As we begin the New Year, ASR wants to thank you for all your dedication to the well-being of your communities.  We are also extremely excited to continue working with you to use your data to show your impact on individuals and communities.

The ASR team is eager to share how usable research can promote lasting change.  ASR can assist in communicating your data findings and help you move from data to action. 

If you are interested in building support for the work you do, we want to help your efforts in collecting information related to your organization or program, and help show how you are making a difference in people's lives.  It is an exciting time for those looking to improve community well-being, and we look forward to helping people build better communities. 

Please feel free to contact me at 831-728-1356 or email me at susan@appliedsurveyresearch.org. 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year,

Susan Brutschy

Highlighting ASR's longitudinal analysis of school readiness and student achievement, John Schnur wrote an article for Time about unlocking a child's potential. Drawing from ASR's report, he focused on school readiness and self-regulation as important indicators of success for young children, focusing on data that showed these students were three times more likely to score "Proficient" or "Advanced" in English-Language Arts and twice as likely to score "Proficient" or "Advanced" in Math.

Transitional Kindergarten (TK) programs are aimed at children whose birthdays are in the months of September through November, as research indicates these "young kinders" are often not developmentally ready for kindergarten and may struggle to keep up in kindergarten and in later grades.   By providing an extra year of kindergarten, Transitional Kindergarten will help them keep pace with their older schoolmates and meet important educational and social benchmarks.

Transitional Kindergarten is a statewide educational endeavor of immense magnitude, and we at ASR know that, above all, our partners want to implement a TK program that really delivers on its promise to young students. As schools across California are preparing to create TK programs, ASR is creating a framework to evaluate these new programs. Using our experience gained conducting school readiness assessments in over 80 school districts throughout California, ASR has developed three  evaluation options to better help districts plan, implement and evaluate their new TK programs. 

1. We have a free, short tool to help districts: (1) track their own progress in setting up a successful TK program district-wide; and (2) record school-level design differences (e.g., full day/ part day, blended TK/ K, curriculum used, teaching modality) in how TK "rolls out."  We believe this process data will be essential to help districts understand which TK components relate to the best outcomes.   
2. We have a low-cost, limited-support, self-evaluation model.  ASR recommends a small set of critical outcome indicators that districts should track for TK students (e.g., kindergarten readiness, first grade readiness, retentions, remediation, third grade CST scores), and we will provide tools and training for measuring these outcomes.   
3. We have a more comprehensive, ASR-led TK evaluation model.ASR will work with districts to: (1) review and finalize the critical TK process and outcome questions that need to be answered for schools, districts, regions, or county-wide; and (2) create a scope of work and costs to answer those questions.  

Please contact Kristi Kelly, PhD, Director of Research, at 408-247-8319 if you'd like more information about ASR's approach to measuring the new TK programs.  

ASR recently completed an evaluation of six San Mateo County programs funded by juvenile probation, and found significant increases in developmental assets.  During its 3 years of operation, the initiativeserved approximately 4,000 middle and high school youth and 600 parents. The initiative identified 18 assets to focus on and worked with both youth and their parents as part of an effort to produce positive change.  Pre and post test data revealed a large increase in the percentage of youth with high assets, and similarly, a substantial reduction in the percentage of youth with low assets.

The United Way of Santa Cruz County released their 17th annual Community Assessment Project (CAP) in November, 2011.  The CAP project began in 1994 and ASR is proud to have been their research partner from the very beginning.  The CAP project has helped local residents and agencies get a snapshot of what's going well and what needs improvement in the county.

Data from the new report and a telephone survey of residents showed that anincreasing number of people in the county felt they were better off financially this year than in 2009, despite the high cost of living in Santa Cruz County.  Even with the overall improved financial picture for some residents, Latino respondents continue to be significantly more likely than Caucasian respondents to go without basic needs.  In terms of education, most Santa Cruz County students passed the English and Math portions of the High School Exit Exam, and a vast majority of telephone survey respondents were satisfied with the local system of education.  There has been an increase in terms of the total crimes committed in Santa Cruz County, reflection on the county's crime rate shows it is on par with the state of California.

The Pajaro Valley Community Health Trust (PVCHT) contracted with ASR to conduct additional surveys of residents in the Pajaro Valley, a region in Santa Cruz County which historically has a higher population of low-income Latino families.  The Health Trust aimed to identify health disparities between the Pajaro Valley residents with those residing in the rest of the county.  The data suggests that Pajaro Valley respondents had higher rates of obesity and diabetes, lower levels of physical activity, and more concern about crime and gangs.  The good news is that Pajaro Valley respondents reported an increase in the number of people who had health insurance between 2007 and 2011.  

The Health Equity Alliance project is a ground-breaking effort designed to provide public health data for communities in Connecticut.  The project's goal was to target how community conditions affect health, and provide public health officials with localized data they could use to address inequities within communities.  The Connecticut Association of Directors of Health (CADH) developed a Health Equity Index that provides data ranking community conditions and health outcomes for every city and town in Connecticut.  The Index covers a wide range of measurements, including how health is affected by: housing, education, safety, employment, environmental quality, economic stability, and civic engagement. 

Based on the data collected by ASR, CADH was able to create a "learning collaborative," to see how three local public health departments in Hartford, New Haven, and Groton could best use the Index.  Data shows that in 2011, nearly 90% of all public health employees surveyed in the three departments understood the meaning of "health inequity," up from only half of employees in 2009, before the project.  Nearly 90% of trained employees by 2011 were families with the health inequities impacting residents in their communities. The Index has been used by public health departments to highlight specific inequities in health outcomes such as asthma, prenatal care, and cardiovascular disease.  It has been a key component in the writing and receiving of grants, and has also been used to initiate discussions with elected leaders and municipal representatives.   Connecticut hopes that the Health Equity Index will lead to increased community interest in public health, while also promoting health equity, and better health outcomes at the local and state level.

To view the CADH report, please click here. 

The Providence Valdez Medical Center (PVMC) contracted Applied Survey Research to conduct a community health assessment aimed at providing a holistic view of the health issues facing residents of Valdez, Alaska.  The PVMC strives for continued growth and improvement of health care for the city residents and looks towards the health assessment to help make data-based decisions to improve the lives of Valdez residents.  Data from the report suggests that the majority of Valdez respondents have health insurance and were satisfied with the health care services offered in Valdez.  Despite the overall satisfaction with health care in Valdez, residents indicated that there is still a desire for reduced costs for patients, as well as a need for more specialty care like vision care, gynecology, and elderly care/assisted living.  In addition to serving as a valuable instrument to the doctors and employees of PVMC, the health assessment is also invaluable in providing community members the opportunity to share their personal experiences, insights and opinions on health and health care in Valdez.

Mark Twain St. Joseph's Hospital has recently released their Community Needs Assessment Project (CNAP).  ASR is proud to have been a part of the CNAP project in Calaveras County. The report consists of over 50 quality of life indicators designed to reflect the health of Calaveras County residents.  Public safety, environmental, and economic issues all have a huge impact on health, and the inclusion of these dimensions was crucial to the general understanding of health in Calaveras.  Data suggests that Calaveras County had higher rates of mammograms, colon screening, and low rates of asthma hospitalization.  However, the county has high rates of residents driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and has much higher rates of death from motor vehicle accidents as compared to California overall.   The assessment will provide Mark Twain St. Joseph's Hospital with a way to better understand the future of the county, but also allow them to make data-based decision to improve the lives of county residents.  

ASR recently formed a new partnership with the City of Pasadena to conduct a community-wide needs assessment to learn more about the needs of community members--particularly youth, families, and older adults--related to human services, recreation, and housing, and to ensure that their services and programs are on target with the needs of the community.

For more information, contact Ken Ithiphol at 909-267-9332 or ken@appliedsurveyresearch.org.  

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