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Executive
Summary 
by Paul Mattessich
Executive Director
Tackling the Gap with Generation Next

"The gap is there before kids walk into kindergarten. School neither increases nor reduces it." That's what Nobel Prize winner James Heckman opined after reviewing the results of a study which tested the cognitive abilities of a group of several hundred children from age 3 until they reached age 18.

He spoke from just one study of a limited group of young people, to corroborate what we all know from other research of other children conducted over many years. Children's environments strongly influence academic success. Those environments propel young people in a certain direction. Nourishment and nurturing, from the earliest years, even prenatally, have lasting effects - for good and for bad.

Heckman might sound a bit too pessimistic about the ability of schools to make a difference for kids. 
March 2014
Upcoming Events 

This workshop will provide tips for evaluating the impact of prevention work, and introduce participants to the Strategic Prevention Framework, a nationally recognized model to build assets and resilience in at-risk populations. The morning will also include case studies and hands-on activities. Learn more
Check out a blog from Laura Schauben, one of the workshop's presenters: Preventing Substance Abuse: Essential as Water
 
Join us for a forum to learn how an ROI study can help demonstrate the social and economic value of a social service, including the net benefits of public investments and returns to taxpayers and private funders. Learn more
New Research 

Northside Achievement Zone
The Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ), a collaboration of community organizations, is a federally-funded Promise Neighborhood. It aims to build a culture of achievement in North Minneapolis to assure all youth graduate from high school college-ready. A community survey done in 2013 looks at progress the initiative has made.


Caregiving Policy Workshops
Summarizes the top policy priorities around caregiving identified by workshop participants.

Teen Challenge of the Dakotas
Teen Challenge of the Dakotas offers a long-term residential recovery program for adult males. The initial evaluation looked at corrections system recidivism rates of participants.

Hospital to Home
The Hospital to Home initiative is a community-based intervention for low-resource homeless individuals with complex health care needs. The evaluation is documenting who is served by Hospital to Home and the program's impact on participants. 
Quick Takes From Our Staff
by Nick Stuber, Research Associate
  
March is Nutrition month, so it seems like a good time for Nick Stuber to share highlights from his recent work on the importance of good nutrition in schools and some ways to achieve it.

by Jose Diaz, Research Scientist
  
How do we know if community programs are working? Economist Jose Diaz explains how we can use social return on investment to measure the unmeasureable.

by Ruth Hamberg, Minnesota Compass project 

 

A new whitepaper on STEM gender disparities got Ruth Hamberg thinking about the benefits of STEM skills she has personally experienced and the importance of STEM supports throughout a student's academic years.
New Data Resource
Generation Next, a coalition of civic, business, and education leaders, aims to close achievement and opportunity gaps for students of color in Minneapolis and St. Paul. In partnership with Wilder Research and Minnesota Compass, a new data portal on the Generation Next website provides measures for kindergarten readiness, 3rd grade reading proficiency, 8th grade math proficiency, high school graduation rates, and postsecondary completion for both cities. 

In his blog about the new portal, Generation Next leader R.T. Rybak says, "The first step towards solving any problem is to understand the facts...Our hope is that the entire community can go to a single source to help dissect this problem and work together to find solutions...the portal will allow you to sort data by race, and dissect it by location and school type."
Researcher Rebecca Schultz Competes in Global Health Competition
After winning the local Global Health Case Competition at the University of Minnesota, research associate Rebecca Schultz will head to Emory University this week for the international competition. Rebecca is in the School of Public Health program at the University of Minnesota, and will compete with fellow classmates. Teams will be presented with a real-world problem and have a week to come up with a viable solution. Congratulations, Rebecca!

 
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