Mathematica Policy Research experts will be featured this month at major conferences sponsored by the American Evaluation Association (AEA) on November 9 to 14 in Chicago and by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) on November 12 to 14 in Miami.
AEA: Presidential Strand Talk Free Online
The AEA conference will include presentations from several Mathematica researchers on evaluations of programs designed to improve public well-being around the world. Among Mathematica’s featured presenters, Anu Rangarajan, vice president and managing director of international research, will speak on “Evaluation Considerations in Assessing Effectiveness of Scale-up Programs” on November 14; the session is part of the conference’s in-depth Presidential Strand presentation series. The Presidential Strand presentations are selected by the AEA’s president and program chairs to showcase exemplary work in evaluation.
Other featured speakers from Mathematica include:
- Matt Sloan, director of the Center for International Policy Research and Evaluation, who will present findings from two evaluations of education interventions in developing nations
- Senior researcher Sheila Hoag and researcher Katharine Bradley, who will deliver presentations on strategies for enhancing sustainability of grant initiatives
- Senior researchers So O’Neil and Keith Kranker, who will discuss the evaluation of a pilot program called Text4baby, a free health text messaging service for pregnant women and new mothers
APPAM: Big Data Workshop and Caucuses on Education, Methods
At the APPAM conference, Mathematica experts will present findings and chair sessions on research across our focus areas. In addition, Mathematica is co-sponsoring the Big Data and Public Policy Workshop, which will discuss the new availability of data and the challenges they present to the policy and research communities. Our experts join a distinguished roster of participants in presenting a session on "What Works for Whom? A Bayesian Approach to Channeling Big Data Streams for Policy Analysis."
Mathematica's experts have also organized two caucuses on November 14 in the education and health arenas:
- Senior fellow Steven Glazerman will lead the caucus "Can States and Districts Lead on Educational Equity? Diagnosing and Solving the Problem of Unequal Access to Effective Teachers and Schools."
- Senior fellow Thomas Grannemann will moderate a caucus on "Reporting Quasi-Experimental Results: Helping Policymakers Assess the Evidence on Medicare and Medicaid Innovations." Researchers will exchange views on how best to present quasi-experimental design findings to help decision makers better assess demonstration results in the context of the strengths and limitations of the methods.