Demographics of the Entrepreneur Workshop
Dr. Jennifer Auer of Optimal Solutions presented a paper, “Business Assistance and Women Entrepreneurs” at the Demographics of the Entrepreneur Workshop on Sept. 20, 2018. » Read more
Category: Events
2018 National Center for Education Statistics STATS-DC Conference
At this year’s NCES DC Stats Conference, “Visualizing the Future of Education Through Data,” Optimal Solutions shared its work on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and with state assessment data via a presentation and demonstration booth. » Read more
Reducing the Barriers for Data Driven Policy Decisions: Examining the Role of Standardized Open Data in Empowering the Global South
Donor-funded education interventions are quite common in developing countries that use rigorous evaluation designs to empirically assess the effectiveness of the treatment. However, the data collected and analyzed to assess the intervention are not always published. » Read more
Data Challenge: University of Maryland iSchool
In the coming weeks, the University of Maryland College of Information Studies (UMD iSchool) will host Data Challenge: a week-long event providing an opportunity for students to solve a challenging problem by using innovative and critical thinking paired with other aspects of their skill sets.
Maryland SAFE Center Visits Optimal
Laura Ardito is the Deputy Director of the University of Maryland SAFE Center For Human Trafficking Survivors. She has worked on human trafficking issues for over a decade from a direct services, programmatic, and policy perspective. » Read more
2017 NCES DC Stats Conference: Using Tableau for Displaying Percentile and Regional Data Maps from NAEP Assessments
Dr. Brian Cramer and Rahul Rathi, along with Ebony Walton of NCES, presented on using Tableau for displaying percentile and regional data maps from NAEP assessments at the 2017 NCES DC-Stats in Washington, DC on August 2. » Read more
Dr. Turner to Present “Open Data in the Public Sector” at UMD’s James Clark School of Engineering
The University of Maryland’s James Clark School of Engineering has partnered with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to develop the Whiting-Turner Lecture Series. » Read more
Optimal presents at International SME Networking and Clustering (SNC) Project Conference
In Turkey, The Ministry of Economy is implementing a project named the SME Networking and Clustering (SNC) Project supported by the EU during the period from February 2011 to November 2013. » Read more
International Conference on Public Policy- Singapore 2017
The 3rd annual International Conference on Public Policy is around the corner, and this year Optimal will be a presenter at the three-day conference (June 28th-30th) in Singapore. The conference will include panels, networking, and workshops that feature talks on policy design, the political process of policy making, policy instruments and more.
Among the presenters will be Optimal’s CEO, Mark Turner and Senior Research Associate, Jennifer Auer. Drs. Turner and Auer will be presenting two papers at the conference; “The role of government at each stage of business growth” and “The role of Urban Policy in coordinating Entrepreneur Ecosystems”. These papers apply two theoretical lenses to inform the appropriate role of government in entrepreneur policy: business life cycle stages from management theory and market failures from classical economics.
This year the conference will take place at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and is expecting over 1,500 participants. The scholars presenting at this year’s conference are coming from 80 countries to share their research papers.
To find out more about the 2017 ICPP conference, please visit http://www.ippapublicpolicy.org/conference/icpp-3-singapore-2017/7
Beating the Odds: Studies in Federal Education Research
Former staffer, now associate professor, Mark A. Partridge, Ph.D. provided Optimal staffers an overview of the findings of the Beating the Odds (BTO) study in Federal Education Research. This study is an analysis of student performance in reading and mathematics on state assessments in big city schools. Dr. Partridge’s presentation focused on the BTO findings from South Carolina charter schools.
The BTO study analyzes student testing performance levels against their predicted level of performance. The predicted level of performance is determined by school demographics using a hierarchical linear model approach. Researchers found that 26%–42% of South Carolina charter schools were performing statistically and significantly better on student achievement outcomes than the predicted performance level.
Dr. Partridge is an assistant professor of Economics at Georgia Gwinnett College and has 10 years of experience in federal education policy research. Dr. Partridge has served as a project director and project manager on projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics, including the Education Statistics Support Institute Network, Task 15-Assessment Division Support, and the National Center on Service Obligations. He assisted in establishing the National Center on Service Obligations. He devised the data collection procedures, database, website, and verification procedure for program obliges. He also served as a data collection specialist on the Evaluation of Charter School Impacts under a subcontract with Mathematica Policy Research.
Dr. Partridge ended his presentation with a preview of his Economics 101: Principles of Macroeconomics lecture that he will be giving to his class at George Gwinnett College next week.
To learn more about the BTO studies please visit https://ies.ed.gov/.
*********************************************************************
Optimal Solutions Group, LLC
Founded in 2000, Optimal Solutions Group, LLC, is a nonpartisan public policy research and technical assistance firm that stands out for its quantitative expertise and innovative approaches to provide rigorous, data-driven research and technical assistance to government agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic foundations. Located at the University of Maryland’s M Square Research Park in College Park, Optimal is a leader in driving real-time public policy research. Optimal has 60+ employees, including multidisciplinary researchers with backgrounds in economics, education, health, housing, sociology, statistics, information management, and entrepreneurship. Optimal has four research centers—Health, Education, Housing and Workforce Development, and Social Policy—as well as an International Practice, Analytics Group, and Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center.