969 to guarantee that high-income individuals paid at least a minimal amount of tax. Due to design flaw, however, the AMT threatens to grow from a footnote in the tax code to a major component affecting tens of millions of taxpayers every year. Absent a change in law, more than 30 million taxpayers will become subject to the AMT by 2010. This document presents and discusses updated estimates of AMT participation, revenue, and the distribution of AMT liability.
| Posted: November 10, 2006 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Strategies to Support Child Care Subsidy Access and Retention (Research Report)Author(s): Kathleen Snyder,
Patti Banghart,
Gina AdamsThough child care subsidies are an important work support, subsidy policies can make participation challenging. This report highlights subsidy agency strategies to lower participation barriers in seven Midwestern states, and discusses their experiences and tradeoffs (i.e. staff workload, improper payments, and program costs). Strategies are in eight policy areas: linking subsidies to other social services; improving customer service practices; simplifying application processes; simplifying recertification requirements; simplifying reporting requirements; minimizing subsidy breaks; assisting parents with nontraditional work schedules; and assisting parents with language barriers. It identifies key themes and provides a guide to help policymakers interested in better supporting families.
Forum: Making Taxes and Welfare Work Together (Nov 7, 2006) (Audio Files / First Tuesdays)Author(s): The Urban InstituteRobert Lerman and Eugene Steuerle, Urban Institute; Iris Lav, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Jon Forman, University of Oklahoma; Janet Holtzblatt, U.S. Department of the Treasury debate combining dozens of uncoordinated tax and welfare programs into a comprehensive system of refundable tax credits. Jon Forman's new book, Making America Work provides the backdrop.
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[First Tuesdays Audio File]
| Posted: November 07, 2006 | Availability: HTML |
How Cultural Heritage Organizations Serve Communities (Policy Briefs)Author(s): Carole E. RosensteinAcross the United States, nonprofit cultural heritage organizations serve communities by helping people to remember their shared experiences and aspirations, building and sustaining a sense of community through fairs, folklife programs, public celebrations of music, food, and holidays. This brief uses NCCS Form 990 data to examine the finances and programs of these organizations. It finds that cultural heritage organizations tend to be small, to blend program areas, to make cultural difference central to their work, and they show important program and organizational variation across ethnic groups. These key characteristics should be taken into account when supporting cultural heritage organizations.
Awareness and Access to Care for Children and Youth with Epilepsy (Research Report)Author(s): Barbara A. OrmondThis needs assessment, conducted for District of Columbia Department of Health (DC-DOH), presents findings from a literature review, analyses of Medicaid enrollment and hospital discharge data, interviews with key informants, a survey of school nurses, and findings from focus groups with young adults with epilepsy and caretakers of young adults with epilepsy in DC. It suggests changes within the health services delivery system for children and youth with epilepsy related to the following goals identified by DC-DOH: early detection, diagnosis, and treatment; improved access to medical homes; reduced stigma; reduced language and cultural barriers; and sustained systems change.
Should we subsidize work? Welfare reform, the earned income tax credit and optimal transfers (Research Report)Author(s): Gregory Acs,
Eric ToderDuring the 1990s, US income-transfer and tax policies shifted towards trying to encourage work among low-income families. Optimal tax theory, however, suggests that work subsidies are usually an inefficient way to raise the incomes of poor families unless the work effort of recipients has external benefits and/or taxpayer/voters prefer redistributing income to the working poor rather than the idle poor. This paper discusses the conditions under which work subsidies may be economically efficient and assesses empirical evidence suggesting that welfare reform and expansions of the EITC have increased work effort among low income families, but is inconclusive about whether the policy shift has enabled them to advance beyond entry-level jobs or benefited their children.
| Posted: October 30, 2006 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
Working for a Good Retirement (Series/Older Americans' Economic Security)Author(s): Barbara Butrica,
Karen E. Smith,
C. Eugene Steuerle(Brief) Workers who delay retirement can save more and contribute more to the economy. Using the Urban Institute's Dynamic Simulation of Income model (DYNASIM3), this brief shows that someone who works an extra five years could increase retirement spending by more than half. Also, work-inducing reforms—rather than reforms that simply reduce benefits—help close the Social Security funding gap.
| Posted: October 26, 2006 | Availability: HTML | PDF |
The Nonprofit Sector in Brief (Research Report)Author(s): Thomas H. Pollak,
Amy BlackwoodThis brief highlights key findings from the Nonprofit Almanac 2007, prepared by the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute. The Almanac is the latest in our series of statistical profiles of the nonprofit sector.
Nonprofits' Decade of Growth Outpaces Economy (Press Release)Author(s): The Urban InstituteWhile the nation's gross domestic product grew by an inflation-adjusted 36.6 percent from 1994 to 2004, the nonprofit sector's revenues increased 61.5 percent, according to a new compendium of nonprofit facts from the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics. The sector's expenses and assets grew at even faster pace: 62.6 and 90.7 percent, respectively.
| Posted: October 26, 2006 | Availability: HTML |
