Category: Press Releases

The 36th Annual Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) Conference was held in late March.  The conference focuses on encouraging multidisciplinary research on salient education finance and policy issues, broad-based dialogue concerning policy, practice, and research, and bridging the gap between research and application and to broaden the focus of education finance and policy. Attending this conference was Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) researcher Mark Partridge, who presentated on the implementation of a longer (7-hour) school day throughout the nation. » Read more

The University of Maryland (UMD) School of Public Health (SPH) awarded the Mark and Tracye Turner Scholarship to Family Science (FMSC) student Dara Winley with at the 6th Annual Dean’s Scholars Dinner on April 7, 2011. Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) CEO Mark Turner and COO Tracye Turner attended the award ceremony to present their scholarship to Ms. Winley, who was unanimously nominated by the department.   » Read more

Sarah Newman, a Research Analyst with Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal), presented a Brown Bag titled, “Statewide Longitudinal Data SystemsEnabling: data-based decision making in Florida, North Carolina, and Washington,” on Tuesday, June 14. The discussion focused on the current state of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS), which collect and store education data that enables states to track students from preschool to post-secondary education or the workforce. » Read more

Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) has developed a social media analysis tool kit as part of its framework to enable real-time public policy decision-making. The tool kit and associated approaches are based on the extensive review and testing of commercially available social media applications conducted over the past year, and also includes multidisciplinary collaborations with universities and experts in social media analytics. » Read more

Dr. Mark Turner, President & CEO of Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) has accepted an invitation to join the industry advisory board for the 2^nd Annual Workshop on Health IT and Economics (WHITE) held in Washington, DC on October 8^th and 9^th. He will take part in a panel discussing policy and practice of the currentIT Health Industry. Dr. Turner also served as a member of the workshop’s Policy and Practice Panel at last year’s event, co-sponsored by Optimal. » Read more

The National Forum on Education Statistics will hold its annual conference July 25-27 in Washington, DC. The conference focuses on “improving education data through best-practice guides on crime, violence, and discipline incident data, data use, education privacy, and Section 508 Accessibility.” Optimal Solutions Group, LLC (Optimal) has been accepted for vendor demonstration. » Read more