Lucy Berliner, David Fine - February 2001

The 2000 Legislature directed the Institute to compare placement decisions and funding methodologies for residential care services for children in long-term foster care and to examine the best practices in other states (EHB 2487). This report addresses the state’s funding methodologies. A separate report covers innovative practices and a literature review.

Jim Mayfield - November 2001

In the spring of 2001, the Washington State Legislature directed the Washington State Institute for Public Policy to recommend how Washington could consider adding a targeted, stand-alone higher education component to the WorkFirst program in a way that is cost-neutral and consistent with the WorkFirst philosophy. This report examines other states’ practices, federal TANF regulations, and research regarding welfare and higher education.

Polly Phipps, Bill Luchansky, Mina Halpern - January 2002

The 2000 Legislature passed Second Substitute House Bill 2663, providing for the distribution of atypical antipsychotic medications to underserved populations who present a risk of harm to themselves and the community. This interim report provides descriptive statistics on the programs, the participants, and preliminary access and funding results.

Marna Miller - February 2004

In 2001, the Washington State Legislature adopted recommendations from the Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) and created three alternative routes to certification for prospective teachers in Washington. The legislation directed the Institute to evaluate the programs and produce a final report by December 2004. This update describes the evaluation steps undertaken in 2003 and plans for 2004.

Steve Lerch - May 2004

In April 2004, the Institute was asked by the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), the Office of Financial Management (OFM), and legislative staff to review the Medical Assistance Administration (MAA) expenditure forecast process and to make recommendations on how to improve it. This report summarizes the final recommendations.

Lucy Berliner - August 2007

This report explores the views of child victims and their parents in sex offense cases from three Washington State counties: Benton, King, and Snohomish. All offenses were eligible for the Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative (SSOSA), a sentencing option that incorporates a jail sentence followed by outpatient treatment and supervision.

Stephanie Lee - January 2008

The 2007 Washington State Legislature directed the Institute to study programs and policies that show evidence of reduced involvement in the child welfare system. The study intends to provide the legislature with reliable estimates of the costs and benefits of evidence-based prevention and intervention programs; this update outlines our research steps.

Mason Burley - April 2010

This report examines results from the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) for foster students completing this test in 2005 and 2008. For this study, we follow two cohorts of foster youth and analyze changes in assessment scores between 4th and 7th grades and 7th and 10th grades.

Overall, the “met standard” rates for foster youth completing the WASL are between 15 and 30 percentage points lower than for other students. Foster youth, however, have much higher rates of grade retention, school mobility, and other factors associated with poor test scores. As this analysis shows, a student’s previous test scores remain the strongest predictor of future assessment results. Between 69 and 77 percent of foster youth who took the math WASL in 2005 and 2008 failed to meet standards in both years (40 percent did not meet reading standards for both tests).

About half of foster youth who completed the WASL in 2008 were not in foster care three years earlier. Youth in care typically come into the child welfare system with educational deficits. Across all students, foster youth scored in the 29th and 23rd percentile on the reading and math WASL, respectively. Given the size of these gaps, even successful interventions are unlikely to bring educational outcomes to the student average (50th percentile). We found that for younger students, the number of months in foster care was associated with modest gains in WASL scores. The greatest improvements in WASL scores occurred for students in foster placements lasting between 20 and 22 months.

WSIPP - November 1993

Previous Family Income Study research indicates that dropping out of school before graduating, and being a teenage mother, are factors related to low educational attainment and welfare dependency. This issue brief describes the sequence of dropping out of school, and becoming pregnant for the first time, for women on public assistance.

Scott Matson, Roxanne Lieb - April 1996

Community notification refers to the distribution of information regarding released sex offenders to citizens and community organizations. This report analyzes 32 states with legislation authorizing some form of notification, or access to information, on registered sex offenders. The states are organized into three categories: broad community notification, notification to organizations and individuals at risk, and access to registration information.